Reagarding Faith......

[Sacred Fool]

Maybe I'm just not evolved enough to be above the suffering?

Well, heck, let's just try to help you move along in your evolution, shall we?  (he asked, wearing a wry grin)


First, consider this.

There is an underlying connection to all...[which], for me, is an acceptance of it all as it is out of the construct of time. There is a richness to existence that one can grasp at certain moments which blossoms into a feeling of great appreciation and humility. This acceptance is not based on some higher entity setting things in motion, or even myself as a higher being setting this life in motion, because I think everything is evolving all the time, simultaneously, like a big soup. [...] As everything evolves and changes, if one is accepting of the nature of the universe, one may work with it unimpeded by the underlying matrix of this existence.

So, here's my thought for you.  Perhaps the first level of this awareness is feeling the expansiveness of that total inter-connectedness in a personal way, then the next level is to discover it in a universal way where, as you state above, we're all maturing at our own rate while we're being cooked in the Cosmic Soup, outside of time?  If one can simply feel (not "know" in their head) that we're all maturing at our own rate, then perhaps one can feel that "All is well, and all manner of things shall be well" for all creatures.

I entirely agree with you that no one level of consciousness is inferior or superior to another.  In fact, the premise of the concept of wandering to lower densities is founded, in part, on the idea that the lower levels of consciousness are rich in opportunities to learn of and share love, wisdom and other things of transcendent value.  And in due course, all shall make its way along the Great Way of Transformation.

By faith I presume you mean that this stream of well-being is what justifies "faith," in that at some point or level of experience all IS well seemingly. But what makes that level of consciousness or being more relevant than this one? This one is ephemeral, but that does not, in my mind, make it any less important than a million years or infinity. It all just IS. Would it be responsible to ignore one's accountability in any brief experience or interaction?

Just to re-iterate the point, no, there is no justification, exactly as you said about Carla's channeling.  Like as you could never convince anyone of the inter-connectedness of things outside of time, no one can convince anyone regarding faith.  It is a profound inner knowing, and that's much of what makes it sacred.

How, then, you ask implicitly, does one balance the sacred awareness with the daily life experience of turmoil and pain and beauty and indifference?  Well, that, you might say, is the work of "a lifetime."


  
I want to add one more thing. This is an quote from the Q'uote in the OP.

Faith is an attitude which assumes that the infinite Creator, the higher self, and that self which planned this incarnation before taking flesh have provided ample opportunities for learning and for service, sometimes involved in learning is suffering. Sometimes there is sorrow and pain, yet one living a life in faith knows that that which is happening is perfect. It is precisely what is needed to advance spiritually and to be of service. Consequently, such an entity cooperates and harmonizes with circumstance and allows creativity and imagination to play a part in the flowing forward of events.