One of the most widespread beliefs, cutting across cultures, is you reap what you sow. I have reasons to doubt that claim. The reason is that I've known any number of kind, generous people who got treated very badly by spouses, schoolmates, co-workers, neighbors or relatives. And then there's that little matter of, Well what did the guys who died in Stalin's labor camps ever do wrong? Do you reap what you sow? Obviously not. That however is not a reason not to sow to goodness. The reason is that, the more people sow to goodness, the better the world. The more goodness there is to reap for everyone, including themselves. One way that religion directs people's attention to spiritual pursuits is by tapping into their self-interest and twisting it in the direction of following the religion. Thus, Christianity tells people that if they follow Christ they will go to heaven and if they don't follow Christ they will go to hell; and similarly Hinduism and Buddhism teach that actions good or bad generate karma that determines the future lifetimes. In both cases, selfish motives salvation of the soul or better lifetimes are used to get the person to act in altruistic manner. The idea that you reap what you sow likewise uses selfish motives wanting to reap good results to get the person to act toward the benefit of others. I do not believe that deception is necessary toward that effect. Sowing toward goodness improves the world; and the more people do that, the better the world becomes, and ultimately the better the lives of the people doing that. You don't reap what you sow; but the more people do good things, the better the world and ultimately better their lives. Which means that sowing toward goodness is a good in its own right and does not need to produce immediate results for oneself to be of merit.
I agree, it should be "sometimes, you reap what you sow" Yes indeed, this is something religious people usually do not understand about non religious people, how can non religious people be moral and good without being forced to do so? The best place to centre your self image is on an axis of good, a moral life. You will be happier within yourself and live a better life if you choose good, there's no need to be threatened with hell and damnation.
I never got the impression that "you reap what you sow" is a perfect tit-for-tat system. Just like reaping and sowing, they're not talking about your entire being, they're just saying sometimes what you get out depends on what you put in. That this should apply to your entire existence seems not to be a part of the "widespread belief".
I think "reap what you sow" is one of those one dimensional fluffy sayings that is best left to being a greeting card. If we could all reap what we sow then life would be perfect as we would always achieve that which we desire. But that just is not reality as there are many factors that we cannot control that to one degree or another has an impact upon what we reap and what we are able to sow.
It's just a different way of saying karma or fate, which are all beliefs that there is an invisible system that keeps order and justice in the universe for us. None of them exist.
