One paragraph summary

	The main topic of discussion for the beginning of this year can be 
summed up in the quote of Socrates.  “The unexamined life is not worth living.” 
We must struggle to have a metanoia and move out of the dark cave of lies and 
false knowledge which Plato described in his “Allegory of the Cave” and move 
toward the light of  truth, beauty, and reason.  If we don’t end up examining 
our life and the world around us, we will be like the blind men with the 
elephant.  We will remain biased and never see the truth about what is really 
going on around us.  We must accept that the Five Foundational Lessons are true, 
but try to be biased to a lesser degree  and notice the underlying truths that 
shape our decisions. Just as Fr. Hagen said, we must “seek beauty, seek the 
truth, seek goodness. No matter what kind of faith…The one duty in life is to 
seek the truth.”

3 Important Ideas

	(1) Plato’s Allegory of the Cave - It is important because it will help 
us to see the situation we are all in.  We all must strive to get out of the 
cave because, even though the false knowledge of society may seem simpler and 
more enjoyable, the truth will lead us closer to true goodness and will help us 
grow closer to Jesus.  Once we get out of this cave, we must attempt to show 
others that they are still in the cave, even though they may persecute us or 
mock us.  Also, since we may not even know that we are actually still trapped in 
the cave, we must also listen to others that are telling us that we are still in 
the cave because they may be right. 
	(2) The Blind Men and the Elephant - This story is important because we 
must realize that we, like the blind men, can only see one side of the extremely 
large world of knowledge.  This often leads us to be biased and we often cling 
to this bias, no matter how wrong it may be.  We must strive to challenge our 
bias so that we can see the other side of the things that we think we know.  We 
must not quarrel and declare that we must be right unless we have seen and 
understand every side of the situation. (which can often be impossible).  
	(3) Five Foundational Lessons - First we must understand that these are 
existential truths.  Once we accept that, we will be able to deal with the 
inevitable problems that we will face in our lives.  We must try to make our 
natural decisions the right ones.  We must strive to eliminate our bias, even 
though it will never be completely gone).  We must make the right value 
judgments that will best effect our lives and the lives of those around us.  Any 
changes in our beliefs should be lead us closer to truth and not further into 
bad choices and lies.  And, lastly, We must have faith in the right things, and 
trust that those will lead us to true goodness, beauty, and truth.

Question

 	How will we know once we have finally found the truth?  Can we ever be 
sure that we are not still trapped in the cave?  
	My Answer: I think that we can never know when we’ve finally made 
it to the real truth, but as long as we try to follow what Jesus was trying to 
teach us in the Gospels we are moving closer to the truth.  I believe that if 
you are at least moving toward truth, it doesn’t matter if you’ve finally made 
it to the truth above all other truths. As long as you are bettering yourself 
and those around you, the real truth in not necessary. 

How can I try to be more faithful

	The main, vague answer to this is that I need to get out of the cave of 
society’s lies.  One way of doing this is by looking at the world though the 
viewpoints of others.  I need to strive to eliminate my bias and attempt to get 
closer and closer to what I think is the real truth.  One of the ways that I 
plan to attempt this is by debating (not arguing) about topics that we disagree 
on so that I can see how they perceive the situation.  Also,  if someone tries 
to tell me that what I am doing is wrong, I should listen to them because there 
is a chance that I don’t notice that I am still trapped in the cave and they are 
just trying to help me see the truth.