Becoming A Ghost: On Plato’s Cave, Spiritual Death, and the Loneliness of Returning

Inquiry with Kelly Chase · Oct 29, 2026 · 23m

In this Halloween episode, I begin a new series on Plato’s Cave and why I've come to believe that the cave is not simply an allegory, but the manifest reality of human experience.

I revisit the anomalous experience that obliterated everything I thought I knew about reality, and explore its parallels with near-death experiences and the kind of spiritual death that comes with seeing beyond the shadows. But leaving the cave is only half the story. What happens when you return?

I've come to think that returning from the cave is a lot like becoming a ghost. And just like a ghost, you're very…