Reading the Guide actually changed my question:
In part 3, chapter 34 of the Guide, the Rambam makes an interesting claim. He says that the Torah does not have a positive effect on everyone who fulfills its mandate. Maimonides explains:
"You must know that the Torah is not designed to suit exceptional individuals and its commandments are not appropriate for some small minorities of people” (Guide, 3:34).
For support, he compares the Torah's effects to nature:
“It is your business to reflect on the natural things, in which the general utility that is included within them nonetheless necessarily produces damages to individuals” (Guide, 3:34).
He continues to say that although generally the commandments help perfect a person, they do not always do so for there are exceptons:
"Among the things that you likewise ought to know is that the Law does not pay attention to isolated cases. The Law was not given with a view to things that are rare. For in everything that it wishes to bring about, be it an opinion, or a moral habit, or a useful work, it is directed only toward the things that happen in the majority of cases and pays no attention to what happens rarely, or to the damage occurring to the unique human being because of this way of determination and because of the legal character of the governance." (Guide, 3:34)
In other words, the mitzvot cannot take into account of exceptional cases. Indeed, it may cause damage to some extraordinary individuals. The question is, who the extraordinary individuals?
