Jesus said, “The kingdom of the [father] is like a certain woman who was carrying a [jar] full of meal. While she was walking [on the] road, still some distance from home, the handle of the jar broke and the meal emptied out behind her [on] the road. She did not realize it; she had noticed no accident. When she reached her house she set the jar down and found it empty.”
This woman is the Nefesh who, without her Ruach (higher intelligence) and Neshamah (heavenly soul), becomes distracted in her journey through the world and therefore departs from this world empty. She will then have to acquire another jar (physical body), again make the journey to get meal (merit for heaven), and bring it home (entering the kingdom of heaven with merit). How sorrowful it must be for those souls who depart this life empty, only coming before the Holy One in the afterlife to realize the vanity and futility of the life they have lived. Surely, it must be a great anguish in the soul! We pray for the comforting of such souls and for their awakening while in this life so that they do not have to endure this suffering!
There is more here than the tale of the soul of a profane individual who accomplishes nothing in this life, who departs the world empty, having only attended to vanity. There is also the allusion to one who has acquired something of the true faith and gnosis, yet becoming distracted and unmindful, loses what they have gained. We understand this through our own experience with a continuum of spiritual practice, for when we are as yet immature in the spiritual life and go on and off with our spiritual studies and practice, we see that it is often as though we must begin all over again, having lost the greater part of what we had formerly gained in terms of energy-intelligence, knowledge, and so forth. To keep what is given to us by the Spirit and to increase what we have, to grow and evolve, we must keep holy vigil with the Spirit of the Lord, maintaining a continuum of spiritual practice and spiritual living. We must continue to feed our soul so that she remains present and strong with us. If we become distracted and mindless in this matter, although we have sojourned in the Spirit for many years, all that we have generated and gathered could swiftly dissipate and depart from us. It is a fundamental truth of how life works.
Consider a beautiful garden filled with all manner of flowers and plants, a garden someone has cultivated for many years, perhaps twenty or more, until it has become a virtual paradise and haven, a sanctuary of natural glory and splendor. Now suppose the person who cultivated and tended this garden stopped doing so, no longer watering and fertilizing it, pruning and weeding it, and daily tending it. The longer this went on, the more their garden would shift from what it once was. Eventually, if a long period were allowed to pass, say some years, it would go completely wild and no longer be the garden it was. It is the same with your spiritual practice through which an authentic spiritual life is cultivated and tended. If left unattended, it is ruined with the passage of time.
We cannot forget in our spirituality that we are organic living beings and that the same laws apply to our spiritual life as to any other expression of life and nature. Without a dedication of time and energy, attention and activity, without continued conscious movement, our spiritual life can easily wither away and cease to be. Consistent dedication, mindfulness, and alertness are absolutely necessary. While in this world, we must maintain the holy continuum actively. We must actively live the Divine life, so that we might depart with the Divine fullness. Let us pray our jar is not found empty when we return home! Lord, help us to remember and to keep vigil! Amen.