Our new story begins with humanity in a state of pleasure but ignorance, as told in the metaphor of the Garden of Eden. In the pursuit of something more humanity sought knowledge and took and ate the forbidden fruit of knowledge of good and evil forever altering the minds of humanity into a state that is not pleasurable. One of suffering. Religious teachings were formulated to assist humanity with coping with this new reality of suffering. The Bible, in particular, offered a way to reform the mind through which a person’s character is changed. In the metaphor of a tree as a person’s character is not limited to Psalm 1 but use sparingly throughout scripture, the most potent of which is found in the parable of the sower as taught by Jesus the Christ. In this chapter the parable is introduced and the meaning of the soil is explored. Let’s take a look at the story Jesus told.
“Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seeds. As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. But the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, and since they didn’t have deep roots, they died. Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants. Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” (Matthew 13:3-9)
He then explains:
“Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.” (Matthew 13:18-23)
This parable begins with the sowing of seeds. Sowing is an imperfect method of planting done in the past through by scattering the seeds across the ground. Although imperfect, this method was efficient for farming as it allow the farmer to plant seeds over a larger area in a short time period. Unfortunately that would result in seeds landing in areas not ideal for their growth. In this story a seed represents Jesus’s teaching of a concept that he intends to plant in the person’s heart, the ideal location for the growth of a concept. Heart being not the physical organ but the heart of poetry and metaphor.
Most people understand what another person means when they say their heart is broken. They aren’t talking about the physical organ inside their chest, but rather the intangible thing that appears to control specific emotional states. If you think about it the association of the physical heart organ with various emotional states makes good sense as the heart organ often naturally responds physiologically and correspondingly to a person’s emotional state. Research has given us a clearer understanding that the physiological responses in the body are actually commands from the brain in response to something. Neuroscientist Dr. Antonio Damasio explains that what we are really experiencing is the physiological expression of the emotion. This sensation is generated by the human nervous system which causes organs like the heart muscle to respond in the way that it does. The heart in literature and poetry is therefore not the heart muscle rather it is a portion of the mind responding to emotion as oppose to the intellect that responds to reason. Emotions, he explains, are more than natural instinctive states of mind, they are a complex execution of action programs by the brain.
Emotional responses are outside of our immediate conscious control. Emotions seem to happen to us and have greater control over our lives then we may suspect. Emotions are how our brains interpret what we feel and dictates to the body the appropriate response. If you feel threatened your brain will prepare your body for a flight or fight response. Physiologically the body begins to shift its resources in preparation by increasing certain hormones causing the heart to race, our mouths to become dry, our skin to turn pale and our muscles to contract. This type of automatic reaction occurs not only in the extremes of life but in all of our everyday interactions.
Psychologist and neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett in her book “How Emotions are Made” explains that the brain functions in a way that maximizes the bodies resources. It does so by automating many tasks by using past experiences to construct a hypothesis about what the body is experiencing through its senses. The brain imposes meaning to the various stimuli and directs an automatic change to the body so that it can quickly respond. It is a process that begins at birth. “The newborn brain has the ability to learn patterns, a process called statistical learning. The moment that you burst into this strange new world as a baby, you were bombarded with noisy, ambiguous signals from the world and from your body. This barrage of sensory input was not random: it had some structure. Regularities. Your little brain began computing probabilities of which sights, sounds, smells, touches, tastes, and interoceptive sensations go together and which don’t.“ (Lisa Feldman Barrett. How Emotions Are Made. Pan Books Ltd, 2018.)
Emotion drives our actions which is why the parable of the sower is such a good commentary on the difficulty of human change. Before neuroscience defined the concept of emotion and its role in human behavior, the issue was identified by and associated with sensory input and common response to those inputs. The soil types are represented in this metaphor as different emotional states. The awareness of these effects provided as a means of alerting your conscious mind of the issue which allows it to implement changes in an attempt to counter the effects. A method is not overtly provided in the parable but if a student takes the metaphor to the next logical extent a practical method emerges of preparing your mind as a farmer prepares her field. The parable of the sower describes four types of emotional states of mind and how they respond to stimuli. They are the roadside, stoney, thorny, and fertile minds. Each mind state emotionally responds differently to new concepts. The emotional states may be wide ranging but as we will discover understanding the stimuli can help a person alter the way they respond to it.
Roadside Mind
““When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road.” (Matthew 13:19)
The roadside mind is identified with the person who has difficulty comprehending concepts. No one likes feeling stupid or unintelligent. It does not feel good to think that you are the only person unable to understand something. This leads people to feel less than others and a natural response to the negative emotions that attack our self-worth is to remove ourselves from what we believe to be the source. In this case the source is the new information being presented, therefore, the person rejects the information due to their inability to understand it.
