What ‘heavenly father’ would let his children suffer as some of us have to? If ‘God’ is really a loving God, it just doesn't make ‘sense’. Take me (Elizabeth), for instance.
I know I'm not perfect, but there are a lot of rapists and murderers out there who are in much better 'physical' shape than I am.
Why am I ‘punished’ and not them?"
There are great truths hidden in some of the maxims of this world
For instance, you have all heard the phrase: 'no pain, no gain'?"
So, why am I punished and not them?"
"Let us imagine that various parts of your body had their own 'life' and 'consciousness'.
See your lungs as one 'entity', your heart as another, your muscles still another and your brain as a fourth entity.
'You' are the 'whole' person and are 'in charge' of the general decision making as to what is good for the whole.
Let us say that the brain wants to read a book, the muscles want to sleep because they are tired, the lungs want some fresh air, and the heart wants some romance.
The problem is, they cannot do 'all' of these things - they can 'only do one' of them.
Who gets to decide?
If the brain decides all the time, the whole body will spend all of its time reading, and will never get fresh air for the lungs.
If the heart forces the body to spend all free time in romance, then the brain will be bored to death.
It is fortunate that decision making is turned over to 'you' - 'the whole' person running the body. You make decisions for the body, by taking the whole into consideration.
Your decisions may not be perfect, but they are much better for the whole, than if power were turned over to - 'a part'."
"So are you saying that I am a part of a greater whole and that this greater whole is making me suffer for some greater benefit of something greater than myself?" Elizabeth. asked
"That is part of the answer," John nodded. "Now to visualize more clearly, let us suppose that you decide that you are going to be a champion long distance runner.
When you start your training no one of these four ‘lives’ I mentioned will be happy.
During running practice the brain will have too much blood rushing through it to even be able to think. The lungs will feel like they are on fire and ready to explode.
The muscles will ache and feel as if they cannot go on, and the heart will pump like crazy thinking it is being tortured.
All these 'little lives' are shouting out the question: Why is this happening to us? What is the purpose of it all?
"Then comes the time months later that the body is in perfect tune and ready for the competition. What do these little lives feel about being pushed now?
The brain notices that it gets more oxygen and thinks and functions much better.
The lungs are happy they have to breathe about half the frequency as they used to and breathing is much easier.
The muscles are aware that the weight of the body seems much lighter and they no longer need so much rest.
Finally, the heart, like the lungs, seems to be able to rest more and does not have to beat as often or with as much effort as it used to.
In the end 'they' all think the 'same thought':
We've been through a lot of pain, and we didn't like it at the time, but now life seems easier, fuller and more rewarding
"Now," said John, moving his chair closer to the table, "we'll move this analogy closer to home.
It may 'seem' to us (i.e. to our very limited 'senses'), that we are the 'highest lives' - in the universe, and that what we do only affects ourselves.
But it does not.
Each of us has 'invisible links to' family, friends, city, state and every other life on this planet and 'even the universe'.
These are all various higher bodies in which we interact and produce ‘effect’.
We are linked to these other ‘lives’ through the ‘holy spirit’ who is the final judge as to circumstances that will be brought into play which will benefit the ‘whole’."
Elizabeth wheeled back from the table, "So, you are telling me that the Spirit of God decided to make me ill to benefit the whole in some way?" Elizabeth asked angrily.
"Well, I don't think my illness is benefiting anyone or anything. In fact, it is keeping me from doing many good things I have always wanted to do."
She looked ready to leave the room.
"It may seem that way," John replied softly and patiently.
"But for greater understanding, you must realize that there are two of you, who are undergoing a painful experience here.
In some ways your husband suffers more pain than you do.
When a loved one is suffering through what ‘appears’ to be no fault of their own, and you can do nothing about it, that helplessness is very painful.
Believe me, I know. I was in Joseph's (Elizabeth’s husband) situation - long ago."
After a long pause Elizabeth sighed, her eyes slightly tearful, "You're probably right.
He also has to work much harder than he used to in able to take care of everything. Now I even have him doing housework.
Believe me, that is proof he loves me. Then I probably bring him additional pain by complaining too much..."
"You don't complain as much when you are ill as others do when they are well," I assured her.
"Actually," said John, "the analogy so far applies more to Joseph than it does to you.
Like the story of the four little lives, Joseph, through no fault of his own, found himself married to a person with an incurable disease.
He is like all of us to some degree or another.
We find ourselves in situations that we had 'seemingly' little, if any, power in creating, and once there, we just have to deal with it the best we can.
Like the brain, he had to forego pleasant studies. Like the lungs, he had to work harder to supply oxygen or money to keep everything running smooth.
Like the muscles, he had to be more active and take on a larger load.
Like the heart, he had to put romance on the back burner and concentrate on just keeping your relationship alive by pumping harder to keep life-giving energy circulating between the both of you.
Later, just like the four little lives, Joseph will find that he has more freedom, power and strength than he ever had before."
"That's all very interesting," said Elizabeth, shaking her head, "but I'm still in the dark as to why I have to suffer this disease.
Don't tell me that it is just so my husband can have a ‘growing experience’."
"Not at all," John replied. "However, that may be part of the reason the 'spirit' sent a 'charge of energy' that 'caused'Joseph to 'fall in love' with you and marry you.
But the benefits of your disease for Joseph are merely side benefits that we all pick up on the road of life if we handle our situations correctly as they come up."
"You've gone all around my question but haven't answered me yet. Why don't you just blurt it out and tell me," Elizabeth pleaded, her voice shaking.
John looked into Elizabeth's eyes and replied softly and slowly,
"Whenever you meet a true spiritual teacher worth his salt, he will rarely answer you outright.
