Anthony C Probable NDE

Experience Description

In about 1945 and about age 7 years old, I had my tonsils removed under ether for an anesthetic. A few days later, I began to bleed and lost consciousness.

I believed that I could understand my uncle Neal, who had been in the U.S. Army. He was killed about two years earlier in Great Britain in a massive crash of a World War II bomber airplane while sleeping in his barracks. I felt at the time that Neal passed to me, without words, many facts about the future. I learned things about humans walking on the moon, about 20 years in the future.

Now I believe that the human brain takes so long to build the awareness of what we call the present moment that all of the future in human perspective is actually the past. Our brains may take many light years to construct the present moment because, as Albert Einstein observed, time is relative to every individual observer. Science now defines time as the distance between two or more observers of the same event. The earth travels millions of miles through space in a very short time, so we are indeed in a different point in time-space at every nanosecond. We are in essence different observers of ourselves even though we seem to be in one place on earth momentarily, we are in fact moving at a great speed through space.

The immediate after-effects on my young life seemed to be a thorough knowledge of chemistry without much study or time spent acquiring the knowledge. This effect lasted many years into my college studies. It often confounded my professors, one of whom would actually sit in front of me while I took his exam and often got every answer right.


Background Information:

Gender: Male

Date NDE Occurred: 1945

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? Yes Surgery-related. Life threatening event, but not clinical death. Had tonsils removed under ether anethesia, then a few days later began to bleed and lost consciousness

How do you consider the content of your experience? Entirely pleasant

The experience included: Out of body experience

Did you feel separated from your body? Uncertain. Sorry I cannot clearly recall details like these. I lost awareness of my body

How did your highest level of consciousness and alertness during the experience compare to your normal everyday consciousness and alertness? More consciousness and alertness than normal. There is no clear memory of normal events at any time in my life before the NDE. This seems to extend several weeks after the NDE as well. That is, I have no active memory before or after the NDE. My earliest clear memory after the NDE seems to start months after the NDE.

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness? I lost all sense of time. I woke up from the NDE while riding in my father's car as he was driving us to the emergency room. I have no clear memory of any events before or after the NDE. The time in the NDE seemed instant, as if there was no time there, and no time seemed to have passed in my non-NDE awareness.

Were your thoughts speeded up? Faster than usual

Did time seem to speed up or slow down? Everything seemed to be happening at once; or time stopped or lost all meaning There appeared to be no time before, during or after the NDE. Just an instant awareness outside of time.

Were your senses More vivid than usual? More vivid than usual

Please compare your vision during the experience to your everyday vision that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. Sorry there is no memory prior to the NDE.

Please compare your hearing during the experience to your everyday hearing that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. There was no hearing in the NDE, just a sort of silent passing of knowledge, an instant awareness of many events, 20 years into the future.

Did you seem to be aware of things going on elsewhere, as if by ESP? No

Did you pass into or through a tunnel? Uncertain The only visual part of the NDE that I can recall is what looks like a huge camera lens opening to reveal my place in the car with my father, except that also marks the end of any active memory for several weeks after the NDE.

The experience included: Presence of deceased persons

Did you see any beings in your experience? I sensed their presence

Did you encounter or become aware of any deceased (or alive) beings? Yes My Uncle Neal who had been killed about two years before the NDE.

Did you see, or feel surrounded by, a brilliant light? A light clearly of mystical or other-worldly origin

Did you see an Unearthly light? Yes It seemed there was only bright light in the NDE, no start of the light; rather the NDE was the light. Also I cannot recall any event before the NDE and even into the NDE, that is, I cannot recall getting to the light, only that I was there in the light of the NDE for just an instant.

Did you seem to enter some other, unearthly world? A clearly mystical or unearthly realm Only a bright light, no other details.

What emotions did you feel during the experience? I seemed to have a joyful feeling in my heart during the NDE.

Did you have a feeling of peace or pleasantness? Incredible peace or pleasantness

Did you have a feeling of joy? Incredible joy

Did you feel a sense of harmony or unity with the universe? I felt united or one with the world

The experience included: Special knowledge or purpose

Did you suddenly seem to understand everything? Everything about the universe. There was no detail or specific information at the time of the NDE, just a feeling that life was incredibly simple, just a beautiful light and an infinite awareness.

Did scenes from your past come back to you? No

The experience included: Future Visions

Did scenes from the future come to you? Scenes from the world's future About 20 years of future events seemed to become clear in an instant, specifically that humans would walk on the moon, but everything else as well, without words or pictures, just awareness that seemed impossible to put into human language.

Did you come to a border or point of no return? No

God, Spiritual and Religion:

What importance did you place on your religious/spiritual life prior to your experience? Unknown

What was your religion prior to your experience? Christian- Catholic

Have your religious practices changed since your experience? Yes Now my only mantra or prayer is THANK YOU ALL FOR EVERYTHING. There is nothing else to say nor believe than that.

