Once upon a time, a farmer owned a wonderful mare. His neighbors thought the farmer lucky, but he answered only, "Who can know the mind of God?" One day the mare ran off to the hills. The neighbors cried out at the farmer's bad luck, but he replied only, "God works in mysterious ways." Soon he came across his mare running joyously in the hills with a stallion. When the farmer whistled, the mare came to him and the stallion followed them both back to the farm. The neighbors lauded the farmer's luck, but he answered only, "We shall see."

When the farmer's son tried to break the stallion, he was thrown and broke his leg. The neighbors tried to console the farmer, but he replied only, "In time, all will be revealed." When war broke out, all the young men were drafted except the farmer's son. The neighbors complained bitterly of the farmer's luck, but he replied only, "I am not yet so wise that I can tell fortune from misfortune."

Most of us assume that a failure, like flunking a final exam in college, will have negative consequences for the future. This anticipation of negative consequences can actually create a whole new set of additional, unrelated problems: we might fall prey to a variety of stress related illnesses, we might compensate for our embarrassment at failing by blaming others and getting angry, or we might retreat into anonymity and distance ourselves from our friends to avoid having to tell them the truth.

But can we really know how things will turn out? Is it not conceivable that good can come even from this apparent evil? Perhaps in repeating the class you failed, you will find yourself sitting next to your soulmate! We cannot know in the moment whether events are lucky or unlucky. But if you are angry and embarrassed to be repeating the class, and act accordingly, you will create unhappy consequences where they need not exist. Even a soul mate might fail to be impressed with someone in such a state.

Imagine instead that you enter the classroom open to whatever good can come from this "disaster," and find yourself sitting next to someone wonderful! Looking for the silver lining can help you to find it.

This idea is well-illustrated through a story told by Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, author of the best-selling book "On Death and Dying." Dr. Kubler-Ross spent most of her life attending to terminally ill patients. Fifteen years ago, I had the opportunity to meet her and to hear her speak.

She recounted the story of an old woman who was dying from cancer. This woman possessed a mean-spirited intelligence that was so cunning and malevolent that she could repeatedly draw the nurses close to her, expose their vulnerabilities, and then strike, reducing them to tears. The nurses learned to avoid her room as much as possible and the woman did not have any visitors; even her children and grandchildren refused to visit.

One night when the old woman's pain became unbearable, she called out for painkillers, but no one came. She repeatedly pushed the call button, but there was no response. Hour after hour, the pain grew worse. Halfway through the night, at the height of her agony, she began to hallucinate.

She found herself lying on a dirt floor in a hut, somewhere in Africa, giving birth to a child; then she was an Asian woman dying from hunger; then a Filipino woman whose legs had been crushed in an accident. Again and again she experienced the agony of women around the planet, and through the shared experience of pain, she became one with each of them in turn.

When the pain finally lifted, she watched the sunrise, moved to tears with a new-found sense of connection, and a love of life. After that dark night, she filled her mornings with laughter. As the days passed, the nurses began to spend their breaks visiting the old woman. Often two or three of them would sit around her bed, laughing and crying with their patient. One of the nurses later said that the room itself radiated light and love.

A nurse took it upon herself to call the old woman's family and tell them what had happened. She urged them to visit the hospital, and to bring the woman's grandchildren with them. Everyone in the family refused, saying they had been hurt too many times, and would not expose their children to the old woman's venom.

But the nurse persisted, and eventually persuaded one of the old woman's children to come to the hospital to visit their mother. Later that week, the old woman finally passed away, surrounded by her children and grandchildren, in peace and love. Her unbearable pain had finally destroyed her ego, and allowed her to return from exile and be reunited with humanity.

If you reject any aspect of life, you reject reality and you reject God! The path of illumination is simple: awareness of, and acceptance of, what is. This path leads to transformation of the self, which leads to new awareness, which - once embraced - transforms our perceptions in an ever-expanding upward spiral of spiritual evolution toward infinite, unconditional love.

C. S. Lewis once said that we are not placed upon the earth in order to be happy. We are placed upon the earth to learn how to love and to be loved.

Namaste'