Stefan B NDE

Experience Description

I was standing on a moving swing and fell down after a girl shook the swing (and I wasn't holding myself to anything). I fell on my back and hit my head on the ground. I immediately lost consciousness. Then I saw my life from the beginning like in a fast-forwarded movie (the feeling I got was that of a dream - compared to full consciousness - so I didn't actually realize that I was unconscious). I woke up before the memories could reach the present with a fade-to-black and then to the gray of the rainy sky of that day.

Background Information:

Gender: Male

Date NDE Occurred: Autumn 1998

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? Yes AccidentDirect head injury 'Life threatening event, but not clinical death' I fell down off a swing and hit my head.

How do you consider the content of your experience? Mixed

Did you feel separated from your body? Uncertain I lost awareness of my body

How did your highest level of consciousness and alertness during the experience compare to your normal everyday consciousness and alertness? Normal consciousness and alertness It was uniform throughout the entire thing.

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness? It was uniform throughout the entire thing.

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 Space and time became mostly 'uniform.' The time became voluminous and infinite (see 'duration' in the philosophies of the 1900) and didn't feel like a time 'line', space always seemed to 'fold' on itself throwing distance out of the equation and allowing me to 'jump-travel' to places I remembered.

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. If I may dare say so, the images I remember most of that recapitulating experience seemed like 'filtered' by the feelings I had when I lived them (i.e. peaceful days from really early childhood had warmer-than-natural colors with amplified glows).

Please compare your hearing during the experience to your everyday hearing that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. Sound was intrinsic to the memories and wasn't 'perceived' like it normally is. But voices, just like the colors of the images I saw, were filtered by the feelings I had when living those moments and there were also present background sound 'patterns', similar to the ones the wind or the sea generate, (that felt) characteristic of the lived moments.

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? Uncertain Well I probably saw all the people I encountered during my life but I only remember some of my family members (not sure what you mean by 'beings').

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? Uncertain One of the clearest images I recall from the 'life review' was that of a sun almost at dusk but still completely visible in the urban landscape of my childhood that emanated a very orange and warm light over everything.

Did you seem to enter some other, unearthly world? A clearly mystical or unearthly realm A dimension pretty much identical to ours but bear of the people (bar the ones familiar to me) and with a much warmer and safe feeling to it (probably caused by the fact that I subconsciously knew those were memories and that I can't be harmed by anything I saw).

What emotions did you feel during the experience? Mostly peace and tranquility generated by a sense of 'Life was beautiful as it was'.

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? 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 No point in repeating myself here. And no I didn't learn anything I previously didn't 'know' but, after all these years (and in the light of philosophical studies and thoughts regarding existence, time and other things) I understand I actually got a glimpse at how life SUCKS but it's beautiful anyways because it's OUR life and the feelings we feel are worth the trouble. A little like how Pascal peeked at the existential matters of man 250 years before the actual existentialists understood the actual problems.

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 Christian Orthodox - Non Practical

Have your religious practices changed since your experience? No

What is your religion now? Liberal Theist (a very personalized version)

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 I didn't realize it at the time but, as stated above, do now: life is great because it's lived and that's its only purpose.

Have your relationships changed specifically because of your experience? No

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

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes The same day I talked with my mother (who had been there when I fell off the swing) and disclosed what I had lived. She was always a comprehensive and particularly prone to accepting that reality is more than it meets the eye so she didn't think nothing in particular of my experience.

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 definately not real Well it was REAL because I know it happened but it was 'not real' because I knew it was a product of my own brain and was limited to it too.

What do you believe about the reality of your experience now? Experience was definately not real Regarding the reality of the things I saw I view it in the same way as I did years ago but now I know more about the mechanisms that my brain operates with and thus am able to have a REAL opinion about what had happened to me back then.

At any time in your life, has anything ever reproduced any part of the experience? Uncertain A few days ago I donated blood and, because I rushed to get out of the bed I was on, I blacked out. I entered what it seemed to be a dream (didn't seem like memories - they didn't feel like memories so probably they weren't) but I don't recall what I was dreaming about. But I felt really calm - much like when having a pleasant dream in the morning, just before you are about to be woken up.

Is there anything else that you would like to add about your experience? It was a useful experience because it allowed me to understand more about the transition from conscious to unconscious and vice versa.