Enlightened By Suffering

Everyone of us who survives to be 21, 30, 50, 80 or more years old does so by becoming enlightened by our life experiences enough to do so.

If I trace back to my birth and all the things that contributed to my living to 62 so far it goes something like this:
I was born:
I learned that birth is painful and that nursing at my mother's breast is good and sustaining.
I touched fire:
I learned that touching fire raises welts and is very painful. I learned not to touch fire even when lighting matches.
I pushed a little girl down cement steps when I was 3:
I learned that my grandfather would beat me very hard if I did such things and I didn't do them anymore.
I went to a frog pond at age 4 and learned that frog's eggs reminded me of the Milky Way Galaxy that I could see at night when the sky was clear. I learned to see my place in the universe.
I walked to the little girl's house that I had pushed down the stairs and I walked into a hornet's nest and they all stung me so I ran home screaming at age 4:
I learned that my grandfather would pour gasoline on such hornets and burn them all to death so they wouldn't sting me anymore. I learned that my grandfather would protect me from harm if I did no harm to others.
I moved to San Diego from Seattle:
I learned that life was completely different in California than Washington in 1952. The culture was completely different.
My 13 year old cousin molested me at a religious retreat when I was 8. I realized what he had done 2 years later and it gave me childhood epilepsy. I learned never to trust any males regarding anything.
I saw women in the 1950s sort of go crazy from not enough women's liberation. I learned that women sometimes lost it and went crazy then in those times. I never forgot that.
Though I thought most religious people were crazy when I was 8 to 12 years of age I found that I needed religion to survive childhood epilepsy. I learned that life is a paradox but I also found a way to survive very difficult experiences.
I was ostracized from this religion when 21. My wife to be stayed with the religion and didn't speak to me again. I learned both life and religion were very very cruel indeed.
I tried other religions but finally decided I couldn't deal with religious organizations. I learned that I can think for myself unlike most religious people.
I studied every religious idea that I thought might help or save me. I learned what worked and what didn't for me to survive even another day at a time.
At age 32 I met a Tibetan Lama and became interested in both Buddhism and especially the Tibetan form of it which melds both Buddhism and Tibetan Shamanism in a beautiful way. I found a path that made some sense finally in my life.

When the lessons of life are learned one by one in this way and one is always paying attention to what is causing not only one's suffering but what is causing all suffering around one it is then possible for that one to become eventually a beacon of hope for all who suffer. It is possible to share what might work for them too.