However, these can be wake-up calls, because when we experience suffering or struggle, we also tend to have an awareness of how to correct them as well, even though we may not be conscious of it at the time. Also, if a sacrifice is for the purpose of exchanging a habitual behavior for a spiritual enrichment, that action is a vital experience. Often religiously minded people endorse all three as though God wants us to experience them. Some go so far as to claim that God suffers all the time, so they say, we should share the divine burdens. God never suffers! How could a being of complete perfection suffer? Similarly, you need not suffer, struggle, or sacrifice your joy to become spiritually evolved. The considerations about sacrifice include that there are many experiences we are wise to sacrifice, when we observe that a better way to express ourselves needs to take the place of some habitual experiences that we have allowed to captivate our interests. For example, becoming enthusiastic about life without having to be drunk or under the influence of other narcotics is vital. Sacrificing anything that is not done in moderation by disciplining our lives so as to function wisely is the kind of sacrifice that is a reasonable action. But to sacrifice anything that is the height of natural joy is to deprive ourselves of the good that life promises us. What is fun for you? Do you enjoy eating good food? Are you interested in having companions who think positive ideas and feel exuberant in expressing them? Is music especially pleasant in your experience? Do you like to go out-of-doors either to play or to observe the beauty of nature? Are you enthusiastic about being alive? Dr. Royal is! God is the very Life that all of us are living. To the degree that we love Life, the Divine Mind dances with us. You will love Life more and more through allowing your Soul to enter the dance of God, that is, of Life. One last word about Spirituality and Fun: For us, virtuous living does not disrupt having fun. We not only play fair, but we discover how to have fun through living with High Thoughts and High Action!
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