Oliver Sacks gave the Beatty lecture on the mysteries of the brain at McGill University in Montréal in October of 1997. I had the pleasure of being one of the many attending this exciting lecture. I write “exciting” as Sacks has a special gift for transmitting his love of neurology. In fact, to say that Sacks appreciates neurodiversity would be a gross understatement: he holds it in wonder. In this lecture, he explained that while in residency he was told by his supervisor to visit a patient who had dementia. The chief resident believed that Sacks only needed to spend a few minutes there and that he would be acquainted well enough with dementia. However, as Sacks recounts it, he was fascinated by this patient and the phenomenon of dementia and kept returning to visit with the patient. This struck me; many individuals consider people who have dementia as simply “out of it”. In my encounter with healthcare professionals in nursing homes, it has been the case that they usually consider those with dementia at times annoying, most of the time tolerable but certainly not fascinating. Yet, here was this neurologist, who knew how brains work optimally and who took the time to be in the presence of someone whose brain did not function in a regular way. For Sacks, it is a wonder that some brains have a different take on reality. In Sack’s perception, it does not need to be corrected necessarily; it is simply fascinating. He accepts diversity as one of those facts of life that so interesting. Sacks, in all his writings, and especially in person conveys his unwavering sense of wonder at other brains and other ways of apprehending the world. He truly appreciates diversity. This is a rare gift and luckily for us he also possesses another gift which is the capacity for sharing this sense of amazement. We can all thank him for the rigorous work he had undertaken in neurology but also for the manner in which he has never ceased to share his findings and most of all his sense of wonder and appreciation of diversity. To be able to accept this diversity and simply marvel at it, is a great lesson he has imparted to us; for this, I will always be grateful.

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A few weeks ago, he also shared with us but this time, it was sad news. He has a terminal cancer and facing immanent death. However, he still manages to convey a sense of acceptance of the disease and the prognosis in all its facets. In a time where discussion of assisted death or assisted suicide and of postings on YouTube of videos of some individual’s final moments, Sacks reminds us of the preciousness of living. Yes, end-of-life can be a wretched experience and can be riddled with pain. He does not hide his apprehension of the uncertainty of his final years or months. However, he also turns our attention to the importance of living and of prioritizing what is important. Instead of simply focusing on a bucket list, he directs our attention to the preciousness of relationships and of making every moment count. As he states, “I feel intensely alive, and I want and hope in the time that remains to deepen my friendships, to say farewell to those I love, to write more, to travel if I have the strength, to achieve new levels of understandings and insight.” He also makes us realize that we leave a legacy, in his case great, but that for every one of us it is crucial to think of leaving the work still to be done to the younger generations. In so doing, he compels us to understand ourselves as part of a continuing chain, a great community in time. In what I characterize as the recent individualistic turn and the commodification of end-of-life, it is essential to perceive that our personal past and our personal future which may be short will eventually relate to the greater future of other beings. This is a lesson that Sacks conveys humbly and simply. Life ends for everyone and the lesson I take from this piece is that deep down, it is my wish that we can all encounter our final days, weeks, months or years with resignation but also with the knowledge that life does continue and that is also cause for wonder. I felt very sad reading this piece; I wish he could live for as long as I can read him. However, Sacks, once again, reminded me of wonderment of life. Thank you, Dr. Sacks for sharing your writings, your research, your incredible enthusiasm and your acceptance.