Plato is an author who lived in ancient Greece while that area of the world was producing some of the highest quality literature in human history. Much of the writing that came out of that time period remains contemporary in certain ways because it makes up some of the foundation on which much of Western thought has been built. Plato—writing on behalf of Socrates—is pre-Christian, but it is easy to see some similarities to Christian thought. For example, in "The Allegory of the Cave," the metaphor of Light is used. The metaphor of Light is used virtually universally, including in the Gospel, to describe the knowledge that leads to a higher level of awareness of onself and of the world.