his books are really amazing. I have most of the books. if any one wants these books, please reply to this mail so that I can share them.
On 2/19/15, avinash shahi <[email protected]> wrote: > A MONTH ago, I felt that I was in good health, even robust health. At > 81, I still swim a mile a day. But my luck has run out -- a few weeks > ago I learned that I have multiple metastases in the liver. Nine years > ago it was discovered that I had a rare tumor of the eye, an ocular > melanoma. Although the radiation and lasering to remove the tumor > ultimately left me blind in that eye, only in very rare cases do such > tumors metastasize. I am among the unlucky 2 percent. > http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/19/opinion/oliver-sacks-on-learning-he-has-terminal-cancer.html > I feel grateful that I have been granted nine years of good health and > productivity since the original diagnosis, but now I am face to face > with dying. The cancer occupies a third of my liver, and though its > advance may be slowed, this particular sort of cancer cannot be > halted. > > It is up to me now to choose how to live out the months that remain to > me. I have to live in the richest, deepest, most productive way I can. > In this I am encouraged by the words of one of my favorite > philosophers, David Hume, who, upon learning that he was mortally ill > at age 65, wrote a short autobiography in a single day in April of > 1776. He titled it "My Own Life." > > "I now reckon upon a speedy dissolution," he wrote. "I have suffered > very little pain from my disorder; and what is more strange, have, > notwithstanding the great decline of my person, never suffered a > moment's abatement of my spirits. I possess the same ardour as ever in > study, and the same gaiety in company." > > I have been lucky enough to live past 80, and the 15 years allotted to > me beyond Hume's three score and five have been equally rich in work > and love. In that time, I have published five books and completed an > autobiography (rather longer than Hume's few pages) to be published > this spring; I have several other books nearly finished. > > Hume continued, "I am ... a man of mild dispositions, of command of > temper, of an open, social, and cheerful humour, capable of > attachment, but little susceptible of enmity, and of great moderation > in all my passions." > > Here I depart from Hume. While I have enjoyed loving relationships and > friendships and have no real enmities, I cannot say (nor would anyone > who knows me say) that I am a man of mild dispositions. On the > contrary, I am a man of vehement disposition, with violent > enthusiasms, and extreme immoderation in all my passions. > > And yet, one line from Hume's essay strikes me as especially true: "It > is difficult," he wrote, "to be more detached from life than I am at > present." > > > Over the last few days, I have been able to see my life as from a > great altitude, as a sort of landscape, and with a deepening sense of > the connection of all its parts. This does not mean I am finished with > life. > > > On the contrary, I feel intensely alive, and I want and hope in the > time that remains to deepen my friendships, to say farewell to those I > love, to write more, to travel if I have the strength, to achieve new > levels of understanding and insight. > > > This will involve audacity, clarity and plain speaking; trying to > straighten my accounts with the world. But there will be time, too, > for some fun (and even some silliness, as well). > > Continue reading the main story > > Continue reading the main story > > I feel a sudden clear focus and perspective. There is no time for > anything inessential. I must focus on myself, my work and my friends. > I shall no longer look at "NewsHour" every night. I shall no longer > pay any attention to politics or arguments about global warming. > > This is not indifference but detachment -- I still care deeply about > the Middle East, about global warming, about growing inequality, but > these are no longer my business; they belong to the future. I rejoice > when I meet gifted young people -- even the one who biopsied and > diagnosed my metastases. I feel the future is in good hands. > > I have been increasingly conscious, for the last 10 years or so, of > deaths among my contemporaries. My generation is on the way out, and > each death I have felt as an abruption, a tearing away of part of > myself. There will be no one like us when we are gone, but then there > is no one like anyone else, ever. When people die, they cannot be > replaced. They leave holes that cannot be filled, for it is the fate -- > the genetic and neural fate -- of every human being to be a unique > individual, to find his own path, to live his own life, to die his own > death. > > I cannot pretend I am without fear. But my predominant feeling is one > of gratitude. I have loved and been loved; I have been given much and > I have given something in return; I have read and traveled and thought > and written. I have had an intercourse with the world, the special > intercourse of writers and readers. > > Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this > beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege > and adventure. > > > > Oliver Sacks, a professor of neurology at the New York University > School of Medicine, is the author of many books, including > "Awakenings" and "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat." > > A version of this op-ed appears in print on February 19, 2015, on page > A25 of the New York edition with the headline: My Own Life. > > > -- > Avinash Shahi > Doctoral student at Centre for Law and Governance JNU > > > > Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of > mobile phones / Tabs on: > http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in > > > Search for old postings at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > > To unsubscribe send a message to > [email protected] > with the subject unsubscribe. > > To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please > visit the list home page at > http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in > > > Disclaimer: > 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the > person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; > > 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails > sent through this mailing list.. > Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
