I remind myself when I'm in horrible pain or feel physically miserable that the psychic trauma of the death experience, the separation of mind and body, might be many times . . . I won't say 'worse' because that sounds like a qualitative judgment, but many times more that. It's not pleasant.
Death is universal. The death process, I believe, is the same in all human beings, if not all living beings. However, I won't go so far as to say that the death experience, including that which occurs below the level of consciousness, is the same. But I don't know what's my inspiration for thinking this.
I remember when one of my pet gerbils died in my hand. It went into death throes, uncontrolled spasms, before life exited. And last month on National Geographic, there was a program on Taiwanese spirituality, with one segment following the death of a man to cancer. He went from functioning, to sickness, to disfunctioning, to loss of awareness, to "dying peacefully" with his family surrounding him.
Yea, I don't know where I'm going with this. I got nothing.
 |
| Contemplating the flow of water that is the river of life. Pentax ZX-5n, Kodak BW400CN. |
 |
| Jingwen St. immediately after crossing the Jingmei River into Taipei. From here I immediately turn left onto the riverside bikeway. Or the reverse going home. Obviously. Nikon N70, Ilford XP2 Super, ISO 800 (roll and camera change? Sounds suspicious, but that's what my records say, and I've doubted my records before and so far I've always been able to confirm them. It's distinctly possible the first pic was shot while coming home, finishing the roll, and then I went out again with the Nikon.). |
