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There Is No Suffering

 

If I recognize that God is everywhere and I see evidence of him in total existence, then my “suffering” also comes into perspective and I see and understand the greater action, which is always perfect. – John-Roger

This article by John-Roger was first published in the Movement Newspaper, July 1978.


I hear many, many people talk about the suffering they go through. And yet, when I look across the planet, I see the Light — perfect in its balance and its manifestation. I see people working through — balancing, clearing their karmic situations. I see people growing, progressing, learning, coming into greater and greater positions of awareness. And that’s not suffering.

The only suffering that I do know of happens when man alienates himself from God or from his Spirit. All else that is called suffering is only a symptom of this separation from God.

When you do not see the perfection of the Light action and of your path upon this planet, then the action of the Light sometimes appears to be happenstance, and that can cause a form of suffering. You call in the Light, and it really works for you. The action is really beautiful and the perfection of God’s plan can be seen so clearly. A week later you call in the Light, and nothing seems to happen the way it should. Nothing changes for you, and you say, “It didn’t work.” And you feel the suffering. Did you ever think that the rough time you seem to be having might be just what you need to help you grow, to help you lift into the next level of awareness? The Light works always for your highest good, and it may not always be apparent to you what that is.

Sometimes it feels like you’ve mixed together several things, and suddenly you have transmuted lead into gold that is so precious and so beautiful…beyond words. Then you forget what things you mixed together or in what proportions, and you can’t do it again. There is a form of suffering that comes in with the inability to recreate the beauty that once happened. But that beauty was for then, and the human consciousness always moves forward into an eternal NOW. And you must live in the moment and create new in each moment the gold of your beingness. You can never do it by using yesterday’s formula. It is made new all the time.

My job often consists of alleviating pain within myself and others. Within myself, that’s very easy. I just move into the high consciousness and reside there until I see things in a greater perspective. I may be experiencing many things on this level not necessarily positive or loving. But, if I recognize that God is everywhere and I see evidence of him in total existence, then my “suffering” also comes into perspective and I see and understand the greater action, which is always perfect.

When you feel yourself to be in a position of suffering, you can almost bet that you have created that suffering for yourself. Usually when you find yourself saying, “I need help, I need your advice, these things happened and I have to find a way to solve this,” what you are really saying is, “I did this and this and this and now it’s all come back to me and is on my head, and it hurts.” When that happens, you have two choices: you can laugh or you can cry, but you have to handle it. You can stay in the feeling of misery and despair and cry over what has come down. Or you can start lifting yourself and say, “Well, it sure hurts when I laugh,” but then laugh anyway; you’ll feel so much better. It might not take away the suffering, but it could make it easier to go through.

One attitude that you can take when you lave caused yourself pain and discomfort through your actions is one of a quietness and a serenity that can sustain you through almost anything. Focus on the moment without looking ahead to next week or next month or next year. Just hold yourself present in the now — at each point — and deal with whatever presents itself to you in the moment. Usually life is not too difficult that way. Much suffering seems to occur when you look back into yesterday or forward into tomorrow.

When God created the world, he looked out across the land and said, “It’s good.” And yet there are so many religions that say man was born to suffering and that man must suffer for his sins. So it seems that whatever this thing called sin is must be inside, not out in the world. It has been said that sin is ignorance, and I do think that a lot of suffering comes about because we don’t know what’s going on. Ignorance is darkness, and in the darkness, you sometimes fall. It could be said that, in this way, you sin against your own Christ consciousness, the Light of your own Self.

But you do know of the Light, and there have been guidelines presented by the Masters of all the ages — guidelines for living your life in the Light of the Christ, in the Light of your own consciousness. These guidelines help you to handle yourself in this world. It does not stop your spiritual growth to not handle this world too well. But you’ll be happier if you are handling it pretty well, and it is your responsibility to learn those things that make it easier to live a successful, uplifting life here.

Because it is your responsibility to handle this level, no one can really tell you what to do and you cannot blame anyone else for what happens to you in this life. The choices present themselves to you, and often you enter into confusion and doubt and bewilderment. Then “tomorrow” becomes fraught with fear because you can’t predict what’s going to happen. And that becomes a form of suffering. Again, you must bring yourself present in the “NOW” and live in that moment. It’s easier to be happy in the moment.

Sometimes the suffering comes when you have placed too much value and importance on the physical world and have gotten caught up in the glamour of this world and all the things that exist here. You must not forget that this physical world is only ten percent of your total existence, that to the ninety percent of the spiritual worlds is where much of your focus and your attention could be going.

When you confuse your spirituality with the materiality of this world, you’re asking for big trouble. When you seek after material things and look to the world for fulfillment, you may find a temporary sense of contentment and satisfaction but you will not find fulfillment. The trap is that you sometimes mistake the feeling of satisfaction for that of true fulfillment and think you’ve made it. At that point, the thing or person or job upon which you based your satisfaction moves, and you are left with “nothing.” That’s suffering.

As long as you are in the world, you must deal with the world; but it’s important to keep this world and the things of this world in perspective. A great Indian Master once was asked what it was like to have transcended thought and to be residing in pure intellect. His answer was, “I don’t know,” which didn’t make him look too good. But think about that question. If he had transcended thought, there would be no way to answer a question that came from thought and required thought to answer.

There is no answer to that question; because from a state beyond thought, there could be no response on this level.

It’s possible to reach to a state of bliss of oneness, of joy, that is beyond thought, that is beyond words. And in those moments, you see the perfection and the beauty of God’s plan for each person specifically and for all of mankind. In those moments, you know that all is perfect and that there is no suffering. When you do spiritual exercises and focus upon God and Spirit and the sacred names of God, you reach more often into this state of knowingness and find less and less concern with the cares of the world. Of course, you still live here and handle this world, but you have transcended the barrier that causes suffering. And you walk free in your consciousness of God.

Baruch Bashan

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