Rob: I’m inviting Raphael to come join us, to come talk to me. So as my teammates and I were talking, I raised the question about why the need for pain, both physical pain and emotional pain. Why is this so prevalent in our lives? It must serve a higher, a spiritual purpose. Help me to understand all of that.
AA Raphael: Greetings, all. This is Raphael. It is always such a joy to join you in this way, in this direct way, to have a conversation directly with you … not that we are not always with you, but it is a bit different to interact directly, directly with your mind, with your consciousness.
We understand your question, and yes, I think you do know [that] the notion of pain, as you said, is a mental construct. The feeling of pain, the feeling of whatever level of agony, if I could use such a strong word, that you may feel is in direct relationship to how you feel about the notion of the pain, [i.e.] what is behind the pain. Whether you feel it physically, or whether you feel it at an emotional level, it is the idea that you give it that causes your feeling of how you feel about that.
For the physical body, the pain is a manifestation of an imbalance within your system, within your physical system. And in that sense, it is a good thing — [it is] just letting you know that there is something that is out of balance that should be addressed for optimal health. There is something there that should not be or not there that should be. There is some imbalance.
Your body sends you these signals to let you know that there is a problem here, something to be addressed and to get your attention. You interpret that as pain, for the pain will get your attention. So again, it forces you to focus on something that you need to focus on.
The same can be true at an emotional level. Something has occurred in your life that is contrary to your belief system about the way things should be. This causes an imbalance. You are fighting against yourself at that point, against your own beliefs, and so you interpret that as a form of pain, as being hurt.
But again, whether you choose to interpret that as painful is entirely up to you. As soon as you change your belief systems about the way things should be, then you will find that that pain subsides and drifts off to become a memory.
So yes, pain is an interpretation of an imbalance, one way or the other.
You are also questioning why some who you consider to be spiritually advanced have such pain in their lives. It’s the same answer. There is an imbalance. There is something that they are not addressing that needs to be addressed, whether that is a thought process, a belief system, or whether it is something physical within their body, which, in the grander scheme of things, is also a manifestation of a belief system.
Physical ailments don’t begin in the body. They begin in the mind. Any imbalance that occurs there will manifest itself in your physical form.
So at the end of the day, it is there to let you know that there is something that needs to be addressed. In that sense, it is all positive. It is all for your greater good. It is the fighting against it that causes the pain to become extreme.
Just allow. Accept that there is something that needs to be addressed, take the steps necessary to address that, but understand at the deeper level that imbalance has everything to do with your own belief system about something that you think should happen, that is not happening, or any other number of scenarios where your expectations do not meet what is apparently in front of you. This causes a shock to your mind, but again, it is all for your own growth. It’s just another mechanism for you to realize the truth of the way things are, the truth of who you are, what your role is here.
I know this is a lot to take in at once, so I’ll let you sit with that. Think on these things.
For any pain that you feel, ask yourself, what is it that I believe about this that I can let go of to heal myself of the discomfort that I feel, because of a belief system that requires some adjustment, and then watch the miracle happen, as you believe that it can go away just as quickly as it arrived, simply with your change of thoughts.
I think that is enough for now. I will leave you to it, with my deepest love and hopes for your healing. Farewell for now.
