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Human suffering….personal and general. This is one of the greatest issues humanity has faced philosophically, religiously, socially, and personally. What is its cause? What is its solution?
The primitives, including many ancient and modern evolutionary religions, offer a profoundly important answer. They believe that God causes suffering as a form of punishment. More enlightened ones believe God allows suffering for a similar reason. But both do indeed require God to believe either one of those, rather than random luck or misfortune or fate or any other form of impersonal cause. And between the lack of belief in God and the belief in one God, there came the many gods of nature and natural order (sun, moon, water, earth, harvest, underworld, stars, etc.), each with their own quirky and unpredictable appetites and whims of good and bad fortune. These evolutionary steps in the progressive realization and appreciation for God’s nature, purpose, plan, and power are, we are told, natural as delivered by the Adjutants, experience, wisdom, and the Light within.
Yet many of our fellows refuse to believe in any God that would cause OR allow suffering and thereby, reasonably, reject the God of those evolutionary religions which persist in this definition and description of an angry God or an indifferent God. More and more people are rejecting these primitive notions…and yet the number of those who believe in God and heaven and angels remains a high majority. Even those who intellectually reject any god, do so primarily in rejection of institutional, evolutionary church beliefs, demands, creeds, and doctrines…rather than any real embrace of a mechanistic, accidental physical universe resulting in human life and free will and love as the obvious result of whatever happened however it happened.
I find this very encouraging actually and evidence of the Son’s Spirit and its accelerating effects in conjunction with the Adjutants and the God Fragment. The very concepts of God and creation and life and the human dual nature of material and spiritual are demonstrating more and more influence on the each and upon the all. While many still despair at the suffering the each and all endure, still is there functional progress in our beliefs in, or in many cases our personal response to, God and a much truer concept of reality. Hardly replete or integrated or deep perhaps…but when we consider a time span of only 4000 years since Machiventa came to re-establish monotheism, any student of religious history can identify the arc of rising consciousness of Deity and the progressive concepts related thereto.
The answers to the questions ‘what causes suffering’ and ‘what is the solution to suffering’ were determined by the experiential wisdom of the human mind some 2600 years ago during a mysterious age of enlightenment we are told in the Papers. And indeed, human historical records have demonstrated this reality. The Tao and the Buddha and others determined that suffering comes from self importance and its solution comes by the importance of all others, both individually and collectively. This profound understanding and knowledge of truth and universal reality is not new or news to any student of philosophy.
While many found and still find this concept easy enough to understand, they also find it difficult to implement due to the apparently opposing dual nature of human life. Altruism and self sacrifice for the welfare of others is not an especially natural state of mind, or not so for the materially oriented mind. The self still seeks for a personal payoff or reward the more materially grounded and minded we remain. The gods of judgement and wrath sprung forth in many religions as a method to give incentive to ‘obey’ the ‘higher’ nature. But as science and experience explain more and more of the causes for the natural order of life, including rain, seasons, sunrise and sunset, and many other previous phenomena blamed on the gods and as foundation for the religious life, such incentives lost power over mind…and behaviors.
The Gospel OF Jesus inserted altruism and care of and for others as an ‘outcome’ of the religious life which became focused on the love of a paternal God for all children in creation. The familial concept on Urantia does not originate with Jesus (think Garden and the Prince before) but it is an entirely new concept in the modern era of the past 2000 years or 100 generations of human history. And while this Good News was radical and changed many in its time, the repetition of this Gospel by the Son’s Spirit and the flood of the God Fragment to our world has been far more radical in its influence in the evolutionary religious experience of each human mind, delivering insight through personal revelation and relationship with God, directly to the each, and subsequently affecting the whole.
The cause of suffering is the lack of love…love of God and one another. The solution to suffering is love…love of God and one another.
The Urantia Papers is a gift to explain all of this in important and new ways because of the success of the gift of Michael’s bestowal and the gift of his Spirit to our world. I have great confidence in Michael’s success on this Shrine of Nebadon.
I hope we might share text which details the story of progressive evolutionary religious truths and the certainty of our planetary rulers and ministers success in the mortals epochs of time as we certainly, if inexplicably, traverse toward the inevitability of Light and Life.
