The Purpose of Our Present Lives

Recently, while translating the Gospel of Philip from Coptic, I came across this passage in which Yeshua speaks of our present purpose for being here in this world. Our work is to sow the seeds of eternal life. It is not here, now, that we should expect to reap, but in that world beyond space-time where the harvest is made. If you thought about your life everyday as the work of sowing the fields of earth, not worrying about the harvest, simply spreading the seed of eternal life through compassion, care, a well spoken word, simple attention, awareness of the inner reality of things--this would be enough. Here is the passage:

Those who sow in winter, reap in the summer. Winter is the world-system (the kosmos), and summer is the Great Age, (the Aion), the realm of transcendence. Let us sow in this world that we may reap in the summertime. For this reasons, we are not asked to pray (for harvest) in the wintertime, but for the summer, which comes from winter. If one tries to reap in the wintertime it only uproots the field, and there is no harvest. This approach is fruitless since nothing emerges in the winter, and in that other realm—the true Sabbath—the fields are barren.

Analogue Three