FELICIA: It is not a question of punishment but a kind of education. In fact right now you are going through "the school of life" where you are learning about "cause" and "effect". Whatever you do, there is a result which corresponds to this so that if you sow thistles for example, you cannot expect a harvest of strawberries. What you will get naturally will be a harvest of thistles. It's an experience not a punishment, an experience of the effects of what you have done previously. If you experience pain when other dogs are biting your tail, then it is much easier to understand that you should not continue to do the same thing again to other dogs. Can you think of an example of this in your life?

FELIX: Yes. No. Yes. Maybe. Well a couple of days ago, I bit the neighbour's dog Max in the back leg and then the day after, an aggressive dog came and bit my leg. I was actually in a lot of pain.

FELICIA: Yes that is right, so now you know how it feels! On reviewing this experience then, you can see how the consequence came back to you. I imagine after realizing this, you may be less likely to want to do the same thing again.

FELIX: Of course not, I cannot stop biting other dogs! Besides I think it was by "chance", that the same thing happened to me the day after. I do not believe in "karma", I believe in "chance".

FELICIA: Chance does not exist. The whole world is made up of "physical and spiritual laws". Can you imagine if while you were baking a delicious sponge cake that the sugar in it suddenly changed 'by chance' into salt? We would never be able to do anything properly if the world was left to chance and it would be impossible to learn anything at all. You might end up experiencing the effects of my actions so if I were to bite Max for example you may end up getting bitten by another dog instead of me even though you hadn't done anything. Thank goodness that both physical and spiritual laws exist.

FELIX: Hmm...makes sense...kind of... Do you happen to know why good things and bad things exist here in the world? I wish, that there were only good-tasting bones everywhere, that the sun would shine all the time, the neighbours would smile and that there was no cold, rain or winter. What I would really like is to eat sponge-cake with cream every day - YUM!

FELICIA: Now you have touched something very important. If we were just able to experience nice and good things all the time we would come to a point where we suddenly would not could be able to feel any happiness or joy in these things anymore. You wouldn't enjoy your delicious bones or cream filled cakes any longer and they would become boring and dull for you. Life is based on "contrasts between dark-and light-experiences" and this longing for experiences of contrasts renews our capacity to experience life, to feel happiness and so on. It is because of our earlier experiences of bad things that we can desire something which is better. Martinus calls this "the unpleasant good" and "the pleasant good" and both of them are necessary to experience life. In the plant and animal stages we go through a lot of darkness and suffering while in the other stages we experience more joyous, lighter things.