Ricardo H NDE

Experience Description

I was riding my motorbike on a main artery road to the south of Mexico City crossing over the Avenida Desierto de Los Leones. It was about 12.30 or so. As I braked, the rear brake calliper failed. I was aware of it just from the grating sound it made. As soon as I realized what was wrong I started to shout, 'Watch out! Watch out!' I only had time to say it twice. With a collision imminent, I just had time to look at the scene and try to maneuver in some way. With little choice, the best I could think of was to steer between vehicles even though the lack of space made it difficult to get the bike through. Then I stopped shouting, 'Watch out!'

I was no longer aware of my surroundings and felt no pain. I didn't know what happened but I started seeing scenes from my life; like snapshots of my loved ones, friends and acquaintances. It wasn't like a film. I saw still images, one after another of my loved ones, etc.; just like photographs. They all appeared just as I was used to seeing them playing, working, resting, etc. I had a strange feeling of desperation, oppression, and suffocation while I witnessed all these scenes.

Then I saw people in front of me but I didn't know what was going on. I could hear a lady's voice saying to me, 'Call your family', and at the same time, I felt suffocated. That's when I reacted. I was suffocating and I needed to take a breath, a deep breath. I didn't understand what was going on, what I was doing there, where I came from and where I was going. I didn't even know who I was, who my family were, what they were talking about when they said 'family'. The only thing that came to mind was someone's name. Who? I didn't know. I just had the name in my head, so I looked for it on my cell phone and found it and called him. I said I had had an accident, so he asked where I was, and though I was still confused, I could see the street names and gave him my location. 'I'm on my way!' he said, and hung up.

I rang him straight back and asked him what I was doing there, where had I been coming from and where was I going. When he answered me, I was able to tie things up and so organize my thoughts and memory but I still didn't know what my friend even looked like, I couldn't recall him. As the minutes passed, I could recall more and more things but it took around 6 hours to recover my memory completely. While I was waiting for my friend, I was scared. I wanted to locate the voice of the lady who told me, 'Call your family', but she was no longer around; there were just the driver and passengers of the van, which I had struck on the driver's, door side.

I could see the door was all dented. As I looked around me trying to understand more, I could see these people looking alarmed. The driver said 'Lucky bastard! I thought you were dead. My friend took you off your bike. You were stuck on top of the van without falling off your bike!' When I heard this I didn't understand why I didn't even bounce off, I was in shock and more scared than ever. I began asking questions, to hear their versions of the event. When I spoke to the co-driver of the van, the first thing he said was 'Lucky bastard', the same words as his friend, 'we thought you were dead'. They were pacing from side to side.

What most amazed me at that moment were all the images of my dear ones and acquaintances. I couldn't stop thinking about it, and as I continued my questions, I was told that I had died; that is I did not have my eyes closed, they were open and I believe I had stopped breathing. That is why when I came round the first thing my organism needed was air to breathe.

When the ambulance came, the paramedics checked me out and determined that nothing was broken, though the helmet I was wearing split in two, as my head struck the doorframe. Thank God the only thing damaged was the helmet, they did a CT scan but found only some cerebral inflammation, no clots, no excess fluid, no tumor. I am still in shock 2 weeks later. It scares me when I recall it, because the omnipotent God, in the name of his holy Son Jesus Christ, allowed me to go on living. He took more of a hand than ever in my life and this weighs on me, as the days of life remaining to me have to be for doing positive things on earth. It is not enough just to live; we have to live by loving one another.

Background Information:

Gender: Male

Date NDE Occurred: 17 de febrero del 2012

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? No Accident Clinical death (cessation of breathing or heart function or brain function) It was an accident on my motorbike.

How do you consider the content of your experience? Mixed

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? Less consciousness and alertness than normal No particular time.

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness? No particular time.

Were your thoughts speeded up? Incredibly fast

Did time seem to speed up or slow down? Everything seemed to be happening at once; or time stopped or lost all meaning I did not know what I was doing there, who I was, where I was coming from or going to. I couldn't remember any faces when I recovered consciousness, until some minutes had passed.

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. Just the vision of my life lived.

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? Yes Confinement, something was pressing in on me.

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

The experience included: Void

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? No

Did you seem to enter some other, unearthly world? No

The experience included: Strong emotional tone

What emotions did you feel during the experience? Anguish, fear, desperation

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? Everything about the universe

The experience included: Life review

Did scenes from your past come back to you? My past flashed before me, out of my control I just saw images of my loved ones and acquaintances; all of them.

Did scenes from the future come to you? Scenes from the world's future

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

God, Spiritual and Religion:

What was your religion prior to your experience? Moderate Cristiano

Have your religious practices changed since your experience? No

What is your religion now? Conservative/fundamentalist cristiano

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

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

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

Concerning our Earthly lives other than Religion:

During your experience, did you gain special knowledge or information about your purpose? Yes That, if I am alive it is in order to be a good human being towards others, and that money does not matter; at any moment we may leave this world and it is not worth being anxious. As long as there is a way to be of benefit to our loved ones, that is what matters.

Have your relationships changed specifically because of your experience? No I am more loving and attentive.

After the NDE:

Was the experience difficult to express in words? Uncertain It was something incredible. I believe it since it happened to me, but if someone else told me about it I would have trouble believing it.

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 most critical was when I was choking and I felt that I was losing air; I was suffocating.

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes Two days went by in which I shared the experience with other people. I don't know if it had any influence on them.

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 enough to recover consciousness to realize that everything was really, truly real.

What do you believe about the reality of your experience now? Experience was definitely real Very real, so real that I must be more attentive to living, there is only one life.

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