Jean C Probable NDE

Experience Description

Near death experience, Moscow (Russia), August 12, 2000.

Early in the morning of August 12, 2000, I got an injury from a window pane in an apartment in Moscow. The glass cut my right arm and severed my brachial artery at the bend of the arm. I was alone in the apartment, and when I realized that my artery had been cut I said aloud: “That's it!” When I understood the kind of injury I had, I knew it was a race against time. I knew that I would be dying fast if emergency medical services didn't come. This sentence 'That's it' meant that the 'race against time was on'.

I leapt at the door of the neighbors, banging with all my strength while screaming trying to communicate in Russian, 'Call a doctor, I'm going to die!' Later on, I realized that I had been using the wrong words, and had been screaming, 'Name a doctor I'm dying!' Despite this, the neighbors understood that it was serious and they called the police without opening their door. They had been scared, I believe. A police officer finally came along and he ripped apart the upper side of my shirt to make a tourniquet. It didn't work well, as I continued bleeding. A few minutes later, the ambulance crew of Moscow arrived and a woman immediately pushed on a precise spot under the shoulder; I felt that the hemorrhage stopped immediately. I was taken to a hospital. I remember that the ambulance was sometimes driving over sidewalks to pass the first traffic jams of the morning in the avenues of Moscow.

At my arrival at the hospital I was very agitated and shouted every ten seconds at the stretcher bearers, telling them in Russian 'Hurry-up! Get me anesthetized and amputated!' Finally I ended up in a surgery theater. A doctor leaned towards me asking my blood type, so I gave it to him. Then I heard a woman saying 'anesthesia started.' I looked at my arm and told myself 'That's the last time I'm seeing it', as I strongly believed that I had to have an amputation. I fell asleep right away and my NDE started.

NDE:

The NDE started by seeing visions of my parents who were alive at the moment of this experience. I also saw a global vision of my past life in France. The crucial period of my life appeared clearly to me as being the period in the nursery school of Saint-Cyr-l'Ecole. My life in this first vision of my NDE, could be resumed by 'France'; it's France that I saw and France was my life. I tried to hang on to my parents, but I was irresistibly snatched away. I saw France go away and I was in Russia. Then I was in the whole world, and then I found myself in space beyond the earthly atmosphere.

In space, everything was black and immense. I was abashed to find myself there. I was looking to the right and left, below and above. I saw space at 360°. I felt very calm, serene, and almost happy. I was in symbiosis with universe. I felt a very strong presence irradiating through all of the universe and I was in symbiosis with everything. I remember perceiving clearly that all notions of belonging to a country and a family had vanished. I remember also that words didn't exist anymore. Very soon my thinking accelerated and I became a point in the middle of the universe. I had no body anymore, it didn't exist, but 'I' was just a tiny dot. I was advancing faster and faster in a direction. I was dragged along with an irresistible stream. I noticed that a multitude of little dots like myself were surrounding me. We were held in the same stream and sent in a single direction. Our speed was staggering. I tried to go against the stream, to resist this force that was projecting me forward. But it was impossible. With my mind, I tried to slightly steer my course, and noticed that I could have a very slight influence on my path. But this influence was tiny and I continued forward at full speed. At that moment, my NDE was very dynamic and I had no time for fear.

At the end, I saw a light. I felt that I would be reborn, like a child that is coming out of the womb of its mother and who sees the light of day. I felt that I was going to come out of the womb. I caught sight of living forms in this light. I perceived sounds of life. I felt that beyond this light, I would start a new life and that his life was going to be happy and that there was much love. But at that moment, my 'birth' didn't happen, because I couldn't get out of the blackness of space and reach the light.

Instead of going into the light, I was crossing a turbulent region. I felt that people around me were stirring and tried very strongly to help me. I felt that those people were ready to give their life to get me out of there and that they were totally devoted to my rescue. I was absolutely unable to move. I was subjected to everything that these people were doing to me. I couldn't but 'help them to help me' by focusing and mentally following the direction they gave for my rescue. It was a moment of struggle against something, I don't know what. Maybe it was emergency or danger? I was completely surrendered to the hands of those people. The only active role I had was to mentally follow the direction that they gave me.

Then I didn't feel anything anymore. I woke up in the recovery room. I couldn't bend to visually verify if my arm was still there. My left hand was attached with a strap; I also couldn't verify this by touch. A nurse leaned above me. I asked her if my arm had been amputated. She told me, 'No.' A doctor passed sometime later in the recovery room to talk to me and to ask me one or two questions. I then told him about my NDE. At the end of the account, he went away from me while looking at me with a taken-aback and worried expression.

Afterwards, my behavior and my personality didn't change that much. My NDE just gave me a different view of death, which now seems to me like a step towards something else. I'm aware that death will come and am not affected by this. Aftermath or not of my NDE, ten years later in 2010, I started practicing the spiritual path of Vajrayana. It's only in 2010, that I heard for the first time about NDE, while talking with an experiencer. I understood that my experience of 2000 was an NDE. And only in 2018, I started to be interested in NDEs, through reading books and articles on the subject, actually 18 years after my NDE.


Background Information:

Gender: Male

Date NDE Occurred: August 12, 2000

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? Yes Accident While under general anesthesia. Severe arterial hemorrhage at the arm. I don't know if there was reanimation or not.

How do you consider the content of your experience? Both pleasant AND distressing

Did you feel separated from your body? Yes I saw my past life on earth, and I saw France. 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. When I found myself in space.

