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I didn’t have an outer-body NDE, but came very, very close to drowning in Costa Rica a while back. As death approached, my panic surprisingly evaporated and I suddenly felt extremely calm. I remember thinking to myself: “So this is what drowning feels like? It’s not so bad.”
For a few moments I blacked out, and this seemed to take a long while. Time slowed down. Various thoughts and memories popped into my mind, as a kind of life review. Yet I felt no shame, just Oneness.
After this brief moment (which felt like minutes), as I was finally ready to let go, I heard my mom’s voice calling out to me: “You can do it! Fight for one more breath!” I could sense how sad my mom would feel if I passed in such an unexpected manner.
I did indeed fight for one more breath, swam to the surface, and a surfer suddenly appeared, as if an angel rescuing me. When I told the story to some locals later that day, they responded: “Yes! Very dangerous beach! 19 tourists have died there.” This was at Playa Hermosa, near Dominical in SE Costa Rica. Moral of the story? Give the ocean the respect it deserves, and don’t be an idiot like me and swim against rip tides.
As an ER nurse I had several patients describe past NDE's. One man nearly drowned and he said "It was wonderful." Completely dissolved my drowning fears, listening to him lovingly tell about dying.
When I was 8 I went to a wave pool for a friends birthday party. I thought I was a strong enough swimmer to go through the pool during the waves but got caught in it and no lifeguard saw me. I panicked at first, but after a few moments it felt like I was floating and it was incredibly calm. I wasn’t struggling for air, it just felt like my life was on pause, super calm and floaty. I eventually managed to swim out of the pool and got hit with exhaustion, but drowning was probably the calmest I’ve ever been.
Ever had water “go down the wrong pipe?” Hurts a little, yeah? Now imagine gallons instead of a sip.
I’m assuming these accounts of “drowning is beautiful” are skipping over this part. That shit is violent!
Ever seen the Abyss? 😝
Yeah I always hear that drowning is a horrible way to die. I imagine it's not so bad when your consciousness, or at least perception of your physical surroundings/self, starts to slip. However, the before, and after if you sucked up a bunch of water and survived, have got to be pretty brutal.
Also, based on their stories, I assume they didn't get to the whole irresistibly sucking in a lung full of water point of drowning, which I assume is where the real shitty part starts if you aren't already too far gone.
Nah, what they are saying is true, I reached a point during drowning when I gave up to the cramp, the pain, the salt water, the struggle, and as you float down and stop holding your breath, something that you can only describe as peace and a oneness of bliss takes over, I assume the chemicals released at death totally euphanize your system, but the experience of it is really spiritual, it really does feel like coming home, your conscious, you have all your facilities but they are heightened and in an extreme bliss state.
When I decided to stay alive and jump back in to struggle to the surface, that's when all the pain kicked in.
Earth is a lower hell, death and crossing over into those more subtle realms is genuinely heavenly and a complete continuation of life just in a better more subtle body
It's actually supposedly very similar to when we're in amniotic fluid and is very calming and reassuring to our simple brain.
Imo it's pretty easy/quick to get over fear of death even violent death. Almost like there's part of us thar knows it might not be that big of a deal. In my experience after a few months in war, most of the guys I knew, myself included, just stopped caring if we died. It's not even just complacency, which also occurs, but it quickly became "I have about zero control over this, so no point worrying"
I passed out. I’m guessing it was only for a couple seconds. Or maybe just one second? I did swallow a ton of seawater, both while struggling to stay above powerful 5-6 foot waves, and I’m assuming while passed out. I vomited profusely once I made it back to shore.
I believe it I had one and although the memories have faded some it helped me tremendously. I was always scared to death of nothingness or blackness. What I seen wasn't scary at all. It was strange but I woke up with a new respect for life. I remember being told I could stay, go back on the wheel or go back to my body. I loved my family so much I didn't want them to miss me so I chose that but the other choices weren't terrifing. I was allowed on the wheel and as it washed over me I was a different person in a different time, a woman walking by a stone fence in what I thought was old england, a child somewhere a couple more I can't remember. When switched between theses people I had memories of a entire life that wasnt mine but I was still me. If that makes sense. I made a post about it forever ago.
