Article September 26, 2016 Issue

Preparing the soil, planting the seed

Scott Thompson

A single apple seed that finds its way to fertile soil will in time spring up into a tree with many dozens of apples, all containing multiple seeds. Any one apple holds within itself a potential orchard. And yet without fertile soil, water, and sunshine, the vast potential is not even partially realized. Similarly, every seed of truth or spiritual insight offers the potential for spiritual growth and healing, but we need to consider the soil—the state of consciousness—that may receive or reject the seed of truth.

In the first of Christ Jesus’ parables recorded in the book of Matthew, the Master describes a sower casting seeds that fall onto four kinds of ground: 1) the wayside ground, where the seeds get eaten up by birds; 2) stony soil, where stones prevent the plants’ roots from reaching deep, and the poorly rooted plants wither in the sunlight; 3) ground with thorns, where the plants spring up but are choked by surrounding thorns that grow up around them; and 4) fertile soil, where the plants spring up abundantly (see Matthew 13:3–9).

Is the parable telling us there are four types of people and only the fourth type has much hope of experiencing spiritual growth and healing? If that were the case, we could perhaps all take a personality test to find out if we’re spiritually “in” or “out.” But that would be a far cry from our Master’s emphasis on the importance of repentance. At its root, repent means to change your mind or consciousness. If we take the four kinds of ground described in the parable to represent states of consciousness, and recognize that consciousness can be improved or spiritualized, that opens the door of thought into a wider sphere of instruction (see Matthew 13:18–23). For instance, many people get distracted by the thorns of worldly attractions and preoccupations at some time or other. At such times, the soil of consciousness needs to be turned, and our hearts realigned with the great truth of God’s allness and goodness, in order to move forward spiritually.

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