In My Life －イン・マイ・ライフ－

“There are places I’ll remember,

All my life, though some have changed…

 

All these places have their moments,

With lovers and friends, I still can recall.

Some are dead and some are living,

In my life I’ve loved them all.”

from The Beatles song, “In My Life”

 

I read today about an interesting scientific discovery, which has recently been published. 

Doctors were studying the brain waves of an 87 year old man who suffered from epilepsy.  They connected him to a machine which would analyse his brain waves.  Unfortunately, during the test, the man suddenly had a heart attack and died. 

But this unexpected death allowed the doctors to record the brain wave patterns of a human as they died for the first time.  And from the time the heart stopped working, and for thirty seconds after, the brain experienced a spike in activity similar to that experienced when dreaming, or recalling memories.  It appears that, at the point of death, our life really does flash before our eyes. 

I wonder if the brain is randomly searching through as many memories as possible, looking for some past experience which will give a clue as to how the body can be saved? 

Or have your memory banks been storing a highlight reel of your best bits, ready to enjoy at the end of your life?  Perhaps, as John Lennon suggests, you never forget the friends and lovers you meet along the way.

Vocabulary:

epilepsy – this is a medical condition in which brain activity becomes abnormal for short periods, causing people to collapse to the ground and lose control of their muscles, or to behave strangely

a spike – a sudden, sharp increase

for one’s life to flash before one’s eyes – to suddenly recall a stream of memories from many different periods in one’s life.  For example, “During the car crash, my life flashed before my eyes.  I thought I was going to die.”