THE NATURE OF SUFFERING -- PART ONE

There are two kinds of suffering. There is the perceived suffering when you as an individual see others undergoing their trials and tribulations, their suffering, and there is the suffering which you as an individual experience because of your own actions. It is essential that we comprehend the significance between these two forms of suffering, for they are not the same.

Placing Responsibility

Many people today believe that all suffering can be externalised. They can place the responsibility for their suffering on God, the government, their job or some other person. Let us begin, therefore, by looking at the relationship between God and suffering, for if we understand that relationship we can apply that understanding to all the lesser examples. The question is often posed, both consciously and unconsciously, that if God is a God of love, how then can that God permit suffering? The answer is, of course, that God does permit suffering for suffering is a refining process on the soul´s path of evolution.

Suffering should not be seen as a punishment visited upon a wayward child by a dominant parent. Suffering is something which both individuals, groups and nations attract unto themselves. It is usually the result of what they have done, of the seeds that they have sown, both in this and previous lives. Although the power that you call God could alleviate that suffering if It so wished, It does not, because It too is ruled by the Laws of the Univers, Laws such as the Law of Cause and Effect and the Law of Equalisation. Therefore, in Its wisdom, your God sees the purpose of suffering. It sees the need for individuals to come to terms with what they have attracted and brought down upon themselves.


Reincarnation

 It is difficult, if your consciousness cannot accept the concept of reincarnation, of life after life after life, to see how suffering can be regarded as a evolutionary process. For if you lead only one life and then perish forever, and if you have suffered deeply and grievously in that one life, then how can there be justice in that? Truly, if that was the case, then life would not be just. But those of you who have walked a little further along the evolutionary path than most of Humanity are aware that you bring into being with you in your physical body all that you created in other lives, on other levels of existence beyond the physical plane of Earth. You bring with you not only your spiritual wisdom, but also the sins of the past, the lessons you have not learnt, the karma you owe both to yourslef and to others. So as you advance through the life which you now lead you will automatically attract unto youself the lessons which you have chosen to learn, the karma you have chosen to transmute.


A Choice Not A Punishment

If there is one point which I would like to emphasize now, it is this: That Suffering is chosen by yourself. It is not given to you by your Creator as a punishment. It is chosen by you, willingly as a lesson to learn, as a lesson which your soul needs at this particular point in its evolution. Therefore, when you who live here in the west, at this time observe the suffering of other countries, of other races, as they conflict with each other, you must realize that those countries and races are learning a lesson in which you have no part, for you have come to learn a different lesson, a different aspect of evolution. You can observe the suffering of others but you must not become one with it.

Recognize that the suffering is part of their lesson. You may express compassion for them, you may offer help when it is sought, but there is little that you can do to ease their suffering, their trials, their tribulations, for that is something which they as individuals have to resolve. You in your wisdom might see the resolution of their problem, the answer that must come about, but you cannot impose that answer upon them. They must bring it forth from within themselves in order to end their suffering.


Facing Your Own Path

As you look around the World today you can observe the quickening of the planet, and the fact that Armageddon is here. Because of this, suffering will abound and multiply all over the planet. No one can avoid it. You, as individuals, must come to terms with that. You must not allow the suffering which this great evolutionary step forward will create to swamp you. I may seem to you that I am inviting you to be hard-hearted, to shut your eyes to the suffering of others, but I am not.

Yes, you may have eyes for them. Yes, you may have compassion for them, but do not let the lessons of other people, do not let the karma of other nations, become your karma. You can, of course, take on that burden if you so choose. That is your birthright. But is it the destiny of your choosing? It is so easy to externalise your own suffering, your own lessons, your own evolutionary path, onto the suffering of others, onto the lessons that you have already learnt, because you do not want to face your own path, your own struggle. There are many today who side-track their evolutionary path by placing themselves on the paths of others.

Part Two follows...

This article is taken from "The Fantasic Teachings of Ramala".