No life flashing before my eyes--instead, I recall the myths of dying depicted in the poems, novels, and tracts of the great litterateurs whom I loved--Milton, Dante, Ovid, the spiritual scribes, and a million others. The wondrous tenets they expounded--of brilliant lights, the inferno, enlightened paths--now hasten in my mind, intertwined, like strands in a woven shroud. And in this final moment, I wonder which of the great myths was correct.

And the deafening howl of death rushes through my mind and body and consumes me as I breathe my last.

NARRATIVE

NARRATIVE

Before me were visions, like paths to different realms of eternity. I asked the Angel, "which vision, which path shall I pursue?" and the spirit replied:

"The visions you experience exist within your consciousness; the forms they take are determined by your past desires, your past fears, your past karma. No matter how frightening some of them may seem, just let them pass through your consciousness. No need to become involved with them; no need to become attracted to the beautiful visions; no need to be repulsed by the frightening ones. Just let them pass. If you become involved with these visions, you may wander for a long time confused. Just let them pass through your consciousness like clouds passing through an empty sky. Remember the clear light, it is deathless. No matter where or how far you wander, the light is only a split second, a half-breath away. It is never too late to recognize the clear light."

(Tibetan Book of the Dead)

NARRATIVE

With those words, the spirit left me to choose the vision and path I would pursue. Seduced by the dark path, I embarked to discover what lies outside the clear, white light. And in a new realm did I find myself in a dark space beyond the light.

NARRATIVE

Within the dark realm, an Angel came to me and said: 'O pitiable foolish young man! O horrible! O dreadful state! Consider the hot burning dungeon thou art preparing for thyself to all eternity.' I said: "perhaps you will be willing to show me my eternal lot and we will contemplate together upon it and see whether your lot--the clear white light-- or mine is most desirable." So he took me down a winding cavern. We groped our tedious way till a void boundless as a nether sky appear'd beneath us. I said, "if you please we will commit ourselves to this void, and see whether providence is here also, if you will not, I will?" But he answered: “Do not presume, O young-man, but as we here remain, behold thy lot which will soon appear when the darkness passes away." So I remained with him. We beheld the infinite abyss, fiery as the smoke of a burning city; beneath us at an immense distance, was the sun, black but shining; A cloud and fire burst and rolled through the deep blackening all beneath, so that the nether deep grew black as a sea, and rolled with a terrible noise; beneath us was nothing now to be seen but a black tempest, we saw a cataract of blood mixed with fire, and not many stones' throw from us appeared and sunk again the scaly fold of a monstrous serpent; and now we saw, it was the head of Leviathan; his forehead was divided into streaks of green and purple like those on a tiger's forehead: soon we saw his mouth and red gills hang just above the raging foam tinging the black deep with beams of blood, advancing toward us with all the fury of a spiritual existence.  My friend the Angel climbed up from his station into the mill; I remained alone, and then this appearance was no more, but I found myself sitting on a pleasant bank beside a river by moonlight, hearing a harper who sung to the harp; and his theme was: "The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind." Then suddenly I saw the Devil in a flame of fire, he invited me to peruse his domain.

(William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell )

NARRATIVE

(C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, XXXI )

I'm the devil
Your my spies
And I revel
At a soul's demise

I'm the devil
Your my spies
And I revel
At a soul's demise

When you fail it makes me queazy
'Cause your task is so damn easy
Just get the souls of those who die.

(He's the Devil)
I'm the Devil
(We're his spies)
Your my spies
(And he revels)
And I revel
At a soul's demise
(At a soul's demise)

I'm the devil
(He's the Devil)
Your my spies
(We're his spies)
And I revel
(And he revels)
At a soul's demise
(At a soul's demise)
When you fail it makes me queazy
(Uh-oh. oh, oh. oh, oh!)
'Cause your task is so damn easy
Just get the souls of those who die.
(We get the souls of those who  die.)

All I want
And all I ask
Is that you do one simple little task!

NARRATIVE

Leaving the dark realm I chose a path toward a purple star that exhuded wisdom and curiosity. There, suspended weightlessly above the ground and revolving round and round in deep thought, were many of the great thinkers whom I had admired. There before me was Huxley, Hume, Kant, Protagoras, Russell, Plato, and so many others. And before me hovered Socrates who described the realm to which they belonged. The Skeptics, he explained, could not follow the paths that wind through infinity. Instead they revolved, like a carousel, endlessly in contemplation.

And he pleaded to obtain my knowledge of the other realms of infinity from whence I had come.  Although I wished to tell him all I had seen and of my experiences, a force would not allow me to utter a word.

NARRATIVE

By chance, I found myself at the top of eternity and at the bottom of a golden staircase. Following the Divine spirit  I ascended the stairs to enter His Realm. Circling around Him were His chosen twelve who appeared in white light.

The Mysterium was the most beautiful Realm to which I had traveled--oceans of multifarious color flowed beneath a million suns and moons. Endless fields of exotic grass, each blade a different color, could be seen for miles and miles.

The Divine did not speak--keeping His distance and seemingly unaware of my presence. He walked, like a trapeze artist, on the sea of colors before it parted under His silent command. Then with a stroke of His arm, he changed the oceans to wine.

I remarked to one of the twelve how useful the Divine’s talents would be to those still under an earthly skies. The apostle shrugged, but did not speak. Then did one of the twelve tell me that since the seventh day the Divine had been in silent repose.