From: Kathryn Aegis (aegis@igc.apc.org)
Date: Fri Apr 25 1997 - 08:21:15 MDT
I will concur with Lee's first statement here. I also had assumed that
people would contact you via private mail if they had advice or
insight into your condition. I am sure that most who read your post
would offer their sympathy, but sympathy would not necessarily be of
the greatest use to you right now.
On the other hand, we should feel free to ask life advice from each
other, utilize each other as resources. Persons who pioneer
transhumanist thinking can at the least be misunderstood and
at the worst become isolated.
Because it is common knowledge to many on this list, I can tell you
that I do relate to your condition in that I have also experienced
recovery from near death. While very difficult to endure at the
time, it proved to be the most incredible learning experience of my
little life and became a source of strength and perspective. When
faced with the tremendous effort required to walk, talk and speak
again, you have to know why you are undergoing that, what your goals are,
what life is worth in the most basic of calculations. And while
others can help you with the physical and medical aspects of this
process, the rest of it involves you facing yourself and that line
that delineates our existence, without the comfort of the minor
illusions humans conjur to ease their passages in life. This
exploration is every bit as dangerous and exciting as that taken by
the astronauts who shoot off into space, and the knowledge gained is
just as important to our advancement into whatever future forms.
Take care,
Kathryn Aegis
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