921. We understand that human beings will be happy on Earth when the human race has been transformed. Meanwhile, can people ensure a moderate amount of happiness for themselves?
“Human beings are often the architects of their own unhappiness. If they obey God’s laws, they spare themselves much sorrow and also secure all the happiness corresponding with the human condition.”
People who are positive about their future destinies view their physical life as a temporary station. It is for them a momentary stopover at a awful hotel. They easily find solace for the fleeting frustrations of their journey in the fact that it is bringing them to a new, and happier position, which will be all the more favorable in proportion to the preparations they have made. In this life, we are punished for violating the laws of corporeal existence via the suffering that is a consequence of these violations and by the suffering that results from our own excesses. When we trace human troubles back to their origin, we find that the overwhelming majority are the result of an initial deviation from the right path. This deviation forces us to enter a wrong path, and each subsequent step brings us more deeply into misfortune.
