"There is nothing so good that no bad may come of it and nothing so bad that no good may come of it"

From my present vantage point coming from being 78 this statement is how I decide whether someone is an adult or a lifelong child pretending to be an adult.

"By the way this to me might be the most important philosophical statement ever made." 

However, it is also true that many people are not brave enough to face the truths of life. I have just been one of those brave enough to face this fact about life here on earth.

Let me give a perfect example of this from my life.

I got a heart virus and doctors thought I was going to die.

This was Fall of  1998. They couldn't diagnose what was wrong with me even though I went to Stanford University hospital which is likely the best in Northern California. So, I faced my own death from fall of 1998 to May of 1999.

Now, many of you might think this was a really bad thing. But, was it really?

What happened is I was forced to retire at age 50 or die. This is pretty clear to me now I would have died that time in my life if I hadn't retired when I did.

So, was retiring a good thing? I would say it was a mixed blessing partly because I had always believed I would have to work until I died. However, I had been praying for "The Leisure to Practice" which is a Buddhist statement about having the time to "pray without Ceasing 24 hours a day every day".

So, was almost dying in 1998 and 1999 Good or Bad?

If I was a workaholic it would have meant my Death. 

But, God knew I wasn't like that even though my father was kind of like this.

But, in this sense I was more like my mother in that she wasn't attached to working but her family was always what was important to her and their well being was everything. I'm like that too.

So, in this sense it was really scary thinking I might die any day for 9 months but also I refused to die because I had a 2 1/2 year old daughter who now is 30 years old here in 2026. But then, she was 2 1/2.

So, was almost dying from fall of 1998 to May of 1999 Good or Bad? IT was both and neither.

But, it was also how God answered my prayer for "The Leisure to Practice"

Many if not all things in life are like this where you cannot fully say that they are fully good or fully bad but a mix of many different things.

The Good news is that I'm still alive and kicking at 78 years old and many others I know are not for one reason or another. 

Second, I retired early enough and young enough to be actually able to retire and adjust to all these changes without dying like many people do within 5 years of retirement from overeating or alcoholism or drugs or whatever kills them.

So, if I was God and looking at me looking back now what he did was a favor to me (especially if God wanted me to be alive so I could write stuff to help all of you stay alive too and be happy.

 I'm actually more enlightened and happy than I ever could have believed was possible in a lifetime.

God has really been good to me.

So, my life goes on.

ONLY BY GOD'S Grace every moment I live 

 

 

 

 

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