Marco R NDE

Experience Description

That morning, me and a friend of mine decided to sail in the sea with our small skiffs. Although it was a sunny day, the wind was blowing with strong, seaward gusts. As soon as we set sail, we were skimming so fast as we were leaving the coastline behind. Our skiffs got separated.

I kept sailing solo until I decided to go back to the shore. I made a mistake maneuvering and the wind capsized my boat about one mile away from the land. During the capsizing, my shoulder was dislocated.

I was trying my best to hang on to the capsized boat. I couldn't turn it around because I coulde only use one arm. There were other skiffs that were sailing, but they were too far away that they did not notice me. So I decided to swim back to the shore using one arm. In retrospect, this was a stupid decision that nearly cost me my life.

The strong wind was causing me to slow down and the low temperature of the waters in the beginning of April further slowed my progress. I was losing heat fast, with ever increasingly intense and painful shivers that became uncontrollable. Yet, I was still conscious.

I realized that I had put myself into a situation that I wouldn't come out alive from.

At some point, the shivers and tremors ceased and I quit swimming because my body was no longer responsive. I was so cold that I could not feel my body anymore. I was floating face up.

I was still aware enough to know that only death was facing me and that I wasn't going to see anyone I knew again. I was alone, in the middle of the sea, in very cold waters, and with an unresponsive body that I could feel no longer. I had no chance of contacting anybody to get help. .

I knew I was about to die.

I slowly accepted the situation while I kept floating. I don't know how much time passed, but acceptance was replaced by unconsciousness. I cannot remember a clear-cut borderline between being conscious and being unconscious, but slowly I begun to live on another mental plane. I don't know how else to describe it.

At some point, I could see myself from about 20 meters above my body that was floating on the waves. Yet, the 'I' that was contemplating from above, wasn't made of matter. I was pure spirit, as if my soul was contemplating a body that was no longer myself. I was looking at that body with a mixture of stoic sadness and complete indifference without thinking about anything else.

I remember seeing myself as if I were made of crystal, with a heart inside my body that was still beating but that could have ended at any moment. Then I had a feeling of incomparable beauty: I felt a bliss that I had never experienced before. It was a serenity with no comparison. My thoughts were streaming with a mental lucidity and serenity like I was on a totally different level of consciousness. There was no time. I hadn't the slightest notion of the passing of time and ,actually, I wasn't even wondering about it. Onn minute could have been like one day. It was as if I were in another dimension. My vision was more spiritual than physical; a very beautiful sensation!

How beautiful it would be if people knew how much strength we have in ourselves and how we manage to use it in our most critical moments when we expect it the least. I was at peace with the entire universe, which is a sensation that is impossible to explain to anyone who hasn't be very close to death.

Then the dream was over.

I could not hear the noise of the engine of the boat that came to rescue me. Although, in normal conditions it would be such a noise that you could hear it underwater from miles away. I barely felt the arms that lifted me out of the water.

What happened is that a person from the window of his own house, was watching the sea with binoculars and he saw my boat capsizing. He called a rescue boat, who immediately set out to search for me. They found the wreck, and then they followed the current. After a few attempts, they saw me. Whoever goes by sea knows how difficult it is to spot somebody floating upon open waters.

In the ambulance, I heard somebody saying, "COME ON, COME ON, OR WE LOSE HIM!!"

I woke up in hospital, as if I were an infant who was completely defenseless. I could not feel my body at all. If somebody would have peeled my skin away, I would have felt anything. Yet something strange happened. My sense of smell was incredibly keen. I could feel any person around me. I remember that at some point, I felt, without seeing her, the smell of a woman who was approaching me. She arrived by me shortly thereafter, without saying a word.

I don't have any explanation for this experience, just like I don't have one for managing not swallow water as I was floating.

Very slowly, life came back and my blood resumed its proper circulation.

I remember I had such pain as my blood resumed circulation that I had convulsions so strong that three people had difficulty controlling me. I was told this later on, for I have no recollection of this. They told me that a person can lose consciousness at 27 or 28 Celsius degrees and at 26 degrees you die.

