Why Has God Created a World in Which There Is Suffering? part6
Wed, 01/30/2008 - 13:43 — admin
TEACHER: Precisely! When the living being experiences the ups and downs of material life, and finds contentment in neither, he gradually begins to question why he is not happy although he desires happiness, and why he continues to experience suffering although he desires not to. This questioning which arises from experience of material life leads gradually to the rehabilitation of the fallen soul.
One might question, as you did earlier, Michael, whether God could not reform us without having us undergo any pain or suffering. Such a person might also criticize God or find fault in Him for designing a world, even for reformation purposes, in which the inhabitants are subjected to pain and suffering.
Perhaps the fault may lie not with God, however, but in our own misunderstanding of the situation.
For example, if I am pushed by a friend out of the path of a speeding car, I may take it as an act of aggression on his part if I do not have the vision to see the car bearing down upon me. After becoming aware of the automobile, however, I may take it that the supposedly rough treatment dished out to me by my friend was due to his compassion toward me and not animosity.
Rather than allowing me, in the name of pseudo-kindness or nonviolence, to be run down by the truck, he pushed me out of the way.
Similarly, the fact that God has allowed the existence of suffering in the material world is due solely and wholly to His unconditional mercy and not a lack of it.
If He were to have arranged this world so that there were only material pleasure and no material distress, the fallen souls would have no desire to transcend their condition or improve their lot, and thus would not have the opportunity to again be united in a mood of love with the Supreme Being. They would thus live in a world of shallow happiness-a world removed from God or any chance of knowing Him. Such a world of “pleasure” would not be pleasurable at all, but quite hellish. Hell is that place where the soul is the farthest away from God.
SEEKING SATISFACTIONMICHAEL: This world, then, is like a reform school designed by God to allow the living beings to pursue their folly of happiness without Him, while simultaneously helping them to become reformed of it?
If you identify your body as yourself, you will try to satisfy yourself by trying to satisfy your body. You’ll think, “I am the body and I want to be happy, I want to be satisfied.” Thus, you’ll try to satisfy the belly, the tongue, the genitals, the ears, the eyes, the nose, and so on, believing that this will bring you the inner satisfaction and happiness you crave.
But sense gratification does not satisfy. This is further evidence that you are not the body. No matter how much sense pleasure you have, you are still never satisfied within.
Science of Identity Foundation – Chris Butler Speaks
TEACHER: Precisely! When the living being experiences the ups and downs of material life, and finds contentment in neither, he gradually begins to question why he is not happy although he desires happiness, and why he continues to experience suffering although he desires not to. This questioning which arises from experience of material life leads gradually to the rehabilitation of the fallen soul.
One might question, as you did earlier, Michael, whether God could not reform us without having us undergo any pain or suffering. Such a person might also criticize God or find fault in Him for designing a world, even for reformation purposes, in which the inhabitants are subjected to pain and suffering.
Perhaps the fault may lie not with God, however, but in our own misunderstanding of the situation.
For example, if I am pushed by a friend out of the path of a speeding car, I may take it as an act of aggression on his part if I do not have the vision to see the car bearing down upon me. After becoming aware of the automobile, however, I may take it that the supposedly rough treatment dished out to me by my friend was due to his compassion toward me and not animosity.
Rather than allowing me, in the name of pseudo-kindness or nonviolence, to be run down by the truck, he pushed me out of the way.
Similarly, the fact that God has allowed the existence of suffering in the material world is due solely and wholly to His unconditional mercy and not a lack of it.
If He were to have arranged this world so that there were only material pleasure and no material distress, the fallen souls would have no desire to transcend their condition or improve their lot, and thus would not have the opportunity to again be united in a mood of love with the Supreme Being. They would thus live in a world of shallow happiness-a world removed from God or any chance of knowing Him. Such a world of “pleasure” would not be pleasurable at all, but quite hellish. Hell is that place where the soul is the farthest away from God.