“The almost ecstatic state, this void of extreme density, which I experienced just after I was told I had cancer, was the most surprising stage of my adventure. No state of love, no event, no other journey gave me the opportunity to experience this exoticism engendered by the fear of knowing I was condemned: an exoticism that rejects at the edge of any singularity, under threat, on the verge of fragmentation.
What exactly had I experienced? I am at a loss to say. Fear, willpower, all desire was suspended; I experienced a void that filled me completely. Since I was not dead, I had to belong to the community of the twice-born.”