"But even to be so close to it means you cannot suffer, you cannot go through anguish, you cannot have nightmares. And your life is bound to have qualities which are not ordinarily available to every child: courage, integrity, an absolutely non-compromising attitude, a total commitment – never going back whatever may be the consequence, and accepting it joyfully as if the consequence does not matter.

"What matters is how you encountered the situation. You were total, you were absolutely committed, you had no doubt. Your trust was ultimate, not relative, not dependent on any condition – unconditional. This is what matters, not what happens as a consequence – that is immaterial.

"The act in itself is its own reward, and that's the way I have lived. And if I am given another chance, I would like to live the same way again and again without changing anything, for the simple reason that I have enjoyed whatever has been happening – and so much has happened in such a small lifetime.

"Once Emerson was asked, 'How old are you?' and he said, 'Three hundred and sixty years.' The man who had asked could not believe it. He said, 'This is too much; you must be kidding! Just tell me exactly how old you are.'

"And Emerson said, 'I have told – but I can understand why you are puzzled. You are counting three hundred and sixty years according to the calendar. That is not my way of counting life. I am only sixty years old according to the calendar, but in sixty years I have lived six times more than you will be able to live in the same period of time. Looking at how much I have lived, I told you my age is three hundred and sixty years – three hundred and sixty years of life compressed into sixty years' time.'

"Each moment has been of tremendous value. Those moments before enlightenment, those moments of enlightenment, and those moments of going beyond enlightenment – everything has been so much that I can only be grateful to existence. Out of this gratitude arises my trust. It has nothing to do with existence and whether it is trustworthy or not."