Plato wrote “The Republic” about 400 years before Jesus was born. 
 
Plato’s story is about the way intellect and learning help us make wise decisions, and it was intended as a parable that would create smart leaders who would always work for the good of the entire republic. Plato had government in mind, but his analogy also works as a parable about spiritual awakening and how we each become more Christlike as our minds are opened to a new reality, as our eyes see a deeper truth.
 
This is my four-part adaptation of Plato’s story, “The Cave”, for Advent.
 
The Cave, Part 1
 
Imagine that we live in a cave, and that we’ve lived in this cave since childhood, being held prisoner therein. We’ve never known anything other than this cave, so we don’t even realize we’re captives. Our legs and necks are chained so that we cannot move. We can only see in front of us, being prevented by the chains from turning our heads.
 
The cave has a mouth open towards the light, which reaches all along the cave. Above and behind us a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and we, the prisoners, there is a raised way.
 
On that raised way, people pass along carrying all sorts of vessels, and statues and figures of animals made of wood and stone and various other materials. Some of these people are talking, others are silent.
 
Even though all this activity is taking place, we, the prisoners, see only our own shadows, or the shadows of one another, or the shadows of the objects the people are carrying, projected on the wall of the cave in front of us like a movie.
 
If we could talk to each other, we would name these shadows as though they were the actual objects projecting them. How could we know any better? We know nothing but the shadows. For us, the projection of objects on the wall is the reality.
 
Now, suppose further that the prison had an echo which came from the other side. Would we not be sure to presume when one of the passers-by spoke that the voice which we heard came from the passing shadow?
 
For us, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images.
 
To be continued…