Fallen from the Garden of Eden into Plato's Cave

A client confessed to me this week that she has daily thought  along the line of "what if nothing ever changes, if my life never  looks different that today...will that be so bad?"  I winced...I knew that the life she was

acquiescing to was that of a dim spirit, numb emotions, a sick body, a pale thought life, and void of loneliness.  The words of my heart cramp were "you are choosing to walk around like a corpse...how can I show you the blessing that is right at your finger tips?"

Out of the blue, I dialed back in my memory to something I read early in my graduate training.  Dr Moon was one of my professors and remains on my running list of "top 5 most Christ-like" people I have met.

This is an excerpt from his first book, "Falling for God" (2004).  It is a mind-blowing illustration of God's "Kingdom"  to me... drawn from a teaching tool used by the Philosopher in the early first century.

"Imagine the faces of four prisoners.  They were laughing and pointing straight ahead...imagine each prisoner bound by chains in such a manner that it would be impossible to stand up, or to look behind.  The men were prisoners who lived in a large underground cave.  The only thing they were allowed to see was the back wall of their Flinstonian-home.

 A huge fire burned behind them.  It threw light against the wall which they faced. 

On a raised platform  between the fire and the backs of the prisoners, people marched back and forth carrying wooden carvings of objects--trees, flowers, birds, and the like--high over their heads.  These people were too far away for their voices or footsteps to be clearly heard.

The objects which were paraded in front of the fire carried shadows to be cast on to the "screen" making the prisoners a captive thereafter audience--with no popcorn.

The shadows on the wall of the cave were the only reality the prisoners knew.  And, as one might expect, they had made a game, a contest of naming the shadows and predicting the patterns of their appearance.  The prisoners became quite good at these interpretations and predictions.  Indeed, they adopted the custom of offering an award to the one who was best at the game.

Then one day (of course the cell mates knew nothing of the concept of day) someone entered the cave and descended to where the prisoners were kept in a single-file shoulder-to shoulder row.  He approached them, knelt down behind one, touched his chains, and they fell to the floor. 

The now-freed prisoner awkwardly stood to his feet.  The one who had done the freeing attempted to explain about the cave, and about the outside world.  But, it was difficult to communicate with someone who could speak only shadowese. 

Reluctantly, however, the former prisoner allowed himself to  be lead up the steep accent to the mouth of the cave.

Upon arrival, the prisoner grabbed his eyes in pain.  The had never seen the sun and its burning reality caused his eyes to squint and his pupils to slam shut.  He had to be held to be kept from funning back to the safety of the dark cave--he did not realize he was a butterfly, finally set free from his cocoon.

In time, however, he slowly adapted to the light.  It wasn't long before he was able to see "real" trees, flowers, and birds.  And, in even less time, the truth began to dawn on him--his world had been a prison which contained only the shadows of reality, the reality of life-in-full. 

The former prisoner began to run and play like an excited child.  He put his feet in real water, inhaled the fragrance of real flowers, and heard the melody of a choir of real birds.

For the first time ever, he was filled with joy.  That is, until he remembered the other three prisoners. 

Compassion propelled him back into the entrance of the cave.  He decided that he must again descend into his former dwelling and help free the others, even though he hated to miss one moment in the "real world".  When he arrived back in their presence, it was readily apparent to all that he had changed.  He had grown accustomed to the outside world, to light, and to freedom.  The shadows on the wall appeared fuzzy for him now, and he had forgotten the games of trivial pursuit--predicting the shadow patterns. 

The others saw his difficulty and concluded that he had become mad.  

Instead of welcoming the offer of freedom, they laughed at the messenger and decided that he should be put to death.  Fortunately for him, they were chained.

With slow steps the would-be-messiah left the jeering captives and ascended again into the real world, thinking to himself "Better to be the poor servant of a poor master outside the cave than to think and live as  they".

....How had I missed the cave and kingdom language in Scripture? Didn't Jesus begin his earthly ministry with the announcement that he had entered into our cave ("the world") to let the captives free, to restore the sight to the blind, to proclaim the good news that there is another world all around us--the Kingdom of God?...

...In the Christian experience, it is possible to be set free from our chains, and yet never leave "the cave".  perhaps we fear the journey.  Perhaps the pain caused by the first beams of sunlight is too intense.  Perhaps we never got a good Triple-A Atlas or a mentor for the trip.

Often we live our lives more in line with principles of the cave (earthly shadow-games of politics, power, and material securities) rather than those of the kingdom (simplicity, willingness, selfless love).

....Yes,  I thought, we have indeed fallen from the Garden of Eden into Plato's cave.  We live in an unnatural environment, one for which we were not designed.  And for all the talk of "abundant life" and the kingdom of God, our reality is, most often, that of rock and shadow.

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If you read the story and think..."Great concept, but how does one go about leaving the cave?" , I recommend two things:  1) read his whole book, "Falling for God"...it has some great prayer exercises and practical such to put in your back pocket for "lock picking" your way out of the cave.  2)  Reach out to me and I would love to look at the "Triple-A Atlas" with you, as he says, and sort some of this out together.  Having someone in the passenger seat reading the map while you drive makes the trip much less difficult.

Moon, G. (2004). Falling for God:  Saying yes to his extravagant proposal.  Colorado Springs, CO:                WaterBrook Press.

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