In February, 1974, when I was fourteen years old, I experienced some kind of overdose which nearly killed me. I had willingly and recklessly smoked something called "angel dust." Quite a rebel at that time of life, I was expelled from the public school system---too many truancies and disruptive behavior. I also was recently arrested for drug use by undercover cops at the new school. The night of the overdose I entered my room and closed the door to the outside world. I drifted into a deep, faraway sleep. The voices from other parts of the house faded into the distance. My body lay listless on the bed and I suddenly was some place outside of myself---beyond the storm, the suburbs and the city lights. I was traveling, tumbling through the darkness into a strange void of unfamiliar space. Sharp, stabbing nameless voices, without form, seemed to chase me in the blackness. Loud, buzzing, irritating and incessant taunting seemed to pursue me. It was as if I was spinning, but I had no body. I felt confused, frightened and utterly alone. As I reached the peak of my despair, a new thought pierced my awareness. A dim and promising glow appeared in the farthest reaches of space. Intuitively, I knew that the light would save me from this torment. It seemed to magnetize me like a beacon in a sea of darkness and I knew I had to direct myself to it. The brilliance grew stronger and more alluring as my desire to be near it surged. And in an instatn, I was completely and profoundly surrounded by the brightest, most intense and loving light imaginable. It welcomed me with a sense of peace that I had never known before. I was awestruck. But I was thinking, ?How did I get here? Do I really deserve this?? With that thought, I felt myself slide off the beam, as if all my protection vanished. The forces of darkness were just too great. I heard that haunting, malicious laughter again and it drew me down into an abyss. I wondered how I could retrieve the peace.