Each day we wake up and turn on either the television or radio we are confronted by suffering. Suffering seems to define life on earth. From Afghanistan and China in the Far East to Peru or the US in the West, from Africa or Middle East and India to Bosnia and other parts of Europe, the world seems to be ensnared in a web of suffering.

If indeed there is a God, why does He allow so much suffering in the world?

This is a question that many people grappling with horrendous situations often ask. Suffocated by a stench of blood for those in armed conflict, menaced by hopelessness and desperation for those caught up in natural disasters, or slowly starving to death for those in the world�s famine stricken regions, it�s normal to exhibit such doubt.

This is because we human beings look at life as a consequence of positivity and that that positivity is imaginably without pain. So when pain and sorrow, despondency and danger, befalls us, it becomes incomprehensible to understand why God, a supposedly loving Father, would allow such a situation to occur.

Is it divine punishment upon those affected? Or has God moved elsewhere as is commonly commented in Africa?

I once met an old man in a pathetic war refugees� camp who looked at me squarely in the eyes and stated; �There can only be two answers to this (horrific condition they were in); either God is punishing us over some wrong, or there is nothing called God.�

Yet it is recognisable that suffering usually gives birth to renewal either in an individual position or in societal level. Several horrific conflicts the world has faced, including the two world wars, have always seen humanity emerge focussed onto a different stage of development. The industrial revolution for instance, emerged after European conflicts of the nineteenth century. The birth of the United Nations Organisation could be the most recognisable post-conflict achievement of the last century.

In this century, 9/11 and the resulting conflicts may have left the world tainted by bloodshed and suffering but social analysts all agree that these events have dramatically changed the world�s social fabric and elevated mankind to a new level in its collective evolution.

This seems to mean that a re-invigorating spirit with a power to lift up humanity and give it a new and positive impetus is inherently present in suffering.

The Baha�i Faith teaches that there are parallels in spiritual and material lives of mankind. There are also parallels between kingdoms of creation; mineral, plant, animal and human kingdoms. Sometimes these likenesses aren�t easily noticeable and we therefore pay no particular attention to them.

But it�s true they exists. A good example is birth of new life in the plant kingdom. For a new bean plant to germinate there has to be a destruction of sorts. The bean seed has to crack and eventually fall off and rot. Yet from that process a new and beautiful bean is borne.

Likewise; for a chick to emerge an egg has to crack. It is only a fool who would moan over this cracking of the egg. This process is pertinent for the continued existence of the chicken species.

The world in general goes through this process. In the contemporary world two distinct processes are simultaneously evolving; destruction and construction.

Never in the history of the human race have there been such horrendous upheavals as experienced today. And yet, never has humanity also witnessed such a bold and well-organised renaissance in its social life. This is akin to the twin processes in a germinating plant; the cracking of the seed and growth of a new plant.

While the horrific upheavals are churning out suffering, the novel approaches undertaken are rapidly knitting the world into formidable unity and peaceful setting. Humanity is using its suffering to generate a spirit of renewal. Countries and communities facing these upheavals are developing new systems that buttress the exigencies of the time while past systems get relegated to history.

Without suffering human evolution as it were would either be very slow or stagnant. Suffering opens human thinking and initiates new avenues of looking at life.

Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha�i Faith wrote in his book; �The Unfolding Destiny of the British Baha�i Community� regarding the role of suffering in engendering change:

�Suffering is both a reminder and guide. It stimulates us better to adapt ourselves to our environmental conditions, and thus leads the way to self improvement.�

In the spiritual realm, suffering is an important aspect in an individual�s spiritual growth. Baha�u�llah, the Founder of the Baha�i Faith, says trials and suffering distinguish lovers of God from those who don�t. �Without trials how would My true lovers be known?� He states in His Writings.

Baha�i Writings also state that reward and joy awaits those who endure patiently in the path of God.

The importance of suffering in spiritual growth is symbolised in the suffering Messengers of God undergo whenever they announce their divine missions. Each and every Messenger of God has been subjected to ignominious suffering: The crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the suffering of Muhammad, the Martyrdom of The B�b, and the years of torture, banishment and imprisonment of Baha�u�llah and so forth. Yet despite humanity�s turning against them Messengers of God never deviate from their loving and determined focus of their missions.

Suffering to a human being therefore is what fire is to gold. For gold to be purified it is subjected to extreme levels of heat. This heat burns off the impurities and leaves the quality and gem gold.

Sometimes it is not possible to deduce the wisdom behind the suffering one goes through until much later. Only when that pain has passed does the wisdom sometimes become resplendent.

To Baha�is therefore, suffering is an integral process of spiritual growth. It is the fountain that waters the plant of the soul, helping it grow, purifying it and giving it meaning in its continued sojourn across the spiritual realms.

�... the food of them who haste to meet Thee (God) is the fragments of their broken hearts.� Baha�u�llah states in his �Epistle to the Son of Wolf,� Pg. 95