Allow the good and the bad to be ...

From the time we are born beliefs about ourselves and the world are planted in us by parents, people of influence, and our life experience. Some seeds will take root and some will not.

Some will grow to become our character and personality and some will grow to strangle the essence of our authentic being.

The biblical text, ‘Parable of the Weeds.’ tells a tale of weed seeds that have been planted into a field of wheat by an unknown enemy. The workers want to eliminate them, but the owner instructs them,

"While you are pulling up the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest..." (Matthew 13)

My childhood conditioning was, ‘strive to be always good’, yet I read here a paradox – allow the good and bad to grow together.

As expressed in the text, when both plants reach maturity it becomes easier to identify what can be harvested as wealth (wheat) and what can now be discarded (weeds). But, this is only achieved after a period of growth.

Often we want ourselves /our life partner/ our children/ our employees to always prove their goodness. Is it possible that only time and maturity will reveal our true wealth of character, and also identify what can be discarded as no longer beneficial to us in our adulting years?

Rev Erik Parker, has an interesting perspective, There is life in the wheat and weeds “Tension is what we struggle with – how do we live with seeing ourselves and others as flawed?”

Is this tension a result of our society being fed the good/evil, right/wrong of dualistic thinking?

Dualistic thinking views the world as either one thing or another. We require a dualistic mind to function in our role as a teacher, medic, scientist, engineer... But, dualistic thinking cannot process infinity, mystery, God, suffering, sexuality, death, or love. Ancient wisdom traditions such as Buddhism and Taoism understand and teach the paradoxical nature of reality.

A non-dualistic mind can recognise: there are health benefits to working hard and resting; it’s okay to feel sad and happy at the same time; we can make both good and bad decisions, in order to learn.

What if we could view existing weeds in our life as being planted by ourselves or others - our childish ego and beliefs that can be ‘burned away’ when a harvest time arrives? The harvesting process reveals our maturing wealth of healthy thoughts and behaviour. The weeds of unhealthy childhood conditioning and wounding can now be discarded, as they no longer benefit our growth.

We, ourselves, decide what thoughts we want to have nurtured and thriving in our minds. We choose how we want to grow and mature.

Contact me if I can assist you to feel confident in how you want your life to be - in the now and in the future

Trish

https://www.facebook.com/lifecoachingwithTrish