thesoulpurposedotorg

Perhaps the most famous passage from Plato’s writings is the Allegory of the Cave. In it, we are asked to imagine ourselves in a cave somehow fettered so that we can only look at the back of the cave. Behind us is a fire that keeps us warm. Between the fire and ourselves is an endless parade of life which we can only see as shadow plays on the back wall of the cave. Finally, we are to imagine what it would be like to be unfettered and able to leave the cave in order to see life as it truly is.

I was contemplating this today as I was remembering that Christ Jesus was perhaps born in a cave, that being a common place for the manger (i.e. feeding trough) of his day. And it was to a cave a few miles from his birthplace that his body was taken some 33 years later after his executioners determined he was really dead by piercing his side like we pierce a steak to determine if it is done. Gruesome thoughts for a Christmas season and not at all uplifting one might say.

I have these thoughts today primarily because the older I get, the more I feel like the character in Plato’s allegory. And I think that what I observe about this unspeakable grace that is life because of Christ; the generosity of the Three in One for whom no name even begins to describe…. all I really see is the figures on the back of the cave. But every once in awhile, I glimpse a bit of the beauty and breathe a breath of this Spirit and feel the touch of the Holy and know there is so much more that one lifetime can even beging to comprehend.