In my life, as in most people’s lives, there came a moment when everything changed.I found myself in a place of fear and darkness.I felt totally alone and mixed-up.That day seemed empty inside me, yet, that evening, new stars appeared in the sky, and new eyes opened inside my heart.Shaking, I walked through the broken pieces of my childhood world.I stepped over ruined ideas and scattered dreams.Everything I touched turned to dust.I saw old friends, and I was ashamed to know them.Thoughts that had been mine only days before now felt strange, as if they were a hundred years old and had never belonged to me.All things slipped away from me, and soon a terrible emptiness and silence spread around me.I owned nothing—no friends, no family, no neighbors.I began to feel disgust for my own life.Nothing pure was left inside me.Every bit of joy made me feel sick.Every high place I had once climbed was now far behind.Every beauty, every holy thing, I had crushed.There was nothing in me left to want, nothing to give, not even anything to hate.Whatever was good and lovely inside me had grown mute and blind.All the guards who should have protected my life had fallen asleep.All the bridges were broken, and the green land had faded away.When every sweet and lovely thing had gone, when I was tired, poor, and empty, I suddenly felt my sorrow.I lowered my eyes, stood up with heavy steps, and, like a guilty person, quietly walked away from my old life.Who can say he has truly seen loneliness?Who can say he knows the land of being left behind?My head spun when I looked into the deep pit, and the pit never ended.I wandered in that land of loss until my knees were weak and ready to break.But the road did not end—it went on forever.Above me was a still and sorrowful night that brought me rest and sleep.Sleep and dreams came like someone returning home.They lifted the heavy load from my shoulders.Have you ever been lost at sea, and someone swam out from shore to save you?Have you ever breathed fresh garden air after a long sickness and felt joy?That night I felt the same kind of happiness, because I sensed unseen powers looking at me with love.The sky looked completely new.The stars had become my deep friends.I felt as if my life was starting again and I had gained a new strength.From now on, everything old and new inside me would arrange itself in a beautiful way, and I would feel a strong bond with every part of the world.A new life had begun.I had become a new person, a miracle even to myself.Now I had much to give and much to receive, and perhaps I carried the greatest treasure of all, a treasure I did not yet fully understand.