MODERN-DAY CAVEMEN
A
rich man went to a desert monk to seek counsel regarding his
unexplained loneliness. “Look, I have money and all these silver but I
feel unhappy,” said the man. The monk took a mirror, placed it before
the man and asked, “What do you see?” The man replied, “I can see only
myself.”
The monk then took the mirror and scraped out the silver coating behind
it. Once more, he placed it before the man and asked, “Now what do you
see?” Surprised, the man said, “Why, I see everything now: the plants,
the river, the mountain, people fishing in the river.”
The monk then continued, “This is what silver (riches) can do. It can
block our vision and make us see only ourselves. Maybe you should try
scraping off your silver and then you will see beyond yourself.”
When we cannot see beyond ourselves, we are isolated, alone and
therefore lonely deep within. In the Gospel parable, Jesus spoke of the
danger of riches by speaking about a man who isolated himself from the rest
by building a wall to protect himself and his riches. At the end of the
parable, he was called a “fool” since he was about to die that same
night and he could not bring all his riches with him.
The Greek word used for the word fool in the Bible is idiotes — one who is alone. St. Augustine describes a sinner as curvatus in se, Latin
for “caved in on himself.” An idiot is not only one who is alone in not
understanding what everybody else understands. An idiot is also one who
is alone because he is closed in on himself — unable to see others
because he is blinded by fear, insecurity and greed.
We can really be fools sometimes. We ennoble the trivial and trivialize the noble. Fr. Joel O. Jason
REFLECTION QUESTION: Are you a modern-day caveman? Go out of your cave walls and experience the beauty of people and the world.
I thank You, Lord, for Your providence. Allow them not to stand in the way but rather be the way to You and others. Amen.
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