The end of life as we know it - rebirth?
"Now you've got to convince him he's going to survive" The doctor said to the staff nurse.
"Oh, he knows he's going to survive", she replied.
It was Saturday the twelfth of June 1976, one week after his fifteenth birthday and the lanky teenager lying in bed in Aubrey Bateman ward hadn't got a clue of the danger he was in. After the pre-med. with enough anesthetic to knock out a horse, he was still conscious and joking with the nurses wheeling him towards the operating table. The round bank of spotlights above his head had the multifaceted formation of the eye of a butterfly; a mask was put over his mouth and then..............
The only thing which existed seemed to be a distant objective spectator to events over which there seemed to be no control. The viewpoint was from within a universe of empty space with only one thing at it's centre - a brightly illuminated brain and spinal column of pure white light. His sub-consciousness understood that what he was observing was the end of the human race. It had evolved over the centuries to a state where a physical body was no longer necessary, only the power of thought was sufficient to maintain life.
As he watched, the brain disappeared, leaving one thin line of light at the centre of the universe. Then, slowly but surely, the light started to disappear at one end and to get shorter. On reaching fifty percent of its initial length, the observer started to feel a lightness of spirit, a relief, a feeling of well-being; but at the same time, the feeling that if the light were to disappear completely, the last vestige of the human race would disappear from the universe for ever.....
NO! The cry came from somewhere within this nebulous observer to the end of the universe. And still the light was becoming dimmer and shorter - now down to around 40%. He gathered forces from within - the soul would probably be the best way to describe where the force to fight was originating as the anesthetic had shut down all conscious decision making. He metaphorically gritted his teeth and clenched his fists and the final desperate battle had begun.
With force of will, the speed with which the light was disappearing began to slow down. More effort, and after hovering in a balanced state, neither diminishing nor increasing, for a short time (which may have been hours or a micro-second), the light finally began to move the other way, the line of brilliant light getting longer. Suddenly, his eyes opened and the first rational thought was "Wow, just like in the sick bay on the Star Ship Enterprise!". He was looking at computerized panel of lights showing heart beat and god knows what else above his head in the intensive care unit of the Royal United Hospital in Bath, in the west of England. A rapid self-evaluation showed that there were thirteen extraneous items connected to various parts of his anatomy* - but he was alive.