With a shiver and a gasp for air, Adam woke up in a dark room all alone. His throat felt dry, so he fidgeted around him for anything. He found a container and he gulped its water quickly. But as he satisfied his thirst, he realized he could see absolutely nothing. And he knew nowhere to go.

He could see a few shadows, but they felt formless and very confusing. And this made him afraid. He frantically looked around him for any clue, any way out. But he saw only darkness.

He drowned in questions: Where is he? Where did he come from? What is he meant to do? Why is he here? Why can't he see anything? How does he get out?

Why doesn't he know?

Much later, after a lot of searching, he learned some things. On his right is a hard object he cannot go through. But he can go to the left. To a certain point. He called the object a border, and he worked around it.

His hunger for food became a hunger for knowing. It became a drive to find a way out.

Eventually, he advanced in his work. He made interesting conclusions; he was imprisoned and he needed to do things so his imprisoner would give him an unquestionable light that would show him everything. And the fact that things are working out is proof that his imprisoner is kind.

The border! The border imprisoned him! The border was alive and it helped him if he gave it praise.

But no... It was always still; it wasn't alive.

But wait! In his wandering, he saw a light! And he fought hard to reach it, with everything he has! ...but it was just his imagination. In reality it was just another border.

This happened many times.

Eventually, Adam stopped trying to see in the dark, because he realized something else. If his hand hit something, that means something hard is there. He could use it as a reference. He drew a map, where he can go and where he can't.

If he assumes a place is reachable, all he could do is test it. If he can't reach it, he changes his map. If he can reach it, his map is correct. No, it isn't necessarily correct. But it works. And that is all that matters.

A light may come and enlighten him. But it may not. He realized it didn't matter. And why would it? Is there a difference between how the world really is and a map of it that works for all intents and purposes? Even if he doesn't see the world as it really is, all that matters to Adam is that his map of the world works.

Adam cannot wait for the light to come, but he could go on and expand his map. Maybe one day, he'll find a way out. Or maybe he'll only find more roads, all with dead ends and more branches.

We are all Adam. And such is our human knowledge: not sight, but a map we project on the world; if it works, we take it as truth.