Viktor E. Frankl

"This young woman knew that she would die in the next few days. But when I talked to her she was cheerful in spite of this knowledge. 'I am grateful that fate has hit me so hard,' she told me. 'In my former life, I was spoiled and did not take spiritual accomplishments seriously.' Pointing through the window of the hut, she said, 'This tree here is the only friend I have in my loneliness.' Through that window, she could see just one branch of a chestnut tree, and on the branch were two blossoms, 'I often talk to this tree,' she said to me. I was startled and didn't quite know how to take her words. Was she delirious? Did she have occasional hallucinations? Anxiously I asked her if the tree replied. 'Yes'. What did it say to her? She answered, 'It said to me, I am here--I am here--I am life, eternal life.'"

-Man's Search for Meaning