Thinking Outside the Box

Plato describes the limitations of our thinking through a sense of knowledge. Through his "Allegory in the Cave" he expresses that the general people have no idea what is going on around them, and only people of greater power know the truth. When they were given permission and saw the light, they were scared and wanted to return to ignorance. However, as they stared into the light more, they realized they wanted to learn more. With this, Plato told us that we are limited to what we know by a higher power, and the only way that we can discover more and educate ourselves is by searching for knowledge. If we do not search for knowledge, we will simply be prisoners staring at what "they" want us to know.

Sarte describes the limitations of our thinking through a sense of isolation and secrecy. We are limited to what we know through other people's truths and lies. In some cases, people are not capable of determining what is true and what is false because others have control over what they know (As Inez had control of Garcin in "No Exit"). If truth and honesty is not met, then the madness generated consumes people forever. The hell depicted by Satre isn't one of physical pain and discomfort, but instead it is one of psychological torture and misery. In other words, we are limited to our thinking by the people we interact with everyday. The only way to get around this is to not seclude yourself to one train of thought. One must be open-minded and ever-changing in order to avoid suffering.