Near-death Experience File

: A diffuse, sparkly light appeared, radiating a sense of total belonging and "absolute peace". A familiar figure—his grandfather, looking younger than Elias remembered—stood near a boundary that felt like home .

: Suddenly, Elias was no longer behind his eyes. He watched from a spherical, 360-degree vantage point as his physical form lay on the asphalt, surrounded by the "black and white" contrast of blood against pavement. Near-Death Experience

It happened during a routine afternoon—what Joan Didion called the "ordinary instant" . Elias was simply crossing the street when a sudden screech of tires signaled the end of his "first" life. The Life Review and the Light : A diffuse, sparkly light appeared, radiating a