Click for audio: Soul Recovery
“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it?” Luke 15:4
This parable of the lost sheep describes perfectly the notion of the complete soul. Most people on the spiritual path see themselves as owning ninety-nine sheep and dreaming of someday acquiring the hundredth. This parable points out that we are already in ownership of the hundred, but one has strayed.
In light of our spiritual quest, the missing sheep represents the complete soul. The ninety-nine sheep represent our normal, daily awareness that, in itself, seems adequate, though we feel like something is missing. Our flock has not quite reached the magic one-hundred mark of fulfillment. We need that one more sheep of spiritual awareness, which we believe we will acquire with more work and study.
Looking for a thing you have lost is different from hoping for a thing you do not have. The first involves acquisition; the second involves recovery. If we are seeking to acquire spiritual fulfillment, we will likely turn to things outside of ourselves. If we are seeking to recover a spiritual awareness we already have but have forgotten, we will turn within and wait patiently for its revelation.
The parable also points to a very important aspect that people often overlook. We seem to be satisfied having someone tell us that we actually own one-hundred sheep even though one has wandered off. The parable encourages an all-out search for the missing sheep. The ninety-nine will be fine while we spend time turning our attention away from them in search of the lost one.
In meditation, we close our eyes to the ninety-nine—all those many external distractions that occupy our mind—and we turn our attention to the internal fountain that is our soul. Our attention, our receptivity is grounded in the absolute knowing that the spiritual light we are seeking now radiates from our spiritual center, the complete soul.