Stoney Mind
“The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away” ( Matthew 13: 20, 21)
There is a lot of talk about peer pressure as the negative force that causes children and teens to do things that they normally wouldn’t, however this type of pressure is not limited to children or teens. The pressure to fit in is one that people of all ages experience and is closely tied to emotions, particularly the fear of rejection. A person who happily changes their hair style, clothing or even their partner to one that is acceptable to themselves will also quickly reverse that decision based on the feedback received from others. They will conform their choices with what they believe is acceptable to others.
People who conform are attempting to avoid a milder form of affliction or persecution. They are attempting to avoid the feelings associated with social rejection. Thinking differently than everyone else has its social perils but these are dangers that people need to power through in order to grow character. Its called grit, “perseverance and passion for long-term goals.” ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grit_(personality_trait))
Thorny Mind
“And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” (Matthew 12:22)
The plant among the thorns is a heart that is emotionally occupied with too many goals. These individuals feel that character development may hinder their pursuit of other goals such as personal success and in some cases survival. These goals end up competing for an individual’s attention with those that a person prioritizes taking precedents over the others. Christ warns in his teachings against being concerned about what you are going to eat, drink or clothes you wear and about making wealth your master. If any of these take precedents they will hinder your ultimate goal of character development.
Fertile Mind
“And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.” ( Matthew 13:23)
The good soil is an emotionally healthy heart. These individuals feel confident and self-assured which makes it possible for them to receive and apply the word in a productive manner. There is nothing triggering an emotional response that would hinder their character growth.
Development of the Heart’s Soil
Soil suitable for planting is not easily created nor is easy to develop the emotional state necessary for the mind to grow character. Soil is created through a process that may take hundreds or even thousands of years. It begins with parent material, usually rock, that is broken down though a process of weathering into smaller sediments. This occurs with the use of water in various forms, rain or running streams or rivers that physically impact the rock and breaks it down. That sediment is then combined with decomposing organic material, for example leaves, animal fecal material or dead animals or plants. This organic material provides some of the nutrients that add to the value of the soil.
Similarly the symbolic heart, the emotional mind, begins in a harden state. In biblical text the term hardened heart is typically used to describe stubbornness. It was used to describe Pharaoh when his emotions took hold of him during the events that lead to Israelites’ freedom. It was also the phrase used to describe the Israelites as they struggled with change in the wilderness. In each instance these individuals struggled with change, hardened their hearts and returned to the behavior they were trying to change. They allowed emotion to override their rational judgement. When the heart is hardened seeds of change are prevented from taking root and growing.
How does one change their emotional state from a hardened position to one that is receptive to change? Through the softening of the heart in a manner similar to that of how real soil is created through the process of weathering. Like the rain slowly beating against the rock or the waves of water beating against the bank so too we need water to soften us. This is the reason the tree in Psalm 1:1 is planted by a river. The river bank is a rich place because the river waters do the job of creating soil by breaking down the parent material and depositing nutrients carried from up stream.
In biblical terms rain or the flow of water are representative of blessings. ““I will make them and the places around My hill a blessing. And I will cause showers to come down in their season; they will be showers of blessing.”( Ezekiel 34:26) “For I will pour out water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring and My blessing on your descendants.” ( Isaiah 44:3) Although these passages where more literal in there interpretation in an agricultural society there meanings have been broaden over time with the metaphoric role of water in biblical text expanding to include the roles of either a cleaning agent or a thirst quencher. Jesus, while in Samaria, offered the woman at the well living water. (John 4:10). He told her that whoever drinks the living water that I will give them will never thirst; but the water that he will give they will become in them a well of water springing up to eternal life. (John 4:13,14). I would like to emphasize here that the water becomes a constant flow inside of them. The blessings therefore are internal. The person is no longer dependent on exterior sources to nourish their hearts. The key to good soil is a way to recognize your consistent source of blessings despite external circumstances. This is what keeps the external pressures or ambition or low self-esteem from having you emotionally reject change.
This explains the method Jesus took when teaching the people the way. If you recall Jesus’s first recorded sermon begins with the Beatitudes, a list of blessings for those who may have otherwise thought of themselves as lesser than. He watered their hearts allowing them to reframe their present circumstances positively. Jesus blessed those in mourning, the meek, the poor in heart, the persecuted among others and told them to rejoice and be exceedingly glad. (Matthew 5: 1-12). He change their emotional state to a joyous one so that their hearts were prepared to receive the seed of information he was going to provide them.
It is important for us to understand our emotional states and how they can affect the way we receive information and our over all actions. We understand our emotion states through our feelings. Dr. Antonio Damasio explains that feelings are mental experiences that accompany body states. They are portraits of what is going on when you have a emotion, they are the complex reactions the body has to certain stimuli. Therefore the emotion and the feeling it generates are not the same thing. Feelings occur after we become aware in our brain of such physical changes caused by emotion.
