“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.”
– Joseph Campbell
I love the Disney movie Aladdin. Lately I’ve been thinking about when he entered the cave of wonders and what happened there. First, he had to be the right one to enter. In a sense, the cave of wonders was his calling. He was told to touch nothing but the lamp.
Our cave of wonders can be very frightening at first, mostly because we don’t feel like we’re worthy to enter this cave. Most people will actually get to the entrance of the cave and stop or turn back, because they can’t see what’s inside. That’s the first part of the test: do you have the courage to answer that higher calling and step across the threshold?
Aladdin was faced with a lot of sparkling, glittering distractions while he explored that cave of wonders. How often in our journey do we get sidetracked by a sparkly distraction? He also found a magic carpet that pointed him in the right direction. We, too, are given people who help us in our exploring to stay on the right track and keep moving.
When Aladdin found his lamp, it wasn’t anything like he imagined it would be. In fact, it was so much more astounding than he at first realized!
The treasure you seek truly is inside your cave. That cave can be filled with wonder or filled with fear; you choose your perspective. But the treasure at the end is far greater than you can now imagine, and worth every effort to stay on course and blast through that fear!
What fear keeps you from entering your cave of wonders?
There are great analogies everywhere! Thanks for pointing these ones out! 🙂