A Question: Master, you say that the personality is not divine by nature but how do you explain that, since nothing exists outside of God? ‘

The question is an important one, but difficult to answer. The word ‘divine’ has two meanings. When I say that the personality is not divine by nature, I mean that it is not infinite, not eternal, and that it has none of the divine attributes such as light and stability. That is the sense in which the individuality is divine. Nevertheless both are part of the same reality, God.

God created both good and evil
Let us glance at what the ancient Sacred Books said on the subject of good and evil. God declares in one of the Hindu Sacred Books, ‘I am both good and evil. All things were made by me.’ And in the Bible, ‘I am the Lord and there is no other, I form the light, I create darkness, I make peace and create evil. I the Lord, do all these things… I will not tolerate evil, I am indomitable, I will punish the wicked.’

Since nothing exists outside God, then evil (or what we think of as evil) is as much a part of him as good. Are we to believe then that God is the Author of human sorrow, of war and devastation, wickedness and cruelty? Astonishing as it may seem, it is so. We need considerable light to be able to accept this apparent contradiction… that God created evil and yet strives continually to overcome it!

Did God create human beings as some kind of diversion?
Once I suggested that perhaps God created human beings as a sort of diversion, that perhaps He was bored and sought distraction, and now He sits back and with vast amusement, watches the way humans carry on! This does not alter the fact that He alone exists, that Creation is part of him and nothing created exists outside of him.’

To be continued…

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov
Complete Works Vol. 11, The Key to the Problems of Existence