Shadows
“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”
In his writing "The Republic", Plato shared the "Allegory of the Cave". In this piece, he writes about a group of people who are chained together with a fire behind them and people walking in front of them as shadows, carrying images that represent objects and creatures from the outside world. However, because the people in the cave have never been outside, they don't know these are just copies, they believe they are the real thing. When one of their number breaks out and sees the truth, he goes back to share it with the others still in the cave, yet they don't believe him.
There is one aspect of this story that I would like to focus on. The people that grew up in the shadows that could not comprehend the truth. How often do we get so wrapped up in what we've experienced, what we grew up with, what we've been taught, that we don't allow room in our minds for the possibility that these things are mere shadows of something greater, or something different. How often do we apply this to ourselves and limit what we are capable of only to what we've heard or seen or done already. I am guilty of this. Believing the shadows cast by my words to myself and the words of other people.
1 Corinthians 13 is commonly known as the love chapter because it focuses on attributes of love. Yet at the conclusion of the chapter, verse 12 states "For now we see through a glass darkly...". I have yet to see the conclusion of my life. I am more than the lies I tell myself. I see through a shadowed glass of brokenness and failure. But I am more than my failures and brokenness.
I have come to the conclusion that when we refuse to face the truth in one area, it makes us more vulnerable to falling for lies in another area. Advent is a time to break free of the shadows and come face to face with the light of truth. This year, seek truth and seek light. Just like when you turn on a bright light in a dark room, or walk into sunlight from a dark building, the light of truth can be uncomfortable because it illuminates things we didn't really want to confront. The only path to breaking free of the shadows is walking into the light, acknowledging where we were wrong in order to grow.