Feelings can help us identify our emotion and react accordingly. In psychology it is call emotion regulation. It is the ability to exert control over your own emotional state by recognizing an emotional response, understanding it and appropriately reacting to it. The process modal model of emotion regulations suggest that emotions generation occurs in the following sequence:
“1. Situation: the sequence begins with a situation (real or imagined) that is emotionally relevant.
2. Attention: attention is directed towards the emotional situation.
3. Appraisal: the emotional situation is evaluated and interpreted.
4. Response: an emotional response is generated, giving rise to loosely coordinated changes in experiential, behavioral, and physiological response systems.”
In each of the three unsuccessful soil types identified in the parable of the sower the situation dictated the response.
The method of emotion regulation adapted for psychological disorders such a depression and social anxiety disorder that can be applied in preparing your heart for sowing, to paraphrase Susan Krauss Whitbourne Ph.D. from whose article on psychologytoday.com the following method has been adapted. (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201502/5-ways-get-your-unwanted-emotions-under-control)
1. Select the situation. Avoid circumstances that trigger unwanted emotions. It is interesting the that circumstance that causes the plant not to grow in the parable of the sower are easily caused by the types of people the the blessed man in the metaphor of the tree in Psalm 1 is told to avoid. The wicked are found throughout the scripture as persecutors like those that affect the stoney mind, sinners are those who affect thorny minds and scoffers, those who mock and jeer, affect the roadside mind. In the Lord’s Prayer Jesus taught his followers to pray not to be lead into temptation and to be delivered from evil. (Matthew 6:13).
2 Modify the situation. Change your expectations. It was clear from the teaching the disciples of Jesus received all of their lives about the coming messiah they were expecting Jesus to establish an earthy kingdom and occurring to Mark 9:34-35, as his ministry on earth drew to a close the started to discuss they position in the kingdom to come. Jesus quickly altered their expectations by advising them that the first will be last.
3 Shift your attentional focus. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21). The seed in the parable of the sower is called by Jesus the word of the kingdom, which is the state of mind and character that we are longing to obtain. Shifting your attention towards the goal of growing your Tree of Life and investing in it is a excellent way to shift your focus and your heart.
4 Change your thoughts. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” (Philippians 4:6-8). By changing your thoughts you may not be able to change the situation but you can at least change the way you believe the situation is affecting you.
5. Change your response. Jesus taught his followers to respond differently to adversity then expected. Love your enemy (Matthew 5:44), Turn the other cheek. (Matthew 5:39), “[i]f anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also, and [w]hoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two.” (Matthew 5:40,41). This positive response to negative events prevent them from affecting your emotional mind state.
The ultimate method that Jesus promotes for emotion regulation is a complete reset of our emotions.
“Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus *said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:3-6).
Although a mystery for Nicodemus, the current understanding of the human brain shows that it is a high-complicity system that can be reconfigure its billions of neurons to construct a huge repertoire of experiences, perceptions, and behaviors.” (p.282). The brain can be rewired, reconfigured to respond to situations differently. The things we learned as a child can be unlearned. It is in no way easy, but it is possible to be like a new born learning how to react to the world.
This chapter has been a complex one. It provides a psychological basis for the application of Jesus’s teachings by demonstrating that there is a neurological component to being born again. The methods that Jesus taught assisted in that process and allows individuals to become a new creation. This change is rooted in emotion as brought to our awareness by feeling. The irony is where feelings are the key to addressing emotions that negatively impact us it may also be the cause of the knowledge of good and evil the very thing that robbed humanity of pleasure in the first place.
“The simple idea, then, is that feelings of pain and feelings of pleasure, from degrees of well-being, malaise and sickness, would have been the catalysts for the processes of questioning, understanding, and problem solving that most profoundly distinguish human minds from the minds of other living species. By questioning, upstanding, and problem solving, humans would have been able to develop intriguing solutions for the predicaments of their lives and to contract the means to promote their flourishing. They would have perfected ways of nourishing clothing, and sheltering themselves, nursing their physical wounds, and beginning the invention of what became medicine. When the pain and suffering were caused by others — by how they felt about others, by how they perceived others to feel about them — or when the pain was caused by considering their own conditions, such as confronting the inevitability of death, humans would have drawn on their expanding individual and collective resources and invented a variety of responses that ranged from moral prescriptions and principles of justice to modes of social organization and governance, artistic manifestations, and religious beliefs.” (Damasio, Antonio R. The Strange Order of Things : Life, Feeling, and the Making of Cultures. New York, Vintage Books, 2019.)
We will turn to one of these religious beliefs in the next chapter for the source of our seed.
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