|
The Platonic allegory tells of men lined up side to side in a cave, and have been since childhood. The men have never been outside the cave and have always looked to the back wall. Behind them is a fire. Between the fire and the men, other men carry cardboard images of things of the earth and sky. The images appear as shadows on the back wall. Then, one man, having only seen these shadows, is turned and led slowly to the opening of the cave: slowly, for his eyes must adjust to the world of Reality. For the first time he sees the realities represented by the images on the back wall. The splendor and array of color amaze him. He now sees Realty, he sees the Light. This man sees that all he has ever known is a world of shadows.
The images of our Christian faith are meant to lead us to a greater intuition of the Beautiful Reality represented to us by the earthly signs of our hallowed tradition. The skeptic can miss the Beautiful Reality, criticizing the earthiness of our sacred signs. Then, the Christian herself can miss the Beautiful Reality, too, failing by intuition, through Grace, to penetrate into the spiritual realities and Godhead that are imaged in the signs of faith.
Why, then, would one give his life to help persons to see outside the cave of sacred images? St. Gregory Palamas (b. 1296), the eminent monk, theologian, and archbishop of 14th Century Byzantium Christianity, writes, in his Triads, that "it is because of their love of men that the saints speak, so far as this is possible, about things ineffable,... (Gregory Palamas: The Triads, Trans. Nicolas Gendle, The Classics of Western Spirituality)
Imagine you have seen the Sun, but many of your family and friends live in a house of darkness. Would you not what to share with them words about the glory of the Sun and the world it unveils to eyes? And, would your aspiration and action to lead them out of the darkness to the world of the Sun arise from your love for them? Would you love them, while enjoying the Sun but not sharing that possibility for them and with them? No, both your awe of the world of the Sun and your affection for them would lead you to aspire and act for their enjoyment of the same revelation of the Sun.
Many saintly minds have offered us centuries of profound teachings, telling us that the signs of our Christian faith point to a Reality that is ineffable, delights the heart, and humbles the intelligence in awe. In love we, too, can open ourselves through contemplation both to experience increasingly the Reality behind sacred images and to share with a few who will walk out of the cave of shadows into the Beauty of Ineffability.
Yes, the abstraction from image, the entering into the emptiness of mind and heart, is the path toward Divine Ineffability. Yet, we find that the emptiness opens to a Fullness of Love and Life. Therefore, contemplation is not a pure emptiness, rather, it is the Fullness of Vitality that is the opening at the summation of the process of emptying of thought and image. Turning from the shadows does not leave us unseeing, but rather we see the Light of Beauty Itself, from whom all beauty and truth flows eternally.
*OneLife writings are offered by Brian K. Wilcox, a United Methodist pastor serving in the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. Brian lives a vowed contemplative life with his two dogs, Bandit Ty and St. Francis, in North Florida. OneLife writings are for anyone seeking to live and share love, joy, and peace in the world and in devotion to God as she or he best understands God.
The Peace of Christ to All!
|
