The Myth of the Great Ending: Why We've Been Longing for the End of Days Since the Beginning of Time by Joseph M. Felser

Author:Joseph M. Felser
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781612830445
Publisher: Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc.

Power Failure

Not long ago, a professor friend I'll call Dan dropped by our lake house in Maine for a brief summer visit. Actually, we'd never met before in person. A psychologist by training and a longtime college teacher, Dan was the friend of yet another friend who had introduced me to Dan because he knew that we shared an interest in out-of-body and near-death experiences. Dan had even done research in this area. He and I had kept in touch mostly by e-mail, and occasionally by phone. This would be our first face-to-face meeting.

Dan arrived on a sunny Friday afternoon in July. We shook hands warmly. He said he was anxious to see the lake, but as we ventured toward the water, he seemed somewhat edgy and preoccupied, as if he were only half paying attention to what I was saying or what he was seeing. Later that evening (perhaps to account for his earlier distraction), he remarked how little he had been reading lately. He was having eye trouble and complained that none of his glasses any longer corrected his vision. Still, he said with a sigh, he hadn't taken the trouble to have an examination.

By Saturday morning, an unstable front had moved in from the mountains. A storm ensued, bringing with it much rain and cooler temperatures—cool enough for me to throw a few logs in the fireplace and make us a couple of mugs of hot tea. Nursing our drinks, we sat before the crackling fire, chatting amiably about our mutual interests in what some would call the “paranormal,” and what others might describe as “consciousness studies.”

As our discussion veered toward academic life and the demands of teaching and research—particularly after many years in the classroom—Dan's demeanor visibly changed. His face sagged as he talked of his writing projects.

“I promised a couple of editors I'd do these book reviews,” he offered languidly, “but I don't know if I'll do them. I just can't push myself to do them.”

I nodded sympathetically.

“I think I'm beginning to understand that great nostalgia for the ‘other side’ that some of those near-death people talk about,” Dan mused wistfully. “Not that I've ever thought of suicide,” he continued. “But I just can't seem to sustain the energy for these projects.” Dan looked dejected as he stared down at the floor, his fatigue clearly in evidence.

The fire began to crackle and sputter. “Must be damp wood,” I grumbled as I moved the logs around with the poker in hopes of igniting a spark.

Just then, Dan perked up noticeably and steered the conversation to what was clearly his one true passion: acting. He'd performed in some local community groups and had even starred in a regional dinner-theater production that went on to garner some favorable reviews. Yet that “one big break” always managed to elude him. So he turned, instead, to writing plays, hoping to score a breakthrough. He'd shopped his manuscripts around the fringes of Broadway—friends of friends who knew producers, that sort of thing.

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