Dustin M's NDE

I had been poisoned from the water in a duplex apt my fiancée and I had rented after eloping.  The local hospital was a private facility and sent me home with antibiotics and pain killers.  We had no heat and it was in the 20's at the time with a wind chill in the teens.  We had 1 blanket and no money to get help.  After battling for 1 & 1/2 days with diarrhea and vomiting, I passed out.  While unconscious I stopped breathing and my fiancée could not find a pulse or heartbeat.  She administered CPR and revived me.  During this time I had either a hallucination or some kind of event where I spoke with a group of deceased family members.  They greeted me but quickly told me that it wasn't my time.  Shortly afterwards I was pulled backwards away from them as if I was tied to a tether and after a popping sound, like Eustachian tubes clearing, I returned to consciousness.

Was the kind of experience difficult to express in words?          No     

At the time of this experience, was there an associated life threatening event?          Yes    Had acute amoebic dysentery, severe dehydration and fever.

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness?  During the vision, then several hours later.

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         

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    The area surrounding my family members was blurred, almost like tunnel-vision.

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.)?
          Yes    There was a fluid background, like waves in open sea or a container of water being shaken.

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

What emotions did you feel during the experience?          Fear & sorrow at 1st, then a brief moment of happiness when I saw my family.

Did you pass into or through a tunnel or enclosure?        Yes    It was like a tube on arrival, with a sudden stop at my family.  I was pulled backwards in the same fashion.

Did you see a light?         Yes    Behind my relatives, illuminating them.

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?  Yes    No surface tension under my feet.  No sense of gravity.
Did you have a sense of knowing special knowledge, universal order and/or purpose?     No     

Did you reach a boundary or limiting physical structure? Yes    I seemed to be isolated within a corridor or tube.  I was kept stationary with only forward or backward travel available.

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?       Uncertain     I had psychic events prior and have had several paranormal experiences since but I do not know if they are caused by me or if I'm just a spectator.

Have you shared this experience with others?        Yes    I immediately told me fiancée, (now my wife), and then years later told friends.  Unknown if it affected them.

Did you have any knowledge of near death experience (NDE) prior to your experience? Yes    I am a voracious reader.  I also had been visited by deceased relatives in previous years.

How did you view the reality of your experience shortly (days to weeks) after it happened:   Experience was probably real    I was very young and initially saw it more mundanely as a byproduct of my fever and little more than a hallucination.  I knew the instance was real for my mind but was still uncertain of the source.

Were there one or several parts of the experience especially meaningful or significant to you? Not at the time because I was so young, but later, as I matured, it helped to solidify my belief that there is an afterlife.  It also allowed me to become an intercessor or comforter in family death situations afterwards.

How do you currently view the reality of your experience:          Experience was definitely real         Since the event I have had other re-enforcing events that have helped shape my view of that night.  Having asked direct questions of an unseen entity and received direct answers finally changed my world view.

Have your relationships changed specifically as a result of your experience?          Yes    My death no longer is a source of fear, except for its effects on my family.  Whether there is a heaven or hell in the classical sense, I am certain there is another plane of existence and that has allowed me to take a more laid-back approach to crisis management and freed me resources to focus on my family.

Have your religious beliefs/practices changed specifically as a result of your experience? Yes    Conservative Christianity, as taught me in organized churches, takes a hypocritical view of the paranormal.  It depicts instance after instance of these events in the Bible but modern clergy refute them as either misunderstanding of the scripture or metaphors not to be taken literally.  I have begun to take time to learn about the history of my faith, its politics and most of all its self editing.  I still believe in the power of the teachings of Christ but now I search  for more than the sources of knowledge I was apportioned in childhood.

Following the experience, have you had any other events in your life, medications or substances which reproduced any part of the experience?          Yes    Similar events were reproduced via meditation and attempts at OBE's, ie astral projection or remote viewing.         

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