We believe that spiritual advancement is impossible without humility, and the greatest reminder of humility is our own mortality. This is why my uncle, an alcoholic, who spent his last year unable to keep food down and vomiting his guts up, who died quite painfully over the course of his last months, was perhaps able to convert. It was able to reduce his life back to the objective perspective of it: a mortal in a weak husk doomed to give up the ghost.

Which is why in Catholic & Orthodox traditions it is thought that a prolonged death is desirable and a sign of divine mercy, while a quick, instantaneous death that does not provide a chance for reflection and penance is considered undesirable.

One of the more important things to understand about this, IMO, is also that non-physical suffering is a great teacher. Even enduring the unjust slander given to you is a sort of penance and opportunity for self-improvement and spiritual awakening.

It is also the case that the suffering of others provides much opportunity for reflection - many people around the world come to a pacifism through observing the results of the Ukraine and Gaza conflcits.

Many people become vegans just by encountering a single suffering animal.

Perhaps that is enough text for now - tell me, what do you think about this idea?