Cheers!
The cause of suffering is the lack of love…love of God and one another.
So wait, are you saying that disease, famine, floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes are caused by a lack of love?
Well….even in L&L there is infirmary and natural disasters, this is true. But how much less suffering will there be when government, science, commerce, medicine, education, housing, etc. is motivated by love and service rather than profit and greed and true leadership is driven by ethics, transparency, and accountability? 90% Or more?
I don’t believe God causes or cures suffering.
i do believe that he pays attention to how we face up you it when it comes our way.
The cause of suffering is the lack of love…love of God and one another.
So wait, are you saying that disease, famine, floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes are caused by a lack of love?
Bradly answered, above, but in my opinion, it is not the disease, famine, floods, hurricanes etc. that cause the suffering. It is our reactions to them. If we are in a situation that involves disease or famine, etc. how do we respond, toward ourselves and toward others? If we respond with love, especially selfless love, we can reduce the suffering of others or perhaps even of ourselves. If we keep our thoughts focused on Truth Beauty and Goodness, we can endure physical pain but yet somehow rise above it. At least in theory, maybe?
Paper 130, section 6, about the young man who was afraid, is informative on this subject.
Hi Bradly,
You set the table to feast on an interesing buffet.
Here’s my plate.
Pain and suffering are essential to progressive evolution. 86:2.1
Where would you like assing it ?
- Hors d’oeuvre
- Main course
- Dessert
André
Bradley,
As the host of this delectable open buffet, in wich appropriate manner you thought should we approach successfully the setting table ?
Because Urantians are very hungry concerning such mouthwatering local delicacies and always hope (expected) get out of the table satisfied.
André
If we respond with love, especially selfless love, we can reduce the suffering of others or perhaps even of ourselves.
Ah, yes. But reduce the suffering does not remove the suffering. There is a purpose for it all, and that purpose is to help us develop that very attitude toward life you speak of, where we forgive the cause of suffering even though it wounds us to the very core: “Even though he slay me, yet will I serve him.” (101:3.16)
9:1.8 The universe of your origin is being forged out between the anvil of justice and the hammer of suffering; but those who wield the hammer are the children of mercy, the spirit offspring of the Infinite Spirit.
3:5.14 9. Is pleasure–the satisfaction of happiness–desirable? Then must man live in a world where the alternative of pain and the likelihood of suffering are ever-present experiential possibilities.
23.2.5 The confusion and turmoil of Urantia do not signify that the Paradise Rulers lack either interest or ability to manage affairs differently. The Creators are possessed of full power to make Urantia a veritable paradise, but such an Eden would not contribute to the development of those strong, noble, and experienced characters which the Gods are so surely forging out on your world between the anvils of necessity and the hammers of anguish. Your anxieties and sorrows, your trials and disappointments, are just as much a part of the divine plan on your sphere as are the exquisite perfection and infinite adaptation of all things to their supreme purpose on the worlds of the central and perfect universe.
Note above that those who wield the hammer of suffering are offspring of the Infinite Spirit, which includes the angels. The angels are the ones who stimulate our minds by working through our environment. A good guardian will often wield a heavy hammer. Stimulating the mind means learning how to endure suffering, whether it be mental, emotional or physical, with courage and grace. It’s about those divine be-attitudes Jesus taught.
We’re told that much of what we suffer is of our own making, but isn’t the goal learning to recognize that very fact and correct it? We correct it by allowing the Adjuster to modify and balance our attitude toward reality. And for that suffering which is not of our own making, the kind of suffering we are forced to endure because of the sins of others, the image of Michael suffering on the cross serves as a true inspiration. Actually, he showed us the proper attitude toward all suffering, regardless of the source.
So, rather than vilify suffering, rather than make suffering people feel guilty because of their supposed lack of love, why not look for the value in suffering? Since suffering in life cannot be entirely avoided, there must be a pony around somewhere (silver lining). I would think that all the suffering we saw recently in Houston would have filled TV screens with crying and moaning people, but it didn’t. We saw courageous, generous, hopeful people working hard to help one another. There’s value in that, true value.
