Reading Comprehension: "On Having No Head" (excerpt)

Mr. Steel

1. Why would the author call the day of his epiphany his "rebirthday"?

2. Explain why the question, "What am I?" is important.

3. What sorts of things stopped prior to the author's realization? Why might this be important?

4. What does he mean by the "Now"? Why hadn't he experienced the Now prior to this epiphany?

5. What does the author claim to have discovered?

6. What does the author mean when he says, "I had lost a head and gained a world"?

7. Explain what you think the author means when speaking about his experience of "the Given," whose "total presence was my total absence".

8. What does it mean to be "totally released" from oneself in this short excerpt?

9. How is it that the mind can obscure reality, according to the author?

10. Why does the author feel that his experience of having no head is more real than his everyday understanding?

11. Explain what about this experience might have made the author feel "peace and quiet joy".

12. Evaluate the significance of the author's experience. Do you think that it reveals anything substantial to us as readers? (2 paragraphs please)