Why the F%^& doesn’t God/Goddess/Spongebob Squarepants answer my prayers?
OR
If God is so nice, why does he/she/Bob let people suffer?
OR
The post that answers the controversial question: Why wasn’t your prayer for a cheese sandwich ever answered?
It is an oft asked question: “Im so sad, why isnt God listening? Is God dead, busy or on the loo?”
Also, God knows all our problems, right? So why doesn’t he fix all our suffering? It’s a question atheists have asked for years: What sort of a God would let people suffer like that?
It can often feel frustrating to pray, and not just get no answers, but often have our problem become worse. It can all seem hopeless and out of control, and has turned more than one fanatic believer into an atheist; me included, for almost 7-8 years.
There are multiple answers to this.
The 1st is: God is not something “out there”. There is no me here, God there, God help poor me scenario. We are what we worship.
That said, there is a universal intelligence, a higher force, something that is bigger than us, and that we can ask for help, if we are in a state of peace and silence.
But there is one big reason we don’t seem to get any help: This Universal Intelligence, which you can call God, but not in the traditional sense of a dude who sits in the sky and watches you masturbate, will only help us solve the real, deep problem we have. Not the problem we think we have.
We think our problem is not enough money; or disease; or poor health, for us or loved ones. And these might be real problems.
BUT
They are not THE PROBLEM we have.
The insane ego often attacks itself; it goes crazy with fear and doubt, fighting an imaginary enemy it itself created. It is usually this insane ego that prays for help.
Helping the ego would be like giving a knife to a drug addict in pain. The addict will only hurt himself more. Read more about this here The Inner War
And so while it may sound painful, sometimes the best way to help a brother/sister in trouble is to let them suffer, to let them realise the madness of the ego that brought them here. (See also, Gift of Suffering ).
Of course, sometimes God does help. This is called Grace- and there are no “formulas” to get it. A very religious person might not get it, someone who spends their time drinking and womanising may get it. The Universal Intelligence looks at many factors before deciding who gets Grace- and I don’t understand this completely either.
If you are in pain, the best thing you can do is sit silently and ask the Divine for help. The Course in Miracles says “The solution to every problem is created at the same time as the problem”.
God does have a solution for us- but we need to be in a state of silence to hear it. Sometimes, the solution will be one we WON’T like. Because it will force us to face our fears.
I often get the guidance Be patient, and Im like Bitch, I’ve been patient for 6 months. The funny thing is, the Divine Intelligence doesn’t get offended even if we insult it (contrast this with the god of most religions who wants to rain hellfire for the smallest mistake).
This Divine energy cannot get offended, as there is no ego to react. There is only infinite love and compassion.
And so the Divine tells us to have patience, to confront our fears, to accept that maybe we were wrong too, and maybe the boss/ex-wife/that guy on TV who votes for the other party aren’t the assholes we think they are.
And this is hard. I started this with a joke, but when you feel this fear in the pit of your stomach, when life seems to be going to shit, when nothing seems to make sense, it is easy to say “God, why the fuck you not helpin’ me man? Are you on f’ing drugs?”
But after each time I’ve said this, and then sat to meditate, I’ve seen (or been shown) that I have partially created the situation Im in, and while it hurts, the only way out is to trust the Divine, and stay patient.
Of course shit will happen. My mother died without warning one day, leaving me feeling like a kick in the balls. She was smiling and happy at 12pm, dead at 2pm. No warning, just a shock. My cousin sister we were very close to also died like this, without warning, and she was only 16. Took me years to accept that.
But that’s life. Each of us have our own destiny, our own path, our own spiritual guide. All we can do is follow our own path, and trust the Spirit is guiding everyone else on their own path. And that while we live in big and busy world, we are all ultimately alone on the spiritual path. Sure, we have the Spirit to guide us, but we must still walk alone on the path, in the dark and cold, and trust we will be guided when and where needed.
Ultimately, we have to accept it is our insane ego that has brought us here. Our best thinking got us into this shit, so ain’t nothin’ we can do to get out. We have to trust a higher force, a larger intelligence, for the way out.
And that force, for some weird fucking reason (at least in my life), always says:
Have patience. Trust the Divine, it will all work out
And in the meantime, I feel like I’m sitting on a burning stove while being bitten by a thousand wasps while someone is tickling my feet and forcing me to listen to Lady Gaga. And hence Im like “Patience! Bitch, Im dying out here. Why don’t you just help me out?”
And the Spirit says Patience. I got your back. All is covered, you are protected. God has your back, dude
And that is also life. Walking on burning coals, in slow motion, while still having the faith that the Universal Intelligence has everything figured out, that this is in fact the best path.
