How would a God of love either cause or allow the continued suffering of the innocent?
I dare say that if the innocent are suffering, it is because one of us – you, me, some other old man – now or in the past, kicked off their suffering.
And if the innocent continue to suffer, it is because it remains for us to take responsibility for what they are going through; we still owe enough for them to be relieved.
"What can I do;" we whisper and – if we're not quite dead yet – we might even feel a little guilty about the pain around us. This minimal awareness of our own guilt is a subtle indication that perhaps there is still hope for us.
Dostoyevsky's Zosimas has a keen sense of this guilt. "There is salvation for you," he says to the assembled brotherhood. "Take yourself and make him responsible for people's sorrows...".
When one member suffers, all members suffer...
