Sow & Reap Your Way To Abundance

Author James Allen, 'As A Man Thinketh...'

Dec 27, 2024

I came across a short piece by James Allen who was a British philosophical writer. He lived from November 28, 1864 to January 24, 1912.

He was only 47 when he passed.

However, his writing legacy has far outlived him.

Allen is considered a pioneer of the self-help movement.

You have almost certainly heard of his book, As a Man Thinketh.

It’s been in print since 1903.

Below - Author James Allen

So, let’s take a closer look at what Allen says about sowing and reaping your way to abundance;

“Go into the fields and country lanes in the spring-time, and you will see farmers and gardeners busy sowing seeds in the newly prepared soil.
If you were to ask any one of those gardeners or farmers what kind of produce he expected from the seed he was sowing, he would doubtless regard you as foolish, and would tell you that he does not “expect” at all, that it is a matter of common knowledge that his produce will be of the kind which he is sowing, and that he is sowing wheat, or barley, or turnips, as the case may be, in order to reproduce that particular kind.”

This makes much sense and is the basis for why many of today’s contemporary “New Age” philosophers tell us to take action without expection.

Alas, they almost always leave out the “right” type of action we should take so as to abandon all expectations.

Life has rules and limitation. Plant a corn seed and you get a corn plant.

Hence, there is no need for expectations when you follow the rules of life.

Let’s continue to see what Allen says about sowing and reaping;

“Every fact and process in Nature contains a moral lesson for the wise man.
There is no law in the world of Nature around us which is not to be found operating with the same mathematical certainty in the mind of man and in human life.
All the parables of Jesus are illustrative of this truth, and are drawn from the simple facts of Nature.
There is a process of seed- sowing in the mind and life a spiritual sowing which leads to a harvest according to the kind of seed sown.
Thoughts, words, and acts are seeds sown, and, by the inviolable law of things, they produce after their kind….
The man who sows wrong thoughts and deeds, and prays that God will bless him, is in the position of a farmer who, having sown weeds, asks God to bring forth for him a harvest of wheat.”

This line ——> Thoughts, words, and acts are seeds sown, and, by the inviolable law of things, they produce after their kind…

is all we need to know to have the life we want.

It can be no other way.

What does James Allen write on THE OTHER SIDE of sowing and reaping;

“Then there is another side to this seed sowing.
The farmer must scatter all his seed upon the land, and then leave it to the elements.
Were he to covetously hoard his seed, he would lose both it and his produce, for his seed would perish.
It perishes when he sows it, but in perishing it brings forth a great abundance.
So in life, we get by giving; we grow rich by scattering.”

Ah, yes. It seems so simple, yet so difficult.

Allen continues;

“The man who says he is in possession of knowledge which he cannot give out because the world is incapable of receiving it, either does not possess such knowledge, or, if he does, will soon be deprived of it—if he is not already so deprived.
To hoard is to lose; to exclusively retain is to be dispossessed.
Even the man who would increase his material wealth must be willing to invest what little capital he has, and then wait for the increase.
So long as he retains his hold on his precious money, he will not only remain poor, but will be growing poorer everyday…
But if he wisely lets it go; if, like the farmer, he scatters his seeds of gold, then he can faithfully wait for, and reasonably expect, the increase.”

Ey, there’s the rub.

Give to gain. Lose to win.

And finally, James Allen wraps up his thoughts on sowing and reaping with this;

“Men are asking God to give them peace and purity, and righteousness and blessedness, but are not obtaining these things; and why not?
Because they are not practicing them, not sowing them…
Men believe that they can sow the seeds of strife… and then gather in a rich harvest of peace… by merely asking for it.
What more pathetic sight than to see an irritable and quarrelsome man praying for peace….
If a man is troubled… or unhappy, let him ask: “What mental seeds have I been sowing?”
Let him seek within and find, and having found, let him… sow…only the seeds of Truth.
Let him learn of the farmer the simple truths of wisdom.”

We’ve known these seeds of Truth for millenia.

We keep needing to be reminded of them.

With the world the way it is now, it’s more important than ever to ask, “What have I been sowing?'“

Excuse me now, I must tend to my garden. I’ve got to pull some weeds.

I hope that’s given you something to consider.