9:1.8 The universe of your origin is being forged out between the anvil of justice and the hammer of suffering; but those who wield the hammer are the children of mercy, the spirit offspring of the Infinite Spirit.
3:5.14 9. Is pleasure–the satisfaction of happiness–desirable? Then must man live in a world where the alternative of pain and the likelihood of suffering are ever-present experiential possibilities.
Its probably not worth nitpicking but it is interesting that the author chose to express this suffering part of the anvil hammer thing as “ever present possibilities ” as opposed to potential.
Bradley, As the host of this delectable open buffet, in wich appropriate manner you thought should we approach successfully the setting table ? Because Urantians are very hungry concerning such mouthwatering local delicacies and always hope (expected) get out of the table satisfied. André
The setting of this ‘potluck’ already brings great ‘vittles’ to the table! Every post has added to the great beginning on this discovery of “Suffering”. Thanks to each and all!
I appreciate the points made on – not just the causes of suffering and the solutions of suffering – but also the value derived by the individual and civilization. Very important to consider. Results of the word search for suffering:
And for suffer:
I am in agreement with Keryn when she points out that, in many cases, personal suffering is due to our personal choice of response to circumstances and situations. And I think Bonita supported this concept by pointing out one benefit or inherent value in suffering is the opportunity for personal, community, national, and global “response” to tragedy and the suffering of others. Indeed, I am truly uplifted to witness the victims of tragedy rise nobly above their own suffering to reach out and help others despite their own similar circumstances.
Unfortunately we also witness those who prey upon and take advantage of those in their suffering. Such contrast provides important lessons to ponder.
Bonita: It was not my intention here to “vilify” suffering but to study it and in depth. I did fail in my opening to acknowledge the purpose and the value of this seemingly inherent element in experiential progress and wisdom growth. Thanks for the focus on such an important issue to consider.
Thanks to Andre for pointing us to Paper 86 where we can find text which offers that historical perspective of evolutionary religious experience over the eons of the mortal epochs and which verifies that many, even today, still suffer from primitivism related to the God-Concept:
86:7.3 (956.6) But these ancient ideas of religion prevented men from becoming fatalistic and hopelessly pessimistic; they believed they could at least do something to influence fate. The religion of ghost fear impressed upon men that they must regulate their conduct, that there was a supermaterial world which was in control of human destiny.
86:7.4 (956.7) Modern civilized races are just emerging from ghost fear as an explanation of luck and the commonplace inequalities of existence. Mankind is achieving emancipation from the bondage of the ghost-spirit explanation of ill luck. But while men are giving up the erroneous doctrine of a spirit cause of the vicissitudes of life, they exhibit a surprising willingness to accept an almost equally fallacious teaching which bids them attribute all human inequalities to political misadaptation, social injustice, and industrial competition. But new legislation, increasing philanthropy, and more industrial reorganization, however good in and of themselves, will not remedy the facts of birth and the accidents of living. Only comprehension of facts and wise manipulation within the laws of nature will enable man to get what he wants and to avoid what he does not want. Scientific knowledge, leading to scientific action, is the only antidote for so-called accidental ills.
86:7.5 (957.1) Industry, war, slavery, and civil government arose in response to the social evolution of man in his natural environment; religion similarly arose as his response to the illusory environment of the imaginary ghost world. Religion was an evolutionary development of self-maintenance, and it has worked, notwithstanding that it was originally erroneous in concept and utterly illogical.
86:7.6 (957.2) Primitive religion prepared the soil of the human mind, by the powerful and awesome force of false fear, for the bestowal of a bona fide spiritual force of supernatural origin, the Thought Adjuster. And the divine Adjusters have ever since labored to transmute God-fear into God-love. Evolution may be slow, but it is unerringly effective.
While suffering appears to be inevitable, experientially speaking and especially so for mortals and even more especially so for primitive mortals, the Papers also teach that the only true solution to suffering is the evolutionary and progressively wise response to suffering – and that is the diminishment of self importance and the growth of other’s importance – loving, self-forgetting service to others. By this method does the servant suffer less and so do others suffer less.
