One Lost Sheep

Post questions or suggestions here.
Post Reply
User avatar
Kelly Jones
Posts: 2665
Joined: Wed Mar 22, 2006 3:51 pm
Location: Australia
Contact:

One Lost Sheep

Post by Kelly Jones » Tue Aug 29, 2006 1:11 pm

Is the Good Shepherd a social myth, a disguise for the good husband and father?

Is providing sheep with good pasture the wise man's highest purpose?

Is bringing that one precious lost sheep back to the "fold" the greatest purpose of the enlightened?

.

BJMcGilly
Posts: 60
Joined: Sun Jul 23, 2006 10:33 am
Location: NY

Post by BJMcGilly » Wed Aug 30, 2006 2:08 pm

Hi Kelly,

I'm not sure how relevant the following is to your queries, but I thought it amusing when first I learned of it:

Apparently, when a shepherd finds the sheep who wandered away... usually the first and last time is as a lamb, the shepherd would take his staff (in the catholic religion this is represented as the hooked staff bishops and the like carry) and break the lamb's leg. The long and painful healing process required the shepherd to carry the lamb over his shoulders and to hand-feed it, as it could not stand for mom's teat.

This formed a powerful bond of dependence between the lamb and his shepherd.

Says so much about xians...

User avatar
Kelly Jones
Posts: 2665
Joined: Wed Mar 22, 2006 3:51 pm
Location: Australia
Contact:

Post by Kelly Jones » Wed Aug 30, 2006 5:01 pm

That is funny....and sad. Reminds me a bit of Adam Sandler's movie "50 First Dates". The sheepy mind so forgetful it has to be shocked to develop memory and have an ego - yet even then the ego created is so weak it cannot leave the herd or shepherd.

I'd like to interpret the lost sheep as ignorance. It's probably more often interpreted as a "prodigal son" who's treading on toes.

.

User avatar
Diebert van Rhijn
Posts: 6469
Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2005 4:43 pm

Re: One Lost Sheep

Post by Diebert van Rhijn » Wed Aug 30, 2006 9:58 pm

Kelly Jones wrote:Is bringing that one precious lost sheep back to the "fold" the greatest purpose of the enlightened?
I don't think the 'fold' here is meant to be taken in the social sense. There's the old zen story of the ox herding that in my view attempts to describe the same process with a more developed plot.

The lost sheep is not different from what has been called 'the heroes quest' and 'the fools journey'. The ending is always the same in the sense that from a certain perspective one can say nothing has been accomplished at all. A lot of trouble for nothing?

The gospel according to Thomas describes it like:
Thomas wrote:Jesus said: The kingdom is like a shepherd who had a hundred sheep; one of them, the biggest, went astray; he left the ninety-nine and sought after the one until he found it. After he had laboured, he said to the sheep: I love you more than the ninety-nine.
To me this can only point to the journey of developing consciousness: the seeker, the thinker, indeed the ego (sense of individual) that finds itself to be separated. The object of the quest is delusional and then again it's also delusional to say that without knowing in what way it's delusional. The shepherd breaking the leg that McGilly describes is interesting but only fitting since one has to let go of ego before the journey is complete.

I wouldn't worry too much about the identity of the shepherd. I think that shouldn't be thought of in terms of enlightened people even while it could take that form for some. In all traditions the shepherd is function or principle.

Post Reply