There are several conclusions we can make from the parable of the sower:

First, people are blessed in proportion to their openness.

There is a belief that extra blessings are available to some people because they are "chosen ones". No matter what others do, they cannot reach the status of these lucky persons - if they aren't in their group. But I don't think that it could be true.

If we agree that some are "chosen" and others are not, we will have to spend our time and mental energy in attempts to find out who are those people. Do they belong to this nation, or some other nation; this race, or another race? Do they belong to this religion, or a different religion? Are they followers of this creed, or another creed?

The whole idea of "chosen ones" breeds inferiority in some and superiority in others. It provokes envy, strife, bitterness, resentment, and so forth. Therefore I am convinced that for our benefit we should completely dismiss it from our minds. Let us not base our self-approval on some external factors. Let us not be engaged in an endless game of comparing ourselves against others. Such vain reasonings misuse our mental powers which could be better applied to self-improvement.

Second, openness is a mental attitude.

The condition of our inner "soil" depends on our mental processes. It has nothing to do with going through special rituals or subscribing to certain dogmas.

The last week we stated that blessings are available to all. If we are alive, we are blessed in some way. Divine seeds grow by themselves, because they are alive and full of power. There are positive results in our life even if we are careless and make mistakes.

This realization helps us to get rid of strain. We don't have to be anxious, thinking that if we didn't pray hard enough or did not meditate long enough, something negative will happen. The power of Life is always active within us, and we may put our trust in it, not in our personal efforts.

Charles Fillmore defined prayer as an exalted form of mental activity. I think it is important to realize that spiritual practices are never meant to add to our life something which we don't already know in a certain degree.

As Brad Jensen said,

"Prayer is the field effect of thought in motion, just as magnetism is the field effect of electrons in motion. Prayer is a shaping quality that exists in all thought. You are praying if you exist. Release your reservations about prayer.

Be certain about what you are thinking. The certainty holds the thought form still and helps it to manifest more quickly, completely, and without condition. There will be time to think something new after this version manifests completely. Your reservations lead to conditional and incomplete results".

We always pray. We always meditate. We always deny. We always affirm. We always visualize. As we engage in spiritual practices, we simply give more attention to mental processes which are going on all the time, in order to receive greater fruit from divine seeds planted into our consciousness.

Let us stay centered at divine seeds which come into our minds. Let us identify ourselves with them and affirm our unity with them. This is what all people could do, irregardless of their race, gender, social status, or religion. That's why the Law of Openness is truly universal.

(to be continued)