Thusly does suffering appear to be a primary driver for and determiner of personal and total population spiritual growth and does propel humanity and the individual toward the solution to suffering….service to and love for one another! Word search for service – warning: there are 700 quotes specifying every level of servant and service in creation as revealed in the UB – nonetheless, a fascinating study:
We are told that the earliest humans did not think much unless suffering from hunger or danger. And thereby did humanity leave the nests in the trees and form family units and then tribes….and eventually towns, cities, and nations….and eventually still to come a global human race dependent upon one another and in service to one another and all others! All, apparently, resulting from the quest for less suffering.
It seems the hammer and anvil are inherently important to each person and to the collective whole – both and similarly in purpose, value, and result. We are to strive to reduce suffering…our own and that of others. We are not to accept suffering as our due and lot and become merely stoic. This is not enough, not hardly. Suffering, like evil and sin, is not to be passively submitted to. It is it’s purpose for us to overcome with goodness, truth, beauty, and loving service in our self forgetting confidence in our care and destiny in God’s friendly universe.
Or so I understand. So, I wonder, as planets progress through the mortal epochs, ever closer to L&L, there will be less and less suffering or at least many of the forms we are most familiar with. Hmmmm…… Are we then ‘blessed’ by suffering? I think so IF such suffering brings forth the “response” that drives us closer to God Within and strengthens our faith – as Keryn and Bonita point out. Whatever adds to soul and circle progress is a blessing. And the search for and finding of the solution to suffering does deliver us to our destiny.
188:4.9 [Part IV]
All this concept of atonement and sacrificial salvation is rooted and grounded in selfishness. Jesus taught that service to one’s fellows is the highest concept of the brotherhood of spirit believers. Salvation should be taken for granted by those who believe in the fatherhood of God. The believer’s chief concern should not be the selfish desire for personal salvation but rather the unselfish urge to love and, therefore, serve one’s fellows even as Jesus loved and served mortal men.I don’t believe God causes or cures suffering. i do believe that he pays attention to how we face up you it when it comes our way.
Thank you Gene! I think we can all agree with that. But then Bonita posts text which says suffering is inevitable:
23.2.5 The confusion and turmoil of Urantia do not signify that the Paradise Rulers lack either interest or ability to manage affairs differently. The Creators are possessed of full power to make Urantia a veritable paradise, but such an Eden would not contribute to the development of those strong, noble, and experienced characters which the Gods are so surely forging out on your world between the anvils of necessity and the hammers of anguish. Your anxieties and sorrows, your trials and disappointments, are just as much a part of the divine plan on your sphere as are the exquisite perfection and infinite adaptation of all things to their supreme purpose on the worlds of the central and perfect universe.
How do we reconcile these truths? I think it is by the recognition of the inevitable potentials unleashed by God’s gift of free will. God chose for his creation a reality predicated on the experience of and results from free will experiential growth and evolutionary wisdom. This results in what some might claim to be chaos and endless suffering. This is a limited and narrow and immature perspective. For all free will is encased by God’s Love and the universal system of loving service underlies all those potentials for error and evil inherent with the gift of free will.
It is not God but his gift of self sovereignty and free will choice that is the cause of unwise choosing and such evil does result in one form of suffering or another, providing repercussions and contrast for better choices to choose by free will. Only by the removal of free will could God prevent all evil and all resultant suffering.
Amazingly, to me, the cause of all suffering is also the cure for all suffering. Evil is a choice. Most often simply a less good and less wise choice…the errors of inexperience. When evil becomes embraced as sin then do the repercussions intensify. The hammer and anvil analogy means, again to me, that the angels lead us constantly into situations, circumstances, and relationship intersections where our free will choices offer opportunities for learning and growing. The text does not say or mean that we are tormented and tortured by our loving teachers and guides. When a parent helps an infant grow into a toddler we know there will be ‘repercussions’ due to clumsiness and lack of understanding of basic physics (OUCH) and when we teach a child to ride a bike, there are certain potentials of repercussions inherent in such skill growth and balance achievements.
We are infants, then toddlers, then children, and the gain potential for new expressions of experience and growth and the angels lead us forward into these growth experiences. That which we do not learn quickly, we learn by repetition until we get it right! Some of us repeat a lot of lessons many times, suffering the repercussions of failure to learn!
