Savage’s dream of the communal grotto (cave) near the sea is interesting. It seems to be the inverse of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave in that the universal language of community and friendship (the logos of love) rises above the unknown form of language (shadow on the wall) spoken by the attendees and grants Michael peace.

Of course the primary expression of logos is speech, viz “Let there be light…” as quoted in the beginning of Genesis.

The dream appears to be looking at the cave (intellect, reason and logical alone?), not from the perspective of being a bound observer watching the shadows of reality that appear on the wall as separate forms, but being outside and free of it, in the coolness (shadow) of the grotto and transcending it through being-ness: union with others and relationship, near the sea (symbol of the source?).

In this atmosphere of friendship the air (breath/soul) is purer and the atmosphere more conducive to life under dualist true light of the natural sun, within the Eden-esque ambit of the temperate grotto, not the manmade light of the fire within the boundaries of the cave.

In other words outside the confines of the cave: logic and reason alone, the chains of materialism and time something higher and finer than form flourishes (spirit): love, community, friendship and happiness…and Michael’s experience in the dream provides intimations of their eternal shapes as “artifacts of wholeness.”

This reminds me of something I read by M. Scott Peck, MD – if I remember right – of a dream he had of a place he was at, waiting for a short time, before he got to heaven. A sort of country club-like ante room full of people before eternity. A rather nice, relaxing place. Definitely not the Purgatory I’ve read about as a Catholic and better sounding Hades/Sheol for sure…

It would seem that the heat of the sun (face of God?) is too intense to bear at the moment and the coolness of the grotto allows time for people to acclimate to the supernal verities by shedding prior, inhibiting, carnal attachments via relationship and friendship…the currency of heaven?

Quote:

In the allegory, Plato describes people who have spent their lives chained in a cave facing a blank wall. They watch shadows projected onto the wall by objects passing in front of a fire behind them, and they give names to these shadows. The shadows are the prisoners’ reality but not accurate representations of the real world. The shadows represent the fragment of reality we can perceive through our senses, while the objects under the Sun represent the true forms of objects that we can only perceive through reason. Three higher levels exist: natural science; deductive mathematics, geometry, and logic; and the theory of forms.

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Of course, the Perennialist thinkers shouldn’t be discounted when discussing world religions. See the videos below…