Tuesday of the Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time, October 13th
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True Freedom
In Plato's well-known allegory of the cave, certain individuals within a cave are chained up in front of a wall, unable to look around at their surroundings. However, in front of them, they are able to see shadows of puppets dancing around, and the puppets themselves are being carried around by figures behind the wall to which the people are chained. For those chained up, the image of the shadow on the wall is their reality, though we understand that their reality is quite limited and not indicative of true reality. Even the figures who parade the puppets behind the wall are not holding true reality for themselves; the puppets they are using are models or shapes of things that actually live in the world outside of the cave, such as animals or plants. However, if one so desires, it is possible to escape from their chains, see behind the wall, and to even walk out of the cave and into the sunlight. There, they will initially be blinded by the intensity and brightness of the sun, but they will also have the opportunity to recognize true reality once their sight is acclimated to the brightness.
However, not everyone who is freed from the cave in this allegory steps into the brightness of the sun and is instantly transformed into someone who recognizes true reality. In all honesty, something so incredibly new, foreign, and frightening will make you very uncomfortable. If you place yourself in the position of someone walking out into the sunlight for the first time, you can understand just how painful the sunlight would be. You would not be able to appreciate those things for which the puppets and the shadows are merely symbols in the real world. Naturally, many people would simply choose to return to the cave, return to their chains, and return to the comfort of the puppets’ shadows. This allegory also teaches us how freedom works. What is freedom and who are the ones who are truly free? In our society, there is a misunderstood notion that true freedom is having the ability to do whatever you want, whenever you want, however you want. But this usually entails seeking out certain forms of pleasure for ourselves, which is simply a chemical reaction in our brains that is only produced by a select few things. Media, companies, and even individuals use these things to get us addicted and placated by pleasure. Ironically, what we consider to be true freedom is actually just us being chained to the wall, pacified by the shadows of the puppets carried around by the people behind us. In the modern age, it appears as if we have lost all sense of the essence of freedom, to be completely unattached from the things of this world, the chains of our own desires, and the call to release ourselves in order to seek after something greater.
True freedom is being out in the sunlight, experiencing those things that are being touched by the sun and which are the basis of those puppets and shadows. True freedom hurts and is very uncomfortable for those who are new to it, just as sunlight hurts us when we walk into it for the first time. In today’s first reading, Paul tells us, “For freedom Christ sets us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.” As a Christian, you will be tempted to slink back into the cave to be comforted by the darkness and the shadows. But you were not made to be in the cave of sin, placated by the shadows of death. You were made to walk in the light, to acclimate your vision to that which is touched by the sunlight. This is Truth. This is true reality. Past the pain and discomfort of being a disciple of Christ, you will find true and everlasting freedom, free from the chains and the limitations of mere symbols. You will find the fullness of truth and freedom in Christ alone.
