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Every human in
our world experiences moments of self-reflection, doubt and skepticism.
We search for answers that help us define God's role in our lives and
our relevance to the universe and beyond. These are not new questions.
The Urantia Book can be a valuable source of enlightenment and comfort
when a soul is faced with Life's Toughest Questions. Click on a question
you've struggled with and discover The Urantia Book's perspective on
some of life's most difficult and frequently-asked questions.
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How to cope with big disappointments in life and related pain and sorrow? Is there an experience here on earth that I must absolutely do because I will not be able to do it after my physical death?
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You are not alone in asking this question regarding pain and sorrow -
these kinds of experiences are part of the human condition, and affect
all of us at one time or another. Sometimes, the pain is great, and we
wonder "why," or, "why me?" Well, we might also ask "why?" when we are
blessed with good experiences...and I am sure you have
had those, also. Of course, the pain really gets our
attention...
The Urantia Book provides a wonderful perspective on the inevitable
changes that we humans go through in this life.
Among the nine points of sage
advice given, is this:
Is pleasure—the satisfaction of
happiness—desirable? Then must man live in a world where the
alternative of pain and the likelihood of suffering are ever-present
experiential possibilities.(3:5.14)
And there is this:
The greatest affliction of the cosmos is never to have been afflicted.
Mortals only learn wisdom by experiencing tribulation.(48:7.14)
You cannot perceive spiritual truth until you feelingly experience it,
and many truths are not really felt except in adversity.(48:7.18)
This is taken from a section of The Urantia Book listing "twenty-eight
statements of human philosophy" that are used in
teaching new
arrivals to the Mansion
Worlds. You will find many of these very comforting and illuminating.
Sorrowful experiences can make us or break us. On a world that is
filled with free-willed beings, error and its resulting pain and
sorrow are simply a part of life. At the same time, as free-willed
beings, we have the opportunity to use these experiences for our
growth, rather than a reason to just give up. It is important to
remember that nothing stays the same in this life. All is subject to
change. Only God is changeless. It is our job to learn to establish and
nurture a relationship with God so that when the hard times
come, we are able to weather the changes, knowing that no matter what,
we are assured of inevitable victory over all matters of the world on
which we live through our free-will identification with our highest
Self. The Urantia Book reveals to us a loving heavenly Father, a good
God who
knows all about our sorrows and pain because he experiences
all of it
with us. We have an intimate and ever-present friend in the Father. His
Spirit actually dwells within our minds. Take heart:
It is literally true: “in all your afflictions he is
afflicted.” “In all your triumphs he triumphs in
and with you.”(1:5.16)
A study of the life
of Jesus is quite helpful in hard times
as
well, as Jesus experienced just about the worst times that ever were
heaped onto a human being. He emerged victorious over many of the
sorrowful times in his life, and even over death, and
he showed us how we can do the same, no matter our lot in life.
The experience that we have must have here in our earthly lives is the
experience of life itself, and its associated joys, sorrows, spiritual
progress and growth. Once we are translated into our next life - our
eternal life - we will experience a whole different kind of existence -
one in which the earthly kinds of experiences will no longer be
possible. There's
nothing we experience here that can't be augmented or improved upon in
the mansion world experience but nevertheless, the angels are envious
of the mortal lives we live so there's a quality to this life that's
hard if not impossible to compensate for. While we are here, we have
important work to do:
From The Urantia Book:
Very important is the work of preparation for the next higher sphere,
but nothing equals the importance of the work of the world in which you
are actually living.
(48:6.26)
Your short sojourn on Urantia, on this sphere of mortal infancy, is
only a single link, the very first in the long chain that is to stretch
across universes and through the eternal ages. It is not so much what
you learn in this first life; it is the experience of living this life
that is important. Even the work of this world, paramount though it is,
is not nearly so important as the way
in which you do
this work. There is no material reward for righteous living, but there
is profound satisfaction — consciousness of achievement
— and this transcends any conceivable material reward.(39:4.13)
The overcoming of adversity can be seen as a certain source of this
"profound satisfaction."
Jesus taught:
“ It is the Father’s will that
mortal man should work persistently and consistently toward the
betterment of his estate on earth. Intelligent application would enable
man to overcome much of his earthly misery."
(148:5.3)
I do hope that this reply has been of some help and comfort to you.
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