Homecoming Part 3

September 10, 2026

I was happy at college. I had friends and thrived on my courses and activities, but something was always missing. I longed for home. Truly, there was no place like home, the place of my truest identity—where, from the first day of my life, I was loved most completely and where, in turn, I loved most deeply. I didn't want to live at home, but I missed it. I wished that I could carry the feeling of home with me in my new life at school. 

As I grew up, I would eventually have my own home I would love my new family deeply, but for many years even after establishing my own home, the place I had first called home, meant something very special—something essential to me. Why? Because it held the loved ones who brought me into being, the friends and neighbors who were part of my core identity, the sights, sounds, smells, and sensations that first made me feel wanted, needed, known, affirmed, and cared for. It was a place in which I had bloomed and in which I would always belong. 

As I think about that longing now, I wonder whether our yearning for home points to something even deeper. I believe the soul, too, has a home. It is not a physical place but a place within our hearts. It is that deepest place within us where we know ourselves to be loved, known, and at one with the Divine. It is our spiritual core—a place to which we return throughout our lives. There we are reminded that we are loved, our spiritual energy is recharged, and our purpose is reaffirmed. 

In fact, the soul’s home base is the inner place from which we leave for our odysseys, adventures, and our various explorations. We can journey through life in conscious connection with our souls, or we can become so distracted by the outer world that we lose awareness of that inner home. But we never forget the sense of peace and comfort experienced in our soul’s home. 

The baby cub, bird, or puppy may venture away from the den or nest, but as soon as a hint of danger comes their way, like lightning, they scurry back to home base. We are similar. Our egos seek outer experiences, but when danger, wounding, or peril appears, we seek our safe place—the place our soul is at home. 

But there may be a problem finding our way back. Some places promise refuge but do not give it. Some states of consciousness are only imitators of the soul’s home. We may mistake achievement, approval, possessions, certainty, or even familiar patterns of ego for home, only to discover that they cannot give us inner alignment with the Divine for which our soul longs.

I am reminded of what happened to the prodigal son. He left home for his own odyssey. His way failed miserably. He ended up living in a pigsty. When Jesus told this parable, he described the prodigal son’s realization that he needed to return to his soul’s home in the following words: 

“… he came to his senses.” (Luke 15:17) 

What a vivid description of someone becoming conscious. Before he could come home physically, something within had already begun the journey to his soul’s home. 

We all do this in our own way. We venture from the comfort of our soul’s home to go on our odysseys. We experience spiritual challenges and even existential crises. We take what we learned from them and amalgamate and embody their truths in our spiritual core—our soul’s home. 

Spiritual Practice and Inquiry

How would you describe your condition when you are in your soul’s home? 

Prayer

Dear God, 

My soul is most at home when I am with You, when aligned with Your will, and in harmony with myself and others. Your home for my soul is my refuge and my strength.

Amen