Plants grow and blossom in summer, but the actual planting season is in spring, when the seeds are laid into the soil and having been given water, sunlight, the right temperatures, and enough nutrition, sprout into living plants and from there become the many different forms which they take. Be they weeds or good seed, when the conditions are correct, life comes forth anew.
However, life cannot just “erupt” out of nothing, for as noted above, there need to be certain conditions met before the plants can actually grow, namely those to ensure its sustenance. But prior to this is an even more important condition, which is the actual preparation of the soil itself to receive the seed. This is the the preparatory work that comes prior to planting, and takes a long time for those who are serious about gardening to do properly.
One may observe the farmer in the field, and see how he tills the land with his tractor. This is certainly easier because of technology, but as most do not have tractors, and if one is going to do this the way that most people throughout history and even today do, which is by hand, one will find that it is a formidable takes. Lacking an animal for assistance (in the case of a small patch), one must either use a small tool (such as a lawnmower) or one’s own hands to dislodge the rooted grass from the earth. After doing this, one then reaches down with either a shovel and a pick, or a tiller, or sometimes a combination of both, to rip up the earth to make the soil ripe for planting.
He will have to work quickly, because as soon as the grass is cut down does it start to grow back again. If he is too slow, either due to a lack of time or industry, then the area he tore up will start to fill back in and he will be forced to repeat his previous work. Working against the weather, the conditions of life, and the hours of the day, a man has only a limited space in which he can get his patch of earth ready before the conditions around him either make it impossible or he fails in his personal abilities to finish his work.
Yet all of this work is necessary. If he refuses to do this, then the seed- any seed -he attempts to plant will likely not grow, but will rot away, be destroyed, or consumed before it has the ability to grow, mature, and bear its natural yields. It is arguably worthless to plant a seed on unprepared ground unless one enjoys the misery and expenses of failure, which then one would be better off doing nothing, because nothing invested yields a return of nothing.
The wise planter, who having first thoroughly prepared his ground and only then plants his seed does not find himself disappointed, or if there is a failure, not only will some crops usually survive, but he can rest assured knowing that he did what he could to make sure his crops were successful. It does not diminish the frustration, but it does give clarity in knowing that such a failure was not per se directly attributable to his own poor decisions.
The lessons given here by the lives of seeds and plants is a lesson to the wise man about his own life, and a stumbling block to those who would refuse to care or seek its meaning. The ground of the Earth cannot receive seed successfully unless it is ready. Man, who was formed from the dust of the Earth, behaves in a similar way with respect to his own soul. A soul can only receive what it has been prepared to receive, and if the ground is not ready, it cannot and will not be received, but is as useless as tossing seeds on open dirt with grass still covering it, being more a meal for wild animals than something that nourishes and gives life.
The process of preparation is difficult and it can hurt. A man’s back aches, his brow drips with sweat, and his hands pulse from his labors in preparing the Earth. However, his work is rewarded by, after then planting the seeds following preparation, are return on his planting in the form of food. A man’s soul functions much in the same way, where having been tilled and prepared, he will be ready to receive the true doctrine that leads to salvation.
This observation then explains why there are a great number of serious social issues that, while always existing, have grown in magnitude to levels never before seen, because they are indeed prepared. Their soil has been worked, and they are ready to receive seeds to grow into plants- but for evil.
Evil seeds, just like good seed, requires preparation of the ground. A gardener knows that each seed needs different conditions. Some seeds have to be “open sewn” (tossed on the ground). Some are sewn with just a covering of dirt. Some are sewn deep. However, none can be sewn unless the ground is ready.
There is a Hindu saying, which is that “when the students are ready, the teacher appears,” for having done the “prep work,” they are ready to be “instructed,” which is when the “teacher” arrives to plant the seed in their minds that grow and bear their natural results.
This is why as the Church teaches, a man must learn to guide and control his thoughts, for his thoughts form and shape his reality that eventually prepares the ground of his soul for a seed, be it a good or evil one. If an idea- a plant as a thought -exists in a man’s mind, he will have to uproot it and then prepare the soil for a new seed to be sewn.
To tell people ideas- to plant seeds in them -without first preparing the ground on which the seed is going to be sewn inside of them, is to waste one’s time.
Now is the time to plant the seeds that will grow into great plants, to till the land just as the farmers will till their fields and prepare it for planting, which is coming soon. For after summer passes, and the crops are harvested, then comes a winter, which freezes all. The man who made good use of his fields will find himself ready to survive the winter freeze, and he who does not will be left alone, outside, to starve.