The Religion of Self-Enlightenment - Emily B. Scialom

Carrick Ares grows up without any particular beliefs in anything. He is boring, and proudly so. Yet when he suddenly dies in a car accident he experiences what he feels to be the afterlife. This causes him to go through a huge existential crisis and the only person he speaks to in his disorientated state is a psychiatrist, Doctor Paul Turnstone. Together they explore the ideas Carrick has about his life so far and what is still to come. Carrick goes mad yet subsequently believes that he has found the truth of existence. Struggling to dress himself hinders not his adamance that he knows the answers to the biggest questions of life. He produces a book, The Religion of Self-Enlightenment, which becomes an expression of his theories. It discusses exactly how to heal the crises which are now plaguing individuals and the wider world.