I never liked flies. Perhaps because I associated them with death and illness, with corpses and worms, with the filthiest of the zoological scale.

So, when my Buddhist teacher told me that there was this possibility of reincarnating into a lower being, I panicked.

I changed my lifestyle and I set out to climb the steps of the ladder towards the enlightenment of Nirvana.

I got rid of my belongings and relied on charity.

I meditated fervently.

Even in my last agony, I followed the teachings of the Tibetan Book of the Dead to the letter.

Now, in my new life, I see everything differently with my multifaceted eyes.

Marcelo Medone (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1961) is a medical doctor, lyric tenor singer, painter, journalist, fiction writer, poet and screenwriter. His fiction and poetry has received awards and has been published in reviews and editions in various languages in more than 20 countries, in Latin America, USA, Canada, Spain, France, Nigeria, India and Australia. He currently lives in San Fernando, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.