I drove to Vermont, and met with a spiritual man, a religious man famous for his skill at meditation. I wanted to learn, I said, grow. Have a spiritual life. Where are you in life? he asked me.

I said I was at the point where so much of our culture suggested that I was beginning to die – ads, tests, pills,  warnings, unsought discounts, assumptions, expectations, limitations.

Did I feel as if I were beginning to die? he asked me.

No, I said, I feel as if I am just beginning to live. But that’s not the message I keep getting from the rest of the world, and it is a good feeling, but a lonely feeling sometimes. And frightening.

The you are just beginning to live, he said. That’s how it works sometimes. Welcome to the rest of your life.