“How did you know?”
“Know?”
“That I’d be here.”
“It’s where you always come when you want to be alone.”
Draping the air as fog on an early summer morning, the silence clung to the particles of the atmosphere, cloaking its visitors.
“Are you okay?”
“Now… I am now.”
“What changed?”
“Me.”
“How so?”
“Before I can tell you, there’s a more pressing thought?”
“Will you share?”
“It’s not comfortable.”
“That’s okay. I prefer you share to comfort.”
“Comfort… it’s comfortable to observe the world while keeping it as arm’s length bay.”
“What is it you observe?”
“Stronghold towers.”
Fog… silence…waiting…
“People create stronghold towers… they live in them… they stay in the stronghold of their constructed walls so they can feel comfortable. They are afraid of what’s outside, but really what they fear lurks inside.”
“I’m not sure I understand.”
“It’s okay, I’m not sure I understand myself… it’s just an observation.”
Stillness… “It’s okay, you can explain, you are safe here,” whispers the voice.
“Remember the Allegory of the Caves?”
“Vaguely…”
“The cave… all the trapped souls within, but they don’t believe themselves trapped. They believe they are safe in the darkness of the cave. Yet one day… one man gathers the courage to leave. The light hurts his eyes and he must move slowly to allow his orbs times to adjust, but when he finally emerges, he realizes the cave is not a stronghold tower but rather a prison and the freedom awaits outside.”
“What does he do?”
“He returns to tell the others about the freedom awaiting them…”
Silence…
“And?”
“They laugh at him, mock him, tell him he’s crazy… demand he stay with them in the darkness. This saddens him because he finally sees the truth, but they refuse to believe him. “We’ve always lived here,” they say, “We trust this cave because it’s what we know.”
“What does he do?”
“He leaves… he breaks free of the stronghold of the false tower and when he emerges for the last time, he shudders… casting off the darkness, leaving it behind because he knows that even if alone, he’d rather be alone and free than surrounded by a thousand imprisoned in the stronghold of a belief drapes their minds and souls, anchoring them to the darkness.”
Moving the air particles, hands join forming a circle of love.
“Going back to the beginning… I’ve changed. The darkness has been caste off and I am now free because I walk toward the son.”
“I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.” John 12:46
ycharper 