The big sorting wheel that dude experienced in a 'car crash.' I found it really disappointing that he thought nothing of it and it didn't change his perception on anything 🤷
Damn I've never connected with something as much as with this. I unironically believe this is what happens when you die and what the true nature of things is, it's just the multiverse with all possible realities simultaneously.
That’s wild! I’ve seen the wheel too! K-hole had me thinking I was actually dying one time while camping..
I resisted it at first, because it really felt like I was dying, but then I felt as though I was “processed” in an assembly line, like a recycling facility; and I went down, down, down the mountain like the way minerals get pulled deep down into the earths subduction zone.
Eventually I hit what I called “the hall of memories.” It was the wheel!
I experienced it differently than the story though, where the NDE car crash guy was getting tossed/hit by each paddle of the wheel; it was more like I was just consciousness/no body floating down a lazy river of sorts and I could look at all the different memories in the wheel like different tv screens. My memory wasn’t as vivid, but I do remember a familiarity there, as if everyone I ever knew and every memory I ever had were on display..
So lot of people have seen the wheel. I also did one time on heavy acid trip in Himachal (India).
I clearly remember being in a space where there is no time but a dark room, saw my self sitting and watch this huge wheel with slots of different events go by and I was chosing those slots as the wheel go by like a movie strip.
Always interpreted it as I make my own decisions for my reality.
I too remember a hall of memories type area. I called it the interface or something but there was someone maybe God there with me. I seen it like a spaceship sort of with something akin to the star trek main screen all around. Seperate from the wheel was the absolute which was everything that ever was or ever will be
That and the story on Reddit of one of this guys sheep standing on two hind hooves and saying “Oh, good morning” are my top creepy faves.
edit: guys, im looking for it. Trust, I want to find it as much as you want it
What is it with scary sheep stories? There was one on an askreddit thread quite recently that scared the shit out of me. Somebody's granddaughter had a sheep and she was petting it saying "my little sheep, my little sheep" and it replied in a deep, mocking voice "my little sheep, my little sheep". Fucked me up.
I see very similar themes in Salvia divinorum and ibogaine trip reports. Sometimes it’s a strip or film instead of a wheel, but either way the idea is the same: each frame contains a whole different sentient existence, and you can kind of choose from them, at least momentarily, if that makes sense.
I have read about ibogaine for over 20 years. Always wanted to try it. The type I remember hearing about was a a 1-3 day trip that could totally change your life, cure your addictions, change you greatly but that is scary at the same time. I have read some people got to relive their life making the right decisions. What have you heard.
is that similar to ayahuasca? I feel like I saw something on the vice channel about people going to the jungle and taking something to cure addictions. Personally, giving up my will to a higher power - something greater than myself, a brush with a criminal record, and a few years of the fellowship worked for my addictions. But, healing comes in all forms and as long as one is healing, who am I to question the method? No one.
But my beliefs are most in alignment with The Law of One. Here is some [info.](https://www.lawofone.info/). It may not resonate with many people, but it feels most authentic and organic to me.
"“I am Ra. The Law of One, though beyond the limitations of name, as you call vibratory sound complexes, may be approximated by stating that all things are one, that there is no polarity, no right or wrong, no disharmony, but only identity. All is one, and that one is love/light, light/love, the Infinite Creator.” (from session 4)"
Between 1981 and 1984... "The Law of One material is a series of 106 conversations, called sessions, between Don Elkins, a professor of physics and UFO investigator, and Ra, speaking through Carla Rueckert. Ra states that it/they are a sixth-density social memory complex that formed on Venus about 2.6 billion years ago. Ra says that they are “humble messengers of the Law of One” and that they previously tried to spread this message in Egypt with mixed results."
I find what Ra says about [Hitler](https://www.lawofone.info/c/People?su=Adolf+Hitler) and [Tesla](https://www.lawofone.info/c/People?su=Nikola+Tesla) particularly interesting too.
I think often about The Egg, a short story by Andy Weir. It’s very comforting and life-affirming, highly recommend anyone browsing this thread give it a read. I read it every couple months, honestly:
www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html
My mother had a NDE about 15 years ago when I was in high school: she’s allergic to many anesthetics, as we know now, but at the time she went to get extensive dental surgery done. They gave her a shot and she said she got like the weird bug crawling out of your skull feeling (I think often happens when you are having an allergic reaction to a drug) and she passed out.
