Summary This section is still under development. In fact, I have not yet finished thinking about this difficult topic, so I cannot present a complete discussion. (That is, it is difficult to reconcile a benevolent and omnipotent 'Divinity', however conceived, with the presence of suffering in this world.) Some ideas have already been mentioned in my Consciousness is Divine page. Here, I will simply repeat a sketch of ideas provided in my Philosophical Outline (which contains a summary of my metaphysics). The following excerpt, taken out of context, seems a bit dogmatic. To understand it properly, one must be aware of the philosophical ideas that lead up to it.
Our purpose here in this life is to develop and 'educate' our consciousness towards a desirable goal, and this desirable goal is none other than enlightenment or mystical realization of our intrinsic divinity. It is a paradox that we were never distinct in substance but only in the manifestation of this substance, which arises from ignorance. Why does the ignorance exist? I do not know, but I suspect that it has something to do with the fact that the Divine is trying to 'reproduce' itself, which is a mathematical impossibility. Hence, suffering was the price to pay for the mathematical impossibility. That is the best I can offer; I do not have all the answers. Anyhow, as Buddha said, we should not spend too much time wondering why we are pierced by the arrow of ignorance and who or what did it, but instead we should concentrate on removing the arrow and furthering our spiritual development.
Specifically, I can think of at least two ways in which our present manifestation of consciousness is imperfect. First, when we are angry or full of hate, then a demon has grabbed us by the throat and poison fills our blood. This occurs when certain negative ideas channel the energy of consciousness into a chaotic and destructive configuration. We do not hate until we first form the idea of an adversary, which in turn is dependent on the idea of a self. Even if we are engaged in legitimate self-defense, the concept of an injured ego greatly inflames our feelings and leads to cruel and violent thoughts and actions far beyond what is necessary.
Second, even when we are not poisoned by such emotions, our consciousness might still be in a desensitized state, in which we fail to see the beauty and feel the joy of life. We might then try to find satisfaction from various forms of sense gratification, which while not inherently 'bad', nevertheless fall far short of the inspiration and bliss of angels. (An 'angel' is just any spiritually developed being, but why not bring a little imagination into this?) It is my belief that anyone who experiences true inspiration will agree that it is a 'higher' state of consciousness and preferable to any limited form of hedonism. We 'approach' our intrinsic divinity as the quality and intensity of this inspiration and bliss rise to infinity. There are states of consciousness far beyond anything that we can now imagine. Indeed, there may be no limit to what consciousness can experience.
There is some deep and mysterious reason why the Source must temporarily 'allow' our consciousness to be finite and imperfect, not to mention cruel and perverted. I think that it must be closely related to the fact that we are under the illusion that we are distinct beings, which leads to egoism until we develop wisdom. This illusion exists so that the Divine can 'multiply' its joy in being, but the illusion also behaves according to cause and effect, which explains why our personality develops as it does. (We should want it to behave according to cause and effect, because the alternative is chaos.) The whole purpose of life is to properly 'educate' this illusion, by somehow eradicating destructive causes and tendencies and 'planting' good ones.
No one can deny this illusion, and do we not usually cling to our 'life' no matter what happens to us? So there exists, at least at a 'phenomenological' level, countless conscious beings who are glad to be alive, or who will be once they achieve enlightenment. The Divine is trying to 'multiply' its joy in its own existence by creating a vast spectacle called the 'universe' where countless 'children' are created from its own flesh (i.e. consciousness) to enjoy the dream called life. This must surely be the reason that we exist, but evidently it required a period of formation and spiritual evolution, during which we did very nasty things to each other while we were learning to be nice.
We cannot be truly distinct beings, if the same Universal Consciousness underlies and sustains our own apparent being. However, it is undeniable that we seem to be different beings — different consciousnesses — each enjoying and suffering our own separate life. So I must rest my case with this apparent paradox. Perhaps someone wiser than I knows the answer.