I was not afraid to live or to die, though of course like everyone else I hoped not to suffer and linger in terrible pain or to become in my infirmity too great a burden on others. No, on the big mysteries of life, on the big questions of existence, there was little if anything I felt I knew for certain. Where others said they had "faith" and "belief" unsupported by evidence or logic, I had only hopes, curiosity, and questions. The very few "beliefs" I did have I considered very tentative indeed, so tentative they were hardly real "beliefs" at all. I held them lightly, warily, and, as I had been taught by all of my best teachers in school, I worked hard to maintain an open mind.