Sublime

My mother, the doctor thought, was waiting for my arrival and might not last the night. “Dying of what?” I asked him. “Nothing, everything.”

Yes, I thought, and therein was the paradox: like a runner crossing the finish line only to collapse, without that duty to care for the ill pushing me forward, I became an invalid.

Hemingway described his process in similar terms: acquiring rich experiences, then retreating to cogitate and write about them.

Anita Moorjani, author of Dying to Be Me. In her TED Talk

I watched the lives of others with a sense of wistfulness. I missed the burn of Scotch in my throat, the loose joy of a dinner party where everyone got a little high on talk. I wanted to be sloppy and fun again. “How are you doing?” Gina asked one morning. “I don’t know if I can take this anymore,” I told her. “I just want to get better. I want to

mon futur et mon identité en miettes, j’affrontais les mêmes questions existentielles que mes patients.

Paul fit face à la mort – il la détailla, la combattit et l’accepta – en tant que médecin et en tant que patient. Il souhaitait offrir un témoignage qui permette à la fois de mieux la comprendre et de l’accepter plus sereinement.