by Yvonne Limoges.
If we truly believe in a Creator Who is All Love and Goodness, why does suffering exist? It is obvious that suffering is rampant upon this planet, in one form or another, and that no one escapes it and many people suffer things that seem random with no apparent cause.
Science tells us every effect must have a cause. Reason tells us that suffering must have a just cause because all suffering must be in conformance with the Perfect Justice of God’s All Powerful Goodness. This also means we cannot receive punishments arbitrarily. Then what is the answer to the question: “Why do good people suffer?” The only logical answer is the spiritually mature concept of reincarnation through it laws of cause and effect based upon the choices people make through their thoughts, words, and deeds. The inequities of life only appear unfair because of mankind’s limited perspective, for it must look out beyond the horizon of one lifetime into the infinity of the plurality of existences to find the reasons for Life’s sorrows. One lifetime is but only one link in a long chain of lives.
It is high time for mankind to begin to accept this fact…for it is the only concept where mankind will truly find solace while upon this material world and where reason can provide a solid faith to sustain it.
Mankind suffers the results of its choices in order to learn lessons that in turn assist in its soul’s progression and moral purification. A human being cannot sufficiently progress and learn all that it needs to learn in one lifetime; to have only one chance to get things right, and then either go to heaven or to the eternal damnation of hell is not in keeping with the Goodness of the Creator.
The Creator Knows the past, present, and future, as the Creator is All Knowing. It would go against God’s Supreme Justice to create beings already known to be doomed to hell or to create others, already knowing they would “be saved” and could go to heaven. If this was the case that would mean that the Creator was playing favorites and that is unfair even to a mere human’s sense of justice!
Neither does it truly make sense that a person may have one horrible or one relatively good lifetime then, continue to supposedly evolve in the afterlife or spirit world or beyond. One can learn all one likes, but it is only when one puts knowledge into practice, that is when a person is put to the real test of its will power and determination. It is also the only way the soul actually transforms itself through a progressive purification process. It would be like going to school forever but never using or testing the knowledge attained in one’s field of study.
The Creator Created all of humanity and Holds all mankind to the same Universal Spiritual Laws no matter what their religious or non-religious beliefs; for the Law of Cause and Effect is the same for all.
Now, if we believe that we have had many existences, we must assume we have made some wrong choices along the way, most probably even committed terrible crimes when we were less morally mature in ages long past. We have only to look at the violent past of the history of mankind. It would be illogical to assume we have all been perfect angels from the very beginning of our creation! Therefore, as it states in the book The Gospel According to Spiritism, Chapter 17: “God has created all men equal in relation to pain, whether we be small or great, ignorant or educated, we all suffer for the same motives so that each one may judge in clear consciousness the evil that can be done… God Desires that all His children, being instructed through their common experiences, should not practice evil with the excuse of not knowing its effects.” Mankind suffers because it has caused hurt or pain to itself or others and it must repent, expiate, and make reparation for any transgressions of moral and spiritual laws, either in this present lifetime or in another existence; for it is insufficient just to say one is sorry and carry on. The Divine Scales of Justice are Perfect and there are no mistakes. In addition, being good and doing good deeds, in certain cases, may help to ease expiations.
Further, those who have completely expiated their past want to push themselves further through self-sacrifice and by accepting difficult missions (these are very morally superior souls). They comprehend fully that if they succeed in these, it will help push them further along the pathway that leads to their final purification (no longer having to reincarnate anymore) and towards the Creator.
Everyone starts at the same place and ends at the same place, how long it takes (how many existences) is up to each individual. In order to accept this concept of reincarnation one must have a mature spiritual understanding. We realize that there are no special dispensations, no magical words that can be said, there is no way to avert the consequences of our own thoughts, words, and deeds. We are the architects of our very own destinies! We have only ourselves to blame for all our sufferings, for we have chosen our own spiritual journey.
It is we who choose what types of trials we will subject ourselves when we return to the material world in each existence, after we have been shown (upon our physical death and return to the spirit world) what crimes, bad deeds, or wrong doings we have committed in our previous lives. We do this because we want to make amends, we want to clear our consciences, we want to become better persons, and we want to progress, as all spirits eventually want to do, for the Law of Progress is a Law of the Universe. We understand then, that we cannot progress until we have cleansed and purified ourselves of our past, reparated for it, and, attained great knowledge and wisdom while removing all selfishness and materiality from the very essence of our being and soul. Humankind progresses through the merits of its deeds not through any type of special grace or the sacrifices of another.
Many who may initially accept the concept of reincarnation, when they begin to look deeper into what that concept actually means, and later learn we must accept our own personal responsibility regarding the circumstances we find ourselves, it is then when they either humbly accept this reality, or, reject the whole thing and walk away (or even reject God) because they are not spiritually or morally ready to accept this truth.
But, they will accept it eventually, as they mature later in this lifetime or in another, because reincarnation is the only logical answer to the question, “Why do good people suffer?” – for it is in total conformance with the Creator’s Supreme Love and Perfect Divine Justice.
(Reproduced from The Academy of Religion and Psychical Research, June 2005 Bulletin – Website: www.lightlink.com/arpr/ with the author’s autorization)
Source: The Spiritist Messenger, 13th Year, Number 68, November 2005
