It might seem to many that essence is fragile and that it is suppressed and easily lost. Essence is seen to be lost for almost everybody, and this fact might lead us to assume that it doesn’t take much to suppress it. This, however, is just the appearance. To see the reality of the situation, a more penetrating and comprehensive look is necessary. A deeper investigation will show us that essence actually is not easily suppressed or lost. We will see instead that it takes a long time, with very powerful influences opposing it, for essence finally to recede and be buried.
One way to see this is to observe how resilient children are in their emotional health, their aliveness, their joy, and their passionate involvement in their activities. We see them bouncing back after many disappointments, many failures, and many discouragements. They bounce back to their aliveness and joy over and over for years before the aliveness and joy are slowly suppressed and lost. The fact is that it takes a hostile and contrary environment, continually and mercilessly rejecting, ignoring, and hurting the being of the child, for years on end, before it succumbs to suppression. The power, resilience, and strength of essence are enormous. It is the force of life itself, the mainspring of vitality and vigor. – Essence with the Elixir of Enlightenment: The Diamond Approach to Inner Realization, Ch. 4