Come Out Of Your Cave: Doxa, Habitus, Plato, and Lewis

"So come out of your cave walking on your hands, and see the world hanging upside down.

You can understand dependence when you know the Maker's mind."

--- The Cave, by Mumford & Sons

I have always enjoyed sociology. But for people's daily bullshit, I would've made a good sociologist. Where psychology is "nature", sociology is "nurture". Pierre Bourdieu was a French sociologist who redefined how the modern era views power, social hierarchy, and the "invisible" ways in which social class is reproduced through generations. In his way of thought, our acceptance of our social station becomes the very weight that prevents us from ascending beyond it...dominant social trends for everything from food to clothes to music to careers are siren calls. If the herd is doing it, we want to do it, too, and we convince ourselves to try. The Convincing and the Trying are evidence that we have been poisoned by society to be believe that we "must do it their way". And that's the trap.

In Bourdieu's world, there are two kinds of people: 1) those who play the game by the rules, 2) those who play the game by the seat of their pants. Doxa is the "internal excellence of the external excellencies of God." Doxa occurs when we forget the rules, or limits, that have given rise to unequal divisions in society. Habitus is less about relating to the rules and more about how one's perspective makes the rules unfair. Habitus is ‘the way society becomes deposited into persons in the form of lasting dispositions". Habitus is generational ick.

Here, English and History students, is where it gets interesting. Doxa, as a word, evolved and derived from the ancient Greek word "dokein", which meant "opinion". By the time of the Septuagint and the New Testament, the Greek word "doxa" had come to mean "glory". "Kevod" is another word in Greek closely associated with this word Doxa. In Bourdieu's writing and in his argument, the word "doxa" means "natural", as in "natural order of things".

OPINION - GLORY - NATURAL

The narrative of the evolution of the words is telling. Doxa, at the end of the day, seems to be about the idea of the natural state of the human condition. We must transcend Habitus to Doxa. That's the 10 cent version of the story.

But MY point is the middle chapter where "Doxa" gets all twisted with "Kevod". The Greek "Kevod" evolved from the Hebrew "Kavod", which was used over 700 times throughout the Old Testament to describe the visible, audible, tangible, radiant aura and power of God. God's most powerful appearances in the Old Testament are closely associated with this word. Kavod, in English, literally means "honor, respect, Glory, or weight". Kavod is the Melam. The Halo. What Enki taught Moses on the mountaintop. Here, we see that word intimately tied to words that describe human potential, human reason, and the innate human condition. The addition of the Hebrew word makes a difference in the overall story of the idea:

POWER - OPINION - GLORY - NATURAL

I see an intact etymological path. If not for the word itself, then for the idea it represents. Glory - Glory - Glory - Glory. I see an idea that moved and morphed between and through words and sounds over time, depending on the particular depth of the slumber of the people that gave meaning to it. One generation's "bad" is another generation's "cool". The ancient Sumeriams originated the term "melam" to describe the "visual effect of the power of the gods". They had another word to describe its physical effects on humans- "ni". In their time, it was associated with Raw Power. The English Bible translated Kavod to Glory. "Let me see your Glory," said Moses. God corrected him that it was his Power that was visible. In the Classical Period, Plato's elevation of Opinions to near divine levels makes sense for that era. Plato and other philosophers were depicted with a halo in classical art. The people of the time associated them with the Melam of the gods. In that culture, as the pendulum swung back, we see a walk-back of the meaning of the word...the power of human opinion becomes muted once again, in favor of abstract divine glory. Our own modern elevation of the Self (or Natural State) and the resulting conflation with the divine is also quite sensible in Bourdieu's era. Taken as one, this legacy ties the natural condition of humans to either a "god-like ability" OR a "superhuman ability" to increase our vibration until our aura becomes visible. It's a stretch, but it's intellectually palatable based on the history of the idea as shown over time through words, collectively. It's an idea that humans sometimes forget, or at least get a little fuzzy on, in their collective journey. We do try.

