Come Out of the Cave Into Reality

Melanie Jean Juneau - Plato

\"Melanie

The worst possible fate for me would be to die and discover that I had lived an existence similar to the allegory described in Plato’s Cave. Plato describes man’s condition similar to living in a cave, chained, only seeing shadows on a wall cast from a candle. Yet the human race believes that this is all there is to life. When one person manages to break free and stumbles out into daylight, he realizes that what he thought was real were actually shadows of real objects. After this messenger makes his way back into the cave to explain this revelation of the real world, no one believes him. No one else has any reference point; they simply cannot grasp this alternate reality outside of the cave.

When I speak with someone who is curious about the faith, I realize my revelations about the spiritual life in the Mystical Body of Christ are completely foreign. I might as well be a fantasy character explaining life in an alternate reality a reality outside of their own personal cave. Psychologically speaking, people need to hear a completely new concept at least three times before it even begins to register in their minds. Sharing about spiritual reality is like helping God make new neurological connections and this transformation takes time. Seekers who has existed on the surface, experiencing only physical reality is wearing God-filtered glasses; the life in Christ that I share with someone is completely alien. They have no reference point, just like those who lived in Plato\’s cave.

That said, slowly sharing my conversion story, epiphanies and inexplicable miracles in my life tickles people\’s curiosity and opens their spirit to the Holy Spirit. I always remind myself that it is the Holy Spirit who knocks on the door of a convert\’s heart; I am simply an open window, a landing strip, an antenna that connects the power of God to the earth.

The allegory of the cave explains the problem Christians face when they try to explain life in the Spirit. The spiritual life ultimately cannot be taught. The light of God must be experienced, passed on like a living flame. Christianity is all about a living, vital relationship with Christ, not merely intellectual knowledge. Christ brings man into a relationship with God once again by the power of His death and resurrection:

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. (Revelation 21:3)

The Catechism of the Catholic Church expands the importance of a vital, living relationship with God.

A Personal Relationship with God (2558)

The Church professes faith in the Apostles Creed (Part One) and celebrates faith in sacramental liturgy (Part Two) so the faithful might conform to God\’s will in the Ten Commandments (Part Three). To believe, celebrate, and live this mystery demands a personal relationship with the living God through prayer (Part Four). \”Prayer is a surge of the heart, a simple look toward heaven, a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy\” (St. Therese of Lisieux).

From the Covenant with the Trinity (2564-2565)

Christian prayer is a Covenant relationship in Christ, springing from the Spirit and ourselves and directed toward the Father in union with Christ\’s human will.

Prayer is the living relationship of the children with the Father, Son, and Spirit. The Kingdom is \”the union of the entire Holy Trinity with the whole human spirit\” (St. Gregory of Nazeanzus). Prayer is the habit of being in the presence of the Trinity.

As for me, I need God to continually break chains and lead me of my self-crafted cave into the SonShine. I need to live in reality. I refuse to play games, wear masks and costumes to fit into a false persona which I have crafted in my own mind. To live in truth means discovering my true self at my core, in the ground of my being. The longest journey is from our heads to our hearts. It is a silent journey within. As Catherine De Heuck Doherty (founder of Madonna House) said,

Close the wings of your intellect and open the wings of your heart.

Christianity is a heart to heart relationship, not merely an intellectual exercise or a matter of fulfilling tradition  the law.

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8 thoughts on “Come Out of the Cave Into Reality”

  1. Pingback: Pope Francis: Sanctity Is Stronger than Scandals - BigPulpit.com

  2. Absolutely true! It’s a beautiful thing to help the Spirit touch the heart of someone. With God’s grace they will eventually “get it”, it’s only our privilege to introduce them to the concept.

  3. Well written. From your heart. As Pascal writes: The heart has reasons that reason does not know.

    In his book “The Point of View for my Work as an Author” by Soren Kierkegaard, he writes:

    “…A direct attack only strengthens a person in his
    illusion, and at the same time embitters him. There is nothing that requires
    such gentle handling as an illusion, if one wishes to dispel it. If anything
    prompts the prospective captive to set his will in opposition, all is lost. And
    this is why a direct attack achieves, and it implies moreover the presumption
    of requiring a man to make to another person, or in his presence, an admission
    which he can make most profitably to himself privately. This is what is
    achieved by the indirect method which, loving and serving the truth, arranges
    everything dialectically for the prospective captive, and then shyly withdraws
    (for love is always shy), so as not to witness the admission which he makes to
    himself alone before God — that he has loved hitherto in an illusion.

    “…if real success is to attend the effort to bring a man to a definite position, one must first of all take pains to find him where he is and begin there. This is the secret art of helping others. Anyone who has not mastered this is himself deluded when he proposes to help others. In order to help another effectively I must understand what he understands. If I do not know that, my greater understanding will be of no help to him…all true effort to help begins with self-humiliation: the helper must first humble himself under him he would help, and therewith must understand that to help does not mean to be a sovereign but to be a servant, that to help does not mean to be ambitious but to be patient, that to help means to endure for the time being the imputation that one is in the wrong and does not understand what the other understands.

    “Take the case of a man who is passionately angry, and let us assume that he is really in the wrong. Unless you can begin with him by making it seem as if it were he that had to instruct you, and unless you can do it in such a way that the angry man, who was too impatient to listen to a word of yours, is glad to discover a
    complaisant and attentive listener — if you cannot do that, you cannot help
    him at all…if you cannot humble yourself, you are not genuinely serious. Be
    the amazed listener who sits and hears what the other finds the more delight in
    telling you because you listen with amazement…

    “If you can do that, if you can find exactly the place where the other is and begin there, you may perhaps have the luck to lead him to the place where you are.

    “For to be a teacher does not mean simply to affirm that such a thing is so, or to deliver a lecture, etc. No, to be a teacher in the right sense is to be a learner.
    Instruction begins when you, the teacher, learn from the learner, put yourself
    in his place so that you may understand what he understands in the way he
    understands it.”

    This suggests we must be willing to go where others are and listen to the roots of their worldview. Plato’s work “The Sophist” is an excellent dialogue demonstrating what we are up against. If you would like to talk about how it works, I would gladly do so. Just let me know.

    Here’s a link to a movie about this whole problem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfiZPXsQvrQ

    1. Perfect quotes from Soren Kierkegaard; he articulates what I know to be truth..make me want to write another article

  4. Pingback: Come out of the Cave - CATHOLIC FEAST - Every day is a Celebration

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