Brooks NDE

Experience Description

To preface, the ability to recount this experience in its entirety was not immediately available to me. This was true both in the ICU after I was brought out of a coma and in the following months when I was considered capable of continuing my recovery at home. The brain trauma I experienced required time to heal, along with a gradual return to normal brain and body function, before the details of this experience came back into my memory.

Once the events began to return in vivid detail, it became clear that I did not yet have the language needed to truly describe the experience to others. I was able to describe the sequence of events in great detail and explain the ways I felt I had changed compared to who I was before the accident. However, I could not connect the experience to any earthly timeline or align it with the bodily events and medical interventions that were happening at the same time.

It was not until a few years had passed that I felt I had a complete understanding of what had happened. By that time, my body had healed from its injuries, corrective surgeries had restored some degree of normal function and appearance, and I had begun both physical and psychological therapies. In addition, I was introduced to near-death and out-of-body experience research as both a participant and a reader of various studies. This exposure helped me feel confident that what I had experienced was not simply something my brain had created. I finally had the language and conceptual framework needed to make sense of it in a way that my rational mind could accept.

Regarding the NDE and OBE details, I found my spirit or intrinsic self suspended high above what appeared to be my physical body lying face up on the ground. My body was located in the opposite lane of traffic from where I had been cycling, positioned on the northeast side of a four-way intersection. Paramedics were working on my body at the time. My body had gone into cardiac arrest while they were stabilizing me for transport to the emergency room. They were performing CPR and using a defibrillator for more than five minutes in order to restore a pulse and breathing.

The day had clear blue skies and sunshine, with temperatures close to freezing. Despite those conditions, I felt only a sense of calm and pleasant warmth. This was not a physical warmth, but rather the kind of warmth associated with feeling loved, safe, and at peace.

On the southeast side of the intersection, six people were present who had either witnessed or heard the impact of my bicycle and body hitting the car. They had seen the windshield collapse and had observed both my body and the bicycle come to rest in the street. The driver, the passenger, and the responding police officers were positioned on the southwest side of the intersection, where the car had pulled over into the lane it had been turning into at the time of the collision. Two additional witnesses were located on the northwest corner of the intersection.

Although I was not aware of what anyone was saying or intending through their actions, my out-of-body perspective allowed me to observe the entire scene without any sense of panic, stress, or pain. I experienced myself as a detached observer of everything taking place below.

At some point, I became aware of a presence. I did not see a physical form, but I sensed someone who felt familiar while also being someone I had not known during my life on earth. This presence communicated with me without words. I understood that it was not my time to leave and that I was meant to return to my body. As soon as this communication ended, I rapidly descended back into my body.

The rest of the story unfolded later. One of the first things I said to my wife, after I had been taken off life support in the ICU, awakened from the coma, and regained the ability to speak, was a question about my father. I asked, “How is my dad?”

At that moment, my wife was standing there supporting me, coordinating with the ICU trauma team, and also managing the care of our three-year-old son, who was a hundred miles away with my parents due to a snow and ice storm that had shut down the region. Despite all of this, my first spoken concern was about my father.

I believe that I asked this question because the presence that communicated with me was my father’s biological father. He had died in a car accident when my father was three years old. I believe that he communicated to me that my time had not yet come because I was meant to be present in my role as a father to my own son. This may reflect the absence my father experienced growing up, or it may relate to a purpose that will become clearer to me in the future.

This is where my near-death and out-of-body experience concludes.

Background Information:

Gender: Male

Date of NDE: 00/00/2021

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? Yes
Head-on collision with a car accelerating through a left-hand turn at an intersection. I was traveling in the opposite direction in the opposite lane on a cycling training ride. I went helmet-first through the windshield and experienced a laundry list of life-threatening injuries from impacting the vehicle, momentarily traveling through the windshield, and ultimately landing on the pavement.

How do you consider the content of your experience? Entirely pleasant

Did you feel separated from your body? I clearly left my body and existed outside it
The telepathic-like communication is the aspect of the event that fits this description for me.

How did your highest level of consciousness and alertness during the experience compare to your normal everyday consciousness and alertness? While floating high above my earthly body.
I had a panoramic and simultaneous awareness of what was happening while experiencing the energy of all energy-giving things, both earthly and not-of-this-world, flowing through me. The telepathic-like communication with the familiar-feeling entity was also surreal for my earthly consciousness to process.

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness? More consciousness and alertness than normal

Were your thoughts speeded up? Faster than usual

Did time seem to speed up or slow down? Everything seemed to be happening at once; or time stopped or lost all meaning
This has been recounted in the testimony and in previous questions.

Were your senses more vivid than usual? More vivid than usual

Please compare your vision during the experience to your everyday vision that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience I compare the vision to a resolution not yet achievable on earth compared to the current 4K technology that we use to view earthly content.

Please compare your hearing during the experience to your everyday hearing that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience Muted. It wasn't frustrating; my hearing was a sense that did not seem relevant or necessary.

Did you seem to be aware of things going on elsewhere? No

Did you pass into or through a tunnel? No

Did you see any beings in your experience? I sensed their presence

Did you encounter or become aware of any deceased beings? Yes
This has been recounted in the testimony and in previous questions.

