So according to one of my best friends, who is a atheist, agnostic, non believer, I am currently living in a cave. Not that I think it is true but he mentions Plato's Allegory of the Cave to me all the time and how I am one of the people who is tied down and unable to leave the cave and will only ever believe what I have been taught to believe, what I have been taught was the truth. So to make him happy I read Dawkins "God Delusion" this spring and found that as my scientific brain agreed with a lot of the possibilities that was presented, but I choose not to change my mind, not to change my beliefs, on account of others believing what I do not. I guess I choose to chain myself back into the cave, if I ever really left in the first place. Those who know I read the book questioned why would I read it, why would I waist my time reading something that was untrue to them, and my response was that it did help enlighten me to more of what is out there in the world, while still holding my own personal beliefs. I think it is because they are not as open to other beliefs as I am, maybe not as enlightened. As I have seen in the past it is hard for one person to be open to the ideas of another when they conflict 100% with there own beliefs.
In the above I stated that me being a Christian might be my cave so researching and understanding more of my place and thinking of "ascension" makes me think of being a better christian, of knowing more about the history of the church and the people it is made up of. I think that understanding will help me be more enlightened and a better member of my church and a better person through better understanding of my faith.
Because of your ability to consider that there are other beliefs is a sign of ascension. I think What Socrates is getting at is that if we don't keep our heads buried in the sand all the time, we are prisoners to the shadows of ignorance.
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