Changing Shape

 Photo by Eileen Beniest

Up to a point a man's life is shaped by environment, heredity, and movements and changes in the world about him. Then there comes a time when it lies within his grasp to shape the clay of his life into the sort of thing he wishes to be. Only the weak blame parents, their race, their times, lack of good fortune, or the quirks of fate. Everyone has it within his power to say, "This I am today; that I will be tomorrow." ~Louis L'Amour

It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life. -Terry Pratchett-

Photo by Eileen Beniest

Random Question:
Q. Does your Life flash before your eyes just before you die?

I came across this question the other day and have posted a few answers from people in response to this rather intriguing life question.

*My theory is that your brain is desperately searching for previous experiences in similar situations from which it hopefully can get a solution to get you out of the danger you are in.*

*My theory on people's life flashing before them is the dissociate episode. The stress is more than the psyche can handle, so it checks out. It puts the person in a very calm state with no sensory input (no hearing, feeling, etc). Since the brain is not accustomed to being blank, it starts firing off random memories. I'm guessing the speed of thoughts has something to do with the adrenaline rush.*

*Actually just before you die your brain naturally releases high amounts of DMT. For some this may cause the "flash before your eyes" experience, but for most it's a euphoric trip and biological mechanism for coping with the reality of dying.*

I think that as the body shuts down, memories, thoughts and even the seemingly incessant internal chatter begins to accelerate in speed giving the illusion that our life is flashing before our eyes. Perhaps a part of us realizes that we are dying and in that instant, we go into Memory Recall thus this ‘re-living’ of our lives is perhaps a way to postpone the actual act of dying…

Interesting that there is no mention of faith or religion in any of the above theories. Even my thoughts lean more towards the possibility that due to the body’s physical, emotional and intellectual breakdown in death, the spirit (soul) inside of us makes use of our memories and thoughts as a way of saying goodbye to family and friends, past and present, and then lastly.... to say that final goodbye to our Self. Where faith fits into all of this is entirely up to each individual.