The Wisdom of the Seed

It is a natural phenomenon that within each individual seed the entire code of the plant it is to become is already present. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the seed will survive, or that it will thrive, or what shape it will take. There certainly are varying levels of health in any given plant, but anyone who has gardened knows that the fact remains that if you plant a zinnia in the right conditions, you will grow a zinnia, not a daisy.

"There is a hidden seed of greater wholeness in everyone and everything". -Rachel Naomi Remen

Amazingly enough we tend to forget that we are also subject to the same natural laws as those tiny seeds you plant in your garden. Without the right conditions, we do not thrive. And, by the same token, there’s not much the seed itself needs to do to grow into that mature plant, except of course, to be planted.

Once planted, the seed does not worry about what the other seeds are doing, she doesn’t consider rules, varying degrees of politeness, what the other plants might think if she grows too tall, if she is growing fast enough, or if she is the right shade of green. She simply follows what feels right in each moment. The plant turns her leaves toward the sun, drinks the cool rain water and draws the right nutrients out of the soil in which she is planted.

I invite you to consider the fact that it just might be that easy for us as well. Yes, we are challenged by having more to navigate in each given moment, but the stakes are even higher for the plant. If a plant “makes a mistake”, it would perish. And even though some of us would like to think that the stakes are the same for us, mistakes are just opportunities to do something again in a new and improved way.

Luckily, the hard part has been done - you’ve been planted. Like it or not, you are here on the earth in this life. So what are your right conditions? Where do you thrive? What conditions need to be present in and around you in order to awaken this code that already exists to grow fully into what you can become? It is my urging that you ask yourself these questions today so you can begin to implement more of the conditions of your answers into the moments, days, weeks and months that follow.

Please remember the force of nature that you are, the commonalities you have with those seeds, and your ever-present ability to reach for the sun!



Rudolf Steiner presents an amazing meditation involving this principle. Hold a seed in your hand and first notice the size, shape, and other properties of the seed, contemplating that information fully with your eyes. Then, letting your thoughts ponder the fact that “This seed, if planted in the ground, will grow into a complex plant.” We then are instructed to visualize the plant it is to become, while realizing that the mature plant we imagine, forces of nature will later draw out of this small seed. There is something already present in the seed that we can see when it becomes a mature plant. We don’t necessarily see it with our eyes, but that doesn’t make it any less true!