Dictionary of all Scriptures & Myths

CULTIVATION OF THE GROUND 

Symbolic of the ordering and disciplining of the desires and emotions by the Ego, and the developing of the faculties of the lower nature (the ground).

“I, too, plough and sow, and from my ploughing and sowing I reap immortal fruit. My field is religion. The weeds I pluck up are the passions of cleaving to existence. My plough is wisdom, my seed purity.” — (Extract) Hardy, Manual of Buddhism, p. 215.

“He (Osiris) reaps and I plough; yea, and I also reap.” — Budge, Book of the Dead, Ch. CX.

The Higher Self, or Individuality, reaps celestial grain, i.e. acquires in actuality higher emotions. The lower Self “ploughs,” i.e. fashions the life‑conditions for the seed of the Spirit; and finally also, the lower Self “reaps” as it realises its true nature.

“This, too, is the ruinous effect of an education of accomplishments. The education of the taste, and the cultivation of the feelings in undue proportion, destroys the masculine tone of mind. An education chiefly romantic or poetical, not balanced by hard, practical life, is simply the ruin of the soul.” — F. W. Robertson, Sermons, 1st Series, p. 169.

“None of the inscriptions mentions Sekhet‑Aaru, but it is distinctly said that the reaping of the grain is taking place in Sekhet‑hetep, or Sekhet‑hetepet. If now we compare this picture (of Sekhet‑hetep) with that from the Papyrus of Nebseni, we shall find that the actual operations of ploughing, reaping, and treading out of the corn are depicted in the Papyrus, and that several figures of gods and the deceased have been added.” — Budge, Egypt. Heaven and Hell, Vol. III, pp. 44, 58.

The cultivation of the soul being a spiritual process appertains to the higher planes, and the reaping of the harvest is on the buddhic plane (Sekhet‑hetep), the “corn” signifying the higher qualities transmuted from the lower.

See Also

AGRICULTURE
ANIMALS
CORN
FIELD
GARDEN
HARVEST
PLOUGHING
REAPING
SEED
SEKHET
SELF
SHABTI
SOWER