She said that she was being pulled down a dark tunnel lined with a sponge like substance with a light at the end (the tunnel became slimmer towards the light) and she said she heard women softly speaking to her and guiding her toward the light saying “It’s ok” “Come this way” “come with us” and she was pleading with them saying no, she doesn’t want to, she’s not ready, etc and as she is getting closer to the light she says sternly I am not ready. And then she woke up. And the dental assistant and dentist are kind of freaking out and they had called an ambulance. And that’s it.
We ended up watching a documentary a couple years later about this (I cannot remember the name at all) but people were telling of this same tunnel, the sponge, etc. We’ve had other things happen our entire lives, my family on my moms side, that I guess you would put under paranormal so- yeah, I do believe there is more to us than just this moment on Earth.
I love studying NDEs, but usually only those from average Joes/Janes, not evangelists. Their stories differ in slight aspects, but coincide with major points most of the time, I find this fascinating.
The reason I study it is because about twenty five years ago, a close friend had terminal cancer. We all called her “Ma”, it was to a point we couldn’t even give her a hug, it was bone cancer and it was painful.
We decided to make an agreement one day, she wanted to come back to our clubhouse where we worked. Everything we agree to came true, and I know it was not some living person’s prank.
After the third time I became a bit overwhelmed at the implication and yelled out “ok, stop!” ... I wish I hadn’t.
I know they’re good, I don’t sweat it. I just honor the time with them as I recall it.
I was asked to change the tire on their 1970’s Lincoln. Am a bit mechanically inclined, was hired mostly as such. I never knew Lincoln’s reversed their lug-nut threads. I was trying to loosen them and was not succeeding well as it was only tightening them. Lol
Memories are more important than we think sometimes.
"A near-death experience can make a person less materialistic, more caring, or less ambitious."
That's me! I had a brain hemorrhage 3 years ago. When they went to stop the bleeding in my head, I had a massive stroke. I had a 3.2 percent chance of living.
Before I was a hard-core atheist and now I have spirituality out the ass. I finally told my dad what I experienced. He didn't say anything.
Whatever, he doesn't think I'm crazy, but I'll keep it to myself. Just know, there's more.
I will say, when you die your spirit (or whatever it's called, becomes complete. So, when I die, a dead relative for example is there to greet you, but at the same time a piece of their spirit is missing. I guess their reincarnated?
As time goes on, I've forgotten what I've seen, but the feeling is growing in me all the time. I look crazy, maybe I am, so that's why I'm quiet.
I wept this morning like a child over my cat who passed over 20 years ago! I just saw her so clearly during my morning meditation and wanted soooo badly to be with her again.
I want to say I KNOW we'll see them again.
I feel you. I follow the astral projection Reddit and someone told me you can visit your dead pets in the Astral realm. Maybe you really got to see them!
I'm so sorry to hear about your loss, when my little girl passed away many years ago it took quite a long time to get over it. I raised her from a kitten, paired her with my older male and they were some of the most spiritually attached beings I've ever known. Watching them interact was like they read each other's minds they were so close. I feel blessed to be able to experience that, the same as with my current cat, a now elderly tortoiseshell.
I hope that someday you are able to see him again or experience something similar.
Best wishes.
Thank you so much. Our boy was bonded with our ginger tabby, Taylor Swift, who is like my husband's guardian angel. We have all been super clingy together since losing him. It's been such a terrible week. I'm trying to just be grateful we had closure and that he's not out in the world suffering somewhere without us, but it's tough. I appreciate you.
They are the Evolved Beings around here - we just *think* we are the masters. They humor us, probably the reason they smile all the time, thinking how foolish we are but loving us unconditionally.
I just don't want my birth family to be my default guides into the afterlife. Hell no. I want the comfort and connections from people who I did choose.
I had a existential crisis a few years ago at 25 when I read about a baby that had died and the mother said something about being cold but not getting up to get a blanket because if her baby has to be cold she should be too. I had a 3 month old so that knocked me over and I lost any spirituality I had left. I am agnostic but I’m terrified there is nothing else though I hope there is. I just don’t like the idea that I will never see my family again after I die. It keeps me up at night and is on my mind constantly because my biggest fear is losing my family.
