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    Walking In The Valley Of The Shadow
    Walking In The Valley Of The Shadow
    Walking In The Valley Of The Shadow
    Ebook100 pages47 minutes

    Walking In The Valley Of The Shadow

    By Christopher Maloney

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    About this ebook

    When I was diagnosed with cancer, I entered a new world. One I knew well as a doctor, but which was foreign and strange as a patient. I was the one receiving the tight, sympathetic smiles, the one being told "this won't hurt at all."

    I was also the one in terror, at the mercy of some doctor somewhere who would look at my cancer and tell me if I would live or die. Living there, in the shadow of death, I realized how close we all are to that valley. We pretend, but we'll all walk that valley someday.

    It would have been easier to walk the valley as my former self, as an atheist. But I'd become a believer after seeing too many coincidences in my life to disregard the reality of some kind of higher power.

    As a believer, I wanted answers, and I wanted to express my anger at the universe for putting me through this, my anger at God. I've come to peace, finding some of the answers I sought. This book is my effort to help others find answers that will help them.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherChristopher Maloney
    Release dateNov 2, 2017
    ISBN9781370668649
    Walking In The Valley Of The Shadow
    Author

    Christopher Maloney

    Dr. Christopher Maloney has spent his life trying to become the doctor he was unable to find when he was ill himself. His practice can be summed up by: when you get hit by a bus go see your M.D. When you just feel like you were, it is time to see me.

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      Book preview

      Walking In The Valley Of The Shadow - Christopher Maloney

      Since my cancer diagnosis, I have dedicated myself to writing books to help others. But I’ve held off on writing this book because it feels more personal. As long as I write about others, I feel somewhat protected. This book reveals my soft underbelly to the world.

      I’ve been hurt by the world before (and will be again, I’m sure). But I know that when I got my cancer diagnosis I wanted a book like this one. The books I found were very helpful and very general. But it would have been wonderful to read another person’s account of what I went through.

      So I’m writing this book for those of you out there who find yourselves in the same place I did. I hope it helps.

      Even though it's very short, I've divided this book into three parts. It moves from my general thoughts about walking in the shadow of death to a specific discussion of my journey and experience with colon cancer. It ends with a very short bit on my experiment of talking with God. For those of you who don’t care about my personal journey or my delusional self-talk, the first part is for you. Those of you with colon cancer may find the second part helpful, and anyone with an interest in how an ex-atheist talks with his concept of God will like the third part.

      Since this book is my musings, I'd like to give it away. But since most of my readers purchase physical books, I need to charge to pay for printing costs and even electronic delivery costs. If any of you know someone who might benefit from this book but is unable to afford it, please email me and I’ll work with you to get them an electronic or print copy.

      PART I: THINKING ABOUT DEATH

      1 The Delusion

      We all live in a fantasy world. The fantasy we tell ourselves is that we won’t get sick. We won’t get sick, and we certainly won’t die. Dying is something that doesn’t fit into our plans, which usually involve buying more things because we think they will make us happy.

      Let’s be clear. We’re not talking about one person’s fantasy, or one group’s fantasy. We all know people who think that they will win the lottery, or that they have the right political candidate, or that they belong to the right church. These are smaller, group fantasies that pale in comparison to our universal delusion of immortality.

      Everyone, regardless of their religion, will die. If there was a religion that offered immortality here on earth, and they could deliver it, then there would be an exception. But there isn’t.

      Our understanding of death isn’t even like climate change, something that you may think will happen but aren’t sure about. Death is the ultimate, unarguable inconvenient truth.

      Comparing death to anything else doesn’t work. The cliché term we use is death and taxes but the tax code is changeable. Get different politicians together, and you might avoid taxes. But no one is talking about avoiding death. The best we can hope to do is delay it.

      As a people, we don’t talk about death. Instead, we pour billions of dollars into researching ways to prevent death. We know we will only delay death, but we talk as if we have a power that we do not. A popular diet book trumpets the title How Not To Die, as if the author or his readers have any hope of avoiding the inevitable.

      When I say we I mean all of us, myself included. I have visited the valley of the shadow of death, but I do not live there. Every day I make choices and decisions based on the delusion of my own immortality. Yet I have made that walk, and took notes. Perhaps sharing my thoughts may help us all see the valley with a little more clarity. Let’s explore the valley of the shadow

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