Did you see or feel surrounded by a brilliant light? No

Did you see an unearthly light? No

Did you seem to enter another world? No

What emotions did you feel during the experience? A calm and observant curiosity, a meditative peace with the processing of what I was watching, a deep love for the entity communicating with me, and a content understanding that I was going to return to my earthly body.

Did you have a feeling of peace or pleasantness? Incredible peace or pleasantness

Did you have a feeling of joy? Happiness

Did you feel a sense of harmony or unity with the universe? I felt no longer in conflict with nature

Did you suddenly understand everything? No

Did scenes from your past come back? No

Did scenes from the future come? The scenes were mere flashes of me being a father to my son. No specific details of the scenes are able to be recalled; it's as if it was all a momentary and informative nod to why I was returning to my body.

Did you reach a boundary or limiting physical structure? No

Did you come to a border or point of no return? No

God, Spiritual and Religion:

What was your religion prior to your experience? Unaffiliated - Agnostic

Have your religious practices changed? No

What is your religion now? Unaffiliated - Agnostic

Did your experience include features consistent with your earthly beliefs? Content that was both consistent and not consistent with the beliefs you had at the time of your experience
While telepathy or non-audible, visual, or physical communication was a concept I was aware of as a theory, I didn't have a firm belief that it existed as something that humans were able to achieve with one another, let alone the same kind of ability with anything else on Earth or elsewhere.

Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience? Yes
Once again, nothing drastic, but there were definite nudges away from the ego-driven aspects of my earthly thoughts and behavior.

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
This has been recounted in the testimony and in previous questions.

Did you encounter or become aware of any beings who previously lived on earth who are described by name in religions (for example: Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, etc.)? No

During your experience, did you gain information about premortal existence? No

During your experience, did you gain information about universal connection or oneness? Yes
This has been recounted in the testimony and in previous questions.

During your experience, did you gain information about the existence of God? No

Concerning our Earthly lives other than Religion:

During your experience, did you gain special knowledge or information about your purpose? No

During your experience, did you gain information about the meaning of life? Uncertain
I'm not certain if my 'purpose' in this life is to parent, but it's the only feeling communicated to me as to why I returned to my earthly body.

During your experience, did you gain information about an afterlife? Uncertain
I experienced communication with existence after earthly life ends, which is pretty strong evidence to me that something exists beyond this existence.

Did you gain information about how to live our lives? No

During your experience, did you gain information about life's difficulties, challenges and hardships? No

During your experience, did you gain information about love? Yes
I was aware of a feeling of love more encompassing than anything I have experienced in my earthly lifetime thus far.

What life changes occurred in your life after your experience? Moderate changes in my life
I view life purpose as something not to find out or purposefully live out, and instead I am at peace with what my consciousness is doing here and hopeful (but not requiring) that some purpose may be known to me eventually. I am far more altruistic in my intentions, compassionate and empathetic to the existence and consciousness of what's in this world, and content with the intrinsic altruism we all have as our 'source code.' While these aren't wildly drastic changes post-experience, they are significant and noteworthy changes that I don't feel require validation.

Have your relationships changed specifically because of your experience? Yes
I have changed in both visual and personal identity aspects, but the details of those changes are topics for further conversation in less public contexts.

After the NDE:

Was the experience difficult to express in words? Yes
It's difficult for me to express the other sensory aspects of the event in words beyond what was 'seen.'

How accurately do you remember the experience in comparison to other life events that occurred around the time of the experience? I remember the experience more accurately than other life events that occurred around the time of the experience
I remember nothing of the events that happened from when I left my house on my bicycle to when I was brought out of the coma I was in. However, this event, which is situated between my last 'known' memory before the trauma event and when I regained consciousness, is clearly captured in detail.

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? This was all significant and meaningful to both my consciousness and earthly body, but I feel those details are far less relevant for this space. If I'm contacted by a researcher, I'm happy to discuss this aspect further.

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes
There were about 2 to 2.5 years from the experience to recall and making sense of the ND/OB experience, and then another 2 years after that until I felt confident in sharing this.

Did you have any knowledge of near death experience (NDE) prior to your experience? Uncertain
I was raised in the Catholic religion, so I was conceptually aware of some aspects of NDEs. I gained a more scientific understanding of NDEs after all the events and their subsequent 'dust' settled.

What did you believe about the reality of your experience shortly (days to weeks) after it happened? Experience was definitely real
Because of the extent of the bodily (brain in particular) injuries, this view wasn't available for longer than days or weeks after the experience.

What do you believe about the reality of your experience now? Experience was definitely real
It's an experience I have both conscious and subconscious somatic feelings of belief in, at levels that far exceed my belief in things like 'maximizing shareholder value' or 'the rule of law.' Therefore, what subsequent reason would I have to view the reality of my experience differently?

At any time in your life, has anything ever reproduced any part of the experience? No

Did the questions asked and information that you provided accurately and comprehensively describe your experience? Uncertain
Some were accurate, others not so much, and that's acceptable.

Anything else to add? No.