[flopay]

i see this realm as a form of prison because suffering is something which we have to put up with here.

dc: i agree. this ain't no rose garden.

yes, suffering might be a necessary part of our evolution for a while, but are such extremities really necessary? does a child chose to get sexually abused? is there a good reason for all the suffering and pain caused by war? and every day, millions of animal suffer in auschwitz type conditions.

dc: all true.

sorry to be so depressing, but it is in my nature to look at things and understand them, not turn a blind eye.

dc: that is my nature too. i have always believed that spiritual viewpoints that pretend such suffering does not exist, or is "illusion," are just not worth my time and attention.

ra asked us to disregard anything which did not resonate. so i am thinking for myself and not accepting the law of one as another type of religious dogma.

dc: i do the same.

so i am not saying that i don't agree with ra- i am simply asking us to examine this much more deeply to fully understand why things are the way that they are in this world.

dc: sounds perfectly reasonable.

i simply feel for all the creatures and beings of the world that suffer so much and and is my deepest desire that one day we can all be free.

amelie, i won't pretend to offer an answer for you, but i can comment on my own experience in facing and dealing with similar questions. i spent a career in social work trying to do something about the problems of suffering. eventually i discovered the hard way that much of my own deep involvement in the suffering of others had roots in a forgotten incident of my own early childhood, in which i was badly injured by another person. to use language from my own field, i was had a serious case of post traumatic stress disorder. mainstream mental health sources lack much in the way of tools for treating it, but a spiritually awakened individual with some tools for healing can resolve it in a fairly short period of time without the agony of lingering in it for decades. the long and the short of it, for me, is that i am still very aware of the suffering on the planet, but it no longer tortures me, and i no longer contribute my own addded pain into those cycles of suffering. i'll state for the record: yes, it is possible to face up to those hideous realities and still have peace of mind. that's just my story. if it does not resonate with you, let it fly. if it does resonate, feel free to pm me. as ra emphasizes, one thing does not change: you are loved.

deerclan