Chapter 4: Imagined Future in the Life Course of a Heart Transplant Patient: Anhangá, the Dog Protector

Imagination is the main source of realization of the self’s continuation and sense of well-being. The human ability for the projection of the self’s future allows for the construction of one’s life course trajectory, overcoming strong disruptions that threaten self-integrity, even in extreme situations of illness, when an experience of continued life gives way to the possibility of nonexistent life. In this chapter, we explore retrospective data on a man’s trajectory in the decision process for deciding to undergo a cardiac transplant, indicated by the physician as the only option to stay alive. We approach a paradox: the deep emotional feeling and the self’s claim for continuation, when it comes to the realization of an imminent impossibility of it. We analyze the role of the imagination in a situation where the possibility of prolonging biological life threatens the aesthetic realization of the self.