"You have been given the secret to heaven, but to those outside everything is presented as parables so that they may look with eyes wide open but never quite see, and may listen with ears attuned but never quite understand. Otherwise, they might turn around and find forgiveness"
Seriously, there are several translations of that. Here is a site that goes into it. http://www.ccg.org/english/s/p131.html
New day, new try. "You have been given the secret to heaven" = master of the obvious "Otherwise, they might turn around and find forgiveness" Whole lotta bs out there and people are not really all that interested, better things to do.
I'll take a try at it. As nutmeg mentioned, people don't see the present moment...the unchanging always. What is now is seen through forgiveness of the past/future paradigm...which does not exist in the present...now. They've (past future) never really existed but to impose time on eternity and be at war with the Unchangeable. This is only really understood as one identifies himself with the "inside"...with eternity...with now...with the unchangeable...with God. Otherwise, one will exclude himself and make interpretation impossible to understand. To be in time is to have excluded oneself from eternity such that it can't be seen, let alone remembered. From that perspective, it's hard to interpret parables which speak of the eternal. In the book of Thomas it mentions something about how the kingdom is neither here nor there but is spread out upon the earth but people don't see it. It is not saying that the earth is the kingdom. It means that the earth is an optical delusion seen through one's intent to exclude themselves from heaven. If the intent is changed, then optics (perception) will give way to another world which reflects the kingdom/heaven. This is what it means to "see". It seems as though there is a "now" that human eyes can see. But actually, human eyes see a past/future continuum that must be intentionally disrupted in order to see the now. To do that one must be willing to let the concept of past/future go as inconsequential, insignificant, or otherwise non-existent. This includes the letting go of the concept of change. Forgiveness, most basically defined, is to let the truth be true. The truth is what is true now, always has been and always will be...unchanged. Parables are not made difficult to understand purposely. The intent of the parable teller is to clarify matters and communicate. It is the hearer who must decide if he will listen from the inside or from the outside. Jesus said, "the kingdom of heaven is within you". This can't be interpreted unless one is willing to open his mind and really consider the implications of this statement. If one excludes himself, then it could mean any number of absurd concepts to the unforgiving (unopening) mind. Christ!