Chapter 68
The Sky Above Napoleon

This chapter reveals a profound pattern: proximity to death strips away illusions and reveals what truly matters. When Andrew lies bleeding on the battlefield, everything he once valued—military glory, Napoleon's approval, social status—suddenly becomes meaningless against the backdrop of mortality and the infinite sky above him. The mechanism works through forced perspective. Physical crisis creates mental clarity by removing the luxury of self-deception. When survival is uncertain, the brain stops protecting comfortable lies and starts processing truth. Andrew's hero-worship of Napoleon crumbles because dying people can't afford to maintain false idols. The emperor's praise, which would have thrilled him hours earlier, now sounds hollow because Andrew is confronting ultimate questions that Napoleon's glory can't answer. This exact pattern appears everywhere in modern life. The executive who has a heart attack and realizes he's missed his daughter's childhood for a corner office. The nurse like Rosie who works a traumatic shift and goes home questioning why she's arguing with her sister over inheritance when life is so fragile. The factory worker who gets laid off and discovers that the job consuming his identity wasn't actually fulfilling him. The parent who gets a cancer diagnosis and stops caring about keeping up with the neighbors. When you recognize this pattern, you don't need to wait for crisis to gain clarity. Ask yourself regularly: 'If I only had six months to live, would this matter?' Use small setbacks as perspective checks rather than waiting for major trauma. When you catch yourself obsessing over status or approval from people who don't truly know you, remember Andrew under that infinite sky. The things that feel enormous in the moment often shrink when viewed against life's bigger questions. When you can name the pattern—that crisis reveals true priorities—predict where it leads—toward deeper values and authentic relationships—and navigate it successfully by regularly checking your perspective, that's amplified intelligence.