These are rough scribbles since apparently this needs to be written.

Parables in the Bible are apparently presumed to be well-understood by various religious institutions, but if that is the case, then the verses eg. “By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive” (Matt 13:14) directly contradict this.

The parables have a surface meaning that almost makes sense. Jesus in the gospels seem to be explaining them. But the hidden meanings are not fully elaborated upon. The stories are passed on, as a moral story, even if most people do not understand their full meanings.

It is easy to understand the stories as tensions between “good” and “evil”. Duality is what people crave. Perhaps more-so in modern times, where children are trained from a young age to discern between right and wrong. Yet it is a common theme for seekers of truth to realize the line that separates the two becomes blurry and disappears altogether. But we are few in number.

As such stories must be passed on without the story-teller fully understanding the story. This is why simple stories must be used to encode the relatively complex meanings, and why few people are able to decode it. There is no cosmic conspiracy besides the practical concern that without these stories of plain daily life happenings of normal peasants, it would be so hard for the messages to cross time and space to reach us. And because we decided to limit the use of magic, this method is chosen. And for this transmission we are thankful and grateful.

Seekers of truth would understand meanings of these stories when they had a need to. The first parable is about teaching – spreading and cultivation of ideas.

The parable of the sower describes the mechanics and mathematics of teaching. The naive approach would be to try to choose the most promising students and focus on those. But the sower knows better. This is no ordinary sower. Ordinary sowers do not throw their seeds onto rocks and thorns. Instead they prepare a field on a land they possess, and spread the seeds there. The mathematics of humankind is finite and controlled. We reap what we sow. Sometimes less, sometimes more, but usually the amount is within expectation.

The mathematics of “heaven” is unbounded. “Abundance” is another common way to describe it. When the divinely inspired sower spreads the seeds, they do not judge the ground. “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” (Matthew 7:1-3) And yet contrary to common expectation, the unjudging sower reaps rewards of hundreds-fold. In popular culture this is called a “positive black swan”. Without judgment, the sower takes advantage of the fact that the quality of the ground is “unknown”, and this suspension of judgment brings forth the possibility of unbounded rewards.

It is unclear how Jesus acquired these stories. But did Jesus of humankind truly understand? “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matt 15:24) The statement so ironic in retrospect that makes it somewhat difficult to argue that his intention was subsequently corrupted by institutions that came after. In the centuries to come, the whole world except children of Israel in particular all venerated his teachings, at least in form if not in substance. “Whoever has ears, let them hear.” (Matt 13:9) was surely the best advice.

I studied in a Catholic school, so I learned the parable of the sower in school when I was a teenager. It was not until I was 30 years old that I understood the encoded meanings above. Of course, after realizing the parables had much more depth than I previously thought, I tried looking at the other parables. I didn’t understand them. Meanings of parables only reveal themselves when you need it.

The parable of the tares is more complex since there is an apparent duality in it. Where did the tares come from? Why were they allowed to be grown? Were they really destroyed?

What is certain is that the kingdom of heaven also does not judge the seeds and sprouts. Whatever is to grow is allowed to grow and bear fruit. Love in the kingdom of heaven is unconditional. It does not judge. There is no duality. As we have seen, judgment is a limiter of possibility. There is a practical interpretation, which is that the farmer cannot remove the unwanted weeds without damaging the crops – which is likened to how we cannot easily foresee whether some occurrence will result in a “good” or “bad” outcome. If we are too aggressive in pruning away seemingly “bad” leads, we would inevitably prune away “good” results as well.

This is probably the main lesson.

But the tension of duality stares blankly at us. If we thought that it might have been premature to prune away the weeds since they might affect the growth of the crop, why would we make the judgment now? Is it “harvest” time now? Apparently not, since “the harvest is the end of the world” (Matt 14:39). Then what is the purpose of growing, and when is the harvest? Who is harvesting what? As we can see, purpose determines the harvest. Purpose is in one’s mind, and thus the time of the harvest also. The kingdom of heaven nurtures all within it. It does not judge. There is no duality. The duality is in our minds.

Can love love hate?
If love is unconditional acceptance to all,
Whatever love can do, can it also do the opposite?
In the divine realm ALL is accepted. ALL is true. ALL is real.
Yet we cannot fathom this.
Thus we must make a choice at some point.
But all choices are valid.
The separation of the wheat and tares is not a symbol of good and evil, but of choice.
All possibilities are nurtured by the field of heaven
The selection represents free will, where a choice is ostensibly made
It is only made symbolically, with subjective meaning.
The wheat is harvested and thus chosen from the farmer’s perspective,
but the tares that were burnt, is it not an offering to god as well?
We choose, but the divine does not.

And thus, “As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.” (Matt 13:40) – But is it the end of this world that brings judgment, or judgment that brings the end?

We think we believe in good and evil, but the divine nurtures them both. We do not know the purpose of this world, thus it has not yet ended.

I learned the meanings of this parable because I asked about the nature of duality.

Thus, 10 years after I learned the meaning of the first parable, I now seem to understand the second.