The Cave

One of my favorite pieces of literature is Plato's Allegory of the Cave.

Human Beings are living from childhood in a cave, which has an open mouth to the sunlight. Their legs and necks are chained so that they cannot move. They can only see what is before them. Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance. Between them and the fire is a low wall such as you would build to show puppets. There is a constant flow of men behind the wall higher than the wall carrying all sorts of vessels, wooden animals, and statues therefore casting shadows on the wall of the cave in front of the prisoners. The prisoners only see their own shadows or the shadows of the images cast by the fire.

The truth to the prisoners is only what is before them.

"And now look again, and see what will naturally follow if the prisoners are released and disabused of their error. At first, when any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck round and walk and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp pains; the glare will distress him, and he will be unable to see the realities of which in his former state he had seen the shadows; and then conceive someone saying to him, that what he saw before was an illusion, but that now, when he is approaching nearer to being and his eye is turned towards more real existence, he has a clearer vision, -- what will be his reply? And you may further imagine that his instructor is pointing to the objects as they pass and requiring him to name them, -- will he not be perplexed? Will he not fancy that the shadows which he formerly saw are truer than the objects which are now shown to him?"

"And if he is compelled to look straight at the light, will he not have a pain in his eyes which will make him turn away to take and take in the objects of vision which he can see, and which he will conceive to be in reality clearer than the things which are now being shown to him?"

"And suppose once more, that he is reluctantly dragged up a steep and rugged ascent, and held fast until he's forced into the presence of the sun himself, is he not likely to be pained and irritated? When he approaches the light his eyes will be dazzled, and he will not be able to see anything at all of what are now called 'realities'."

"He will require to grow accustomed to the sight of the upper world. And first he will see the shadows best, next the reflections of men and other objects in the water, and then the objects themselves; then he will gaze upon the light of the moon and the stars and the spangled heaven. And he will see the sky and the stars by night better than the sun or the light of the sun by day?"

"The prison-house is the world of sight, the light of the fire is the sun, and you will not misapprehend me if you interpret the journey upwards to be the ascent of the soul into the intellectual world according to my poor belief, which, at your desire, I have expressed -- whether rightly or wrongly God knows. But, whether true or false, my opinion is that in the world of knowledge the idea of good appears last of all, and is seen only with an effort; and, when seen, is also inferred to be the universal author of all things beautiful and right, parent of light and of the lord of light in this visible world, and the immediate source of reason and truth in the intellectual; and that this is the power upon which he who would act rationally, either in public or private life must have his eye fixed".

The impression this allegory made on me caused me to experiment with new life realities all through my life. I never could accept the norm. It got me in trouble.

As in this allegory, we come from a world of illusions that we perceive as reality. Then, we are brought in to be introduced to Christ. Suddenly, we are enlightened and no longer do we maintain the same sense of reality. We are transformed. Sometimes, we are so overwhelmed by the change that, like the prisoners of the cave, we run back to our old world for safety. However, we have been introduced to the true reality and our life will never be the same until we accept the truth. Jesus Christ is the true reality. We need to eliminate the caves in our life and commit to the reality of love, peace, and the saving grace that Our Lord and savior Jesus Christ provides.

As we are in the Body of Christ, we must be patient and slowly teach the newcomers how to live as Christians. It is not easy for one who has been chained to the old world. We must bring them out of the cave, never to return.

Praise God

Brad Warren