Why Do We Have To Suffer So Much?

- Carmen Vasquez

Sometimes it feels like an unfortunate feature that is permanently installed within us by an unknown programmer without our permission. For some people, suffering begins at conception or birth. For others, suffering appears a bit further down the road; they arrive on Earth in a non-traumatic way and are surrounded by love from day one. Sadly, as they grow up, this “perfect reality” starts falling down and their lives are gradually filled with problems and impossible challenges. As this trend, that these people tend to perceive as fate or bad luck continues, suffering starts taking hold. The important question here is this: “Why do we have to suffer so much?”

To understand this question fully and find a good answer, first, we must understand the true reason why we are here on Earth. All of us, every single one of us, came into this world as a particle, a small fraction of the Whole, that Being -or Energy- that, in its absolute perfection, created everything. That entity -by dividing itself into infinite particles- gave birth to every single living creature. That is why we are told that we were created “in the image of God”. Actually, we are a part of that Being, Energy or entity that is known by many different names all over the world.

When we enter our physical bodies, in our current existence as well as in our past ones, we fall into a “deep sleep” and forget who we really are and our true purpose. This purpose is no other than the self-knowledge that leads us to understand that we are not meant to be perfect. This is the real reason why, since the beginning of time, life was created as duality and imperfection. The only true way of knowing what we are is by not being.