There is a phenomenon that happens when climbers, sailors, survivors, and polar explores are lost in dire situations and hallucinate a 3rd presence. They feel this presence as if another person is actually with them. The term for this is the 3rd man factor or 3rd man syndrome.
This presence is seen and felt so strongly to the point British alpine climber Frank Smyth tried to share a cake with them. Or seeing a 4th man during an antarctica expedition of only 3 from Sir Ernest Shackleton. This presence guides them, comforts them, and leads them back to safety. Then vanishes. Some have said it’s a coping mechanism, others say an angel. The 3rd man seem to appear in the direst circumstances when no external help is possible. So who is he?
Despite all possibilities, angel or coping mechanism, I feel like there is an obvious answer. If you look at all the world religions and compare, there many spiritual figures all of which offer esoteric wisdom, enlightenment or supernatural powers. All except one. There is only one spiritual figure that “leads”, “comforts” and “protects” especially the lost. So much so his character is described as The Shepherd, who goes out to find the lost wherever they are and brings them back to the fold. He famously speaks about leaving the 99 sheep to find the 1 which is lost.
If you look at the obligations of real-life working shepherds, this is something they are constantly doing. Sheep are notorious for being stubborn, undisciplined, going where they shouldn’t and getting lost. Sheep will, in spite of tremendous efforts, insist on eating dead brown grass, drink from muddy dirty fecal water, wander off, and become cast. Cast is when the sheep lays down on its side, but due to it’s center of gravity rolls onto their back. The sheep panics and tries to get up. It can’t. A cast sheep can die in a few hours when it's hot, or several days in cool weather. So, it is an urgent need for the Shepherd to find it. The shepherd scans the flock every morning, sees who is missing, finds the rogue cast sheep, and right-sides them up. When a shepherd finds it's sheep, he runs towards them as every minute counts. He will pick up the sheep and rub their limbs to bring circulation back. The shepherd doesn’t condemn the sheep, he’s just relieved to find it. Sheep are completely dependent on the Sheppard for fresh food, clean water, and survival in serious spite of it's waywardness. Whoever described sheep as someone who follows the crowd easily is not considering their nature. Sheep are labour intensive, unruly rascals. A herd of loud clouds with a penchant for disobedience.
Sheep are described by Weldon Phillip Keller as embarrassingly similar to humans in regards to folly. We also do not heed prudence and get stuck in disastrous situations we created. It appears we too, like sheep, seem to have a Shepherd who finds us in the depths of remote wilderness, and leads us back.
