Seeds of Greatness

Michael Avery, a California eighth grader, has been signed to a basketball scholarship by the University of Kentucky for the 2012 season.

Many people were upset that such a young boy would be subject to the pressures of fame and the sports media when Michael’s scholarship was made public today. What I found ironic is that the intense scrutiny of young people to discover special talents is limited mostly to sports. Hundreds and thousands of sports ‘talent scouts’ fly all over the country and around the world looking for physically-gifted young people who could become elite football, basketball and baseball players.

What if hundreds and thousands of ‘scouts’ were out looking for young people who possessed the potential to become highly gifted poets, writers, politicians, spiritual teachers, visionary scientists, business leaders, etc. What if we were out looking for a potential president rather than a potential Superbowl quarterback. Think of the enormous value which could be added to America and its citizens if we sought out future public servants with the same intensity that we seek out future sports stars!

In some cultures of past and even recent history, special seers had a role in discovering the future greatness which existed in all of their society’s young. I met a man from India in the 1980’s who said that his father had the ability to understand a person’s unique gifts and destiny simply by observing his or her ‘karmic lines.’ These lines were said to be visible not only on hands and as fingerprints, but as facial lines and even peculiarities of the eyes. In ancient India, the role of a Brahman-guru-teacher was to look into the face and heart of a young student to see the special ‘seed of greatness’ which had been planted there by Destiny.

Psychologist James Hillman’s excellent book, The Soul’s Code, affirms this thesis: that each person’s destined greatness exists clearly in seed form in early childhood. His research indicates that those who grow to fulfill their destinies in a magnificent way have one thing in common—at least one adult saw each child’s special gift and encouraged the young person to follow their soul’s natural path.

The Wisdom Text Bhagavad-gita confirms the importance of a person following their own life purpose, their own special dharma, “Better to follow one’s own dharma imperfectly than another’s dharma perfectly.” The teaching is that following one’s own inherent seed of greatness leads to excellence in one’s service to society, but will also fill one’s heart with happiness because he or she is ‘doing what comes naturally.’

And spiritually, the peace we attain by following the path to which we are most inherently psychically attuned (our dharma) creates a foundation for accelerated spiritual progress. If I’m a satisfied farmer, or poet, or nurse or politician, I will be less likely to ‘run after the things of the world’ to find my happiness. My discretionary time may then be spent ‘growing my seed of greatness,’ evolving my soul through the lessons of the earth school—to more compassion, cooperation, love, generosity, service and wisdom; to love of God and love of man.

I wish the best for Michael the budding basketball star who will play for the University of Kentucky Wildcats in 2012. If his occupational calling, his seed of greatness, is in the sports arena, I pray that he attains his happiness there. And I pray that we as a society quickly wake up to assist all of our young people in cultivating their unique seeds of greatness. We will need their most heroic material and spiritual efforts to support the World Transformation prophesied for the 2012-era.