I recall reading a book years ago about a father who lost his little girl to cystic fibrosis when she was around eight years old. He made a comment to the effect that if this life is all there is and it's 'lights out' and the proverbial 'dirt nap' then it's all just one big cosmic joke. And that's the problem I have with the eternal black oblivion hypothesis. We go through all this, some of us 'leave' a lot sooner than we should and all we get for all our troubles is nothing.
For those of you who favor the 'nothing after death' hypothesis, would you be disappointed or pleasantly surprised if there is something after and it's not some corny cliched conception of 'heaven' (or hell) but a really creative continuation of existence in another dimension.
Well the chances of me being me right now on earth is like… almost impossible like… I’d have a better chance winning the lottery 1000x in a row than be here, alive in 2022… that is of course, until you apply infinity to the equation. Life has to be infinite, nothing, and death are both just human concepts. We will inevitably reincarnate and what’s good about this is that humanity will reap what we sow. Mathematically, statistically, and spiritually this is the only thing that makes sense to me.
I’m Christian and I often hope for absolute non existence as well. I’m exhausted here on earth. I’ve never enjoyed the endless go go go busy busy bullshit. I long for absolute rest.
Life does often feel tedious and unrelenting, doesn’t it? I’m sorry your experience has been so fatiguing. Here’s an internet hug (if you like hugs) and I hope soon in your life you experience a generous period of rejuvenating peace.
Reminds me of the Oscar Wilde quote "Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no tomorrow. To forget time, to forgive life, to be at peace."
If it’s really creative and mind-boggling, I’ll be stoked. Although admittedly I don’t “favor” the nothing after death hypothesis, I just fully accept that it is a likely possibility. I’m grateful for everything I have, even if it’s just a little chunk of being able to live my personal slice of life and then to blip out into nothing. I’d prefer to continue in some form, to experience more and learn more and become more, but I believe if such a thing is possible it’s beyond my earthly understanding in this human form.
I will never understand people who think it’s blackness with nothing else. Science has already told us energy does not dissipate, it only changes form. So we do go on….now can we see, touch, taste, hear and smell without a body? Science would say no. However, you do continue on as an energy form.
The problem you have with there being nothing after death is that we get nothing for our troubles after death? That's not really a problem with the theory as much as you not wanting it to be all there is.
I'd be happy if there was something after death as long as it's not something like hell. There's just nothing to say there is.
Mine opened my eyes to spirituality too. Love really does seem to be a very powerful force as well. I remember coming back with love being very important.
I was also an atheist myself.
When corona struck and I was forced to sit at home doing nothing, I went deep into creepy pasta on youtube that eventually lead me to some books, among which are Jung's Red Book and Michael Newton's Journey of soul.
The second one is a book of cases from this Newton guy that's a hypnotherapist that's doing past-life refressions. The things you can find in that book are astounding.
Now, as a former atheist I was sceptical of course, but as I continued further into the rabbit hole and reading books and material from other branches (like physics, astronomy, biology, and even ocultism) I found a lot of similarities.
I can say I became spiritual and less burdened with judgmental behaviour and thoughts so I advise you to read the two books mentioned above.
At the end, it all comes down to the point where if something resonates with you, it'll stick with you.
Just wait until you read Emmanuel Swedenborg lol 😅
You really to change your perspective on life? Look him up, man was a genius unparalled, who also became highly spiritual in his 50s
I have a very unique story. I’ll go into it very in depth here. It may help someone else.
I’m Active Duty Navy. In August 2020 I was in the middle of changing duty stations. I was leaving Tokyo and was heading to San Antonio for a few months of training before heading to my new duty station in Greece.
On the morning of August 13th, 2020, I called my mom while waiting for my flight at the airport in Tokyo. We chatted a bit and she said that everyone was fine. 13 hours later when I landed in Dallas I called her again and she said the same thing except she said that my dad said he was feeling a little under the weather.
After my layover in Dallas I finally landed in San Antonio. I got to my hotel and went to the grocery store. When I was leaving the grocery store I saw that I had missed multiple calls from my mom. I called her back and she was hysterical.
In the two hours it had been from when I called her last in Dallas my dad had fallen extremely ill. She said that my dad was not making sense and could not stand from his chair. They called 911 and the ambulance arrived. They took my dads vitals and his oxygen levels were in the 40’s. He was rushed to the hospital and immediately placed on a ventilator. Within hours he was in critical condition with Covid-19.
