The Lions' Den - An allegory

Post Reply New Topic

There is a story in the Bible. It tells the story of Daniel and the Lion's Den. It is said to be a story about faith, but I think it is a story about what IS faith.

Daniel, is known as the man who came alive out of Lions' Den. It is a story not so much about him coming out of the Den, I feel, but about Daniel going IN there to begin with.

The Lion's Den is symbolic. It symbolizes fear and the fact that we must face that fear. Daniel knew that there were lions in there, in the Den. He knew and knowing that fact made him very afraid, he feared, because he knew he could very well be killed. But he went in there anyway.

Daniel faced the fear, and went into the Lion's Den. And 'lo and behold,' the lions did NOT kill him. His fear was all for NOTHING. The lions just sat there and ignored him more or less.

What was Daniel's lesson? He realized that his biggest fear was fear itself. Beause fear means death, fear is the knowledge that awakens inside of us and makes us aware that we can die, cease to exist. That we are mortal, vulnerable and we have an expiration date.

When Daniel came out of the Lion's Den, he had learned that if he could face fear, go inside the Lion's Den and come out ALIVE again. This knowledge allowed him to master the fear of fear, the fear of death; Daniel could face life again. Daniel leared that if he could master death, he could master life.

He also realized that fear was his friend, that fear was there to protect him not to harm him. Once he faced the fear, he saw that fear was only a possibility, not a definite uitcome. He learned to understand the odds of survival.

The odd of survival that told him that if he went into this Den, he coud gointo another Den. Not that he would not feel fear, in the contrary, the more he encoutered fear and faced it, the more he understood life, the more he learned about the secrets of life.

That is wisdom. The kind of wisdom that allows one to understand what faith is. Because to go into the Lion's Den, Daniel had to have faith that he would come out alive. Without this faith, his fear would have had the upper hand and would not have allowed Daniel to go into the Den.

But Daniel learned through the wisdom of the experince what is faith. Daniel came out of the Lion's Den, wise, or ... wiser.

Take your pick.

Star

I don't think he had a choice of whether to go in there or not and think if he had he wouldn't have took that unnecessary risk.
Also I think his faith in this situation was similar to that of Shadrack, Meshack and Abednigo when they were tossed into the furnace, that they would rather die than compromise their faith. They had faith that they could be saved but if they weren't they would die and go back to God which they were fully prepared to do.
It is about giving up the desperate clinging to life at all odds and accepting death, though I am sure they all appreciated still being alive.
I like the story of Esther also when she had to risk her life to ask the King to intervene in the planned killing of the Jews. She reasoned that if she went into see him unbidden she could possibly die but that if she didn't do something then she was also likely to die so she had nothing to loose.
If I am afraid of doing something I try to make myself do it to prove I can and to keep on top of the fear. Fear can be debilitating, I have been too afraid to leave the house, afraid to speak to people, answer the phone etc. but reason the worse thing that can happen in any situation is I will die or be killed and that is not so bad thing to face as it is a release from the pain of this life.

EXACTLY!

We don't have a choice, life does not give us a choice. Life constantly probes us to confront fear. If we choose to face it we learn from it. If we choose to close our eyes and stubbornly withstand the curseof things we will end up feeling more pain.

We have to let go and give ourselves to fear. Give willingly and allow fear to lead us through the Lion's Den. It the passage that matters not whether we come out alive on earth or on heaven. It is whether we experience the passage that counts.

Star

maybe the lions had already eaten and they were full up.

HEHEHEHE!! !!

I guess you don't know the story huh? No if they were already fed they would not have thrown Daniel in there... he was the ... FOOD!

Star

fear is an important factor in faith and in life. i only fear god now.

animals can smell/sense fear, perhaps that is what saved daniel. they couldn't smell it on him.

Very true!

I didn't even think of that. They could not smell the fear on Daniel!

Star

OH my GOSH! I just realized something.

Look at the picture again and unfocus your eyes. Imagine that the figure is standing with his back on the Lions and with his hands tide on the front, his head looks as if it is tilted and is facing upwards!

This gives this whole thing a new aspect. He placed the fear behind him when he looked upwards and realized what was there... He saw the love that came down to him as a light, and that light cast away the fear.

Star

I am sad to see that so few here had anything meaningful to say about an issue, fear and its effect on the life of so many with AS and ASD and other disorders.

Hmmm.... maybe if it was about tickling or sleeping or something else superfecial maybe it would evoke more reactions...

*shaking head in disbelief*

Star

may be the religious angle put people off.
perhaps a thread about coping with fear in general would generate more discussion?

I concur with alex. Faith need not be about religion or even spirituality, and as I'm often focused on those two subjects I have a good idea about how many people react to them. I find it unfortunate that it's so hard to speak about these things openly. It's easier to speak openly about politics, and I've little interest in politics. C'est la vie.

Yes, its a story from the bible but that does not mean it has to be religious! Remember that religionhad its roots in philosophy and philosophy its roots in the primitive form or storytelling that was used for many years to explain things about the human nature and why we as humans do things the way we do. It was mythology that took the place of storytelling which them became religion...

What can be more profound than fear? It is the one instinct that we are ALL born with and don't need to learn! It is the essence of Life itself!! !

Star

willreadthislater

I think the fear would have been more because he had no choice in the matter actually. Regardless, I'm sure the lion's eating him crossed his mind more than once, but he more or less HAD TO accept it because he didn't have a choice as to whether or not to do it. Yes, he knew afterwards that the lions wouldn't eat him and whatnot, but he still prayed right before hand. His faith and beliefs overpowered the fear of being eaten by some measly lions because he accepted that whatever happened was going to happen.

While he realized he could jump in there and come back out alive again most likely, he still opted not to.

I don't know if it has so much to do with facing fear, but accepting it instead. When I think of "facing your fear", I always think of it as being given a choice to stay afraid or to go do it instead. However, I suppose it could be taken that way as well, as he knew the king ordered them not to pray to God anymore, but to pray to him instead, and Daniel still chose to pray to his God, and accepted whatever fate may lie before him the moment he chose to. Which, I find to be more courageous in facing his fear, because what would happen was unknown to him at that moment.

I do have to wonder, with all of the things that could have happened to him, if it seemed as scary as it might sound to be thrown into the lion's den, if the thought ever crossed his mind of "that's all?" lol, because that leaves a 50/50 shot at surviving rather than just being offed right there when they found out.

Maybe a story that serves as a better model is the one of the test administered to Paul Atreides using that odd box and the gom jabbar. Even though he felt the most excruciating pain in the world he had to calm himself or he would die. He had to remain rational and way the consequences out instead of letting his instinctive response rule him.