Prae-mortem

I am convinced that the dead-house has had its day, and that prae-mortem, rather than post-mortem studies should engage our attention.

In intellectual work, as in work of most other kinds, one condition for success is the ability to lay out, to the best advantage, the short span of a human being’s working lifetime between infancy and death (or, worse than death itself, prae-mortem senility).

[…]God, or the ascent apocalypses with the prae-mortem ascent to heaven of an elect hero.