"We are a part of God. We are spirit, temporarily inhabiting a physical body (temple). We are not only a part of God, we are children of God, as many of the following quotations affirm.
"Some may think, 'That sounds terrific. But why am I not happier, and why is there so much suffering in this world?'
"That's because God gave us free will. God has free will, and if we are aspects of God, then we must also have free will. God gave us free will because He loves his children. He wants His Divine Family to co-create with Him in ever more glorious goodness, beauty, and joy.
"Just as a child makes a lot of mistakes while learning to walk, we also make mistakes as we learn to perfect ourselves in all areas of life. And when errors occur, suffering occurs. This is simply the reality of life. What is forgotten or misinterpreted by certain belief systems is that it is possible to perfect ourselves.
"We might then ask 'How can that be?' when reflecting on numerous past sins or errors. After all, God is perfect, but how can we be?
"It is important to understand that the real you is perfect. The real you was created by God, and God can only create perfection. And God has qualities that would make it impossible for Him to be separate from the real you. Among God's aspects are omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence. Thus it would be impossible for God to not be within the real you.
"Each one of us is a being of awareness/consciousness that can be 100 percent attuned to God and His many blessings. The pure, good, and true aspect of every person is a part of God — a son or daughter of God. This is the part that is the real you. We can also choose to ignore God, or be poorly attuned with God. We can hold many false beliefs and even feel a great sense of separateness from God, others, or even ourselves.
"We may call the perfect, divine, and eternal part of ourselves our Higher or Divine Self. We may call the imperfect non-eternal part of ourselves our unreal or not-self. The imperfect, human aspects of us are not divine, not perfect, and not eternal.
"When we create negatives such as hatred, greed, or jealousy, we are still using God's energy (which all energy is), but not in accordance with God's will for good. We are removed from God to the degree that we have chosen to think, act, and feel in ways that are not of God.
"The unreal self is the product of misusing our free will. We are not our unreal self with its imperfections. Our imperfections are baggage that weighs us down. This weight can be lightened and eliminated. As we gradually change the negative aspects contained in our unreal selves, we become more 'real' and we can attune more readily to Divine Wisdom and Divine Love, which then allow access to more Divine Power/Light/Energy."
