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Breaking Out of PrisonThe dark cave of one's own mind may boast of its accomplishments and capabilities, but it is found repeating itself as if it were intoxicated, trying all choices except the right one. We are guilty of unwittingly imprisoning ourselves with our own imaginations and sealing our doom with remorse and self-pity because in this world, "all is vanity and vexation of spirit" (Eccl 1:14). We seek comfort in misery by attempting to draw others into our prison cell, but no one who recognizes the trap finds that invitation attractive. We say we have options, but our personal space is limited. "Dr. Chapman . . . in a published essay said: . . . 'Dark and perplexed, our devious career resembles the groping of Homer's Cyclops around his cave'" (SH 163:19). Dr. Chapman was referring to medical research, but the metaphor is applicable to mortal thought in general. We attempt love, health, and happiness with trepidation because we are not "leaning on the sustaining infinite" (SH vii:1). The call of conscience is perpetual and universal: "Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty" (II Cor 6:17?18). Lest we be tempted to avoid our neighbor in bondage, remember that when Peter was put in prison, "prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him" (Act 12:5). If the elders of the church could love Peter out of prison, so can we love our neighbors and ourselves out of the clutch of affliction. Infinite Mind is free and fearless, for it already knows all, "declaring the end from the beginning" (Isa 46:10). "Push onward, until boundless thought walks enraptured, and conception unconfined is winged to reach the divine glory" (SH 323:10). George Denninger © |