I did not know that the Eastern Orthodox Church maintains that Christ was born in a cave.  Though this is not found in the Bible, ancient iconography nevertheless makes this assertion.  One might be tempted to dismiss this claim as trifling; however, when we look at Christ’s mission as a whole, we see common bookends: His earthly life began in a cave, and His glorious resurrection occurred in a cave. 

But what of it?  Why might this be significant? 

In Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” we find a group of individuals chained in a cave, forced to look at shadows on the wall, created by another group of individuals behind them.  If you have ever made shadow puppets on the wall, you understand what is going on.  The reality of these chained individuals is completely shaped and determined by others, which amounts to a very sad state of affairs, indeed.  It is hard not to see the comparison.  Not a day goes by without me seeing somebody glued to a screen, imbibing vast quantities of content and, no doubt, being manipulated by it.  They are chained and do not know it.  Perhaps they are even chained and do not care.  Apathy.  An ill of our day, to be sure. 

How would it look if the critical part of the allegory extended into our society right now?  In Plato’s story, somebody breaks free and manages to climb out of the cave and into the sunlight.  At first, he feels discomfort.  His reality has changed, and it does not sit well with him.  But gradually … over time ... he acclimates.  In a phrase, he becomes enlightened.  This is where we get the word, after all.  But he is morally obligated to go even further.  He does not flee from the cave’s mouth.  No.  He descends back in.  On mission to rescue the others and bring them into the light as well. 

Any educator knows this process, but it is fallacious to believe that this mission remains with those officially named as such.  Everybody is ethically bound to be involved – to pull others into the light, to free them from lies. 

This is a story that came out of ancient Greece.  But the event that came out of first century Israel is infinitely more liberating.  The Logos Himself stepped forth from the cave and into the Light of Lights.  Love and truth incarnate.  Love and truth resurrected. 

Even in a culture removed from Old Testament prophecy, thinkers were able to intuit how truth operates – indeed, how we are all meant to respond to what is true and, from there, how we are meant to treat each other.  The free man steps into the light.  The freer man steps into the Light of Christ.  In both cases, the story does not end there, for caves abound, and there is no short supply of puppeteers. 

Once in a while, a book comes along that cuts through all of the noise and speaks directly to something so central about the human experience – loss.  Boone a.k.a. Rawspoon gifts us with a tale about two donkeys whose simple and innocent friendship is suddenly rocked after one of them is sent away.  This event is not presented as death, per se, allowing young readers and listeners the grace to make their own connections; however, to more seasoned individuals, the insinuation is clear.  There is a passing, and there is one left behind to mourn. 

The rest of the story is a lesson in grieving and eventually finding peace.  With engaging and nuanced illustrations also created by the author, Boone delivers a simple message of hope – a message, to be sure, in scant supply these days amidst the cacophony thrust at us the moment we open our eyes in the morning.  The world wants to dominate, wants to remain center stage, so that it can continue to amplify falsehoods about who we are as a species, why we were made, to whom we should be subservient.  In this sense, our perceptions of self, others, and surroundings are under constant siege, and hope, in this contest, has no seat in the war room.  In Squire and Daniel, though, the worldview is markedly different.  It is one grounded in capital T truth – indeed, it is a worldview curiously though not surprisingly being relegated to history as we allegedly move into a post-Christian existence.  The book, therefore, takes a small stand against this turn, plainly insisting that where there is darkness, there can be found glimmers of light, the source of which loved us all into being and will continue to love us even after we all meet our common fate, for, as Saint Paul tells us, “neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

Boone knows this.  His characters live it out.  And his readers and listeners will undoubtedly come away charged with a sense that the pervading voice singing the hymns of the culture of death may very well be mistaken and that it is, in fact, possible – nay, necessary – to reject manufactured opinion and the defeatism it engenders and embrace life here and life beyond. 

https://www.amazon.com/Squire-Daniel-Story-Losing-Friend/dp/0996386920