Levels of Being

VII. The Great Shaper

VI. The Shaper

V. The Healer

IV. The Light Bringer

III. The Sufferer

II. The Seeker

I. The Deceived

 

Level III: The Sufferer

All knowledge comes from suffering.

Being brave enough to seek the truth means that you will have to suffer the pain of realizing things about the world that you do not want to be true. It will also mean that you will be tried and tested infinitely by something you may never understand. There is no way around this. If I told you the secrets of the universe, they would be meaningless to you unless you where at a point where you could use them, and their value would meaningless to you unless you had already earned the knowledge to use them.

The greatest weapon on earth is a paperweight to someone who does not understand it.

The greatest weapon on earth could never be used effectively  by someone who has not learned how to wield it through will, time and work.

True knowledge cannot come from listening to and obeying others.

  You must act yourself and endure through the pain to reach a higher level of knowing. Much like no one else can endure through your pain for you, no matter how much they may want to.

At first this will all seem wrong. Enduring through something that is attempting to warn you of trouble will seem counterintuitive.
However, to a newborn, leaving the womb and being thrust into the world probably seems counterintuitive.

Much like when you were a newborn, you can never learn or accomplish anything in life while avoiding pain and discomfort by hiding in a safe place forever.

You will be tried in this stage. At some point you will probably realize that almost every hardship is a trial of some kind. Something greater than you is testing you so you become strong and develop a skill that you will use to help others. You cannot learn any other way, so you must be thankful for these trials. Without them and the lessons they teach you would never be able to accomplish your mission or help the others.

You can make this stage either the pain of evolution or the pain of regret that you gave up. The former will lead to you become greater than anyone, including you, could ever imagine. The latter will make you a burden to those around you and hold you back from your evolution for as long as you hold that belief. If you give up you will make yourself a burden to someone who did not, and you will be so until you learn to endure.
The choice is yours.
At first, the sufferer hides from the storm and hopes that it passes by without harming him. He thinks only of himself and his own safety.
Then he learns to face the storm and endure through whatever hardship it brings. As he grows stronger he realizes that he should help the others who cannot help themselves. He works but becomes tired and thinks mostly of his next pain free moment or chance to relax.
Finally he reaches the point where here is so strong that the storm is completely irrelevant. He no longer needs to be free of pain and he no longer needs to rest. He can work to help the others relentlessly and indefinitely during times of peace and times of conflict. He does not grow tired and he has no fear of what may come. Had he never suffered and overcome the fear, pain and fatigue, he would have never have reached this level. He could never help them when they need him most.

By learning to suffer and endure we become greater than our former selves.

This is the lesson of the storm.

Disce Pati

 

You Can Fight Forever

And

You Can Overcome Anything