However, I have had some recent experiences that may suggest an alternative explanation of these experiences. When I first started this series I was going to demonstrate how western society’s values have changed since three things happened around 400 years ago. They are the Reformation, the Rise of Capitalism, and the scientific Revolution. It wad and still is my belief that these three movements created a change in the world view of Western culture..

However, this is not my classroom nor is this the place for this discussion. I have done that in other writings.

Rather, I want to share with you some person and often painful experiences I have be going through. As some of you know, for several years I have experienced a heart condition known as congestive heart failure. However, I managed to pull through most of these issues.

Recently, I had several falls and on the last one I was taken to the hospital. I had a severe foot injury that threatened to make me either use a walker or bedridden the rest of my life. In addition there were some injuries to my arm and legs.

Again, I wondered how many bad things could happen to me.  There were nights that I stayed awake, not want to live what I thought was a bleak future. I stayed awake after Nancy and family left my bleak hospital room staring at the barren walls and nor wanting to live this kind of life. I was full of despair.

What I feared most was a bed-ridden life devoid of meaning and purpose. The emptiness and loneliness of the room filled my soul. There was no one to talk to in the dark hours of night. Fear fled through me like a swollen river at this thought. I did not know that I want to live. Joseph Campbell would call this the dark night of the soul.

Then at my lowest, I happen to see a YouTube of Greg Braden discussing with an audience the power of Gratitude and the use of quantum tools to heal oneself. The YouTube is titled, Greg Braden And The Lost Gospel Of Thomas. Please see this video.

This video describes the ancient wisdom that was lost to us today. We can create miracles in our life by using the tools of gratitude and Quantum theory.

As I watched this video, I began to ask myself what are the lessons of this experience that I am going through. Up until now I had not thought about how our expectations and experiences teach us some kind of lesson. What lesson could there be in this experience?

Braden shares his belief that what we want must be felt as true Now. No judgement or ego. I always knew this on an intellectual level, not on an emotional level. Something about this video resonated with me. What could I learn from this experience? Why me?

At once it hit me that everything we experience in life is here to teach us a lesson. I can’t explain it but at once I realized that one of my life lessons was here in this experience.

Using the tools of modern medicine and quantum theory, I began walking. Now I still at this moment am using a walker and I have to use a special shoe, I am slowly progressing to being my old self. Believing that I have complete health now not in the future Is one of the tools that Braden talks about. He discussed several other tools and I strongly recommend seeing the video.

I have always believed that we are here not only for some purpose,  but to learn important life lessons. Even my wife, Nancy, is impressed by my progress. If I can progress this far is such a short period of time you can too! Today, the physical Therapist just left and I have been discharged from PT.

Some may think this corny, but that is your choice. I can only tell you what I have learned through personal experiences.

So we come back to the question that began all this. Is God a Monster.? I can’t answer that but I do know that God, Allah, the Universe, or whatever name you want to give Him/Her has given us tools to accomplish amazing things. Getting back to the story of Job, I have concluded that what we interpret as a power trip by God is Job’s final understanding that he is like, if not God, he has the power of God. The story of Job is our story. Although, the story says only that Job repented, I think a fuller understanding of Job’s repentance would tell us this interpretation. Job repented of his impotent belief system. In short, he found his power.

I have been a teacher for over 30 years. I know my way around a classroom. I think my life lesson is to learn new things and pass them on. I believe I have done this for others, but now it is time to do this for me.

I cannot urge you enough to see this YouTube video. It may change your life if you give it a chance.