I just loved this quote from Nisargadatta Maharaj – a beedi wallah in Bombay – who was extrordinarly incisive:
“Someone asks:
What can truth or reality gain by all our practice?
He uses truth and love interchangeably.  He says:
“Nothing whatsoever, of course.  But it is in the nature of
truth or love, cosmic consciousness, whatever you want to call it, to
express itself, to affirm itself, to overcome difficulties. Once
you’ve understood that the world is love in action, consciousness
or love in action, you will look at it quite differently.  But first
your attitude to suffering must change.  Suffering is primarily a
call for attention, which itself is a movement of love. More than
happiness, love wants growth, the widening and deepening of awareness
and consciousness and being. Whatever prevents that becomes a cause
of pain, and love does not shirk from pain.”