 | Cool Slideshows! |
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon,
but that we wait so long to begin it.
- W. M. Lewis
by Jean-Dominque Bauby
"Like a Mind in a Jar"
A massive stroke on December 8, 1995, forever changed the life of Jean-Dominque Bauby, editor-in-chief of Elle Magazine in France. Damage to his brain stem literally imprisoned him in his body, which became a living "diving bell."
His fully conscious mind "takes flight like a butterfly" in his memoir, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, revealing to us the breadth and depth of experience that define human life.
His book was painstakingly spelled out letter by letter via blinks of his left eye--the only means left to him for communicating to the outside world.
His fully conscious mind "takes flight like a butterfly" in his memoir, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, revealing to us the breadth and depth of experience that define human life.
His book was painstakingly spelled out letter by letter via blinks of his left eye--the only means left to him for communicating to the outside world.
diving bell
-noun-
diving apparatus for underwater work; has an open bottom and is supplied with compressed air
[Origin: 1655–65]
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
"Locked-in syndrome is a rare neurological disorder characterized by complete paralysis of voluntary muscles in all parts of the body except for those that control eye movement.
Individuals with locked-in syndrome are conscious and can think and reason, but are unable to speak or move...Communication may be possible with blinking eye movements."
Individuals with locked-in syndrome are conscious and can think and reason, but are unable to speak or move...Communication may be possible with blinking eye movements."
| |
but that we wait so long to begin it.
- W. M. Lewis
"I receive remarkable letters. They are opened for me, unfolded, and spread out before my eyes in a daily ritual that gives the arrival of the mail the character of a hushed and holy ceremony. I carefully read each letter myself. Some of them are serious in tone, discussing the meaning of life, invoking the supremacy of the soul, the mystery of every existence. And by a curious reversal, the people who focus most closely on these fundamental questions tend to be people I had known only superficially. Their small talk had masked hidden depths. Had I been blind and deaf, or does it take the harsh light of disaster to show a person's true nature?"
~Bauby
~Bauby
"For pleasure, I...turn to the vivid memory...an inexhaustible reservoir of sensations."
"...I see in the clothing a symbol of continuing life. And proof that I still want to be myself. If I must drool, I may as well drool on cashmere."
2 comments:
i read this over the weekend and it affected me deeply. to be 'locked in' but fuly conscious would be...unimaginable, torturous, unbearable. so much of being human is communicating and feeling the joy of being understood and understanding. this book was life changing
I had the diving bell and butterfly as a summer reading book. at first, I didn't understand what the point of the book was. But when I read it again and analyzed the details, it made me realize how much the book was special to him. Struggling like he did, I don't believe a person could write a book as amazing and as difficult as Bauby.
Post a Comment