sonechka’s Reviews > The Encyclopedia of the Dead > Status Update

is it the ascension of his soul to heaven, the moment when soul shears away from body, christian soul from pagan body, sinful body from sinful soul, to which mercy is granted, whose sins are forgiven?

was it a god-like dream, a dream of time and eternity? a dream without illusions and doubts, a dream with clear-cut boundaries, with its own language and sound, a dream that is palpable, that can be explored with taste, smell, and hearing, a dream stronger than waking, a dream such as perhaps only the dead can dream…the only miracle in this dream is life itself; awakening from this dream means awakening into death

was it the dream of a sleepwalker, a dream within a dream, and hence more real than a dream, since it cannot be measured against waking, since it cannot be measured by consciousness, because it is a dream from which one awakens into another dream?

so that I could have, in my hours of despair, some proof that his life had not been in vain, that there are still people on earth who record and value every life, every suffering, every human existence

and this is what I consider the compilers’ central message — nothing in the history of mankind is ever repeated, things that at first glance seem the same are scarcely even similar; each individual is a star unto himself, everything happens always and never, all things repeat themselves endlessly and unrepeatably… this is why every human being is sacred