The objects of rational intuition are forms as first principles, like the forms of truth and beauty, but especially the form of the Good, since it is the highest form. Another way to symbolize the division is with Plato's Myth of the Cave. Inside a vast cavern a group of prisoners is chained and bound facing a wall, in such a way that they can look only at the wall. Behind them is a large fire. Between the fire and prisoners is a pathway.
People move across the pathway carrying objects, including images of plants, animals, and people.
They talk while they do this. The fire casts shadows of these things on the wall that the prisoners look at. They, having seen nothing but these shadows all their lives, consider them to be reality, and believe the voices to be issued from the shadows. One prisoner breaks free and turns to see the people and the images they carry along the pathway. He realizes that the shadows he thought were real were only illusions compared to the things he sees now.