Chapter V – The Small Negativities

This chapter, though it may seem marginal or whimsical, addresses a crucial question. These “small negativities” – the minor pains or daily annoyances we endure – directly challenge the necessity and perfection of Creation. If God is perfect, then every divine choice must have absolute and justifiable utility. So what are we to make of these little pains, these seemingly pointless setbacks? Why a toothache, a minor accident, or even a moment of inconsequential sadness? Every suffering counts, and every form of harm, however slight, must serve a purpose. Otherwise, it stains the perfection of the Whole.

A good initial intention – and then what?

Let us suppose that Creation springs from a just and merciful intention: to purify lesser consciences, to elevate them toward ethical and spiritual perfection. Let us assume this starting point is flawless. Then why include pain and seemingly useless discomforts? A weekend toothache, for instance, suffered by a soul meant to be “purified” – what did it contribute to their progress or transformation? By what right was it inflicted if it served no purpose?

Everything could have been avoided. So why wasn’t it?

Absolute sovereignty and its implications

If we accept that God exists and holds total sovereignty, that He controls and chooses everything in Creation, then He must also account for every small negativity, every single pain, however minor. Because if God is perfect, then everything He ordains must have a clear purpose. Otherwise, perfection collapses.

And if, on the contrary, God does not control everything, then He immediately loses the title of “perfect.” Allowing any form of harm – small or great – to slip through either by lack of power or will is a flaw incompatible with total perfection. It calls into question not only divine sovereignty, but even the legitimacy of creating and purifying.

It is not enough to say, “I can create, so I will.” One must prove that every element of Creation responds to an undeniable necessity. If Creation is the work of a perfect being, then it cannot be the product of whim. Everything must be under control, and nothing left to chance. Creation must rest on a form of justice beyond all doubt, including a legitimate sentence to existence: “You are condemned to be.” And not just any existence, but this one – in which the small negativities, seemingly pointless and disconnected from any plausible goal, are countless.

Awakening to the small negativities

These “small negativities” reveal a contradiction that many believers prefer to ignore. The usual answers – “brush your teeth if you don’t want cavities” (which assumes consent to live in such a fragile body), or “it’s other people’s fault,” as if a car accident were to be blamed on reckless drivers rather than on God, or the all-too-familiar “God knows what He’s doing” – fall short. Because even when one follows the rules or is entirely innocent, these afflictions still occur. A war, an assault, a rape, an accident – if divine sovereignty is total, then every harm, whatever its source, is a divine choice. Even suffering caused by others, or by random events, must be justified within that sovereignty.

Every negativity must serve a purpose. If it doesn’t, then Creation itself becomes imperfect. And if the overall goal of life is good and just, but could have been achieved by other means, without all this unnecessary pain, then the whole system is tainted.

The why of every suffering

The “why” behind each individual pain becomes vitally important. This is not a marginal issue. A single minor pain with no purpose threatens the entire logic of divinity. One could even say it is the strongest argument, because it is the most easily demonstrated. And if God exists, and even this question has a legitimate answer, then we are dealing with a wholly different ethical level. A toothache, a splitting migraine, or a heartbreak, in this framework, should be as necessary as a great tragedy. But if these little hurts have no meaning, they become blemishes on divine perfection. And these blemishes, however small, destroy the very idea of a perfect Creation. Yes, destroy it.

Complicity and responsibility

To accept these evils without seeking to understand them, without demanding clear answers, is to endorse a crime – even if it is not a crime within divine logic. Complicity arises from inaction or passive acceptance. In this sense, every believer who tolerates these small negativities without questioning them becomes complicit in a cosmic injustice, even if that injustice ultimately has a valid explanation. And saying, “there must be a reason for everything” before looking away is not enough. We are faced with what appears to be an uncountable number of injustices, with all the signs of global imperfection. No one can afford to act lukewarm in the face of such things. Otherwise, we might as well allow people to slap and cut each other with razors. If a human does that, we are outraged – but if a god does it billions upon billions of times every moment, it’s all fine. Everything’s perfect.

It resembles humanity’s habitual tolerance for the petty whims and injustices of princes, excused because they “don’t matter,” and judged only on major decisions (and in this case, not even those). It is a reflex of conflict avoidance with the powerful, one that smooths over every edge until morality and justice are completely trampled.

The small negativities matter

These small negativities, seemingly insignificant, are indicators of either the perfection or the imperfection of Creation. They compel us to question not only the great tragedies of existence, but also the mundane daily harms we accept through habit or resignation.

If God is perfect, then every suffering must be necessary and justifiable. But if even a single pain, a single harm, escapes that logic, then the whole system collapses – inevitably. This is an unavoidable point for anyone in search of truth. And if believers accept these harms without demanding answers, they condemn themselves to complicity. And they call perfect what is anything but perfect.

Perfection allows no room for the useless. That is why these “small negativities” matter just as much as the big ones. It is a question that shifts, logically and impartially, the weight of divine perfection to another domain: that of minor miseries and the deeds of others. Because yes, even rapes, murders, wars, heartbreaks, migraines, slipping down stairs, or stubbing your toe on a table – all of it is God’s doing, if He exists. There can be no doubt about this. Whether it comes from nature, from others, or even from our own clumsiness, it is all signed by a single being, if He exists. For whoever is responsible for the context is responsible for everything that happens within it.