Part 1
Here is the real reason why so very few ever realize a conscious relationship with the Divine: higher Love is consummated only in the awareness and acceptance of one’s own spiritual poverty... so that one’s soul is slowly matured through an ever-deepening humility that is, itself, the doorway to Heaven.
Part 2
Seeking to comfort ourselves by clinging to the hope of some imagined, better time to come, is like a hungry man standing outside a restaurant -- looking in through the window -- and trying to fill his stomach by watching other people eat.