In “Allegory of The Cave” Plato writes of three prisoners in a cave tied to some rocks, unable to move their heads and who can do nothing but look at the stone wall in front of them. They’ve never been out of the cave. Behind them is a fire and behind that is a walkway on which people carrying animals, plants, wood and stone on their heads walk. All the prisoners see is the shadows of these objects, which they believe to be real. They play a guessing game; whoever guesses the next object is praised as clever and master of the nature. But then one day one of the prisoners escapes and discovers the outside world, realizing that his former view of reality was wrong.

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Cancer is like the prisoner who escapes.

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It teaches one to redefine reality, to forget the illusions, to become aware of life.

 

It teaches one to redefine mortality, that one is immortal to the extent that he/she lives life fully.

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It teaches that life is a state of mind.

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