If I protect myself through strength, then I cannot be destroyed. Although I cannot escape the pain and maybe it is even more in my life, but it does not last so long and cannot hurt me permanently.
If I protect myself through power, then – if the power is great enough – I can escape external pain, at the price of inflicting pain on others instead. Despite this, I cannot escape my own inner pain and thus remain mortal and very vulnerable.
Enough strength to feel the eternity and unity of the soul and thus to alleviate one’s own suffering. Enough power to set limits to the excess of external pain and to assert its existence. Power and strength together to act divinely on earth. That is the best protection.