We’ve probably all been told that God loves us and wants us to be happy, and many of us have been taught to sing, “Jesus Loves Me” as soon as we were old enough to talk. But hearing the words and witnessing the suffering taking place in the world may give you pause. If we’re so dearly loved, why is the world filled with suffering? And why do so many of those who profess a strong faith find themselves in anguish too?
If another person allows us to suffer or causes our suffering, we’re mental health professionals consider us emotionally disturbed if we mistake the mistreatment for love. Then why do we accept the idea that God loves us and allows us to suffer? Many refuse to accept a God that could stop suffering and doesn’t, so they abandon the entire concept of God. Humanity has been plagued for centuries by the question: Why does a God of love permit evil and suffering?
Over time, we’ve come up with many explanations, but two main ideas are widely accepted by Christians:
- Humans are sinful and fall short of the mark of perfect obedience that God requires. Like a person with a genetic disorder, humans are fatally flawed and pass that flaw on from generation to generation. Like children that inherit a fatal disease, we’ve all inherited sin and the punishments that go with it, suffering and death.
- The universe is locked in a cosmic struggle between good and evil. God is allowing evil supernatural entities to use suffering to test human loyalty. Eventually God will step in and make everything right, but in the meantime, humans must do their best to remain loyal no matter how difficult their circumstances become.
Westerners are not the only ones troubled by the question of suffering. Some Eastern philosophies explain that the 
material world came into existence because Source desired self-knowledge. The knowledge could only be gained by experiencing through creation. However, this view turns humans into little more than pawns in a cosmic game being played by an all-powerful being who doesn’t mind experiencing their suffering.
Quantum physics is now offering a reasonable and meaningful answer, but it’s not what you might think. Some Eastern ideas come close to the explanation offered by quantum physics. In these scenarios, the material universe is maya, the Sanskrit word for illusion. But what has illusion got to do with God wanting us to be happy?
Physicist David Bohm came up with the holographic model of the universe after looking at a piece of holographic film. What intrigued Bohm was the fact that a 3D holographic image appears to be very real but isn’t, and holographic film appears unreal, but it is real. Instead of showing a negative of the image that’s been photographed, holographic film is covered by an interference pattern that looks like that looks like the intersecting ripples on a pond during a light rain. The interference pattern spreads the image over the surface of the film. If you cut the film into little pieces, you can still project the entire holographic image from one piece. Bohm concluded that consciousness is spread throughout the quantum level of the universe. Quantum consciousness, like the holographic film, projects a virtual reality we call the material world. Simply put, you’re projecting your body and the world that you see from pure consciousness.
And that’s not all. Physicists have discovered that everything in existence, both the material and quantum portions of the universe, are actually one indivisible, interconnected whole. In this sea of quantum oneness, there is no cosmic war between good and evil, and dualistic ideas like good and evil can’t even exist. So why does the material world look so different? If there’s no duality in quantum oneness, why do we live in a world built on a dualistic thought system? Throughout history spiritual masters have explained this rift between the reality of oneness and the virtual reality of separation as a dream. And this is the point where we begin to understand that the Divine really does want us to be happy.
If someone you loved was determined to do something that was extremely dangerous and you couldn’t dissuade them, you would be thrilled to find a way for them to try it out without getting hurt. Stories from around the world, including the Bible story of Adam and Eve, tell us that God gave creation free will, but trouble erupted when that free will was exercised. The first part of the story has to be true because we all have the ability to exercise conscious choice. However, our virtual reality testifies to the fact that no one was ever in trouble for exercising the gift of free will. Virtual reality is like a movie or a dream where you can play out any scenario you would like, but when you wake up or the movie ends, all is well. But why is this dream being projected?
Many spiritual masters speak of Ultimate Reality bringing other conscious beings into existence to share experience. The gnostic writer Valentinus described Ultimate reality’s motivation to create this way: “Since the Father was creative, it seemed good to him to create and produce what was most beautiful and most perfect to himself. For he was all love and love is not love if there is nothing to be loved.” Rumi recognized the same motivation when he said, “Without Love, nothing . . . would have life.”
In oneness each being was free to express themselves in their own unique way, but there is no inequality or separation, no competition, specialness or scarcity in oneness. At some point, conscious beings wanted to experience these things. Separation and specialness can only take place within a dualistic thought system, but duality would inevitably create a world of inequality were many would suffer so few could prosper. Free will demanded that conscious beings have the opportunity to try this dualistic experiment, but Divine love required a safe way to carry it out. Virtual reality was the perfect venue. As conscious beings, we can safely dream anything we want, no matter how hurtful, with no actual harm taking place.
Spiritual masters were also dreaming, but they “woke up” to the fact that we’ve become lost in our dream and have forgotten our true identity and Divine love. In the gnostic Gospel of Thomas, Jesus described those who were still dreaming as blind and drunk. The gnostic Gospel of Truth explains, “Ignorance of the Father brought about anguish and terror; and the anguish grew solid like a fog, so that no one was able to see.” Another gnostic writing, The Treatise on the Resurrection points out that when we wake up, “the world of appearance will no longer be evident … By means of knowledge they will purify themselves from multiplicity into unity, devouring matter within themselves like fire, dankness by light, death by life.” In other words, whenever we want to stop dreaming and wake up to reality we can, and our projections will stop.
Ultimate Reality loves us and wants us to be happy. Virtual reality is proof of that love. We’ve been given free will and allowed to use it any way we want, as long as we’re not actually harmed in the process. Sadly, we made the choice to experience things that were not in our best interests and now we’re enduring the result. But happily, the experience is no more real than a nightmare. Even as we dream, we’re safe and loved. The Divine will never force us to wake up to oneness, but it’s time to remember that we can. Rumi reminds us:
You are—we all are—the beloved of the Beloved, and in every moment, in every event of your life, the Beloved is whispering to you exactly what you need to hear and know. Who can ever explain this miracle? It simply is. Listen and you will discover it every passing moment. Listen, and your whole life will become a conversation in thought and act between you and Him, directly, wordlessly, no and always. It was to enjoy this conversation that you and I were created.
Copyright © 2011 Lee and Steven Hager