But most of my students possess an inquiring faith. They initially appreciate the Ignatian ideal of education for personal growth and public benefit. Similarly, Plato's cave myth suggests how to both gain knowledge and educate social leaders to put it to use. Caves play an important role in the history of religion. They star in creation myths, figure in complex religious cosmologies and provide concrete places for conducting sacred rituals.
Caves also convey faith.
As caves serve a variety of functions in the history of religion, so also do caves facilitate different forms of faith. Yet another faith sustains human inquiry for truth. I believe all my students have one or more forms of faith, expressed in one or more combinations of forms. Of course, I often wish their aspiring faiths reached higher, or their encompassing faiths were richer, or their inquiring faiths were more courageous. But I must meet and perk them where they are, lest their cavernous faiths become hollowed.