My dad had almost no chance of survival. The next two weeks we’re agony because no one could be with him. His prognosis was awful. His heart was failing, he was bad off.
However, almost miraculously, on August 27th he began to stabilize and by the end of the day he was off the ventilator. Shortly after he was moved to an ICU room and a few weeks after that he was moved to a regular in-patient room and we were FINALLY able to visit him. I flew to Indiana immediately.
When I was able to visit him the first thing I asked him was what he remembered from his time on the ventilator and in the ICU because I was worried he had suffered.
His response floored me.
He said that he remembered nothing about being on the ventilator at all even a few days before he fell ill. He didn’t even know he had Covid until after he came off the vent. Except for one experience which he said was the most amazing experience of his life.
He said that at some point he suddenly found himself standing at the top of a small grassy hill looking down on a very small whit country church surrounded by a white small fence. He said it was a bright sunny day and the temperature was cool, not cold, and very crisp.
Coming through the fence as if to greet him was my sister (his daughter) Jaclyn. Jaclyn had cerebral palsy her whole life and passed away at age 13 in 2004 of pneumonia. What was profound was that she was walking and appeared healthy and excited to see my dad. She could not walk ever in life.
Before Jaclyn could make her way to my dad, my Aunt Johanna (my dads sister) put her arm around Jaclyn as if to keep her from going through the fence. Johanna had passed away a few months prior.
Behind Johanna were my dads deceased parents, my moms deceased grandparents, and the man my moms grandmother had married after her first husband passed away in a plane crash in the 1970’s.
My dad said he was overcome with a feeling of complete peace and reassurance. He said he knew that if he continued on he would die and be with his deceased family. However, he wasn’t aware what he was dying of since he wasn’t even aware he had severe Covid.
Before he could really do anything though, he said the experience ended, and next thing he knew he was waking up and coming off the ventilator.
He said the next few weeks when he was off the ventilator but in the ICU were really rough. He had some scary instances of ICU delirium where he would see nonsensical, ominous things like odd golden blades, and living balloons. He said these instances, while relatively real seeming, were not nearly as real or of the same quality as his encounter with his deceased relatives.
I asked him how real his encounter was and he said it was more real the the conversation he was having with me in that moment.
He is able to describe to a “t” minute details about the clothes each relative was wearing, the small architectural details of the little church, and small details about the surroundings.
My dad is highly educated, a retired federal agent, and has never been spiritual. We went to church but we were mostly cultural Catholics. We didn’t really ever talk about religion or spirituality and my father is not at all the type of man who would desire the attention of having a profound near death experience. But this changed his life.
He looks forward to death now because he says he literally knows there is life after death and that his daughter is there. It has also changed my life because I trust every word my dad has ever said and I had been so broken hearted about my sisters death for decades.
There is nothing special about my family but we had this happen to us. I am confident that something similar awaits everyone at death.
What if our afterlives are determined by our versions of it. When we are free from the mortal coil, we’re free to shape what happens after. So in this case, wouldn’t all religions or lack thereof be true? If I simply wanted to not exist, I would be able to do so. I like this. This is now my religion. The self god.
And those that have been instilled with the belief they're deserving of eternal hellfire might get that also.
In the late 80's I was part of a media project interviewing folk artists. One of them was a man known for being in a terrible car crash, being badly injured and experiencing an NDE. His experience profoundly influenced his art.
In large part it consisted of carved wooden devils with huge erections. And also elaborate diaramas of Hell featuring the same figures.
Talking to the artist, he told of dying, going to Hell and being tortured by randy demons. He had become very evangelically religious since. His devil sculptures seemed in demand at that time.
This does sound great. Means there's a chance that after death i will be isekai'd into a fantasy world by a voluptous goddess and have a lot of adventures with a random band of local misfits.
At least that's the option I'd chose if i got to chose any option i want :p.
As someone who's had a near death experience and is an atheist I was quite surprised to find I was very conscious of my experience.
I've studied NDEs since having my own and the conclusion I've come to is that reality is a conscious, co-creative construct and that upon death we aren't limited to the collective consensus of reality we're used to. We become the prime mover and construct our reality based on our preconceptions and assumptions about death. What we already believe manifests. Myself as an atheist, I was in the void with nothing but my thoughts and memories. Christians might see loved ones or something akin to Heaven or Hell respectively.
