Suffering When you feel very sad, fearful, hurt or oppressed, it's suffering. Don't buy into it. The universe is not selling it. Suffering, self-denial, self-deprecation and all such activities limit you and put scars on your soul which you will have to overcome and heal before you can realize your full potential as a spirit. The need for suffering has been marketed by people who want to control the masses. It's been passed down through the generations, refined and repackaged, but it's all the same lie. No one really needs to suffer. Please bear with my argument before you beg to differ. There's great value in trying to get people to live together peacefully. This goal is consistent with universal principles of cooperation and harmony, but how it has been done is unnatural. Denial of your spirit's nature will cause suffering, certainly. It impedes progress and leaves you with the ache of soul urges and wishes which you feel powerless to allow much less cultivate. What has occurred has been the result of good intent but bad execution. Without full understanding, the best way to herd sheep may be to whack at them with a staff or use dogs to keep them rounded up together. Yet the sheep are learning nothing except how to avoid the staff and fear the dogs. Some may rebel or wander away from the flock. The rest will go where you lead them, but they are nothing more than wool and meat on the move. We are not sheep. At best, governmental, religious and societal herding has been a poor attempt at encouraging certain cooperative behaviors with principles that miss the nuances of the actual spiritual characteristics. For example, it's much more difficult to cultivate humility than to preach suffering. Yes, being made to believe that suffering is necessary will make a spirit behave as though humble BUT it does not come from within. It's being imposed from outside. It becomes a burden and may in fact slow the ability of the spirit to ultimately nurture and accept the true attribute of humility. If thusly oppressed spirits finally awaken to their independence and rebel against the hardship of suffering, then they will be more resistant to accepting any necessary limits. Consider a teenager who gets his first weekend of freedom. If he has been taught to think about the results of his actions but also allowed to enjoy himself as long as he is responsible, then he may throw a wild party but the house will be mostly intact when the parents return. If the teenager has been under strict rule for rule's sake, then the parents may return to a house that has been destroyed, police cruisers in the yard, and needing to scrape up bail and a good defense lawyer for juvenile court. My definition of true spiritual humility would be the recognition of myself as part of a greater whole. It includes awareness of my potential impact and influence. It involves my consideration of others as souls who are just as valuable as I am. Under these guidelines, I would then set my own limits of behavior and restrict my activities. That is the flaw with insisting on suffering. How can I be truly concerned for the welfare of others in comparison to me, if I am nothing? How can I love my neighbor as myself, if I do not love myself? How should I do unto others as I would have them do unto me, if I think I deserve to be miserable and suffer greatly? In a way, humility implies ego (but not arrogance). I must recognize my own value then see to it that I value all others equally. Turning this around, if I should not make others suffer, then I should not suffer either. We are equal. We are all part of the same Oneness. None of us should suffer, yet we should all be humble in the knowledge of all the power at our command and the gift of using it. I believe that humility is helpful for acting responsibly within our vast community. Now in all fairness, up until recently, awakened spirits were few and scattered. Perhaps herding the sleepwalkers has been the only reasonable method available for seeing to the survival of mankind until the seasons shifted and civilization burgeoned and we can see a better way. We must learn to appeal to the intelligence and higher instincts for cooperative co-existence and the easiest way to do that is to relate a collective need to a personal one. Well, we have instant global information now. There is less distance between us and them, both figurately and literally. Part of the de-escalation of nuclear weapons was the realization throughout the world powers that there is no such thing as 'limited nuclear war.' We finally saw that even if we hit them, we shall all pay. So we've tried to call the whole thing off. We are finally learning that making the other guy suffer is not the best way. In this, we're learning humility. Just because we can do a thing does not mean that we should or that it would be in our own best interest, much less that of the greater community. We as individuals need not suffer either. No one needs to suffer. Well... that's not precisely true. Suffering does serve a purpose. For the individual, when the suffering comes from within, it is often a call to action. It may be part of the wake up call. Suffering caused by soul urges and the denial of them should be heeded and... eliminated. Find the cause and create a cure that works for you. We have to do this by listening, awakening and beginning our soul work to mend what has been injured and begin our true progress toward the infinite One and ultimately to our whole selves. (Suffering)

If menu is missing, click here.