Q: (L) Today is September 18, 2021. The usual suspects: [Review of those present] Okay, let's begin. Hello. Is anybody out there?
A: Gloriaea in excelsis!
Q: (L) Is that your name?
A: First part will serve.
Q: (L) So, Gloriaea. And you just added the 'in excelsis' to that?
A: Yes
Q: (Artemis) We already had a Gloriaea at the board.
(L) It's from a song.
(Chu) It's a latin thing.
["Gloria in excelsis Deo" is Latin for "Glory to God in the highest"]
(L) So, as Gaby pointed out, what I said before the session is a question. I can't think of a specific question that I want to ask, except for the fact that I feel the need for a session because things are so strange. I feel this building sensation of inner stress - like a tension. Waiting for the other shoe to drop. Something like that. So, what's going on?
A: Now would be a good time to ponder the lessons contained in the Parable of the Sower.
[Summary]
The Parable of the Sower (sometimes called the Parable of the Soils) is a parable of Jesus found in Matthew 13:1–23, Mark 4:1–20, Luke 8:4–15 and the extra-canonical Gospel of Thomas.[1]
Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”
Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that,“‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’”
Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”
Q: (L) Well, I wrote about it in From Paul to Mark. There was somebody who was giving a really interesting interpretation whose work I cited. It was his deduction from his analysis of the text that the Parable of the Sower was one of the secrets of the Kingdom of God which was that there were different types of human beings and that they simply were that way by their very nature. But at the same time, the wiles of the devil were always working, too. So there are people of different types. Any further comment on that? We can discuss it on the forum.
A: These are the times that try men's souls. And perhaps now you can understand the full meaning of that statement. Some souls do not do well under stress and pressure and the human system is constructed to alleviate stress by whatever means necessary.