By Gonny 
We hear it all the time: “You must know fear to appreciate love…..You must suffer to grow….You need darkness to understand light.”
People repeat these sentences as if the universe itself had engraved them on a golden tablet.
But a logical question arises:
“Why must I experience pain in order to know what no-pain feels like?”
A Course in Miracles (if it could) would take a deep breath, look at this worldly logic, and gently shake its head. Not in judgment, but with the kind of humor only Truth can afford.
Because in the Course’s vision, you do not need pain to understand joy, just like you do not need to jump in the canal to realize you prefer dry clothes. Pain does not teach. Pain only distracts.
Only love is real, and everything else is a mistaken idea, a brief cloud in an otherwise clear sky. Love does not need its opposite to prove itself; It simply is.
You don’t learn about the sun by staring at the cloud. You learn about the sun by letting the cloud pass.
But here in the dualistic dream of bodies, opposites seem to define everything: Up requires down, warm requires cold, and apparently enlightenment requires hitting rock bottom a few times.
Humans love this story. They even call it “beautiful.”
As if the Holy Spirit sits there thinking: What a charming idea…..let’s all suffer a bit so we can appreciate Heaven later.
Another innocent, perhaps childlike question arises:
“If someone must suffer to deserve Heaven…what about the ones who
lived in joy and peace?”
The answer is sumple : no one ‘earns’Heaven. No one reaches Heaven through suffering.
You simply awaken to the Truth and in the Reality that you never left.
Love does not keep score…does not hand out gold stars at the end of a difficult life. And your true Self has never been touched by pain at all.
So the ancient narrative that pain is holy and joy is suspicious…begins to unravel. Gently. Kindly. Without accusation. Simply by seeing that it was based on fear, not on Truth.
The Course invites us to drop the myth of “necessary suffering.”
Not by fighting it, but by seeing its absurdity with a soft laugh.
Just remember:
You don’t need darkness to value light. You don’t need heartbreak
to be compassionate. You don’t need collapse to grow.You don’t need
to drown to learn swimming.
Peace is not the result of pain. Peace is the result of choosing again!
Lesson 21 : I am determined to see things differently.”
That one choice can undo a lifetime of inherited beliefs.
And once you choose love…even for a moment….the whole inner
structure of fear begins to loosen. It becomes like an old costume
you suddenly step out of.
No punishment required. No spiritual marathon. No suffering as entrance ticket.
Just the gentle recognition:
You are already worthy of joy….worthy of peace.
You are already in the Heart of Heaven.
Pain did not bring you there. Love did, because Love has never left you.
With love and light,
G.