In antiquity, the prisoners were kept in caves. They couldn't see the outside world but only their shadows. Eventually they came to believe that this is the world summed up only in the shadows, forgetting the real essence, the existence of the people. So with us now, we only see egos around us, not seeing the pure consciousness, the souls of the people around us. Our ego judge the other egos. And when we look for enlightenment, we often end up in fear, hiding from these shadows.
