Tending the Soil Part 2

Welcome back everyone! Last time, we began an in-depth look at the parable of the sower. Specifically, we’re looking at the intentions of the heart and unconscious mind, as represented by the various types of soil described by Jesus. We touched on the first last time, but today I want to expand a little and move into the others.

The Path

So first, the seed falls on the path, where it is seized and devoured by opportunistic birds. This seed never takes root at all, because it is not understood. As we discussed last time, it’s not for lack of intelligence. I have known mentally handicapped people of faith, and I have known geniuses of faith. The same is true for atheists, and people of other religions.

Note the nature of the path, which is unreceptive and impenetrable precisely because it is already fixed on a worldly destination. As the Buddhists would say, you cannot fill a cup that is already full. This is common sense, and also supported by numerous other scriptures, like 1 Corinthians 2, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”

The birds in this parable, which Jesus likens to the “evil one” act as scavengers. They do not produce anything in themselves, nor do they attack and carry off by force. They simply devour unwanted goodness—the good left by the wayside. The sower constantly scatters the seeds of life, and it is up to us to seize all that we can, because their opportunities do not last forever. The heart intention of the path is already “full” of the world’s urgency, uncomprehending of deep meanings for want of concern, because the focus is set far off on some self-made goal.

The Rocky Soil

After the path, the seed falls on shallow, rocky soil. Interestingly, these seeds spring up at once, perhaps even faster than the good soil. But it doesn’t last. The seed has been accepted on only the surface level. What does that mean? It means that it is accepted with the weak conscious mind, professed and celebrated so long as the celebration continues. But what is the orientation of the unconscious mind and heart? This is revealed by pain. When the sun comes out, the new-grown plants are scorched, exposed for the first time to the anguish that comes to every life. One must imagine that this happens, sooner or later, no matter the condition of the soil, but it is only these that suffer from the scorching in a permanent capacity, because they have no roots to endure. The meaning of the word has not found root in the intention of their hearts.

Rocky soil is a trap of our pain/pleasure programming, putting our faith in something only while it serves us, and then abandoning it later on to chase our own comfort. In my experience, this is also the most common form of faith within the mainstream church, for those of us like myself. When I was younger, I was one of the most vocal Christians in my circle, but I was inwardly self-centered, and it nearly cost me both my faith and my marriage. If you go to church every week, or if you grew up in Sunday school, or if you’ve memorized many Bible verses, and you think yourself holy because of it—or if you do none of these, but profess yourself to be a believer simply because you assent to its basic tenants, take warning. Deep roots are tested by fire.

If you want to know, as I often have, whether your faith is deep-rooted or merely surface-level, use this to test yourself. Make sacrifices. Do good things for others that you would not normally do. Don’t ask yourself if it’s hard, sacrifices nearly always are. But ask whether you find excessive resistance in yourself. Ask if you find it rewarding, or merely irritating. Ask if you feel able to go on doing such things, or if the intention of your heart leads you elsewhere. Let the fruit reveal the nature of the soil.

The Thorny Soil

Finally, we have the soil which is full of thorns. Interestingly, the soil itself appears to be fertile. No mention is made of rockiness or shallowness, and it is sufficiently nourishing, at least, to sustain some weeds. In other words, it possesses the capacity for spiritual growth, but it is blocked by the preexistence of competing malicious influences. The individual may be in denial of that malice, but they may not. Sit in on an AA meeting sometime, and you’ll hear plenty of stories from men and women struggling under a sin they know full well is destroying them. Thorns are not beautiful, but removing them extracts a price in sweat and blood.

According to Jesus, the choking thorns represent the “worries of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth.” Looking into the original Greek used for worries, mrimna, literally translates as “divide.” A part separated from the whole, which fractures a person into parts. The word of God is meant for our whole life. It is the heart He wants, and the heart underlies everything. Most commonly, it is for the sake of our worries that we compartmentalize, take matters into our own hands, and lose sight of God’s promises.

The word for wealth used here is ploútos, and properly refers not only to money, but to abundance and possessions of many kinds. The deceitfulness of wealth, then, refers to the false promise of fulfillment through worldly pleasures and abundance. Together, you could look at these terms as referring to the complete lie of physical, worldly primacy. Both the negative worries and the positive abundance are equally fallacious as a source of meaning and value in life.

The Good Soil

Some few people may find their unconscious minds and hearts naturally “fertile,” but the majority of us must diligently work our fields. Sooner or later, life goes to work on all of us, but we cannot be passive. Tragedy does not produce character of its own accord. The search for meaning is an active quest, and the freedom and the burden of our heart’s intention is a choice: to work or not. As Dr. Frankl put it, to endure with strength and dignity, and find meaning in the pain, or to let the struggle for self-preservation make us like animals. Hard ground can be broken by the plow. Stones can be dug up. Thorns can be ripped out by the root. Whatever the nature of our struggles, in every case we must acknowledge the obvious: that upheaval is the price of change.

Have a blessed, wonderful day!

Dr. Alex Loyd