Problem of suffering.

[charly233]

I thought I would bring up this perennial issue since I personally find it to be very challenging and interesting. There are some old threads covering this topic but I thought it best to start a new thread.

The ancient question is why does a loving God allow pain and suffering to exist? Is god all powerful? Does god have the ability to stop suffering? Is a god that is not omnipotent a god at all? Or would he or she merely be a very powerful spirit but with limited powers?

I come to this question from the position of seeing myself and god as One. So the question is why do I allow suffering to exist? Am I omnipotent? Can I stop the pain?

In considering this issue I have come very close to a form of atheism that accepts that there is a great spirit and comforter but denies the existence of an omnipotent god.

My own personal experience is that this comforter came of me in a vision of Jesus and helped me to heal my despair and depression. I also came to the realisation that this comforter was not merely an external spirit but also a manfestion of my own deep, authentic self.

So for me the god that I Am is not to blame for the pain and suffering in the universe but is absolutely involved in the process of healing the pain. Although I believe that all pain is actually an illusion it seems to hurt as if it was real. For some people the pain seems so real that it drives them to suicide. I cannot accept that god creates the pain even as an illusion. I feel that god uses the pain nevertheless and is at least sometimes able to create enlightenment and healing out of the pain.

But where does this leave god's omnipotence? Is it a form of atheism if you believe in a god or Spirit with only limited powers? Or maybe it is a form of dualism since it opens the possibility that there is some other source of authority in the universe that is responsible for the illusions of pain and negativity.

My feeling is that the god that I Am is some how omnipotent even though she/he is not responsible for the pain and suffering. And I feel there is only one such being who is the sole lord of the Universe. In honouring this feeling I find myself wondering whether the creator of divine realities is not to blame for the relative, illusionary dream world. Some people would assert that there is a demon responsible for the dream world. But I don't believe this to be the case. I feel that no individuals are to blame but it is the collective impact of all egos that is responsible for the suffering of the dreamworld. I feel that free will comes into the equation here. Without the possibility of pain and the healing of that pain that the god that I Am facilitates there would be no possibility of beings choosing divine reality over the dreamworld from their own free will.

I feel that there is an issue of logic that is pertinent here. There are logical boundaries that seem to limit omnipotence. To be omnipotent is not to be absolutely all powerful with no limitations. As omnipotent beings we cannot defy logic. We cannot decree that 2+2=5. In the same way we cannot decree that free will exists without the possibility of pain.

All of this seems to suggest, it seems to me, that we are co-creators of the agonies and ecstasies of the universe rather than isolated and unique creators on our own. We are not individual creators but we are not just one with god but we actually are God. As gods we are the Grand Comforter and healer of the universe. We are not the creators of pain but the healers of pain. But logic requires that the illusion of pain exists so that our freewill as conscious co-creators exists.