"Each hardship is a trial which one needs to endure. When a trial comes into your life, tell yourself, 'This trial has come so that I may correct one of my faults.' When a man attains self-control, the hardship and suffering will vanish.

"The tribulations of the present times are harbingers of a new Life for which refined matter needs to be prepared. As a result of the suffering, the matter of the brain will become more and more refined. To suffer means to send down roots deep into the ground and to work. Through suffering, conflicts and contradictions, you acquire experience with the great Laws which direct Life. The contradictions which exist at present will not be repeated in the future.

"What represents the end of suffering? Mindfulness. If you become more mindful after you have suffered, you will give thanks because this suffering has been meaningful. If, after having suffered, you have not attained mindfulness, the suffering was not meaningful.

"When the ground has been cultivated - this represents suffering, a cataclysm for the worms and ants. Yet the new culture is sown in the soil through this cultivation. Human suffering is similar to this cultivation through which the new culture is sown in human souls.

"In order to cleanse your body, you use a washcloth. Through suffering the human body is cleansed. If the human body is not cleansed, the Divine Thought cannot be correctly transmitted. Through hardship, the nervous system is purified. When every nerve is purified, then man can properly receive all Divine Light and Thought. Why does suffering come? For the sole purpose of eliminating the impurities in the brain.

"The Angels understand the deeper meaning of the suffering of humankind. They know that the blessing for humankind is hidden within it.

"The great men of genius did not have the best conditions in life. Yet those who have had good conditions have achieved very little.

"The working conditions of Beethoven were very bad. Suffering forces man to begin working. It is very hard to defeat difficulties and suffering, but it needs to be done! Christ overcame them and ascended.

"One day when you complete your development, you will thank God for all the misfortunes of your life. These are where the greatest blessings have come from. Through suffering, man becomes tempered and is tested."