Putting all of this together as a mashup of explanations or definitions for the idea of "Doxa" that Moses, Bourdieu, Plato, and Lewis (I'm getting to him) might agree on, one might suggest that "the idea of Doxa and transcending Habitus has everything to do with an awareness and activation of our natural state on a vibrational level, by way of an intentional effort to Reason with and question ourselves, our world, and our gods." Indeed, Plato and Lewis write much about standing with authority and openly questioning the known powers of the universe. Why with authority and questioning? Because we have a power, too. To use it, we must remember it. Our courage matters, both the getting it and the showing it. Our frequency matters. Our species has a resonant frequency. So do our Creators. Doxa is about maintaining the proper frequency of our natural, intended state. Ascension, raising our frequency.

Doxa, Reason, and the glowing, radiant Melam are all signs that a wake up call has been received by a human soul and the process of waking up has begun. The internal excellency of the external excellencies of God. The radiant glow- the halo- is a visible sign of internal work, not a cause or a driver of the condition. To encounter a human being actively questioning his or her Self or God, is to witness a human being that is evolving through Doxa by way of Reason. Treat those humans with Grace, lest you become a stumbling block. Only fools are afraid to ask. But questioning isn't the solution, it's the path. A heart that burns with eternal questions IS the mark of the gods. Wake up...

In his time, Plato broke from his teacher's empirical and observable framework of thought. Aristotle the teacher was a man of science, after all. Plato pushed this boundary, realizing that the unseen is as important as the seen. Plato distinguished heavily between ideas and appearances. Plato viewed the Intelligible World of Ideas as eternal and unchanging while the Visible World of Appearances is the physical world we inhabit and experience through our 5 senses. Appearances are Distraction. Emotion is transient, changing, and lightning fast. Ideas are both the goal and the prize. Ideas are the source of all Truth. Humans can only reach the Intelligible world, or Ideas, through Reason and Questioning.

Plato saw a grave and existential danger in our emotions. His Allegory of the Cave describes prisoners chained to a wall inside of a firelit cave. As the fire dances and casts shadows on the walls of the cave, the prisoners see shapes, flickers, shadows, and smoke, which they mistake for pictures and images of the outside world. They deceive themselves and remain in their slumber, never realizing the truth of their reality. The picture Plato figuratively paints on the wall of his cave is that of Man sleeping beneath the warm lies of comfortable familiarity, lying to himself that he sees God or himself in the dancing shadows.

Modern militant-atheist-turned-Christian-apologist/author-and-tormentor-of-JR-Tolkien C.S.Lewis beautifully illustrated and re-imagined Plato's story in the final entry to one of his most beloved works. Of Narnia fame, The Last Battle describes the final moments of Aslan's creation. As his Narnian people are united with their fates, and in the dying moments of the Narnian universe, as they pass through the magical door of the stable, they find themselves in Aslan's country. Death was but a step. The Narnians all, in each their own time, came to realize that Heaven is real. Heaven is now. Life is over. This is forever, and all of the ecstasy and joy and celebration that comes with that. ...for the most part.

The Narnian Dwarves, having been traitors in life, now in death entered Aslan's country differently. Obliviously. The dwarves, once entered, clustered to themselves and sat in a circle on the ground in the middle of a sunlit field. They imagined themselves to be still clustered inside the stable in Narnia. They slept through their own ascension. They exemplify The Cave by choosing to remain in a self-imposed, dark, and illusory mental prison rather than accepting the reality of where they actually are. Having been tricked, they refuse to be "fooled" again, and thus perceive the shining paradise around them as a dark stable, preferring the safety of their delusions, much like the chained prisoners in Plato's cave. 

They were, in fact, in Aslan's Country. Even when shown evidence, they did not allow themselves to see it. Thus, they sat in Paradise- within their self-imposed Stable, damned by their Habitus- at their point of death, and actively imagined and discussed their own suffering while the rest of the Narnians ascended Further Up and Further In. The Dwarves were for the Dwarves.

