Why We Suffer and How to Stop It

Hi, I am Hans Wilhelm. Today I want to speak  about suffering because many people believe   that life on Earth is suffering. But is that  really true? To find the answer we have to   step back from the tapestry of life and look  at the big picture. Only then can we find the   answer what life is all about and why we  are here. In this video I will also give   4 practical steps of how to transform and  stop suffering. But first the big picture: As we have seen in my other videos, our true  essence is Spirit. We are spiritual beings who   came from the Pure Heavens our true Home and  are now on our journey back. To accelerate our   spiritual progress many of us are given the unique  brief opportunity to incarnate to planet Earth.   which the mystics call a schooling planet  for souls. But as we all know - it is a   tough school not for the fainthearted. So here we are: a soul still in the   spiritual realm. To enter the Earth school we  have to put on a physical body, which we can   compare to a school uniform. They come in many  colors, shades and styles. Like in any school   or college our stay here will be very fleeting  and limited to an average of less than 30,000   days. This explains why nobody stays here on Earth  forever - because it is a school. And if we make a   mess of our life here and don't want to learn we  may have to come back and repeat our attendance,   which is called re-incarnation, the being born  again into the flesh. It is as simple as that.   We are here to spiritually grow so that we  can eventually return to our true Home, the   Absolute Reality. Not knowing this or denying it  can cause confusion, loneliness or hopelessness,   despair, or depression. When we have forgotten  who we are and why we are here, we suffer. Any form of growing usually means a certain degree  of discomfort. We either learn through insight   or through pain. Comfort and growth don't go  together. And we are totally aware of this fact as   souls before we incarnate. Before our birth we  are actually shown the difficulties or challenges   that we will be facing in our future life  by our spirit guides in our life's plan.   Furthermore, we full-heartedly agree to them.  So, what are these adversities, these challenges? They are firstly environments and  situations to help us grow and develop   a certain desirable quality, like love, kindness,  compassion, patience and so on. For instance, if   we wish to become more loving, we may consciously  choose to incarnate into a very unloving family   so that we can develop our love muscle so to  speak in an opposing challenging environment.  But then there are also other  challenges or road-blocks   that can make our school  years very difficult indeed. What are these challenges? They are nothing but  our own self-made karmic burdens that have not   yet been resolved and are now coming back to us.  Like everything else, these are energy vibrations   that we have caused by thinking, speaking,  and acting against the law of Love. They are   temporarily stored in the repository stars and  planets of same vibrations, and which will be   coming back to us as karma in our new life here  on Earth. All these blows of fate, illnesses,   accidents, losses, and other hurdles are karma.  That is what some people call fate or destiny. But   we must not forget that we are the sole originator  and creators of them, not any God or other powers.   We are facing our own creations from our past  which are now coming back to teach us Love.  Other possible challenges that we may encounter  are all the new mess we may be creating in our   new life. For instance, medical science tells  us that about 95% of all illnesses are caused   by an unhealthy lifestyle. That shows us that we  are the originator of our challenges but never   the victim of them. We all have been given a free  will with which we decide if, how and when we will   overcome and clear up these obstacles and become a  master. That is our choice and our growth process.   Do we become bitter or better? The main reason  why we are here on Earth is to clear up our mess   with our free will and become totally  free again from anything that is not love. But here is the big problem which  is at the core of our suffering: Every time we incarnate onto Earth, we are  completely forgetting who we truly are - that   magnificent, eternal spiritual angelic being. We  also forget our close connection with our creator   and the reason and purpose of our earthly  life. Why this is so is explained in my   video "Why we don t remember past lives" . This  is from where all our suffering comes from.   This forgetfulness unfortunately causes us  to falsely identify with our physical body,   our school uniform instead the soul that  we are. And our ego also identifies with   our body and is therefore dreadfully afraid of  death. The fear of death causes an existential   suffering in many of us. Our ego doesn't know  that death is nothing but graduation from our   Earth school term. Our ego wants comfort and fears  death, and its favorite defense is our intellect.   It uses the intellect to exaggerate anything  that could somehow threaten our comfort zones   or our life. It judges, condemns, schemes,  cheats, and lies. All our worries,   anxieties, fears, self-pity are artificial  constructs of our intellect, our egoic mind.   Totally blown out of proportions and therefore,  are highly dangerous to our health and well-being. Here is an example: For many the fear of a  dentist visit is far bigger than the actual   pain we might encounter there. This distortion  applies to almost everything. In life physical   pain and challenges are unavoidable but suffering  is always, always optional. All suffering comes   from our ego's distorted interpretation of the  situation or pain. It goes something like this: Whatever we think determines how we feel.  