When our time comes, how will it go for us? We wonder and may have our own preference – and not so much a choice – on how the end should come to pass. Most of us would prefer to avoid violent, spectacular exits and choose one that’s peaceful, where all loose ends had been tied up and everything that needs to be said, has been said in the relationships that matter most to us. Some would like it where the spirit of the recently departed lingers to say goodbye, before taking leave. I’d imagine that’s reasonable to want. Personally, I prefer stories where the characters leave their bodies in a dignified manner, the energy of their earth-bound selves – call it Soul or any other name you like – levitating gently and floating away into a night sky splattered with stars. In the movies, such an exit would be witnessed by a fallen character, like an excommunicated priest whom nobody would believe if he related what he’d seen. But in reality, death might turn out to be more mundane and, in contrast, more mysterious than we expect it to be.
