Andrea D Probable NDE

Experience Description

It was summer and I was at the edge of the pool in my grandparents' yard. I was playing with a little boat that quickly drifted from the edge of the pool and towards the middle of the pool. My aunt was near the pool, but I had escaped her control for the moment. I wanted to get my boat. So I climbed down the metal ladder where the boat was approaching. I missed the last step, lost my grip on the hand rail, and instantly ended up under water. This was not good because I didn't know how to swim. I realized that I couldn't breathe anything but water and that I was in terrible danger. I don't remember how much time passed. I do recall that I was close to my body but in an overhead position. I clearly saw my aunt's long hair spread out in a radial pattern across her back. I saw my body as it was bobbing up and down under the water.

My aunt immediately brought me to the surface at the side of the pool. I hadn't swallowed even a sip of water. I was crying and in hysterics. My aunt kept trying to comfort me becasue she thought I was scared. I kept crying from my rage and irritation at being brought back to the surface. She had taken me away from a wondrously different condition, one that I now can't manage to remember in the slightest. I was crying and wondering why she wanted to comfort me for having taken me away by force from something so beautiful, and this triggered uncontrollable fury in me.

The years went by, and I became convinced the vision could have been nothing but a patchwork of snapshots that I had actually seen underwater during the moments of my rescue. Except I kept remembering a seemingly insignificant detail that I couldn't forget. I remember the incredibly clear, vivid, detailed, and focused view of the hair, spread out in a radial pattern and bobbing up and down, almost as if I saw each strand individually one by one. At that moment, I wasn't wearing an underwater mask or swimming goggles. If I had seen that hair underwater with nothing on my eyes, I would have had a view with only a blurred memory. That's absolutely not so. Furthermore, I can't figure out how come every detail of that distant event comes back to me so clearly, so present in my memory, while the rest of my days as a child are all becoming distant memories and far less distinct.

Background Information:

Gender: Male

Date NDE Occurred: 1977

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? Yes Imminent danger of drowning. Other: Excellent health status, but inability to breathe. I was in danger of imminent drowning.

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

Did you feel separated from your body? Yes I saw my aunt's back from above looking downward. I clearly left my body and existed outside it

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. I was seeing details of what is real that I'd never considered before.

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness? During the vision with the strange effect of the hair spread out under water that caught my attention.

Were your thoughts speeded up? No

Did time seem to speed up or slow down? Everything seemed to be happening at once; or time stopped or lost all meaning. I had no idea of the time that was passing.

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. Clearer.

Please compare your hearing during the experience to your everyday hearing that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. No hearing.

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

Did you pass into or through a tunnel? No

Did you see any beings in your experience? No

Did you encounter or become aware of any deceased (or alive) beings? No

Did you see, or feel surrounded by, a brilliant light? No

Did you see an unearthly light? Uncertain I don't remember.

Did you seem to enter some other, unearthly world? Some unfamiliar and strange place. I don't remember, but it seems to me it was an oddly different dimension.

What emotions did you feel during the experience? Attention, strong curiosity about the effect of the long hair spread out radially in the water.

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? No

Did you suddenly seem to understand everything? No

Did scenes from your past come back to you? No

Did scenes from the future come to you? No

Did you come to a border or point of no return? I came to a barrier that I was not permitted to cross; or was sent back against my will

God, Spiritual and Religion:

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

Have your religious practices changed since your experience? No

What is your religion now? Christian- Catholic

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 was too little for complex ideas about my beliefs.

Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience? Uncertain Too little to assess changes.

Did you seem to encounter a mystical being or presence, or hear an unidentifiable voice? No

Did you see deceased or religious spirits? No

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.)? No

During your experience, did you gain information about premortal existence? No

During your experience, did you gain information about universal connection or oneness? No

During your experience, did you gain information about the existence of God? No

Concerning our Earthly lives other than Religion:

During your experience, did you gain special knowledge or information about your purpose? Uncertain I don't remember; it might be.

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

During your experience, did you gain information about an afterlife? An afterlife definitely exists

Did you gain information about how to live our lives? Uncertain I could have had this kind of awareness, but it's only a left-over feeling and not a clear memory.

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

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

What life changes occurred in your life after your experience? Unknown. My interest in philosophy, metaphysics, and ultimate questions has increased more and more.

Have your relationships changed specifically because of your experience? No

After the NDE:

Was the experience difficult to express in words? Yes Vision with real elements (the hair), which occurred in a non-testable way.

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. Everything that happened immediately before, during, and right after the event has remained markedly stamped on my memory more intensely than other events around the same time.

Do you have any psychic, non-ordinary or other special gifts after your experience that you did not have before the experience? Uncertain It has happened that I can foresee highly detailed facts about the immediate future like people's illness and death, a friend's flat tire (I told him in advance what day that flat would happen, and similar facts, etc. Maybe it is just coincidence, I wouldn't know.

Are there one or several parts of your experience that are especially meaningful or significant to you? The fact that there is awareness outside of my brain, that I am not just my body, and the feeling that I have lived in a positive dimension outside my body.

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes Starting in my childhood, it all seemed normal until I learned at school that our thinking is constructed of matter, cells, molecules, electrochemical signals – and all this clashed with my experience and my way of thinking about people.

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 probably not real My mom said I had simply seen my aunt under water, and I believed her.

What do you believe about the reality of your experience now? Experience was definitely real The vision as I experienced it could not have occurred under water from my physical viewpoint, but outside of my body in an overhead position and not through my eyes of flesh.

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? There remains my disappointment that I can't manage to remember exactly what that wondrous dimension consisted of, about which I had only the feeling that I had really lived it. I remember only the fragments of the experience outside of my body, but it is assuredly more.