Sometimes I wonder if unconsciousness is a taste of what it's like to be dead. I've gone under for surgeries with anesthesia, and it's always an instant *FLASH,* and then I'm awake. I once had a four hour heart procedure, and it literally felt like a blink of an eye. No dreams. No perception of time. No perception of oneself. No perception of anything. I've also lost consciousness when I tried one medication. Later while standing, I blinked my eyes and woke up on the floor, completely oblivious of what happened or that I had a minor concussion.
My maternal grandfather had a major heart attack in his forties, which would subsequently lead him to heart failure years later (he's now deceased). He'd been resuscitated and brought back to life twice. Both times, he described it as a *FLASH,* having no idea what just happened. To him, it literally appeared as a blink of an eye. There's no blackness like you normally get with closing your eyes. You don't dream. You don't perceive time. You don't perceive yourself. You don't perceive anything. It's like trying to imagine that first day in your life where you gained sentience and awareness of your existence. You don't know what it was like before you were born. Just one day, you're there, and are aware of yourself and your surroundings.
I don't know what happens once you're dead. But I get the feeling that unconsciousness is the closest we can get to getting a taste of death without dying. It's really freaky, and a little unsettling trying to grapple and understand. Even I don't understand it fully. Just freaky. Though, if reincarnation is a thing, it also does make me wonder, if you die, do you immediately pop up into a new life? Die, *FLASH* and then you're in a new life in a new world? Stuff like this keeps me up at night sometimes.