The Conquest of Death
Six,—May I add a personal experience to the letters which have appeared on the above subject. Recently, after a severe operation, I had a serious haemorrhage, which was not detected for a considerable period. The result was I became unconscious, and, as blood-transfusion was not immediately available, I drifted close to the doors of darkness. Some hours later consciousness slowly returned, and I felt deliciously peaceful, as I lay in the silence and dimness of the room, striving to make out the figures around my 'bed. Then as I slipped back into sem:- consciousness I realised that I was dying. I was floating above the bed—the figures now beneath me. I had left my body and I feit indescribably free. I knew neither fear nor joy, but strangely I reflected that as I had been granted seventy-three years I should now be well content to die.
The most interesting feature of this experience was that, while for many years previously I had beeii deeply concerned about what should happen to my wife if I should predecease her, at this critical moment I had no thought for anyone, nor for the world that I felt that I
Previous page
