One of the legacies of the Piscean Age, which is drawing to a close as we enter the Aquarian age, is the emphasis on pain and suffering as being central to how growth and change occur. The old paradigm is described for us in esoteric philosophy as:

"Suffering and Pain are essential requirements in order to carry this purpose to completion" (R&I:243).
"Pain has always been the purifying agent..." (EXT:119).
"Suffering is the most effective and most rapid way of evoking world understanding and of burning away the barriers which human beings have set up to the expression of the will-to-good" (EXT: 154).

But a new day is dawning. “Up until now the mark of the Savior has been the Cross, and the quality of salvation offered has been freedom from substance or the lure of matter and from its hold – a freedom only to be achieved at a great cost. The future holds within its silence other modes of saving humanity. The cup of sorrow and the agony of the Cross are well-nigh finished. Joy and strength will take their place” (RI: 233-4).

So what are the implications for us of statements like:

"[An important] characteristic of the new server is joyfulness. This takes the place of criticism (that dire creator of misery) and is the silence that sounds" (EP2:132-133).
"Joy is the strong basic note of our particular solar system" (EP1:49).

How do we manage our transition to a focus on joy?