The Wisdom in the Soil

The Wisdom in the Soil

by Kateb Nuri-Alim Shunnar

Introduction

This reflection is not fiction, nor is it a fairytale. What you are about to read is a real dream I had years ago a dream so vivid, so layered with meaning, that I awoke from it as if I had truly walked through the experience. I remember rising with urgency, feeling as though I had just returned from a sacred place. I immediately grabbed something to write with and began to record everything I could recall. The imagery, the voice, the questions, and the wisdom stayed with me.

Until now, I have never shared this dream with anyone. This is the first time I release it from the chambers of my spirit into the hands of others. May it speak to your soul as deeply as it spoke to mine.

A woman came to me in peace while I was reflecting on the complexity of the universe and she said to me, ‘O soul, can I ask of you a question that would help reflect more on life and creation?’ I replied, ‘Ask what you will, O questioner. Sow your seeds in my Earth and we shall see if my mind can water it down and shed light on it so that it may cultivate.’

The lady replied, ‘In my hands are two seeds and at your feet are two dissimilar types of loam. Now take the seed in my right hand and sow it at your left foot, then take the seed in my left hand and sow it at your right foot. Next, water them equally and let them remain in the Earth for one full sequence of the Moon, then revisit me here.’ I replied, ‘I will do as you request of me.’ I then took the seeds and sowed them into the Earth and watered them carefully, then I walked away.

One moon phase later I returned to the meeting place and there stood the lady awaiting me. I approached the lady and wished peace upon her, and in return she wished peace unto me. I then said, ‘I have returned as you have asked of me.’ ‘I congratulate you for your visit what an excellent thing it is to keep your word,’ replied the lady. She stepped to her right, and then took two steps backwards, and there stood a tall plant that bore many beautiful and succulent produce. Around the plant were scores of new buds. I was so astonished I exclaimed, ‘What a gorgeous plant my eyes behold!’

‘Yes it is,’ she said, ‘for this plant is one of the seeds you planted by your right foot. See how it has sprouted and bore fruit? But the other seed you planted has not grown at all, for it just lays unresponsive. My question is why the other seed didn’t grow for it received the same amount of water and sunlight as the other seed,’ replied the female questioner.

I replied, ‘Maybe the other seed was no good.’ The lady smiled and said, ‘Keep in mind that the seeds are exactly the same, but the soil in which you planted the seeds are absolutely different. So I ask you once more, why didn’t the other seed grow?’

I replied, ‘I believe the soil in which the other seed was planted in was bad soil; for a seed cannot grow in an environment that cannot set in motion its growth, and without the appropriate nutrients to sustain itself it will forever and always remain a seed.’

The lady replied, ‘You are correct. Both seeds represented man, and the soil represented the environment in which he lives in. The seed that grew was man in a healthy environment, and his surroundings nourished him, thus he grew and he begun to bear edible fruits to feed many. However, the seed that did not grow is man planted in an unstable and unhealthy environment, which has a negative effect on his growth. My friend I tell you that many have the potential to become wonderful people, but most times we sow ourselves in bad ground or else we get caught up in the wind and are transported to bad ground, and thus we sit wishing enthusiastically that we could grow.’

The lady wished peace unto me and walked away.

I stood in stillness after her departure, the weight of her wisdom pressing gently upon my soul. I looked at the spot where the unresponsive seed lay beneath the Earth still, silent, unmoved. Then I looked to the thriving plant and watched as its branches swayed gracefully with the wind, offering fruit without discrimination to any who passed by.

I thought to myself, How many seeds lie buried in bitterness, neglected by care, surrounded by criticism and choked by fear? And how many more have been cast into shadowed places where light seldom reaches and no hands till the ground?

As I was pondering these things, a soft voice echoed behind me, “Even the best seed can lose its will to grow if too long it abides in soil that rejects its roots.” I turned to see an old man leaning on a staff, his beard white as starlight, his eyes deep with lifetimes of reflection.

He continued, “Do not judge the seed that did not sprout, for the Earth has seasons, and sometimes the ground must be broken anew. Some soils need time and toil before they can give life.”

I nodded and replied, “But what of the seed who knows nothing of its potential, and lies dormant, unaware it was meant to become a tree?”

The elder smiled. “Then it is the responsibility of the awakened to go and teach it. The one who bears fruit must return to the barren lands and speak life into the forgotten. You see, O soul, we are not only seeds and soil we are also the water, the sun, and the gardener.”

I closed my eyes and let his words root themselves in me. I saw that in life, we are at times the seed longing to break open, at times the soil shaping others, and sometimes even the hand that casts seed into the world. And though the elements may be the same water, sun, seed, soil it is the harmony between them that births life.

Before the elder walked away, he placed his hand upon my shoulder and said, “Be mindful of the soil you plant your dreams in. Not every place is meant to house your becoming. And when you find good soil, honor it, nourish it, and grow without shame, for your fruit is not only for you it is to feed the hungry spirits still buried in hardened ground.”

He walked into the fading light, and I stood there, with a heart opened wider than before. The moon began to rise again, and I realized that some lessons are not meant to be understood all at once. Some truths must be lived, like seeds that must be buried before they blossom.

And so I walked away, not just as one who had planted and waited, but as one who now knew that the mystery of growth lies not in the seed alone, but in the love that surrounds it.