The light of humanity

John 1:1-4, John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and took up residence among us, and we saw his glory, glory as of the one and only from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

The true light:

Allegory - the expression by means of symbolic fictional figures and actions of truths or generalizations about human existence

We think that we know the nature of our reality, but we are deceived.

Behold! We are like men imprisoned from birth in the bowels of a cave. For as long as we have been conscious, we have been chained to chairs, our eyes gazing ever forward at the back wall of the cave. Behind us, a roaring fire casts patterns of light on the wall, while, between the fire and our rigid backs, a group of puppeteers move their cutouts through the dank, cloistered air. As we stare day in and day out at the wall of the cave, we see the shadows of the cutouts cast upon it, and we believe that those shadows constitute the fullness of life and truth. We enjoy talking with the prisoners to our left and our right, but our conversation focuses only on the shadows. Oftentimes, we compete with one another as to who can guess with the greatest accuracy what image will appear next on the wall. Never once do we or our neighbors question the nature of our lives in the cave. For us, the shadows are real and substantial. And then, one day, one of the prisoners is freed from the chair to which he has been bound all his life and is compelled to stand, turn away from the wall, and approach the fire. Immediately he is blinded by the light of the fire and covers his eyes to block out the pain. But his curiosity soon overcomes the pain, and he removes his hands from his eyes. Slowly, little by little, his eyes adjust to the fire, and he sees the puppeteers holding up their cutouts of trees and mountains, goats and chickens, men and women. He now realizes that the things he has taken for reality his whole life are but insubstantial reflections of the puppeteers’ cutouts. But his journey of self-discovery is not yet complete. With painful step and slow, he stumbles past the fire and out of the cave. The moment he steps out into the upper world, he is blinded again, this time by the far brighter light of the sun. Eventually, his eyes adjust once more, though at first he can only look at the new world around him as it is reflected in a pond or a river. In the end, however, his accustomed eyes allow him to look full on the realities of which the cutouts were but pale imitations. With time, he can even catch glimpses of the sun itself! Overjoyed by his freedom, he desires to stay forever in the upper world, but he knows it is his duty to return to the cave and try to convince others to come with him into the light of reality. This he bravely does, but at the cost of his own life. First, the prisoners mock him and refuse to believe his wild story. Then, when he forcibly frees some of them from their chains, they use their liberated limbs, not to leave the cave, but to kill their would-be rescuer. —Plato, The Republic, Book VII

Markos, Louis. The Myth Made Fact: Reading Greek and Roman Mythology through Christian Eyes (pp. 190-191). Classical Academic Press. Kindle Edition.

What is life? What is the meaning of life? Does life have meaning?

A murky mirror, a copy - 1 Corinthians 13:12 “For now we see through a mirror indirectly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know completely, just as I have also been completely known.” Hebrews 9:24 “For Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf,” A refection of the real thing.

In all your getting - Proverbs 4:7 “The beginning of wisdom: Get wisdom! With all that is in your possession, gain insight.” Get all you can, when you can, however you can. From the person in the lowest condition in life, to the person in the seemingly highest place, getting things, accumulating things. Look around you, drive around and you see the homeless with carts and boxes full of accumulated things. You see the wealthiest, accumulating things, cars, homes, luxury watches, the list goes on. Accumulation, the desire for accumulation never fully satisfies

The Logos, contrary to what modern thinking tries to propagate, can be known. John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and took up residence among us, and we saw his glory, glory as of the one and only from the Father, full of grace and truth.” The celebrities of this world try to tell you that there is no objective truth, everything is subjective. They try to get you to believe that everything is subjective, meaning that there is no actual truth, just people’s opinions on what they think is the truth.

The way the truth and the life John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Find your way into the light, the true light, the one light. 2 Corinthians 11:12–15 “But what I am doing, I will also do, in order that I may remove the opportunity of those who want an opportunity, that they may be found just as also we are in what they are boasting about. For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not a great thing if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.” Let Jesus direct you into his light, his way, his truth