1. Everything in manifestation is composed of the four elements, including how our karma is dispensed to us. So, those who are not attempting the path pay their karma through four flavors of suffering. They receive the ordeals, but do not comprehend them. So, they suffer only in order to pay their debts and are dissolved mechanically by nature.
2. Those who are walking the path of chastity receive the ordeals they need in order to free themselves from slavery to the egos, which are condensations of the four elements. The ordeals stimulate those egos in order for the egos to be visible, which then makes them vulnerable. Those who take advantage of this — through meditation — accept the difficulty, transform their psyche, and liberate themselves from suffering.
3. Those who follow the left-hand path to awaken as demons know that the four elements manage everything for them, too. They have their own way of dealing with the four elements, but they use the ordeals in order to build more "I." Read
The Revolution of Beelzebub.