In the afterlife (if there is such a thing, and I hope that there is) I picture a group of people sitting around an outdoor table beneath warm, late summer skies and talking about their mortal lives, including how each of them had died: “What did it say on your death certificate?”
“Car wreck? Organ failure?”
Then Dawn Brancheau, who died yesterday at 40, will say, “A whale attacked me!”
Heads will turn.
“Really?”
“It grabbed me by the arm, dragged me beneath the water, and I drowned.” Maybe the rest of her experience went something like this:
The option given by the bearded ancient is usual for those who undergo such an experience before one’s soul is resurrected.
When one is resurrected, one does not see one’s own body as described in the video, but merely floats. The option is replaced with a grace for the future.