Background Information:

Gender: Male

Date NDE Occurred: 02/04/1989

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? Yes Accident Life threatening event, but not clinical death. I was rescued from a boating accident as I was suffering a grave case of hypothermia

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

Did you feel separated from your body? Yes I could see myself floating on the sea. 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. It was a state of conscience where I felt totally free from my body, which by then, I didn't remember I had anymore. I was pure spirit.

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness? After I lost consciousness, a condition of spiritual awareness took over that was different from our earthly 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. Time lost significance as it no longer held any importance

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. The vision was a vision of the soul, not hindered by the normal visual field.

Please compare your hearing during the experience to your everyday hearing that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. During the experience, I could not hear anything

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? No

Did you seem to enter some other, unearthly world? Some unfamiliar and strange place. This wasn't a place, but rather it was a spiritual sensation completely different from the ordinary.

What emotions did you feel during the experience? I felt sadness, indifference, the peace, wellness, and extreme bliss.

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

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 was at peace with the whole universe. And this is a sensation that I kept feeling for a long time after my experience

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? No

God, Spiritual and Religion:

What was your religion prior to your experience? Unaffiliated- Atheist. At the time of the accident, I did not believe in God. Believing in a supreme, omnipotent, and creative being or entity has always been something meaningless and completely alien to my way of conceiving the universe.

Have your religious practices changed since your experience? No

What is your religion now? Unaffiliated- Atheist. I still don't believe in God. The experience I had made me believe in religion.

Did your experience include features consistent with your earthly beliefs? Content that was entirely consistent with the beliefs you had at the time of your experience. This experience bore no consequences on my lack of belief in god

Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience? Yes Brotherhood, love and that life has a purpose, even that of just living it.

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? No

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

During your experience, did you gain information about an afterlife? Unknown

Did you gain information about how to live our lives? Yes During my experience, as I was watching myself from above, I felt the utmost indifference as I saw my body floating on the waters.

Later on, I felt that sensation a few times. Two to three times I almost got into auto accidents. For a few fractions of a second, I felt a similar sensation as if I was watching a slowed-down scene. I acted in a cold manner without any fear and saving myself.

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 and brotherhood towards everything that surrounds us

What life changes occurred in your life after your experience? Moderate changes in my life. As far as religion is concerned, this involved no change.

After the experience, I felt a feeling of brotherhood towards all that was surrounding me. Every day I say 'thank you' for the day that was beginning.

Have your relationships changed specifically because of your experience? Uncertain I don't know

After the NDE:

Was the experience difficult to express in words? Yes It is impossible to express with words that experience. How can you explain into a rational manner something that includes nothing rational?

How accurately do you remember the experience in comparison to other life events that occurred around the time of the experience? I do not know how my remembrance of the experience compares to my remembrance of other life events. Remembering this experience is different from the way I remember other episodes of those times in my life.

My recollections of this experience were developing as if on another mental plane, in a special drawer of memory.

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? The extreme feeling of peace and bliss.

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes. In the first years, I told my relatives what I experienced. My father was particularly receptive because he told me that in the past he knew somebody who after some kind of incident had a NDE. This person told him that he felt about the same feelings that I had experienced: peace, brotherhood, and no fear of death. Subsequently, I didn't deal with this topic any longer with others for I realized that anyone who never had such an experience, could hardly understand it.

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. I was wondering whether my experience was real or not, probably it was real just for my spirit.

What do you believe about the reality of your experience now? Experience was probably not real. I think that in normal life the spirit is one with the body, but that in some circumstances, you get so close to death that the spirit gains some ability to see things from the outside the true essence of life through another conception, that of a pure spirit in fact

At any time in your life, has anything ever reproduced any part of the experience? Yes During the experience, I felt the utmost indifference towards my body. I was seeing it from above floating on the waters. After that, Later on, I felt that sensation a few times. Two to three times I almost got into auto accidents. For a few fractions of a second, I felt a similar sensation as if I was watching a slowed-down scene. I acted in a cold manner without any fear and saving myself.

Is there anything else that you would like to add about your experience? I saved the life of a colleague of mine in a work accident, but my absolutely greatest dream would be that of saving somebody at sea.