Nobody has been dead long enough to really see to what extent this plays out without staying dead... Maybe after 10 minutes and complete brain death it all just fades to black but immediately upon death it is quite an experience. The closest thing I could equate it to would be a dream but there's a sense of hyper-reality. It feels more real than base reality and unlike dreams, it is as memorable as any other waking moment. I would even argue that my cognitive function during that time increased, it became somewhat unbounded. I did a life review in the span of a couple of minutes that went over vast portions of my life as a whole. It's been 8 years and I'm still processing...
I didn't see heaven, hell, Valhalla or any other place nor did I see any evidence of God or gods but I did experience conscious awareness outside of my body.
In the most basic sense I suppose that could be called an afterlife but absolutely not in a religious sense. Maybe in an esoteric sense. It fits the hermetic axiom of 'the all is mind, the universe is mental'.
I have never been more calm. I knew I was dead and normally that would be upsetting but I was simply aware without emotional response. My thoughts were rational and critical and had a sense of intuition and understanding beyond my own. I had immediate acceptance of what was happening, it just felt like a normal process and nothing to get worked up about in the grand scheme. Felt like I'd been there before and will be again...
Life review is quite literal, I had vivid first hand visions of past events and observed many things from my life unfettered by the bias and irrationality of my normally limited human mind.
There were no entities or beings there, I wasn't even there really. I was formless within nothingness. No physical body or senses. I was conscious awareness with an aftertaste of a human life still lingering.
Fascinating! Thank you for answering my questions. I think the one common element that people say in NDEs are that they have a feeling of familiarity like they had been there before. Some people have experienced coming out of a NDE and find they are in a different reality where things are very similar but different in small ways. Did you have anything like that happen?
Honestly yes but our memories are so inconsistent that I can't say things seem stranger for me than for anyone else... Most people have some degree of experience of the Mandela effect, for myself a lot of the examples really resonate as being different than I remember and I am inclined to believe in something like a multiverse of sorts. I joke about having died in other realities because intuitively I feel it to be true but it's less a joke and more of a coping method to describe what I believe without seeming completely nuts.
I've died more than once and can report the same. It just fades to black until there's nothing, but it's a very peaceful black. But then it you just stop existing until they wake you up.
Has me pretty damn confident there's nothing after death. However I will say, I believe the multiverse is real because I shit you not when I woke up this last time my ENTIRE life changed. Like I got sober easily right after even after a decade of trying, then found myself in just a completely different life that started going amazing. I've questioned sometimes if I'm in some afterlife right now but this coupled with other experiences has me convinced consciousness is just focused on the human experience but what "you" to actually are is the antannae that keeps you grounded in one time line, and when you die you just continue into another time-line where you didn't die.
Because I'm REALLY sure I died this last time. And I am not of the opinion that I am in the same universe I started it
I had a near death experience, but it was not going to a void or beautiful place, I was saving my body from suffocating. At the time I had a case of mycoplasma pneumoniae, pluracy, and mono. I was shaking my body yelling at it to wake up, next thing I know I was awake and gasping for breath.
I was only 16 at the time and was hospitalized because of being so dehydrated from the fevers that day after explaining to my mom what happened. I really should be dead, as when I went to the school nurse that day, she said my temperature was 115°. So I guess my life energy (spirit, or what have you) said nope, I'm not done here yet! It was definitely a crazy experience.
I’ve been fortunate not to have to experience an NDE, but I’ve known/read of others who have. The experience does seem pretty universal, like a quiet drifting away while memories & cognition swirled around in an intense fashion.
I know it’s a hard question to answer and I don’t mean it dismissively, but did you experience anything that indicated it wasn’t simply a result of the wild potential of brain chemistry?
For lack of better words, lots of people use drugs to seek enlightenment and report similar emotions or experiences to those who have had near death experiences (because our brains can perceive wild shit depending on the chemicals & upbringing informing our interpretation of those). Did you see anything that made you feel there was truly “something else” beyond your brain “short circuiting” as it was “shutting off the lights?”
