My father and grandfather were both farmers for much of their lives. They prepared the soil, planted the seeds, pulled the weeds, nurtured the plants, and harvested the produce that resulted from all that care and hard work. I’m sure it must have been very satisfying for them to see the fruits of their labor.
They never longed for a life defined by titles, trophies, or treasures. Their goal, as I want to imagine it, was to bring the best of who they were to each day – to do the right thing, as they understood it, to each moment.
While I must admit to be driven earlier in my life to the apparent world seductions of titles, trophies and treasures, I would like to think those goals, as I have aged, have morphed into what I call real life aspirations: higher purposes, deeper principles and clearer priorities. What’s most important to me now is how I might bring more love, joy, wisdom and personal power to each moment.
Just like my ancestors, I love to plant seeds. I’m afraid, however, that my seeds aren’t the type you put in the ground. I’m more inclined to throw mine out to the Universe and see where the winds may blow them, where they might land, and how some may blossom into something beautiful – not defined by me but by whomever might embrace them.
In my morning meditations, I like to honor those in the past who planted seeds of real life for me. I reflect on the endless support my parents provided, the loving care my grandparents poured on me, and the wonderful connections I had with my cousins along the way. Even though I was a bit hard to handle and could be irritating at times, I always felt loved. My extended family planted seeds of love that I have tried to honor and nurture. You can’t ask for a better beginning than that. Yes, I was lucky enough to come from a loving family who indulged my eccentricities, radiated a twinkle in their eye at my foolish pranks, and didn’t try to entirely squelch my less than grounded proclivities. I wish that more people were blessed by the many sources of love I’m so grateful to have experienced.
Although my family was wise in my ways, I have also sought out many other sources of wisdom over the course of my life. I have turned to ancient philosophers like Moses, Maimonides, Zoroaster, and Lao Tzu for a broader perspective on life. I have turned to prophets like Buddha, Jesus, Hildegard de Bingen and Rumi to understand the esoteric side of different religions. I’ve studied spiritual gurus like Blavatsky, Steiner and Gurdjieff to tap the roots of Theosophy, Anthroposophy and Gnosticism. I’ve soaked up the teaching of Buber, Camus, Nouwen, Boekner, and Niebuhr to shed light on different ways to build a real spiritual life. All of these scholars/prophets/gurus devoted their lives to seeding ideas for future generations to harvest. Those ideas have blossomed into a diverse garden of delights for millions of people from diverse backgrounds. Oh, so many sources of wisdom just waiting to be tapped.
I have also discovered many sources of joy. The music of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Mahler, Mendelson, Shubert, Stravinsky, Strauss, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Vivaldi, Chopin and let’s not forget a more recent composer from the past, John Lennon. The laughter of grandchildren. Intimate connections. Caring communities. The wonder of Nature. Ah, so many possibilities for joy in the cacophonous universe in which we live.
When it comes to power, I’m not talking about the kind derived from patriarchy, hegemony, hierarchy, military strength or financial wealth. Those kinds of power are usually driven by a need for control, oppression, exploitation and ego-enlargement. To me, power is the ability to develop agency in our lives. Nietzsche described this as the will to power – the power to rise above your weaknesses, desires and neurotic needs to be all you can be. I have found power in so many different domains. I found power from Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle who demonstrated what happens when you ask the right questions. I found power from Lucretius, Diogenes, and Epicurus who advocated for the appreciation of pleasure in our lives. I found power in Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton who dedicated their lives to science independent of the popular opinions of the day. I found power in Donatello and da Vinci who demonstrated the beauty of the Arts. I found power in Goethe, Mann and Wittgenstein who explored the boundlessness and limits of language. I have found power in Einstein, Fuller, Whitehead and Young who opened entirely new worlds through their brilliance in physics and math. And I have found power in Hannah Arendt, Simone Weil, and Simone de Beauvoir who broke through multiple layers of dirt, gravel and debris to amplify women’s voices. So many potential sources of power inviting us to a feast of ideas if we are willing to inquire.
There have been millions of seeds of real life planted over the millennia. Given all the careful planting and weeding, It would seem that we should be seeing vibrant, colorful blossoms unfolding before us each and every day. Why is the world not bursting with this bountiful beauty?
I’m afraid that the seeds of love have been shriveled by cold and hateful frosts; the seeds of joy have been diminished by the dark clouds of gloom and doom; the seeds of wisdom have been drowned in floods of ignorance; and the seeds of personal power have been left to wither in the scorching heat and fires of nationalism, machoism and militarism.
Before publishing any post, I always search the internet to see if anyone else has “stolen” my idea which means, of course, that my idea was not all that original. Alas, the search for this title turned up a whole body of work on the Seeds of Life. One application is a company that offers a variety of tree seeds for remembrance, birthdays and housewarming. I liked that idea. Another reference was to the idea of sacred geometry in which patterns of nature are viewed from a mathematical viewpoint. In this case, the idea is visually represented by seven circles with equally proportioned flowers representing the expansion outward from a single source which grows in power. The larger idea is that all “circles” are inter-related. I’ve always loved that notion – you know, connectedness, collaboration and interdependence.
My take on the seeds of real life is rooted in the belief that what we do moment to moment can either nourish or diminish the fruits of love, wisdom, joy and personal power. The seeds we decide to plant, nurture, weed, harvest and distribute can contribute to a bountiful garden or to a drought-stricken desert.
We can plant seeds of love by simply being present and connecting deeply with the people in our lives. We can nurture seeds of wisdom by sharing great books. We can weed the seeds of despair by providing informed and balanced perspectives. We can harvest the joy from the fruits of our seeds by celebrating community. We can distribute the seeds of personal power by speaking up, standing up for what we believe and sharing sources of beauty.
What inspired this post was my deepening sense that life is becoming increasingly unreal. How is it that our lives are dominated by war, climate change, pandemics, and extremism? How is it that groups of people are increasingly creating their own hate-filled realities largely influenced by disinformation?
One of Gurdjieff’s books is entitled Life is Only Real when I Am. You may want to pick it up. It’s worth the read. To me, life is only real when I am surrounded by love, wisdom and joy, and I have a sense of personal power. Right now, it seems like we are planting seeds of destruction and are creating gardens of despair. How unreal that this should feel so real, particularly when the possibilities of Real Life are so abundant and available to us.
One way to get started on building our gardens of delight is to honor people in the past who have made significant contributions toward creating a more humane world. We can also take a hard look at the bespoke realities in which we live and increase our willingness to value different points of view. Personally, I’m hoping I can carry on my family lineage of planting my own seeds and helping them grow – even if they are 50,000 feet above ground instead of 6 inches under. Finally, I’m hoping we can all make the shift from this unreal life we are living to the real life that is possible by planting, nurturing, weeding, harvesting and distributing the seeds of love, wisdom, joy and personal power. May it be so.
Excellent post, Rick—smart and thoughtful as usual. Thank you. I appreciate you.
Thanks Lisa. A postcard from the past! Much love
How richly inspiring that you share observations from living your life as your way to experience live, wisdom, joy and personal power. Livving itself as your practice. And since I had reason recently to search and store an image of the sacred geometric classic “seed of life” let me add it here as a footnote to your warm hearted musiings. Live
Thanks Artie. I love the images from Sacred Geometry. I included a link in the post to several of those illustrations. The radiance emanating from the center inspires me. So appreciate your thoughtful comments.
May it be so indeed! Sorry for the delay-distracted by all the testing, scheduling, etc