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness? I was in space and I suddenly understood the sense of the universe.

Were your thoughts speeded up? Faster than usual

Did time seem to speed up or slow down? Time seemed to go faster or slower than usual. During my NDE there was no notion of time, except when I was in the stream in spac. At that moment, I was advancing at a staggering speed in one direction. But overall, there was no notion 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. During my NDE, I saw things very clearly.

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

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

Did you pass into or through a tunnel? Yes The stream taking me along could be considered like a passage.

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? Yes I perceived a Light in a space in front of me, but I couldn't enter into this space. I have not been in contact with this light. I couldn't tell if this light was unearthly or not.

Did you seem to enter some other, unearthly world? A clearly mystical or unearthly realm. I was in an indescribable place; first I saw my life and France, as if from being above. Then I was in space, beyond the atmospheric layer. At the end of my NDE, I was assisted by beings. There I was in a place that I couldn't describe. I wouldn't talk so much about a place, but rather about an 'other dimension.' It has nothing to do with a 'place', strictly speaking.

What emotions did you feel during the experience? At the beginning, I was astonished to find myself in space. Then when I was a point and was aspired in the stream, I was initially scared but I understood that I couldn't struggle, so I had no fear and besides it went too fast to be scared. And at the end, when I perceived beings helping me, this was painful as I felt that there was a danger and that at this moment I was lost.

Did you have a feeling of peace or pleasantness? Relief or calmness

Did you have a feeling of joy? Happiness

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

Did you suddenly seem to understand everything? Everything about the universe. I saw the universe. I saw plans of space and galaxies following one another and I suddenly understood the sense of the world and of the universe.

Did scenes from your past come back to you? My past flashed before me, out of my contro. I got a vision of my past life in its entirety. But I didn't learn anything more about my own life, what I didn't know already.

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. Yes, I was just about to enter someplace, what I would compare with a baby coming out of its mother's womb to be born; it's entering the space of life. In the same way, I was just about to be 'reborn', but at the last moment I couldn't enter this space.

God, Spiritual and Religion:

What was your religion prior to your experience? Unaffiliated- Agnostic

Have your religious practices changed since your experience? Yes I started practicing a religion, but I remain an agnostic.

What is your religion now? Unaffiliated- Agnostic

Did your experience include features consistent with your earthly beliefs? Content that was entirely not consistent with the beliefs you had at the time of your experience. What I saw during my NDE, was completely out of everything I have seen or believed before.

Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience? No. I started to practice Vajrayana Buddhism, then Protestantism, but I remained agnostic.

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. Yes, at the end of my NDE, I was surrounded by several beings helping me, but I couldn't identify them.

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? Uncertain When I was in space, I was one with the world and the universe.

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? No

During your experience, did you gain information about the meaning of life? Yes I understood that the world surpasses terrestrial life; terrestrial life is a kind of 'inferior' dimension included in a vaster dimension. It's the sense of the whole of universe (terrestrial life and the vaster dimension) that I suddenly understood, not specifically the sense of earth life.

During your experience, did you gain information about an afterlife? An afterlife probably exists. When I finally was going to be 'reborn', I saw very well that the place that I finally couldn't enter, is full of life. I perceived that there were life and people on the other side.

Did you gain information about how to live our lives? Uncertain I simply discovered that, whatever will happen in our terrestrial life, it is but a tiny part of another much vaster dimension. In other words, I discovered that terrestrial life doesn't have that much importance, compared to the much bigger reality that I had in front of my eyes.

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

During your experience, did you gain information about love? Uncertain When I saw France, I understood the love that I had for this terrestrial life. And when I was about to enter the space where the light was, I also felt love on the other side. It was as if the people loving me were waiting there for me.

What life changes occurred in your life after your experience? Slight changes in my life. Terrestrial life doesn't seem so important to me. I take life like a dream that will quickly come to an end.

Have your relationships changed specifically because of your experience? Uncertain My relationships with people have changed since this period, but I don't think my NDE caused them.

After the NDE:

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. Today, what I'm recalling about my NDE, is much more precise and present than the terrestrial events that I experienced at the same period in Moscow.

Do you have any psychic, non-ordinary or other special gifts after your experience that you did not have before the experience? Uncertain I didn't notice precisely, but it could be possible.

Are there one or several parts of your experience that are especially meaningful or significant to you? Yes, the vision I had of France. I was shown how much my life was attached to France. Before my NDE, I was never aware of this.

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes I told this experience as soon as I woke up to the doctor who came to talk to me. He didn't say anything but he seemed taken aback. Then I told it to my parents one week later, they had no special reaction. They didn't understand but they were listening. I had to tell them several times. My parents had some reactions at the moment of my NDE, but without knowing that I had an accident and without knowing that I was in a hospital. At the time when the surgery took place, about 4:00am in France, my father heard me screaming for help, then he got up and started his day. And during the morning, my mother had a violent crying fit in the public on the street, but she was unable to find an explanation for this. It was only in the evening of the next day, that my parents learned that something happened to me in Moscow.

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. What happened to me was real, it was not a kind of a dream. I can't explain why.

What do you believe about the reality of your experience now? Experience was definitely real. Even today, I still have a very present and very precise memory of my NDE. For me this is real but I can't explain why.

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? Yes, what strikes me is that this NDE was located in another dimension.

Are there any other questions that we could ask to help you communicate your experience? Yes, asking questions about the reaction of people when we tell them our NDE.