If you are oriented in the Work towards getting good things and getting rid of bad things, you will continue suffering. You will not understand the spirit of the Work, the spirit of truth. But if you are curious, it doesn’t matter if there is pain sometimes. Joy is not the absence of suffering. Joy is the presence of curiosity. It is the presence of discovery. Then you can see not just the Work, not just your effort, but all of existence as a beautiful, intricate, exquisite field. This beauty, this magnificence, includes everything in it, including ugliness. You can see an ugliness so ugly that it is beautiful, because you are seeing the truth. The truth is what makes things beautiful. – Diamond Heart Book One: Elements of the Real in Man, Ch. 16