Robert J Probable NDE

Experience Description

I was four years old and suffering from a progressively worsening life-threatening pneumonia. I had a temperature of about 106 degrees. After the family physician could not offer more than empathetic words my parents called the elders of their church to anoint and pray for my recovery. My father held me in his arms as he, my mother, and the elders prayed during which time I found myself floating near the ceiling of the bedroom. The whole prayer and OBE experience seemed very short, less than a minute.

The following night my fever broke and I began to recover. I recovered in about a week but was so weak that I had to relearn how to walk. A calcified lesion in the upper area of my left lung is evidence of that experience with pneumonia.

Background Information:

Gender: Male

Date NDE Occurred: 1933

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? Yes Illness 'Life threatening event, but not clinical death'

How do you consider the content of your experience? Mixed

The experience included: Out of body experience

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? Normal consciousness and alertness While floating near the ceiling of the bedroom.

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness? While floating near the ceiling of the bedroom.

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

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. Perception of being out of my body and near the ceiling of the bedroom was very clear.

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? 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? 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? Astonishment, wonderment, awe.

Did you have a feeling of peace or pleasantness? Relief or calmness

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

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? 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? Conservative/fundamentalist Pentecostal Assemblies of God

Have your religious practices changed since your experience? Yes From an ultra-conservative Christian belief system to an ultra-latitudinarian natural science and spiritual knowledge system.

What is your religion now? Liberal Integral Natural Science-Mysticism

Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience? Yes From an ultra-conservative Christian belief system to an ultra-latitudinarian natural science and spiritual knowledge system.

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? No

Have your relationships changed specifically because of your experience? Yes My experience of 'I' at four years old was certainly my dominant ego-state. Since then, as I mentioned above, additional consciousness expansion experiences have brought me to the realization of unity with our Source and an interdependent intercommunicating relationship with other entities in the Cosmos, i.e. I have gone from 'I' to 'we' in my self-concept and practice.

After the NDE:

Was the experience difficult to express in words? Yes

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? Even though I was very young (four years of age) the memory of being out of my body was extremely significant to the extent I have recalled the experience many times since and found the knowledge reinforced my confidence in the existence of me, a soul, having life before, during, and beyond my body.

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Uncertain Uncertain as to 'how long' but I did share it, I was in a group in which we were sharing such experiences. They were very receptive and showed evidence of using my sharing as positive reinforcement for their belief in OBEs.

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 real See my response to item 39 above.

What do you believe about the reality of your experience now? Experience was definitely real During the seventy-eight or so years since I have many consciousness-expansion experiences of a similar nature, which have served to reinforce the reality of that earlier one.

At any time in your life, has anything ever reproduced any part of the experience? Yes Life events, yes. But so many I cannot come close to describing them all here. If you want a bibliography of my published work please contact me.

Are there any other questions that we could ask to help you communicate your experience? You did a reasonably good job of designing the questionnaire.