Rachel B NDE

Experience Description:

After suffering a gunshot wound to the chest I was unconscious when I arrived at the emergency room. Within minutes, I was in shock and dying. Suddenly I was looking down on my body and the crowd of doctors and nurses working to revive me. I looked around and found that I was up above the room and in the very left hand corner of the 'picture'. Looking to my right, I could see a brilliant light as if it were coming from behind a door an indefinite distance away. I wanted to go through the door but could not because of what the doctors were doing. Now they were putting tubes into my chest and I yelled at them to 'Leave her alone, let her go, stop hurting her!' repeatedly. I no longer saw that person, that body as being me, but as a separate entity. Yet, unless they let that entity die, I could not live to go through the door to the light. I felt no pain, no fear and my emotions were calm but I felt an urgency to get to the light because the door was slowing closing.

Suddenly a shock opened my eyes and I was back inside that wounded body again in the intensive care unit. I felt a terrible loss inside. The next day when the surgeon came in, I greeted him by name and told him he should have let me die. He was amazed I knew his name and more amazed when I described and named the other doctors and technicians that had worked on me. He said I was already comatose when he got there. I even described the layout of the instruments he had used and the layout of the emergency rooms. He said there was no way I could have known these things.

Background Information:

Gender: Female

Date NDE Occurred: 1973

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? Yes Criminal attack GSW to chest Clinical death (cessation of breathing or heart function or brain function) Multiple bullet fragments throughout chest, collapsed lung, excessive blood loss.

How do you consider the content of your experience? Mixed

Did you feel separated from your body? Yes 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 There was no question of what I needed to do, no decision for me to make of whether to stay or go. I did not think about past, present or future, just that at that moment it was my chance to go to the next stage of life.

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness? After going into shock.

Were your thoughts speeded up? Faster than usual

Did time seem to speed up or slow down? Neither I felt an urgency for the humans to leave my body to die so I could reach the light before the door closed completely.

Were your senses more vivid than usual? More so than usual

Please compare your vision during the experience to your everyday vision that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. While I considered myself looking into the room, I was also looking across a universe of space to the light behind the open door I needed to reach before it closed. I was seeing the people from above and at eye level at the same time; I could read their name tags, even smell their breath. I moved among them and through them without touching them. It was like watching the same show from ten different camera angles.

Please compare your hearing during the experience to your everyday hearing that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. I was hearing, but not in the sense of sound coming into my ears, it just 'was'.

Did you seem to be aware of things going on elsewhere? Yes, and the facts have been checked out

Did you pass into or through a tunnel? No

Did you see any beings in your experience? Neither

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

Did you see, or feel surrounded by, a brilliant light? A light clearly of mystical or other-worldly origin

Did you see an unearthly light? Yes I was also looking across a universe of space to the light behind the open door.

Did you seem to enter some other, unearthly world? Clearly mystical or unearthly realm

What emotions did you feel during the experience? Really felt calm. I knew what the doctors were doing must be hurting the body and I wanted them to leave it alone, it had already suffered enough pain. Emotionally, I was at peace.

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 longer in conflict with nature

Did you suddenly seem to understand everything? Everything about the universe

Did scenes from your past come back to you? Neither

Did scenes from the future come to you? Neither

Did you come to a border or point of no return? A barrier I was not permitted to cross; or 'sent back' to life involuntarily

God, Spiritual and Religion:

What was your religion prior to your experience? Liberal

Have your religious practices changed since your experience? Yes I know now the church of God is in our soul and not in a creed or building,

What is your religion now? Liberal

Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience? Yes I know now the church of God is in our soul and not in a creed or building,

Did you seem to encounter a mystical being or presence, or hear an unidentifiable voice? Neither

Did you see deceased or religious spirits? Neither

Concerning our Earthly lives other than Religion

During your experience, did you gain special knowledge or information about your purpose? Yes I felt God had let me know that he is there and is waiting for me when this body does die.

Have your relationships changed specifically because of your experience? Yes I became a kinder, gentler person.

After the NDE:

Was the experience difficult to express in words? No

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 feeling of total peace and the sense that life would go on forever in a form different than the bodies we now inhabit.

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes I shared my experience only with some relatives and close friends. At that time, one hardly ever heard of people having NDE's and I did not feel many would believe me.

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 It was crystal clear in my mind then of having actually occurred and now, thirty years later, it's still just as clear as the day it happened.

What do you believe about the reality of your experience now? Experience was definitely real It was crystal clear in my mind then of having actually occurred and now, thirty years later, it's still just as clear as the day it happened.

At any time in your life, has anything ever reproduced any part of the experience? Yes I have been in several traumatic accidents that probably should have killed me, yet at the moment when I should feel the most terror that same peace and calm wash over me and I have just thought maybe He is ready for me now. So far though, he must have more work for me to do here.