How does Aletheia save us from the shadows of Lethe? The mythological river Lethe in the kingdom of Hades is the river of âoblivion.â Lethe means oblivion or forgetfulness. The river flows through hell, and whatever falls into Lethe is forgotten.
Surprisingly, Lethe is related to the Greek aletheia, truth. The prefix âaâ means âthe opposite ofâ and Lethe means oblivion. Truth is something that doesnât fall into Lethe. In Greek, aletheia is something that doesnât fall into oblivion.
Salvaged time is the time snatched from oblivion. It is aletheia.
âYes, says the Spirit, they are blessed indeed, for they will rest from their hard work; for their good deeds follow them!â Rev. 14:13
Whatever we have done in chronological time to transcend chronological time remains. It follows us. It has been saved from Lethe. It is aletheia. It cannot disappear. Michelangelo said,
âThe true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection.â
In aletheia, we turn shadows into glimpses of divine perfection. They cannot disappear. We do something âinto the law in which we were madeâ – to use Tolkienâs vernacular. We become sub-creators.
We have glimpsed divine perfection, and we reproduce it within the confines of our shadow world. The only way to salvage the world of shadows from falling into the shadow of oblivion is to transcend the shadows.
Whether we bake bread, write articles, talk to a friend over a cup of tea, build a cathedral, or fix cars – if we glimpse and reflect the divine spark in what we do, we engage in aletheia. We transcend the shadow land.
Everything in the shadow land is a shadow until we see through it and infuse it with divine perfection. We can do it by virtue of our divine birth. We have that spark in us. We are that spark. We are but shadows transcending ourselves by pursuing aletheia every moment of the day.
How does Aletheia save us from the shadows of Lethe? When we pursue aletheia, it follows us. We rise above Lethe. We are timeless.
âGreat art is an instant arrested in eternity.â James Huniker
