Caves are an Instant Refuge From the Storm that Caused Them

How absolutely fantastic would it be to live in a place like this? A house inside a cave. The thing is, often when we think about caves we don't associate beautiful, comfortable things. When I think of caves I imaging dark, damp tunnels with little oxygen that is closing in on me from all sides. In fact, total darkness is part of a cave's definition:
"A cave is a natural underground space large enough for a human to enter. The term applies to natural cavities some part of which is in total darkness"
Most people probably don't know that I'm a little bit claustrophobic. I confirmed the existence of this phobia in my life the last time I went in a cave. Luckily for me, I am capable of realizing that it is an irrational mental thought and for the most part, move past my fear. We'll come back to that thought later. 
So how are caves formed? 
"Caves are formed by various geologic processes. These may involve a combination of chemical processes, erosion from water, tectonic forces, microorganisms, pressure, atmospheric influences, and even digging."
Caves are formed from destruction. Caves are FORMED from DESTRUCTION. It's interesting to think that a destructive process could create something new and beautiful. 


After something in our life is destroyed, a cave is formed. Here are some types of caves:

1. Solutional caves: They are the most common form of caves, usually formed from soft rocks such as limestones that are eroded away by water. 
These types of caves may be situations in our lives that we wish were stronger but there's nothing we can really do about it so drop by drop, we are forced further into the darkness of a constantly forming cave.

2: Primary Caves: These are usually lava tubes, formed when surface lava cools, leaving voids where the lava below the crust flows out.
These caves may be times in our lives when we are sprinting with everything we have but no matter how much we push ourselves we keep being swept out under the surface, leaving empty voids.

3. Sea caves: These are formed along ocean coasts as the result of waves and weak cliffs.
These caves may be formed when we put on a brave face but piece by piece the waves in our lives break us apart.

4. Corrasional/erosional caves: These caves are also formed by water flow except that this time it is a zone of weakness although it can occur in rocks as hard as granite.
These may be the one crack in the solidest parts of who we are. Everyone has a weakness that when attacked for long enough, can erode away even the hardest shells of protection.

The idea of caves came to my mind last night when talking to my roommates in the kitchen and as I was leaving to go back in my room one asked if I was returning to my cave. My cave... Well of course my mind took off in a thousand different directions, figuring out what my caves are and what kind of parallels I could line up with caves. 

Here's what I came up with:

I have three main physical caves:

The first is my bedroom. I absolutely love my bedroom. I fell in love with it the first time I saw it and it is the main reason I bought the house that I did. It was the last room in my house that I worked on, partially because other demands came first but part of it was because I wanted to make it perfect and I was still planning how to do so. For those of you who have not seen my bedroom, it has a vaulted ceiling with a mirror covering an entire wall. It has a big sliding door our to my back porch and a walk-in closet along with a huge shower. I covered the walls with bright green, teal, and light blue paint along with ocean/ship themed decorations. I have a string door separating the bedroom area from the rest of the room with thick shag carpet on one side and light gray porcelain tile on the other. My bathroom is magenta and dark gray with a blue and green flower border joining the two together. I took out the shower doors and replaced them with a colorful shower curtain. My bed is cherrywood from a thrift store nearby, accompanied with a soft gray couch and a white wicker desk. I can explain to you why I chose every part of my room and why I love it. 

So why is it a cave? It is where I hide from the world. I know that I can go in my room and in it I feel entirely safe and comfortable and calm because it is created by me. It is a perfect world that I have created and in it I feel protected. I have complete control of my room.

My second physical cave is the Dietz Museum at ASU where I spend a majority of my time on campus. It's where I work for my job. It's where I work for GeoClub. It's where I hide from a noisy campus and work on homework or catch up on a tv episode. The museum is somewhere that is very much me. And in it I have control and traces showing what I have made it become. I feel safe there because it is mine.

My last physical cave is a location that only my closest friends know about. It is where I go to hide and find myself when my world is crashing down. This place is filled with memories and is a connection of things that have defined who I am. In this place I feel free from pain and other people. In this place I can be whatever I decide I want to. Complete control. 

People also have mental/emotional caves. 

Those kinds of caves in my life are where I hide when I don't want to accept (or can't) understand something. I don't know what to do and the destructive situation is causing so much turmoil in my life that it creates one of these caves. Everyone has at least one cave in their life whether it lasts five minutes or a life time. It is where we withdraw to hide in complete darkness where we know that we are protected and that we have control and where we don't have to fear from others because as we hide, we are in control. 

Where are your caves? Both physically and mentally/emotionally? 

And is it time to see some sunshine?

I know I'm a little bit more pale than I'd like to be.