This is such an often asked question, and there are already many, many answers to it from philosophers and theologians. I think the misunderstanding is not so much who "God" is, but who we are.

For first, it is necessary to understand: In a world on the level of duality, there cannot be good without evil, warm without cold, light without dark. There is always everything in the same mass. We carry countless viruses, bacteria and even cancer cells in our bodies. When everything is in the right balance, the organism remains healthy. It is the same in the world as it is in our body.

Secondly, ask yourself this question: What if this God had actually given us the power to prevent all evil ourselves?
That is, if we were His image not only in terms of His (presumed) appearance, but in terms of our abilities? So often we push the responsibility away from us: the children's education to the teachers, the health to the doctor, and so-called "leaders" outsource (!) the responsibility to consulting companies. Who really has the power and who uses it how? Who then allows the evil in the world, if not us? Couldn't we all take more responsibility and shape the world differently. Yes, we alone. To say "he" is allowing the evil may be ignorance, but perhaps more of a welcome excuse.

As long as we make ourselves a victim, we cannot make the world a better place, because with this attitude of sacrifice we allow a few to shape the earthly game. "After all, there is nothing you can do" is an often-heard phrase. Who is "one?" Who elects the powerful? The Dalai Lama says, "If you think you are too small to make a difference, think of a mosquito in your bedroom when you want to sleep." What if we got out of our comfort zone and empowered ourselves? Embrace the power God has given us and truly use it responsibly?

I remember the cartoon with Jesus and an earthling. Both are sitting on a park bench, and the earthling says to Jesus, "Why do you actually allow this evil in the world?" Jesus says "Child, that' s exactly what I was about to ask you!" Gandhi said "Be the change you want to see in the world."

Third: Maybe God loves us so much that he lets us suffer pain and just does not avoid it! I have experienced a special example of this myself. I used to have a business partner who could be described as a real "tough cookie". After only a few years in school, he worked his way through and became very, very successful and very, very tough. One evening he invited me to his home. I saw that his child, then five years old, was disabled. It wore splints on its legs and could not walk on its own.

We went for a walk in his garden, there was a pebble path, and after a few steps I saw that the boy was coming after us with his naked, bleeding knees on the pebble path. I was horrified! How could this father let this happen? Couldn't he take him in his arms?! But just as I was about to scold him, I saw that the hard man had tears running down his cheeks. He looked at me and said "It's hard to bear. But it's the only way he'll learn to move freely on his own." And indeed, yes, it was the boy's choice to crawl there and bloody his knees. I later learned that the boy became independent. He was moving around the world on his own, becoming independent at an early age, doing his own business early, at seven.

What had really happened that evening in the garden? Neither the man nor the child had I really loved. Really really I only wanted my own avoid my own pain. I didn't think about what was best for the child. And this hard-boiled guy I had prejudged could only be hard on the child, given my default setting ... but he had more love for his child than I could bear. Ask yourself: Where do you demand behavior from others because your pain is to be removed, where it is about you and not at all about love for others?

Sometimes it is also said that whom God loves, he punishes with greater hurdles, because we can grow from them. I do not mean that every misery in the world is wanted by him. I even mean that he does not want anything in this sense from us. Except one thing: that we can grow from it. We can learn to avoid conflicts. Learn to understand better ... If we want it! If we don't put the responsibility on God, on teachers, on doctors, on somebody else, but that we ask them for help to support us, how we can do it better ourselves.

Christmas can again be a revolutionary celebration for us ... a celebration of self-empowerment! So ask yourself: Which belief system can I throw overboard now? And what really good resolutions can I bring into the world in 2018?

I wish you all sensual and contemplative days!

Sincerely

Wolfgang
winning for life