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The question

How close have you come to dying?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

A recurring Guardian Q&A prompt asked directly across respondents and years.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Others on this question

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Ram Dass Spiritual teacher and author
I was close to death, and I didn't rush into my spirit. I spent the time in the hospital just looking at the pipes on the ceiling. ... I failed because this was a trauma, a trauma, and I'm not reacting to it spiritually.
Recorded Ross Simonini, The Believer, issue 115, by Skype from Hawaii, 20 November 2017 source ↗
Bernadine Evaristo English author and academic
Travelling Europe with a friend, when I was 29. She was driving and the brakes went, on one of those vertiginous Italian mountains. It was terrifying for the 20 minutes it took to coast down the mountain.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 July 2020 source ↗
Ed Harris American actor and director
Near head-on collision driving from Oklahoma to California back in the 70s.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 August 2007 source ↗
Sarah Millican English comedian
My sister saved me from drowning. I shouted at her because she pulled me out of the pool and hurt my arm.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 January 2018 source ↗

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