The Parable of the Net

The Master spake this parable unto the disciples concerning the process by which the Divine Wisdom was acquired.

“The Kingdom of the Heavens is like a net let down into a great sea.¹

Those who be fishermen² upon the waters, let down their nets to catch what may come to them;³ and when they land their nets, they separate the fish, the good from the bad, taking the good fish into their vessel, but throwing away the bad.

In like manner is it with those in whom the Kingdom of the Heavens cometh.

The power of the Kingdom within them causeth them to let down their nets into the sea whence knowledge and experience come; and they bring up fish good and bad.

And being true fishers, knowing the good from the bad, they separate them, taking the good into their vessel with them, but throwing away the bad.”


Quotation and notes from The Logia or Sayings of the Master by John Todd Ferrier, pp 64-65. © The Order of the Cross


The Stilling of the Storm Synopsis of The Logia
The Holy City (illuminated) Literature and main menu

¹ The great sea is the sea of Life, and it is full of mystery. Every Soul must needs go forth upon that sea, and upon it no one escapes being confronted with the Mystery of Being. The Kingdom of the Heavens cometh through Revelation in a Soul; but in the process of its becoming a realization, the Soul passes through profound experiences. This was so in the unfallen days when there was nothing bad within the sea; but since the going down of the Soul, the experiences have had a mixture of evil.

² Fish and Fisher were mystery terms; the one signified hidden knowledges; the other, one who sought out these.

³ The nets let down by the fishers into which were gathered the fish, symbolized the letting down of the mind by the fishers to secure the knowledges. For in the evolution of the Soul, apart from the abnormal conditions which have arisen out of the evil which overtook the race, the soul acquires experiences through the mind, and grows in heavenly wisdom. In this way is the knowledge and understanding of things stored up within the Soul, which in later ages become unto it what is known as Intuition - the power to perceive heavenly secrets.