Paula E NDE

Experience Description

In 1994, I had my thyroid removed and went into cardiac arrest, that's what the surgeon told me afterwards.

At that moment, I saw in front a path leading upwards into the sky. I engaged on this path that seemed marvelous to me, two angels keeping on each side, both were golden, they were rather childlike, cherub style, and they opened a door to let me pass. A big gate opened in front of me. The angels were smiling and what I felt was wonderful, it was an emotion of utter joy, total success, also to be able to enter this magical place. A tree was in the middle, its branches spreading gracefully, he was made of silver. I was very moved to arrive at this place; it was no garden as there was a huge space behind this gate.

Then at once reality got me back, in front of my face I saw the face of the surgeon moving with a headband lamp, looking serious and an oxygen bottle and then I got back to sleep. When I woke up, returning was very hard and I had difficulties readjusting to this world, which seemed so grey and heavy. It was as if I had been coming back from paradise, and readjustment took a long time.

Background Information:

Gender: Female

Date NDE Occurred: 16 septembre 1994

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? Yes While under general anesthesia. Clinical death (cessation of breathing or heart function or brain function) Cardiac arrest during removal of the thyroid

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? No No

How did your highest level of consciousness and alertness during the experience compare to your normal everyday consciousness and alertness? Normal consciousness and alertness

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness? All the time after coming to from the anesthesia, as during the NDE I had the impression to be normally awake

Were your thoughts speeded up? No

Did time seem to speed up or slow down? No

Were your senses more vivid than usual? No

Please compare your vision during the experience to your everyday vision that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. The same

Please compare your hearing during the experience to your everyday hearing that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. The same

Did you seem to be aware of things going on elsewhere? No

Did you pass into or through a tunnel? No

Did you see any beings in your experience? I actually saw them

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

The experience included: A landscape or city

Did you seem to enter some other, unearthly world? A clearly mystical or unearthly realm Paradise

What emotions did you feel during the experience? Joy and intense happiness

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

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? No

God, Spiritual and Religion:

What importance did you place on your religious/spiritual life prior to your experience? Moderately important to me

What was your religion prior to your experience? Christian- Catholic pas pratiquante aimant la philosophie boouddhiste

Have your religious practices changed since your experience? Uncertain As stated above, my religious belief didn't change after my NDE, a doubt remained. Only after the second experience close to death, one year ago and where I saw a supernatural being, (similar to what is stated in the bible), I really started to believe in God.

What importance do you place on your religious/spiritual life after your experience? Greatly important to me

What is your religion now? Christian- Catholic catholique pas pratiquante aimant toujours quelques éléments de la philosophie bouddhiste

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 Je me suis toujours intéressée aux différentes religions avec une certaine ouverture d'esprit mais j'étais sceptique à la description du paradis et des anges de la religion catholique je trouvais cela trop légendaire surtout que j'étais plutôt sympathisante bouddhiste depuis mon adolescence

Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience? No

The experience included: Presence of unearthly beings

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 As already stated above: I met two cherub angels

Did you see deceased or religious spirits? I actually saw them

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 ces deux anges chérubins

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

During your experience, did you gain information about universal connection or oneness? Uncertain comme je l'ai dit plus haut il m'a semblé que le paradis et les anges existaient

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

During your experience, did you gain information about the existence of God? Uncertain il m'a semblé que les anges existaient

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

Concerning our Earthly lives other than Religion:

During your experience, did you gain special knowledge or information about your purpose? Uncertain I don't know, I had this experience and only one doctor reassured me, telling me that I had an NDE, and he treated me for this, as I was very scared in this world.

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

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

Did you believe in an afterlife prior to your experience? Unknown

Do you believe in an afterlife after your experience? Unknown Uncertain il m'a semblé que le paradis existait

Did you fear death prior to your experience? I moderately feared death

Do you fear death after your experience? I moderately fear death

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

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? Are possibly meaningful and significant

Did you believe that our earthly lives are meaningful and significant after your experience? Are possibly meaningful and significant

Did you gain information about how to live our lives? Yes le paradis m'a semblé merveilleux par rapport au monde où nous vivons et il m'a été difficile de me réadapter je me sentais tellement en sécurité, qu'après j'ai eu des angoisses dans notre monde et je le trouvais gris et insipide. Les couleurs du paradis avaient été si magiques qu'après, tout ici était pauvre tellement dénudé, tellement triste.

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

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

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

Were you compassionate after your experience? Moderately compassionate toward others

What life changes occurred in your life after your experience? No changes in my life No changes in my life. I was alone to live this experience and could only share it with one doctor, but I remained in doubt, this didn't start any preaching in me, but it reassured me, and I could catch a glimpse at the following thresholds of death that God maybe exists.

Have your relationships changed specifically because of your experience? No 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 as accurately as other life events that occurred around the time of the experience pour moi c'est un souvenir de ma vie (ou plutôt de ma courte mort..) autant que les autres évènements de ma vie

Do you have any psychic, non-ordinary or other special gifts after your experience that you did not have before the experience? Yes More empathy, premonitions, not much fear of death

Are there one or several parts of your experience that are especially meaningful or significant to you? Paradise seemed to be marvelous in comparison to the world in which we live and I had difficulties readjusting, I felt so secure, that afterwards I had fears in our world and I found it grey and insipid. The colors of paradise had been so magic, that afterwards everything down here was so very naked, very sad.

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes One month after telling it to a doctor as I had fears in this world, but absolutely no fear of death anymore.

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 I had the impression that it was abnormal, I was disturbed by experiencing this and my perceptions were sharper, and I had problems adjusting.

What do you believe about the reality of your experience now? Experience was definitely real In January 2013 I was very sick, I had septicemia and there again, I saw a supernatural being while I had a high fever. He gave me moral support helping me not to drown, and there was a huge type of big bang light in the Universe behind him, this light was a spotless white. I thought that maybe the fever made me see this second vision, but had convictions of belief after this second experience remained strongly anchored within me, so much that I didn't go to the conferences of Tibetan lamas anymore, (as I liked to do from time to time for personal knowledge). I thought that maybe God really existed, as the bible explains.

At any time in your life, has anything ever reproduced any part of the experience? Yes As I told you above, last winter in January 2013 I had a septicemia and there, a being of light helped me while I was at the brink of death, he was cosmic in the middle of a white atomic light in the Universe. He helped me keeping consciousness while the disease was spreading and I had a fever and was going to sink.

Is there anything else that you would like to add about your experience? It seemed to me that paradise existed. It seemed to me that angels existed. I had always been interested in the different religions with an open mind, but I was skeptical concerning the description of paradise and angels of the Catholic religion which I found too legendary; and above all because I was rather a Buddhist sympathizer since adolescence. For me this is a memory of my life, or rather of my short death, as much as other life events. When I was a child of seven years, following a surgical intervention for acute peritonitis, I was in a coma for five days. There I had an OBE, I was out of my body, at the ceiling of the hospital room and I saw everything, I heard everything in a muffled atmosphere. If I woke up and came down, back into my body, (I did it voluntarily), as my father came every day to hold my hand, he wasn't shaved and was so miserable that even if he had been harsh with me, I forgave him. It was at that moment that I showed so much compassion towards him that I returned to my body. This memory is as clear to me as all memories of my life, and all my life I remembered this exactly and with precision; but I couldn't talk to anybody about it. Now I was told that my sensitivity and my abilities came above all from this first experience of coma. That's also what I told myself when I experienced the NDE, that because as a child I surpassed all limits of a normal consciousness, this was happening to me. Then last year at the threshold of death I finally believed in God.