Every human being has the inherent right to happiness and the freedom from life's hardships. As natural as the seasons and the sceneries, happiness is a normal state. Suffering is not natural, and the only reason we experience it is due to our ignorance. Wisdom is the source of happiness. Achieving comprehensive wisdom, understanding the meaning of existence, and realizing the interconnectedness of all people is equivalent to ending all pain and escaping all evil and misfortune that befalls us. Unshadowed joy is perfect insight.
What causes us to suffer in life? Since we lack the spiritual illumination that is necessary to illuminate the path and allow us to safely navigate the challenges that lie ahead, we are being propelled forward in evolution in the scheme of things. Usually, problem doesn't even appear or even occur to us until it suddenly jumps on us like a tiger in disguise. Our family circle will be whole and content one day. After a week, death has arrived and left, and happiness has been replaced by suffering. We have a friend today. We don't know why, but he will be an adversary tomorrow. We were wealthy and enjoying all the material comforts a short time ago. An abrupt shift occurred, leaving us with nothing but poverty and suffering, despite our futile attempts to find an explanation for why this should be the case. We were strong and healthy once, but they have both left, and there is no indication of why. In addition to these bigger life catastrophes, we constantly experience small heartaches and misery from countless smaller things. Even if we sincerely want to avoid them, we never notice them until they hit us or we make a mistake due to ignorance. We need the spiritual illumination that will allow us to see far and wide, uncovering the hidden causes of human misery and exposing the way to prevent them. If we can only achieve illumination, the evolutionary path can be completed quickly and comfortably. It feels like we have to go through a lengthy, dim room with furnishings strewn around in a promiscuous manner. We would make slow, terrible progress and sustain numerous injuries in the dark. However, we could make the same trip swiftly, safely, and comfortably if we could press a button that would activate the electric light.
The traditional approach to education was giving the personality a certain external polish and filling the intellect with as many facts—or alleged facts—as possible. According to the notion, a man is a fully formed human being at birth, and the only thing that can be done for him is to provide him with knowledge that he can employ with varying degrees of skill, depending on his innate abilities. According to the theosophical theory, the physical man and everything that makes up his life in the physical world are only a very partial expression of the self; each person's ego contains practically limitless power and wisdom; these can be brought into expression in the physical world as the physical body and its invisible counterparts, which together form the intricate vehicle of the ego's manifestation, evolve and adapt to the purpose; and wisdom and spiritual illumination will be attained in precisely the proportion that conscious effort is given to such self-development. Thus, the evolutionary path that everyone is taking may be stripped of its anguish, and the light that leads to happiness is ignited from within.
Why does suffering accompany death? Mostly because it keeps us apart from the people we care about. We do not fully grasp death and its role in human evolution, which is the only other reason it causes pain or terror. But as soon as our ignorance is replaced with understanding, such dread goes away and is replaced by a calm joy.
Why do we suffer because of the words or deeds of our enemies? Because of our limited physical consciousness, we are unable to recognize the unity of all life and understand that our wrongdoing and thoughts must be reflected in other people. This creates a situation from which there is no way out other than to stop thinking evil thoughts and then wait patiently until the causes we have already created have been completely exhausted. The final adversary will go and we won't make any more mistakes in the future once spiritual illumination arrives and we stop stumbling in the night of ignorance.
Why do people experience illness and poverty? Their presence is only made possible for us by our foolish ignorance, as we are unable to understand their lessons and purpose or know how to approach them. They wouldn't bother us if we had the wisdom to comprehend why they occur in humans and why they are essential to their progress. These silent teachers will go after the lesson of nature has been thoroughly learned.
The same is true of all the misery we go through. They are simultaneously responses to our naive mistakes and teachers who point out the correct path. They vanish once we have understood the teachings they impart and are no longer required. Men do not become great and intelligent by acquiring facts externally. It is accomplished by cultivating the soul from the inside out until it floods the brain with the brilliant light known as genius.
