Robert J Probable NDE

EXPERIENCE DESCRIPTION:

I was four years old and suffering from a progressively worsening life-threatening pneumonia with a temperature of about 106. 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 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.

Was the kind of experience difficult to express in words? Yes    

At the time of this experience, was there an associated life threatening event?          Yes    

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

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

            While floating near the ceiling of the bedroom.

Did your vision differ in any way from your normal, everyday vision (in any aspect, such as clarity, field of vision, colors, brightness, depth perception degree of solidness/transparency of objects, etc.)?  Yes     Perception of being out of my body and near the ceiling of the bedroom was very clear.

Did your hearing differ in any way from your normal, everyday hearing (in any aspect, such as clarity, ability to recognize source of sound, pitch, loudness, etc.)?            No      

Did you experience a separation of your consciousness from your body?     Yes

What emotions did you feel during the experience?            astonishment, wonderment, awe

Did you pass into or through a tunnel or enclosure?          No      

Did you see a light?           No      

Did you meet or see any other beings?           No      

Did you experience a review of past events in your life?    No      

Did you observe or hear anything regarding people or events during your experience that could be verified later?          No      

Did you see or visit any beautiful or otherwise distinctive locations, levels or dimensions?           No           

Did you have any sense of altered space or time?   No      

Did you have a sense of knowing special knowledge, universal order and/or purpose?     No      

Did you reach a boundary or limiting physical structure? No      

Did you become aware of future events?       No           

Did you have any psychic, paranormal or other special gifts following the experience you did not have prior to the experience?     No      

Have you 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      

How did you view the reality of your experience shortly (days to weeks) after it happened:            Experience was probably real    See my response to item 39 above.

Were there one or several parts of the experience especially meaningful or significant to you?            Even though I was very young (4 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.

How do you currently view the reality of your experience:            Experience was definitely real            During the 78 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.

Have your relationships changed specifically as a result 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.

Have your religious beliefs/practices changed specifically as a result of your experience?            Yes     Yes, from an ultra-conservative Christian belief system to an ultra latitudinarian natural science and spiritual knowledge system

Following the experience, have you had any other events in your life, medications or substances which 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.

Is there anything else you would like to add concerning the experience?        Essentially what I said in item 44 above.

Did the questions asked and information you provided so far accurately and comprehensively describe your experience?         Yes    

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