Lost

From The Angel of Losses, a Jewish (Eastern Europe) tale
"... a tzaddik who searches after lost things is himself sometimes lost."
(A tzaddik is a "righteous" man, for those not up on the language. Not to imply anything about myself... replace tzaddik with student, or seeker, and you have the same meaning for the overall quote, or the one I get out of it)

Those who know me, if anyone reading this does, will be familiar with the Lost-Visions that is part of my URL for this blog... the lost theme has been long-running for me. Lost Warrior was a past title as well, Lost Visions has been the theme for the past two years or so.

There are many meanings to this use of "lost"... not all of them negative.
For "Lost Warrior" there is always the connotation of someone who has "forgotten the face of his father", lost his warrior way. But there is also, and this is still appropriate, the connotation of a warrior seeking for that which is lost, to him at least - the greater knowledge, the greater truth.
Taking this a step further, this is very introspective, looking for the lost "warrior" within. Joseph Campbell said "The hero has a thousand faces, one of them is yours" - this is what he was talking about, that great journey to find yourself. In a sense all great journeys, all heroic adventures, are a road that leads the hero within, to find that which is hidden, or "lost".
Lost Visions has much the same meaning... the visions of self, the idea of self and the full knowledge of self, are the lost or hidden things within.
But what is the self? What is within that which completes all journeys, all quests?
My take on that is this;
There is a Native American legend (I forget which american aboriginal group at the moment) which says that when the creator made everything, he/she stopped and asked the other spirits (in the form of animals on the earth) how the truth of the universe, of creation, should be protected from man. First it was suggested that the truth be put deep into the earth, but the creator said "No, man will some day go there". Then it was suggested that the truth be put on the moon, and again the creator said "No, man will some day go there".
Finally, after much thought, the creator told the other spirits "Hide it within man themselves. There it will be safe".
Are you beggining to see what I see? The great journey, the adventure into self, is the greatest finding of that which is lost, hidden.
Lost means many things, few of them truly negative... all who seek must at some time be lost, because you cannot find the lost without being lost. Being lost, knowing not where you are, having no reginmented plan of travel, is very much being of "no mind", that nothingness in which all truth comes, the emptiness in which the cup is filled. We can tie togather many religions, many myths, here... because they were all saying the same thing, about wandering, about wondering, about being lost, being empty, making journeys, and finding the hidden/lost, the truths.
Not all those who wander are lost, but not all those who are lost wonder.