Why do people suffer?

The Science of Mind makes a tremendous claim when it states that the individual should be free from the bondage of sickness, poverty and unhappiness. It does, however, carefully set forth the conditions under which freedom operates and the laws governing Life, stating in no uncertain terms that unless we understand these conditions and obey these laws, we will not receive full benefit from its teachings.

The world is beginning to realize that is has learned all it should through suffering and pain. Surely there can be no Intelligence in the Universe that wishes us to be sick, suffer pain, be unhappy and end in oblivion. Surely if God or Universal Intelligence is imbued with goodness, than It could not ordain that we should ultimately be other than a perfect expression of Life.

We have shown that our nature is the same as God's Nature; we should have no intellectual difficulty in realizing that an Infinite Intelligence could not make an automatic individual, and this explains why we suffer on our road to self-discovery. Our suffering is not God-ordained, because we create our own experience as we become individualized. By individuality is meant self-choice, volition, conscious mind, personified Spirit, complete freedom, and a POWER TO BACK UP THAT FREEDOM. We cannot imagine a mechanical or unspontaneous individual; to be real and free, individuality must be created in the image of Perfection and let alone to make the great discovery for itself.