The transient and intoxicating nature of Man's lived and perceived experience was why Plato believed that, ultimately, Man could not trust his experience and all that came with it. Rather, it was the Eye of the Mind, or Reason- Bourdieu's Doxa- that was the only true path to Higher Understanding. His focus on the Immutable Forms, or Ideas, such as Beauty, Justice, Circularity, Truth, etc. and their eternal nature as opposed to our material concerns about them, is a message of Ascension. Eyes up. As in, to Beauty itself...NOT the physical manifestations of it. According to Plato, Humanity cannot "Be Beauty", we can only participate in it. We cannot ascend by focusing on beautiful things. We must focus on the appreciation of Beauty itself. We cannot be Justice, though we can be Just. We cannot ascend by focusing on acts of justice or injustice. Instead, focus on the very idea that Justice exists at all. The wonder of it. And so on.

So in Plato's Cave, as in Lewis' Narnia. In the same chapter, same book that left the Dwarves to wallow in their hell, we encounter a young Taarkan. In the Narnian world, Taarkans were the bad guys, and Tash was their god. Narnians, created by Aslan, were good. This particular Taarkan was a true believer in Tash. He was confounded by his presence in Aslan's country, but swore that, since he was there, he would find Aslan, and either kill him or accept his own death for being so very wrong. Soon enough, the Taarkan meets Aslan face to face (as do all who truly seek) and his fate is suddenly at hand. Heaven is here. Heaven is now. I will not attempt to carry Lewis' pen. He will convey his own words and meaning:

Then I fell at his feet and thought, Surely this is the hour of death, for the Lion (who is worthy of all honour) will know that I have served Tash all my days and not him. Nevertheless, it is better to see the Lion and die than to be Tisroc of the world and live and not to have seen him.

But the Glorious One bent down his golden head and touched my forehead with his tongue and said, Son, thou art welcome. But I said, Alas, Lord, I am no son of Thine but the servant of Tash. He answered, Child, all the service thou hast done to Tash, I account as service done to me.

Then by reason of my great desire for wisdom and understanding, I overcame my fear and questioned the Glorious One and said, Lord, is it then true, as the Ape said, that thou and Tash are one? The Lion growled so that the earth shook (but his wrath was not against me) and said, It is false. Not because he and I are one, but because we are opposites, I take to me the services which thou hast done to him, for I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him. Therefore if any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath's sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him. And if any man do a cruelty in my name, then, though he says the name Aslan, it is Tash whom he serves and by Tash his deed is accepted. Dost thou understand, Child?

I said, Lord, thou knowest how much I understand. But I said also (for the truth constrained me), Yet I have been seeking Tash all my days. Beloved, said the Glorious One, unless thy desire had been for me thou wouldst not have sought so long and so truly. For all find what they truly seek.

"Then he breathed upon me and took away the trembling from my limbs and caused me to stand upon my feet. And after that, he said not much but that we should meet again, and I must go further up and further in. Then he turned him about in a storm and flurry of gold and was gone suddenly.

A Master of his Wordcraft, is Mr. Lewis. Tip of the hat, Sir. The Taarkan, in his own experience and telling, "by reason of my great desire for wisdom and understanding, I overcame my fear and questioned the Glorious One". As Job demanded account of Enlil and Enki (as YHWH)...as Moses stood and often bordered on arguing with Elohim (Enki)...as David stood stone stoic before half-bred giants and slung a perfect pebble... and as David, in the next breath, could fall on his face and beg his El Shaddai (Enki) for the very strength to apologize for things he didn't yet realize he'd done ...it is humanity's purpose to ascend, and in this story, ascension isn't possible unless we stand and question. Ask for our damned selves, and we shall receive. It isn't necessarily getting the correct answers that is the point. The point is knowing to ask the right questions. The point is having the courage of conviction to ask at all though the answer may mean your life or your sanity. That's on us, you know. We have to do that work that gets us there, to that point of asking. And sometimes, it extracts a heavy cost.

The Taarkan asked and was given truth and welcomed Futher Up and Further In. His heart was purely set on TRUTH itself. Not the figure of Tash. Plato's Immutable Forms. Tash is the flickering shadow of Distraction. In Narnia, that is.

We have other things in our own Caves.

https://youtu.be/x6rYPHmSzcE?si=M4niEOkLg7bRYAuC