Ken D NDE

Experience Description

Something strange happened at the port of my little hometown in Denmark one summer day in 1961. The harbor was one of the most exciting and forbidden places that a seven year-old boy could imagine. This was where I got my first experience of the existence of a spiritual world that is fundamentally different from what words can express.

I was with my best friend, Peter, playing on forbidden ground down at the harbor.

With Peter's creative ingenuity, he had made the harbor pier appear like the most natural and exciting playground in the world. A raft of logs was tethered to the dock between two fishing boats. Two ropes were strapped to the harbor stonework. Peter leapt down from the stonework and onto the raft. I jumped after him. This caused raft to begin moving out into the harbor until it reached the end of the rope and then the raft would move back towards the dock again. When the raft reached the dock, we would jumped ashore. We did this several times, ending up in a competition to see who dared to jump while the raft was farthest from the dock. The last time, it was my turn to jump. The jump was too short and I landed half a meter from the raft.

It was as if everything was happening in slow motion. I slid into the water without a sound and my eyes open. Slowly, I vertically sunk down while noticing the silence around me. I couldn't swim. But for some reason, I felt completely safe and calm. This feeling persisted although I knew that I was about to drown.

I pushed off the bottom of the sea trying to reach the surface, but banged my head against the bottom of the raft.

Everything went black and time seemed to stall. It wasn't like a dream. Rather, I perceived this as a vivid authentic experience. I was aware that I was in the harbor water and under the raft. I didn't breathe, but neither did I hold my breath. I knew I might be about to die, but this fact didn't concern me at all. It was the safest state of being that I had ever experienced. Behind me and to the right a luminous angel-like man appeared. It wasn't until long afterwards that I was surprised to be able to see this being, although in this experience he was outside my field of vision. The angel spoke to me with the most comfortable Male voice, and he called me by my nickname 'Kukke.' His presence instilled in me the greatest tranquility. For some reason, I knew that he was my 'light angel' even though I had never heard of 'light angels' before.

In front of me a huge movie reel appeared and the 'light angel' showed me my entire life in details from my birth until the moment I jumped into the harbor. Strangely, I saw my whole life in only a few minutes. Several times along the way, the movie stopped. Each time it was about situations where I had done something thatmade me feel guilty because I knew that what I had done was wrong. I had lied many times and also stole a few times. I was told what this meant to other people and why it had been wrong. In the end, the 'light angel' explained to me that there was a certain meaning to my life and that there were certain things I had to go through to follow the plan that was with me in my life. As he told me all this, I began to recognize him yet couldn't quite remember from where I knew him or who he was. When the movie got to the place where I jumped in the water, the show stopped. I asked if I could see some more because the film roll had much more tape left on the reel. He smiled in the most comfortable way and said, 'Now you will have to go back into the world and you will be healing sick people and you will be doing things concerning music. These two things are what you need to accomplish in your life.' I begged him to stay here because this place was so much more loving and wonderful compared to the world I was used to living in. He told me 'no' in the most loving way.

Then everything went black in front of my eyes, and then I opened my eyes. I saw the eyes of a man sitting and bent over me on the raft. I breathed with difficulty and was turned to the side to break up some sea foam. My face and hair were smeared in mucus and seawater. I felt wonderful despite drowning. I wondered where my friend Peter was at. The man told me that a boy had reached under the raft, grabbed my hair, and then he had tried to pull me up from the water.

The man had helped him pull me all the way up on the raft. I had been lifeless for so long that he thought I might be dead. But here I was, smiling at him, and he couldn't understand it at all. I was in a state of indescribable Happiness because the angel had shown me that death does not exist.

Suddenly the seriousness of the situation dawned on me. I was afraid if my parents were told, that I would be in serious trouble and forbidden to play with my friend Peter. I jumped up and got off the raft as fast as I could. I ran down the trail. Peter showed up with tarred fishing nets as he silently joined me. He told me that he had run away and was hiding because he was afraid that I might be dead. He didn't want to get in trouble. Peter had watched the man giving me artificial respiration and was relieved and happy when he saw me waking up. We headed for home, but stopped on the way where I hung all my clothes to dry on a fence. Peter continued to brag about his heroism when he pulled me out of the water by my hair. His back was turned and he didn't hear me jumping. He said, 'Suddenly I had just disappeared.' Peter thought I was hiding or had gone somewhere else. He had looked for me a for a while. He had jumped down on the raft, and then he had stuck his head into the water. There he found that I had been lying under the raft. At that time, I couldn't think of anything but my meeting with the angel, almost like I was in a trance. I tried to explain to Peter what I had experienced, but he did not believe much in my telling. The fact that I could have died didn't concern me, because, now I knew that death was no longer something I needed to be afraid of.

Fortunately, the sun was shining. Within an hour, my clothes were almost dry. What should I tell my parents at home? Where had I been? Who had I been with? Well before we got home, we parted and we agreed that today's event should stay between the two of us. When I got home, the world was in chaos. My mom and dad were totally out of their mind because I hadn't come home at the scheduled time for dinner. This was very unusual. They had called around to my friend's parents house, but no one had seen me. Eventually they had called the police, who were now on their way to look into the matter. Quickly they called the police again, so the emergency could be cancelled. I was simultaneously kissed and scolded while the questions rained down on me. Where had I been? Who had I been with? How could I think of just staying away? I had never done that before, and how could my clothes be so damp, and where was my cowboy belt with the gun that I had been given in a birthday present? Only then did it dawn on me that I had lost my cowboy belt. It had to be lying on the bottom of the sea.

I made up the most horrific lie, contrarily to the angel's admonitions. I told my parents that I had been out alone playing on the beach, and I probably had lost my cowboy belt out there somewhere. I had not dared to come home without the cowboy belt, so I had trotted up and down to find it. My mom got really angry that I had thrown away my cowboy belt. That same evening we walked the entire beach together looking for the belt. Of course, we did not find it. Rarely have I felt so much guilt about lying. This because the words of the angel repeated throughout my head. It was as if he was still with me. I had the feeling that he was still watching everything that was happening.

This experience affect my entire life. I talked to Peter right after it happened. However, it would take several years before I could confide in any body else about the incident.

Background Information:

Gender: Male

Date NDE Occurred: July 1961

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? No. Accident Drowning. Direct head injury. Life threatening event, but not clinical death

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

Did you feel separated from your body? No. 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? Normal consciousness and alertness normal

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness? All the time

Were your thoughts speeded up? No

Did time seem to speed up or slow down? No

Were your senses More vivid than usual? Incredibly more vivid

Please compare your vision during the experience to your everyday vision that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. There was communication without sound

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? Yes An angel of light

Did you seem to enter some other, unearthly world? Some unfamiliar and strange place.

What emotions did you feel during the experience? Pleasant

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? No

Did you suddenly seem to understand everything? No

Did scenes from your past come back to you? My past flashed before me, out of my control

Did scenes from the future come to you? No

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

God, Spiritual and Religion:

What was your religion prior to your experience? Do not know

Have your religious practices changed since your experience? No

What is your religion now? Christian- Protestant

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

Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience? Yes. Love matters

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. An angel

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? No

During your experience, did you gain information about the meaning of life? Yes

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

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

During your experience, did you gain information about love? Yes Love was the most important thing in life

What life changes occurred in your life after your experience? Moderate changes in my life

Have your relationships changed specifically because of your experience? No

After the NDE:

Was the experience difficult to express in words? No

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.

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

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes A few

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 Is explained

What do you believe about the reality of your experience now? Experience was definitely real

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

Are there any other questions that we could ask to help you communicate your experience? None