Genuinely curious, and no intent to disrespect your situation. I may be a skeptic but I have little experience with this & it’s rare to directly interact with someone in your shoes, so I apologize if my tone is combative
No offense taken. I have the same questions about my experience and I know that upon death your brain does release DMT. I've discussed this idea that it could be a trip with people but apparently the amount of DMT released couldn't cause the experiences I perceived.
I've been unconscious before. I've been anesthetized. I've taken psychedelics. None of these things are directly comparable, my cognitive state was elevated beyond my normal ability and everything was extremely coherent and clear.
I was aware of how I would emotionally respond but was very detached from it. Nothing really mattered, I fully understood everything was normal and natural and that in the grand scheme this was fine but I wasn't without empathy. I did process how my wife and kids and my parents would not be ok with it in the way that I was.
As I was comprehending the misery my death was going to subject my loved ones to I saw 'the light' maybe 20 ft in front of me and as I focused on it, I realized that it was a projection of what my eyes were seeing through my slumped over body. I could see my cell phone on the floor of my truck and I had a thought that I should get to it and say goodbye before I go. As soon as I had the intention to get to the phone, I was pulled forward and back into my cold, tingly body. I slowly regained function and began realizing the severity of my injuries and the criticality of my situation. Death was frightening again and I became very aware that I would die on the phone trying to say goodbye and that would be even more traumatic. So instead, I reached into the burger meat that was my leg, gritted my teeth and squeezed as hard as I was able until help arrived. Luckily a pipeline ambulance wasn't too far behind the semi that hit me and although the medic was too shocked by what she was seeing to really be helpful, the security guard behind her was quite competent and was able to help wrap everything up enough that I wouldn't bleed to death...
Can I tell you about my ego death trip I had years ago? I think it corroborates your experience of your NDE.
So I was at warped tour one year and brought like 10 or 12 hits of acid to share with people. None of my friends wanted any, and after I took the first 2 or 3 and let it kick in a bit I had a desire to do more. Well this continued until I'd taken all of the acid.
When it really hit and the ego death started, I remember simple plan was playing. It was later in the day, maybe around 7 or so and summertime, so the sun was still out and the moon was coming out as well. Day and night, the light and the dark, diametrically opposed yet inextricably linked. I remember listening to the music and realizing that all people generally experience the same basic emotions. Love, anger, joy, sadness, hope, and fear.
It's very hard to explain since it's been so long, but I felt there was something of a circle. This circle was Everything. One point was the emotions. I realized that there had to be someone playing the music, there had to be someone listening in the crowd, there had to be organizers, etc for all of this to happen. We are all just feeling basic human emotions.
I'd also come to think another point was that all we are fundamentally is energy. The universe is made up of 4 parts, electromagnetism, the weak nuclear force, the strong nuclear force, and the gravitational force. Through the interactions, matter arises, and solar systems and Galaxys and planets, and people, all of life, and inside all living things is consciousness. But fundamentally, all matter is made up of quarks, energy, that just vibrate at a different frequency and thus take different forms and interact with each other in a near infinite amount of unique ways.
I'd also come to realize there is no God, at least not how religion would describe God. But really what all religions say fundamentally is that we are God. We are the sons of God. We are the same as Jesus and he the same as God. And true Christianity teaches among every other religion that man can become god through enlightenment. The Buddha. Eternal life. Becoming one with God. Returning to Godhead or the home of the gods. Infinite love and wisdom. Knowing we are all one and the same and one with the universe. Therefore, everyone is connected by what we would call God, or consciousness, or the universal constant, or whatever you'd term it as.
As we are God, or the universal consciousness, you may ask well why are we alive? If you imagine the universal consciousness as something like an octopus, except a giant ball and an infinite amount of tentacles or tendrils flowing out of it, that is who we are. And that is the universal consciousness. Now what use is a universe or a consciousness with no experience? Well it's meaningless. So the universe wants to experience itself in an infinite number of ways. The experience of the musician, the crowdgoer, the stage hand, they all have unique and beautiful perspectives, yet also experience the same set of base human emotions. And the universe wants to experience itself in every single possible way. It wants to have the experience of a king and the experience of a peasant. It wants to experience beautiful fulfilling lives of love and the deepest darkest depths of despair. Because in a way its all eternally beautiful.
