Great leaps in level of consciousness are always preceded by surrender of the illusion that ‘I know’. Frequently, the only way one can reach this willingness to change is when one ‘hits bottom’, that is, by running out a course of action to its end in the defeat of a futile belief system. Light cannot enter a closed box; the upside of catastrophe can be an opening to a higher level of awareness. If life is viewed as a teacher, it then becomes just that. Unless the painful lessons of life with which we deal are transformed through humility into gateways of growth and development, they are wasted.
From Power vs. Force, p. 266
