Question: Why can’t changes for the better happen without suffering?

Answer: Suffering is any sensation that takes me out of the present state into the next. Suppose that right now I am in an absolutely comfortable state. If my matter and essence is the will to enjoy and all my desires are fulfilled, then I don’t have any opportunity to move forward. Only the sensation of lack moves me toward the source of fulfillment. When I want to drink, I move closer to the bottle. When I want to sleep, I move closer to the bed, and so on. If I don’t have any desires, it means there is no movement or development.

So what kind of suffering should I feel in order to advance? For a smart or energetic person a very small suffering suffices for him to start moving forward in order to solve the problem. Lazy people will keep suffering, but it will still be difficult for them to move from where they are. Fools feel pain, but don’t understand where it comes from and why. They sit there and cry, but cannot move from where they are.

The suffering also comes in different forms. For example, an uncomfortable position makes me sit differently, which is also a kind of suffering. “Suffering” is the absence of total, absolute comfort. If suffering—meaning additional empty desire—is not evoked in a person, then he won’t move or develop.

The Upper Force created us absolutely opposite to it so we would gradually desire to become equal to it. This is impossible until we feel that we are opposite to this force in some way. We are always moving only in relation to the Creator, only in relation to this force. No matter what we do or feel in life, in the end we only feel our attitude to Him or our oppositeness to Him.

If only we realize this and stay constantly sensitive to it, then we will advance forward by small steps without any breaks, always staying inspired and experiencing a pleasant adventure. We must only understand that everything inside me is awakened by the Creator. At every second, constantly, no matter what I feel, I must connect everything to Him. This will move me toward Him ceaselessly and nothing else will be necessary!

In the end my entire life will be the right movement toward the eternal, perfect goal, toward unity which really exists. Let us be stupid or lazy; after all, we were deliberately created that way. Each one of us “simmers” inside his own problems which were deliberately created by the Creator in order for us to solve them together.

If we create the right environment or society around us which will hold us together, then at every second we will feel comfortable in very small doses, sufficient for us to advance.
From the lesson in Moscow on 1/16/11, Writings of Rabash

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