January 30, 2023
Ask Deepak

Suffering.

Quote.

When your mind and heart are truly open abundance will flow to you effortlessly and easily.

Question:

I have a hard time believing that the ability to suffer is something to be grateful for. I keep looking for God, I listen to what people say but I want to see and know it without having to take anyone’s word, without everyone else’s ideas. I want to believe in a God of love, a universe of abundance, an unfathomable good behind it all. I don’t see it. I see good, I see the beauty in the trees, in the earth as I run it through my fingers, I feel the love and empathy of others stories and lives. I know compassion, and equanimity with animals and all people, but then I look at my life and the struggles. The hard times financially, the seeming bad “luck.” It’s just circumstance it’s not anyone’s fault. But I find that hard to swallow. As a parent I believe there are other ways to learn lessons and values without hardship, and that consequence doesn’t have to equal suffering. I think of Maya Angelou and her story of how the three simple words “God loves me” impacted her so much, and I think okay I see the blessing in just being alive, in being able to breathe and live and love, I see that. It’s wonderful and amazing. I see the grace and beauty, but it seems then that to live means to suffer sometimes. Is that it? I always thought that suffering was unnecessary, and there’s a huge difference between that and not getting what you want. If God loves me, why can’t he/she/it help in the areas where I’m actually suffering? What good does a universe of beauty do if I’m no able to see it because I’m too busy trying to survive? It seems to me then God is indifferent and I would never be indifferent to my children and their pain. I would never let my children suffer to learn, I would find another way. You don’t need to touch the stove to know the burn, there’s another way, through knowledge and caring explanation and demonstration. No pain no gain seems so archaic. Why should I be grateful for the ability to suffer?

Response:

Suffering is due the misperception of your relationship to wholeness. Seeing yourself as separate from others and the universe as a whole is the source of suffering. Knowing our true nature as the same reality as cosmic existence gives us the  deep experience of connectedness, love, compassion, and joy. This removes suffering. Life is here to be enjoyed, not to suffer. Suffering has nothing to do with God’s nature or about learning lessons. The use of gratitude is in connecting us to the source of joy and appreciation within as our deeper reality, our higher self, so that we find our truth beyond the suffering. 

Love,

Deepak

Write Your Comment

The New Science of Living a Longer, Healthier, More Vital Life
July 15, 2023
Scroll Up