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THE WELL HAS ITS FIRST MEETING IN A NEW BUILDING

Monday, September 6, 2010

My Paradigm Shift




Plato’s Cave is an allegory on our paradigms and our paradigm shifts. A paradigm
contains our understanding of the world around us. It functions as a framework of our
beliefs and causes us to believe, think, and act in certain ways. When a paradigm shifts it
means that we have a new understanding or insight about our world. This usually causes our beliefs to change. Paradigms are expressed through how we live our lives. Most often when beliefs change our actions also change.

During thoughtful consideration of my paradigms and my paradigm shifts I have
Concluded the following parallels from Plato’s Cave:

Plato sets the stage by using a cave as the only reality the prisoners have ever known. They are chained and in a sense bound to that reality. The objects and people whose shadows are cast on the wall by an illuminating fire are representative of the many aspects of our lives. The fire is the illumination of those truths. However, the angle in which the prisoners are view their world skews their perception of the truth to a shadow of truth.

My experience with paradigms and shifting paradigms has been both painful and rewarding process. This paper is not an in-depth theological work but I will attempt to share my experience of a paradigm shift of believing God was angry with me to being thoroughly convinced of His unconditional love for me. My cave was religion. My chains were legalism.

The chains that once held me captive to the cave of religion had been placed upon me by well meaning people. These chains were skewed teachings about God’s character. These shackles locked me into a belief system of self-righteousness, self-condemnation, and legalism- chains I in turn placed on other people. I wanted everyone to see the only reality I had ever known; judgment. My reality was that God was angry at humanity and that our sin was so big the only way God could adequately deal with it was through a process of reward and punishment. Since sin was obviously an issue in my life, (I know my shortcomings) and what I knew of God, that he was holy and couldn’t look upon sin, my paradigm was that of a “conditionally” loving God, a God the Christian church some times portrays. These teachings from the church built my reality. I had a very limited knowledge of grace. All I saw was shadows of Gods goodness on a cave wall. I never knew God.

What I have found to be the most intriguing aspect of the Plato’s Cave allegory is the point that the prisoner could not release himself from his chains. He could not rescue himself from the prison. Someone else had to released him. For my paradigm to shift from a God of wrath and judgment to a God of love, I needed someone to release me from my cave of religious legalism. Within my paradigm I believe that coming to an understanding of the person of Jesus and his finished work of the cross is what set me free. These would fall under 2 picture types within Plato’s Cave allegory.

First, The person that actually set me free would be the person of grace, Jesus Christ. I had to experience Him as a person not a set of doctrinal ideas or chains. His grace is what freed me and changed my perspective of God. Second, would be the cave fire as properly interpreted biblical verses illuminating the work of the cross and His sacrifice. Once both of these were seen in their fullness and no longer as mere shadows, all of my previous beliefs that were contradictory with Gods character were harmonized. My world completely changed. Once the teachings and traditions of men and religion were removed from my understanding my paradigm it shifted. God became an unconditional lover of men not someone looking to smite me.

When my perspective of God changed my behaviors changed also. Once I knew His attitude towards me wasn’t dependant on what I could do for Him, but rather what He already did for me, I was free to no longer strive to win His approval. My self-righteousness ceased. I was at peace with God and rested in His love for me. I was then able to extend grace and not judgment to others.
The bible, my fire, speaks these words; “…and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32 (The Gospel of John, ESV Translation)

The prisoners in Plato’s story are my friends. I have gone back to those in the church to share this new grace I have found. It has been met with unbelief and painful hostility. They could not comprehend this new reality for me or for themselves. Sadly they have lived their life to long believing God is angry with them. And their actions and attitudes have followed. I have seen a very ugly side of religion. I see the prisoners wanting to kill the man that would set them free and parallels to the Gospel records of Jesus coming to set men free from their legalistic understanding of God. The Pharisees sought to kill Jesus- The one that would come to shift their paradigms, the one that would give them new life, and the one that would set the captives free.
Plato’s Cave allegory has been one of the most enlightening works for understanding my paradigm shift of religion.

5 comments:

  1. Interesting analogy; my head hurts now. However, you blew my mind in that I always thought it was spelled "Play dough". Whoops. The C- on my thesis in ancient Greek philosophy makes a lot more sense now, in retrospect.

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  2. Aaron, you write from your heart and what you have DONE, not mere theories or agendas. Notwithstanding eloquence and brilliant development of ideas, you also pay delicate attention to detail, helping to ensure that others have little or no offense, except over what things you in fact address. You are grounded gently, yet firmly, in your convictions.

    It almost seems as if you are not standing-up for yourself, but for those whom we have yet to see find their way out of that same cave. It isn't that you despise the cave masters, but that you love the captives.

    These are apparent as they are respectable.

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  3. Could you expound more on the 'unbelief and painful hostility' that you encountered once you tried to go back and share your new found paradigm?

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  4. Hi Ryan, I experienced hostility in that, people thought I became a heretic and a person condoning sin when i began to share that God's love is truly unconditional. close friends dropped me like a hot potato.

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  5. Man, that is pretty rough. It is never a great experience when close friends treat you as though they no longer know you. How is that you explained their misinterpretation of 'heretic and a person condoning sin'? Those are some pretty strong terms to throw at somebody. Did you pursue any further explanation?

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