In a surprisingly funny and philosophical essay, The New York Times writer Sam Anderson reframes the colonoscopy—not as a medical ordeal, but as a strangely blissful, almost spiritual experience.
What starts as dread turns into satire and self-reflection: the bowel prep becomes a forced “retreat from modern life,” the procedure itself a brief disappearance into oblivion, and the recovery a gentle reentry into the world—with juice, photos of one’s colon, and a clean bill of health.