“In what way has Jesus Christ saved mankind? In what way was His deed the greatest? What was the purpose of His life on earth, of His one time incarnation? The purpose of His life was not only to spread His teachings. True and beautiful as these teachings are, they could be found elsewhere too — perhaps in another form, nevertheless basically the same. So this was certainly not the only purpose. The second purpose of His life, and still not the main and most important one, was through His life and death He showed symbolically what the course of development, or the stages of same, should be for man, for each and every one who wants to regain the kingdom of heaven. Testing, trials, remaining faithful to God in times of adversity, the crucification of the ego, of the personal ego with all its vanity and self-will — this was symbolized by the body of Jesus, and the resurrection of His spirit signifies the life eternal of bliss and happiness of the spiritual being of each individual after the ego has been crucified. This cannot happen otherwise than through pain. But even this part of His task is, as I said, not the main and most important one. The two mentioned here can be considered as by-lines or accompanying purposes to the main purpose He had to fulfill.” (PL #19)