Teo had once claimed that human history began with a storm: the interval between lightning and thunder, between flash and rumble felt in the body's core, was primitive man's first experiences of time -- the awakening of consciousness, the birth of the gods.

Now you see. We are all fugitives. We have always been fugitives from the void. Whatever comfort, whatever power we gain from outside of ourselves diminishes us -- because comfort and power, unless they are won from the void inside of us, are illusions that make us forget the emptyness that carries us. When we forget that, we believe we deserve comfort and power and so are capable of any evil. We deserve nothing but what we make of ourselves. We deserve nothing else. And when we understand that, then nothing is enough.

Fear is the original sin,_ suddenly said a still, small voice away back__ack__ack of Valancy__ consciousness. __lmost all the evil in the world has its origin in the fact that some one is afraid of something.__alancy stood up. She was still in the clutches of fear, but her soul was her own again. She would not be false to that inner voice.

It's the fools that make all the trouble in the world, not the wicked.

Because tragedy happened to you, it gives you a greater sense of oneness with others who experience tragedy. Because we have been comforted through the Word of God, we in turn may be able to comfort others.

When we are a comfort and encouragement to others, we are sometimes surprised at how it comes back to us many times over.