Instead, he circles around the ‘core thought’ so when the answer is finally 'manifested', it will be understood.
Now that is what I am about to do.
So why do bad things, such as your illness, happen to good people?
"As I said before, you are a 'part of a greater whole' that is joined together by the so-called, 'holy' spirit.
Each person in an individual life has one major lesson he is ‘supposed’ to learn, one ability or talent he is to develop and one quality he is ‘supposed’ to enhance.
This triangle of learning is never easy and is always a struggle.
For instance, if a certain person was born with the natural ability to play the piano the lesson would generally 'not' be directly connected with it, because 'internally' this is something that is 'already mastered'.
Instead, the piano may be a 'distraction', to tempt him away from his real lesson, which may be in an opposite direction, such as heavy construction.
If he is driven by his soul to become a famous musician, the lesson 'could be' connected with 'the fame' and 'not' the talent itself."
Elizabeth interrupted, "From the time I was young I had a gift for drawing. I never took any classes, but I could draw most anything in moments and it would look great.
Just as I was thinking of developing this talent more fully, I got this disease. Now my hands shake too much to be able to draw."
"This ability that you naturally had, was your temptress to lead you astray from your true calling to improve yourself and to be more useful to the whole, thus becoming a whole-ly (holy) person."
"So what am I supposed to learn?" Elizabeth asked.
"As I said, the thing you are supposed to learn is something, you are usually not very talented in, and ‘naturally resist’ to some degree.
When the 'degree of resistance' becomes 'too great' and you are not hearing or seeing the messages that the 'spirit' is sending you, then the 'message' must be 'sent more strongly'.
If it is resisted again, you may be sent a life-threatening illness such as yours, which 'forces you to look upward' and shout out:
Why me God?"
"So what is Elizabeth resisting?" I asked again.
"She must examine the experiences of her life, 'look within', touch bases with the still, small voice, find out what she has avoided doing, and do it."
"How will I know when I have found it?"
"It will feel very right and good when you finally yield to it," said John.
"So what is the lesson of her disease?" I asked.
"Every disease is a teacher," said John. You must look at the disease, see where it is located and the effect it is having in order to discern its lesson.
For instance, heart disease must be trying to teach us something connected with the heart. The heart is the seat of spiritual love.
If, it is time for you to learn the ‘value and expression of’ love - which is an ‘octave higher’ than ‘passionate’ love or ‘possessive’ love - and you resist,
Then the heart becomes weak, as a message to you that your expression of love is weaker than it should be."
"But I've had some friends with heart problems and they seemed like pretty nice people," Elizabeth exclaimed.
"On the other hand, I've known some cruel people who seem to not know what love is at all, yet have healthy hearts. How do you explain that?"
"The cruel people you mention are not yet ready to learn about ‘spiritual’ love, so their souls do not even attempt to teach them, by bringing them pain in that direction.
Maybe, the cruel person needs to start with a simpler lesson. Perhaps he is just ‘supposed’ to learn the value of giving and receiving ‘affection’.
Maybe, he is suffering through tremendous pain and rejection, because he is not getting any affection from anyone.
Maybe, this rejection just about drives him crazy, until finally, he yields and gives in to it.
For him that is a big step, but for us, we wonder why anyone would have a problem with it."
"So what's the lesson of cancer?" I asked, becoming even more interested.
"Ah, cancer," said John. "Many great souls have died of this, one of the ‘most painful of all - teachers’.
"All disease falls into two categories.
First is 'congestion'. This is caused by 'holding-in too much', for too long, such as in suppression or denial.
The second is 'inflammation'.
This is caused by 'not' - holding in ‘enough’ - and ‘releasing more’ energy ‘than you take in’.
Cancer is caused by congestion.
The person holds in or suppresses energy or feelings, that need to be released, and this 'holding in', 'produces a growth', which is symbolic of the ‘unreleased desire or feeling’.
"Let us suppose that you see yourself as a nice person and find yourself in contact with a rough individual who hurts your feelings. You have three choices.
(Actually four, which is the solution!)
First, you can hurt his feelings right back; second, you can release your hurt by telling that person how he made you feel; or third, you can be a nice person and 'avoid conflict' by 'pretending' that everything is OK.
"This third alternative that many take, is by far the worst choice.
First, it encourages the rude person to continue in his behavior, and second, it is a deception that the Spirit of Truth will not allow to forever remain in an evolving soul.
People think the most frequent lie is:
The check is in the mail.
But in reality it is the communication which says: I'm fine. You did not hurt me, which is the biggest lie.
"Lesser souls are 'allowed to lie' and get away with it. Like 'children' they get away with certain things 'because' of their 'lack of understanding'.
But when a person reaches a certain stage of progression, this greatest lie (deception) is no longer tolerated and the lesson must be learned.
"Cancer is caused by many types of suppression.
Hurt feelings, as I said, is a big one, denial of feeling is another, and lack of sexual fulfilment, due to lack of communication, mis-communication, or ‘guilt’, is another.
All involve (self) deception of some type."
"You're circling around the answer again," said Elizabeth.
"I can see that this method of teaching 'does' have the effect of 'stimulating interest'. Now I'm more curious than ever about what you will say about my illness."
"That is as it should be," John smiled.
"Every disease has both 'physical and spiritual' ingredients affecting the problem.
For instance, people think that contact with germs produce certain illnesses, yet two people can inhale the same germs, one can get sick and the other one is not affected.
Perhaps the one who did not become ill was in better physical shape, but more often than not, he was in more ‘harmony with his soul’, in ‘that area where’ the disease, has ‘a lesson to teach’………………………………."
Hmm.
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