25. Do you know why sometimes a vague sadness fills your heart, leading you to consider that life is bitter? This is because your Spirit, aspiring to happiness and liberty, on finding itself tied to the physical body which acts like a prison, becomes exhausted through vain efforts to seek release. On recognising that these attempts are useless, the soul becomes discouraged, and as the body suffers the influence of the Spirit, it feels itself weary, apathetic, full of despondency and it is then that you judge yourself to be unhappy.

Believe me when I tell you to resist these tendencies with all your strength, as they only weaken your will-power. Aspirations for a better life are inborn in all mankind, but do not seek them in this world. Now that God is sending His Spirits to instruct you on happiness, which He has reserved for you, await with patience for the time when the liberating angel will come to help you break away from the ties which hold your Spirit captive. Remember, during your exile here on Earth, you have a mission to fulfill that you do not even suspect; be it dedicating yourself to your family or fulfilling the various obligations bestowed upon you by God. If within the course of this exiled probation, while seeking exoneration, you feel about to collapse through anxiety, uneasiness, or tribulations, be strong and courageous enough to support these pressures. Stand up to them with resolution for they will soon pass. These are the only means by which you may reach those for whom you pine and who, jubilant at seeing you once again amongst them, will hold out their hands towards you so as to guide you to regions inaccessible to earthly afflictions. - FRANÇOIS DE GENEVE (Bordeaux). 

25. Savez-vous pourquoi une vague tristesse s'empare parfois de vos coeurs et vous fait trouver la vie si amère ? C'est votre Esprit qui aspire au bonheur et à la liberté, et qui, rivé au corps qui lui sert de prison, s'épuise en vains efforts pour en sortir. Mais, en voyant qu'ils sont inutiles, il tombe dans le découragement, et le corps subissant son influence, la langueur, l'abattement et une sorte d'apathie s'emparent de vous, et vous vous trouvez malheureux.