Stefan B's 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.

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     I fell down off a swing and hit my head

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

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

            It was uniform throughout the entire thing

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     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)

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       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 experience a separation of your consciousness from your body?     Uncertain

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 pass into or through a tunnel or enclosure?          No      

Did you see a 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 meet or see any other 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 experience a review of past events in your life?    Yes     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 its 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 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?            Yes     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).

Did you have any sense of altered space or time?   Yes     Space and time became mostly... "uniform": the time became "volumic" 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 placed I remembered.

Did you have a sense of knowing special knowledge, universal order and/or 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.

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?         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      

How did you view the reality of your experience shortly (days to weeks) after it happened:            Experience was definitely 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.

Were there one or several parts of the experience especially meaningful or significant to you?   

How do you currently view the reality of your experience:            Experience was definitely 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 and thus am able to have a REAL opinion about what had happened to me back then.

Have your relationships changed specifically as a result of your experience?           No      

Have your religious beliefs/practices changed specifically as a result of your experience?            No           

Following the experience, have you had any other events in your life, medications or substances which 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 you would like to add concerning the experience?        It was a useful experience because it allowed me to understand more about the transition from conscious to unconscious and vice versa.

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