Dianoia · the rough road up

The "rough and steep" way out (515e), which Plato says the freed one climbs dragged and resisting — reluctance is part of the road. Then the schooling of the eyes in strict order: shadows first (already familiar), then reflections in water, then the things, then the stars and moon, and only last the sun (516a–b) — truth by way of images, which is dianoia, the third station. The Tree knows this gradualism intimately: the worlds are climbed one at a time, the light is filtered vessel by vessel precisely so it can be borne, and ratzo va-shov — running and returning — is its confession that no one holds the summit continuously.