This occurs on both the personal and planetary levels. As go the parts, so goes the whole. As us parts learn how better to respond to suffering and solve our suffering by faith and better choices in our experiential growth, the whole will benefit therefrom.
From the proper perspective (thank you UB), suffering may be better understood and appreciated….and diminished!
Thanks Gene.
I don’t believe God causes or cures suffering. i do believe that he pays attention to how we face up you it when it comes our way.
Thank you Gene! I think we can all agree with that. But then Bonita posts text which says suffering is inevitable: 23.2.5 The confusion and turmoil of Urantia do not signify that the Paradise Rulers lack either interest or ability to manage affairs differently. The Creators are possessed of full power to make Urantia a veritable paradise, but such an Eden would not contribute to the development of those strong, noble, and experienced characters which the Gods are so surely forging out on your world between the anvils of necessity and the hammers of anguish. Your anxieties and sorrows, your trials and disappointments, are just as much a part of the divine plan on your sphere as are the exquisite perfection and infinite adaptation of all things to their supreme purpose on the worlds of the central and perfect universe. How do we reconcile these truths? I think it is by the recognition of the inevitable potentials unleashed by God’s gift of free will. God chose for his creation a reality predicated on the experience of and results from free will experiential growth and evolutionary wisdom. This results in what some might claim to be chaos and endless suffering. This is a limited and narrow and immature perspective. For all free will is encased by God’s Love and the universal system of loving service underlies all those potentials for error and evil inherent with the gift of free will. It is not God but his gift of self sovereignty and free will choice that is the cause of unwise choosing and such evil does result in one form of suffering or another, providing repercussions and contrast for better choices to choose by free will. Only by the removal of free will could God prevent all evil and all resultant suffering. Amazingly, to me, the cause of all suffering is also the cure for all suffering. Evil is a choice. Most often simply a less good and less wise choice…the errors of inexperience. When evil becomes embraced as sin then do the repercussions intensify. The hammer and anvil analogy means, again to me, that the angels lead us constantly into situations, circumstances, and relationship intersections where our free will choices offer opportunities for learning and growing. The text does say or mean that we are tormented and tortured by our loving teachers and guides. When a parent helps an infant grow into a toddler we know there will be ‘repercussions’ due to clumsiness and lack of understanding of basic physics (OUCH) and when we teach a child to ride a bike, there are certain potentials of repercussions inherent in such skill growth and balance achievements. We are infants, then toddlers, then children, and the gain potential for new expressions of experience and growth and the angels lead us forward into these growth experiences. That which we do not learn quickly, we learn by repetition until we get it right! Some of us repeat a lot of lessons many times, suffering the repercussions of failure to learn! This occurs on both the personal and planetary levels. As go the parts, so goes the whole. As us parts learn how better to respond to suffering and solve our suffering by faith and better choices in our experiential growth, the whole will benefit therefrom. From the proper perspective (thank you UB), suffering may be better understood and appreciated….and diminished! Thanks Gene.
You can say that again Bradly.
“Thank you UB.”
What confounds me though, of all the people who’ve discovered the Urantia Book, poked around in it, even reading it in its entirety, very few of them actually take it for what it is. Take it serious.
You can say that again Bradly. “Thank you UB.” What confounds me though, of all the people who’ve discovered the Urantia Book, poked around in it, even reading it in its entirety, very few of them actually take it for what it is. Take it serious.
Really? How do you know? Have you identified “all the people who’ve discovered the Urantia Book” and assessed the degree to which each of them takes it seriously? What an odd statement!
You can say that again Bradly. “Thank you UB.” What confounds me though, of all the people who’ve discovered the Urantia Book, poked around in it, even reading it in its entirety, very few of them actually take it for what it is. Take it serious.
Really? How do you know? Have you identified “all the people who’ve discovered the Urantia Book” and assessed the degree to which each of them takes it seriously? What an odd statement!
I’ve been talking with more than a few people online who know of the UB. All of them tell me the UB isn’t their cup of tea, to put it mildly. About two dozen.
That’s just in one place. It’s just one sample. Then I add in all the friends and family members I’ve introduced the Urantia Book to.
That’s what I think is odd. That so many dismiss it.
But I know why.
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