What importance do you place on your religious/spiritual life after your experience? Unknown

What is your religion now? Other or several faiths Buddhism, Native American, Scientific Philosophy such as Albert Einstein's Theoretical Method

Did your experience include features consistent with your earthly beliefs? Content that was both consistent and not consistent with the beliefs you had at the time of your experience. I seem to have believed that our biologically dead loved ones always existed in our hearts. However, the awareness of future events seems to have been a new idea at the time.

Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience? Yes. No religion seems to be accurate in any way nor about any thing. I believed then and still do that humans simply need dogma and ritual to assuage some emotion, guilt, fear or whatever. That is fine with me, except I believe all human experience of any kind is an illusion.

Did you seem to encounter a mystical being or presence, or hear an unidentifiable voice? I encountered a definite being, or a voice clearly of mystical or unearthly origin The being appeared to be my Uncle Neal, my father's younger brother, who had been killed about two years before the NDE.

Did you see deceased or religious spirits? I sensed their presence

Did you encounter or become aware of any beings who previously lived on earth who are described by name in religions (for example: Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, etc.)? Yes Jesus, no details or visions, just awareness of a presence.

During your experience, did you gain information about premortal existence? Yes Just that the events of the next 20 years were available to know in some way above human intelligence.

During your experience, did you gain information about universal connection or oneness? Yes The light is everything and it is the only true existence, without words, pictures or any descriptive possibility because everything is completely new in every instant. There is nothing that ever repeats nor needs to be explained, it just happens, without beginning nor ending.

Did you believe in the existence of God prior to your experience? God definitely exists

During your experience, did you gain information about the existence of God? Yes. No details, just that the light contained all of the true reality. There were no details, nor any human experience seemed to affect the light. All goodness and all beings existed within the light itself.

Do you believe in the existence of God after your experience? God definitely exists

Concerning our Earthly lives other than Religion:

During your experience, did you gain special knowledge or information about your purpose? No

During your experience, did you gain information about the meaning of life? No

Did you believe in an afterlife prior to your experience? An afterlife definitely exists

Do you believe in an afterlife after your experience? An afterlife definitely exists. Actually the awareness of all knowledge and the light itself seemed to be the only true reality. Human existence seemed to be an illusion and continues to appear to be an illusion even now.

Did you fear death prior to your experience? I did not fear death

Do you fear death after your experience? I do not fear death

Were you fearful living your life prior to your experience? Unknown

Were you fearful living your life after your experience? Not fearful in living my earthly life

Did you believe that our earthly lives Are meaningful and significant prior to your experience? Unknown

Did you believe that our earthly lives are meaningful and significant after your experience? Are not meaningful and significant

Did you gain information about how to live our lives? No

During your experience, did you gain information about life's difficulties, challenges and hardships? No

Were you compassionate prior to your experience? Greatly compassionate toward others

During your experience, did you gain information about love? No

Were you compassionate after your experience? Greatly compassionate toward others

What life changes occurred in your life after your experience? Large changes in my life. I now believe that there is only an intangible, infinite, eternal awareness of everything. Human experience seems extremely artificial and basically an illusion or delusion. There is no 'after' life nor life before the human experience. There is just the light, the awareness, without words or pictures that can be humanly expressed.

Have your relationships changed specifically because of your experience? Yes I no longer feel the need to explain anything nor to experience anything as real except the light itself.

After the NDE:

Was the experience difficult to express in words? Yes. Sadly, my father warned me to tell no one about my NDE. This was mostly because my mother had severe anxiety as a normal every day experience, and he wanted to spare her any more anxiety. Also there seemed to be a stigma of mental illness at that time and my father was afraid people would think I was mentally ill if I reported the NDE as I apparently did to him immediately after I awoke from the NDE. I really never heard the term NDE until about 1995 when I read PMH Atwater's book, Beyond the Light, shortly after my mother died.

How accurately do you remember the experience in comparison to other life events that occurred around the time of the experience? I remember the experience more accurately than other life events that occurred around the time of the experience. The NDE seems to be the only memory of any kind at any time in my life before the NDE and for some weeks after the NDE.

Do you have any psychic, non-ordinary or other special gifts after your experience that you did not have before the experience? No

Are there one or several parts of your experience that are especially meaningful or significant to you? No parts. Just that the light comprises everything actual.

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes. About 50 years, when I met PMH Atwater. She included a brief description of my NDE in her book, Children of the New Millenium.

Did you have any knowledge of near death experience (NDE) prior to your experience? No

What did you believe about the reality of your experience shortly (days to weeks) after it happened? Experience was definitely real The light seemed to be the only true reality and still seems that way to me today.

What do you believe about the reality of your experience now? Experience was definitely real The light is everything real.

At any time in your life, has anything ever reproduced any part of the experience? No

Is there anything else that you would like to add about your experience? No

Are there any other questions that we could ask to help you communicate your experience? Ok as is.