Happy thoughts, happy feelings. Bad thoughts   bad feelings. Our egoic mind continuously  interprets the life around and in us. No wonder,   our emotions go up and down all the time. So  when some big challenges happen in our life,   like a loss or an accident then our ego goes into  hyperdrive and fills our brain with an avalanche   of thoughts of fear, despair, guilt, worry  and anything else to keep us unhappy because   that is the tool of our ego to manipulate us.  That is our suffering. It s all in the brain.   A confused mind. "Confusion is the  only suffering" Byron Katie would say. But underneath it all there is the foundation  of everything, that is Intelligence   which is the opposite to our ego's  intellect. See my video on this.   Intelligence is always at peace. It always  knows why we go through this challenge and   that absolutely everything that is happening  happens FOR us and not TO us in this Earth school.   And there is nothing to fear. Ever. Everything  is here to help us and assist us in our walk Home -  including this challenge, this obstacle.  Therefore, Eckhart Tolle has this powerful advice   for us: "Whatever the present moment contains,  accept it as if you have chosen it. Always work   with it. Not against it. This will miraculously  transform your whole life". What we resist,   persists. As we have seen before, we actually  have chosen and agreed to it prior our birth.   So why fight it now? So, the first step could be  To work with our challenge instead of fighting it.   Much of our suffering is merely  resistance to accepting what is. In exploring our suffering, we come face to face  with ourselves. Where have we violated others,   ourselves, our spiritual principles? There are no  accidents. It helps to fully understand the law of   cause and effect or sowing and reaping.  For many this is very hard to accept.   Taking full responsibility could therefore, be  the second step. By taking full responsibility   we clear up what we know we did or  said by regretting it from our heart,   asking for forgiveness, making amends, and no  longer doing these mistakes against others,   ourselves or our even against our own body or  mind. To explore the source Christ gave us the   following guidance in His book The Great Cosmic  Teachings, "If you are suffering, then feel in   the suffering why you are suffering. Let the  sensation and thoughts of the suffering come,   for they speak their language". Within each one of  us is the Christ Spark, the transforming power of   all negative energy into positive Love energy. You  may want to watch my video on the Christ Spark. Let me summarize: Our harmful challenge,   experience, or situation can  cause in some cases physical pain.   But it never causes suffering. Suffering  only comes from our mental interpretation   or judgment of the situation. All the fear,  the guilt, the worry, the shame and so on. Furthermore, the painful experience is usually  in the past and it is over and done with. Unless   we keep it alive by thinking and  thinking about it constantly.   It is only our confused mind that gives us  the suffering. Nothing else. We may not be   able to change what has happened to us but we can  always change our attitude about the experience. For instance by carefully looking at the  situation and finding the positive component. From the spiritual teachings we  know that there is a positive part   in everything which is God or Love. Nothing  can exist without this positive energy.   God Spirit is like a canvas, the foundation on  which our illusionary temporary world is painted.   For instance, we can ask ourselves, what are the  positive aspects that I am learning or gaining   through my situation or suffering? May it be more  compassion, slowing down my hyper-active life,   reevaluating my goals and purpose in life  and much more? Is it an opportunity for me to   reflect about my life or my behavior patterns?  When we replace, "Why is this happening to me?"   with "What is this trying to teach me?" everything  shifts. Every suffering contains many positive   outcomes and discoveries. Finding the positive  elements in our situation could be the third   step. Can we find examples why our present  situation is actually serving us on our way Home? Having discovered the positive elements in  our situation can lead us to the fourth step:   we can now even become grateful for our lesson. I  always think of Hellen Keller who was born blind   and deaf, yet she could say, "I thank God for my  handicaps. For through them, I have found myself,   my work and my God". Are we worse off  than Hellen Keller? Our unique challenge   may have made us more softer, kinder, more  forgiving, more compassionate and more humble   or even much stronger. Gratefulness is one  of the most powerful forces that uplifts   our mood and changes the pattern and  repetition of our destructive thinking.   How it actually works in our body and mind  you can see in my video on Gratefulness. Is there still room for suffering when  we remember who we are, why we are here   and why we face our challenge? For  instance, if we remember that an   illness is nothing but an outflowing of  our karmic burden, a becoming free again,   then everything shifts. Everything is here  to teach us Love. I suggest you subscribe   to this channel and then we will meet again  in my next video. Thank you for watching.