“The more I’ve suffered in my life and also read the accounts of the sufferings of others, the more I’ve noticed a pattern. Those who seem to be supremely virtuous and heroic tend to take their sufferings in stride, as if they had no other choice. When they suffer, they suffer fully — they feel the feelings, cry, fight and do whatever they have to do not to hide their suffering or pretend it isn’t there, but to move beyond it. We’re supposed to suffer. It is the condition of consciousness, our blessing and curse. Modern living has made us think that suffering a burden to be surpassed, but surpassing suffering merely means dulling our consciousness. Suffering will never go away, not without severe consequence. We either learn to take it in stride or we miss out on an important facet of living.”