I was recently struck by the story of Fyodor Dostoevsky standing before a firing squad,about to be killed.He described those few minutes before his expected death as“an infinite time,a vast wealth.”At the last moment,the sentence was changed,and his life was saved.Those moments were so significant,so valuable,that they influenced his lifer s work.It is difficult to overstate the existential significance of realising that one's life will be over in five minutes'time.