Plato’s Foreskin, and why Restoration will Most Likely Never Become Mainstream

In The Republic, the Greek philosopher Plato used his now famous “Allegory of the Cave” to describe how most people conceptualize reality. The allegory goes like this:

A group of men have been imprisoned in a cave since birth. They are chained facing a wall, and all they see their entire life are shadows cast by people passing behind them. As such, their entire concept of reality is based on the shadows they see. They believe that shadows are all that exist in real life.

One day, one of the men breaks free and leaves the cave. Once outside, he realizes that shadows are only mere representations of actual objects that exist in reality. A first he has a hard time comprehending that his previous concept of reality was false, but over time, he is able to adapt to a literally brighter world.

The man who escaped then returns to inform the other prisoners about the world outside of the cave. Excited to show them the richer and brighter world behind them, he offers to free them. He expects them to be excited too about the possibility of a new world, but they aren’t. They think he is crazy, and violently resist any attempts of the man to free them from the cave. 

For men who were circumcised at birth, they have lived in the cave their whole lives, and thus their entire concept sexual pleasure is based on being circumcised. They are certain of what sexual pleasure is supposed to feel like based on their experience, unaware of how limited their scope of experience actually is.

Leaving the cave is difficult for a few reasons. Change in and of itself is difficult, regardless of what the change is. In this case though, leaving the cave means accepting that your entire concept of sexual pleasure until this point has been a lie. It also means accepting that you did not have autonomy over your sexual experience up until now. Even though foreskin restoration offers a richer and more fulfilling experience, most people choose to stay in the dark, but comfortable cave.

Plato’s argument was that most people choose to be ignorant, and therefore need to be ruled by a philosopher. Whether or not his opinion on government is correct is a separate argument, but he is likely correct that most of us choose ignorance. For this reason, foreskin restoration will never become mainstream. We are all in the cave in regard to many aspects of reality, and just understanding one topic such like circumcision doesn’t make one enlightened in all aspects of life. My experience is that it can take years after learning about foreskin restoration for many to even start, and sometimes several years more until they fully commit to the process. The most important thing we can do is plant the seed by telling people about the world outside the cave. Whether or not they choose to act upon it, is up to them.

Video: Plato’s Allegory of the Cave - Alex Gendler. TEDEd. Youtube. 12/2/2023

Image: Vatican Museums, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons