A life of "ease and quiet" may at first appear to be a blessing, especially as one watches the world around them filled with suffering, sorrow, pain, hatred and a myriad of other sensations and experiences believed by the majority to be inherently negative. But if one takes the time to look at the bigger picture, the truth becomes something altogether different.

Human nature is such that ease and quiet are much more likely to lead to contentment, self-satisfaction and an acute unawareness of dangers or deficiencies. While contentment and self-satisfaction may both appear to be desirable states of being, in the reality of day-to-day life they truly only serve to encourage one to limit their requirements, desires, and actions.

To become content and self-satisfied is to become spiritually, intellectually and psychologically fat and lazy. To seek only ease and quiet is to stunt one's own growth, to dampen the fire of passion, to deny one's own needs, to prevent one's own understanding of life, the universe, the self.

It is through loss that we learn what we truly need to gain.

It is through suffering that we learn the true value of pleasure and happiness.

It is through the trials and tribulations of life that we begin to grow in our understanding of ourselves.

In the Big Scheme Of Things there is no such thing as "good" or "bad" events, emotions, experiences, etc.  In the Big Scheme Of Things all that exists, all that happens to us, all that we experience is nothing more than another sensation, another opportunity to learn and grow.

To embrace the trials and sufferings of life is to be sound of mind, body and soul.

To embrace the trials and sufferings of life is to be inspired to achieve that which once was thought impossible or beyond reach.

To learn how to embrace the trials and suffering of life is a mystery that each of us must learn to solve if we truly wish to make any progress either in this world or in our own minds and souls.