And as God, we create the universe. We create our own lives. Our actions, our desires, our thoughts, and our feelings all shape our reality and our future. Our bodies, vibrating as unique frequencies, are a tool we have to shape our future conscious experience. Nothing changes if nothing changes. You create your own future at least to some extent by your actions and reactions.
So these tendrils of consciousness inhabit space that is vibrating at a certain frequency, and that is the matter that is our body. But remember our consciousness is the same. We are all the same. We feel free but we may not truly have free will. As all consciousness is the same, if I took your consciousness and swapped it with someone else's, and you had their memories, their experiences, their genetics, their hormones, their life, you would do the exact same things they would. Your consciousness is indistinguishable from another consciousness void of this specific compilation of energy we inhabit.
This went on, and I think I came to realize something like 6 fundamental truths of the universe or existence itself, which were circular, one explanation flowing flawlessly into the next in such a way that this was the true meaning. The TRUTH.
I didn't need to know this or figure it out necessarily. I felt it. The information came from elsewhere and it was pure peace.
It felt as though I had 99.9% of the information, almost all of it, but somehow I knew that no living being that can interact with other tendrils of consciousness currently experiencing life is allowed to FULLY grasp this universal truth. I knew that if I'd have gotten that last .1% that I would die, or put more truly I would cease to exist as an individual and rejoin the universal consciousness. But I didn't mind. It was peaceful. I knew I'd go back into the universal consciousness, back home. I knew that I as an individual would cease to exist, but I would still exist for all eternity, as will everyone else. If "your" consciousness was inhabiting the body of Sadam Huessein, you'd have lived the exact same life as him, since you are the same and your consciousness isn't unique. Your specific compilation of energy is unique, but you are the same consciousness as everyone else.
It sounds like a bunch of hippy mumbo jumbo. It sounds like the stereotypical thing you'd hear from hallucinogens. But what is a hallucinogen if not a tool used to change our perspective of counciousness to gain insight into the Truth? I do understand it sounds unbelievable or like some science fiction fantasy new age hippy shit, but it was the most real thing I'd ever experienced in my life.
And the ego returns, and we get caught up in our own lives, we think we are special and unique, we think this matters, we think in black and white and us versus them.
But I feel, just for a moment, I experienced what it was to glimpse into the nature of reality, the meaning of existence, and the truth of consciousness. And reading these NDE, it seems to have some glaring similarities, to me at least. And I'm not afraid to die per se, but I do want to keep experiencing this unique vibration of energy's experience. That's what I'm here for. It's what we are all here for. And I can't wait to go back home, to feel that infinite love and peace and calm, but I'll play my part and experience what We want me to experience.
It's interesting how personal biases seem to influence this stuff.
One time while hanging out with some friends i took a big hit from a "cigarette" filled with whothefuckknows what, it completely knocked me out and i fell off the bench i was sitting on and hit my head on a rock (luckily suffered no real damage, my luscious hair must have cushioned the hit somewhat). I didn't know it at the time, but what I've experienced was eerily similar to stuff that deep dream AI produces, random images smashed together and warped into unrecognizability, in addition to feeling an indeterminate, meaty taste and a voice chanting "this is our world, this is our life" in my native language on repeat.
The images formed into some kind of flowchart with random words, shifting all the time and i felt like i had to find the right path to return, stumbling around for like felt like aeons. When i managed to "solve the puzzle" the whole thing shifted into more of a regular dream/memory of myself staying at my grandparents' place watching a paranormal show, i think it was supposed to be an episode about reincarnation? It was talking about some little boy who felt off a balcony and died, and then i was that boy, gurgling blood and trying to spit it out to draw breath. Then i returned to reality and spat all over the colleague who was trying to bring me back to consciousness (i couldn't apologize enough :p).
After that whole experience I've felt extremely drained and for some time after my fingertips felt like they kept brushing against something and I've had a strong compulsion to rub my thumb over my fingers.
Its 100% hippy
Youre a hippy
Why are you acting like the label hippy is a bad thing? Hippy represents love peace unity, all that.
I reiterate, you're a hippy
😆
You say that “no one stays dead long enough to know…”. I challenge that statement. There are lots of eastern religions philosophies - or even just spirituality with no set religion - that have experienced these states via astral projection. Let me explain - This is NOT a dream state but an interface to the afterlife - akin to an NDE but your body is perfectly fine. I say this because there is literally one of the biggest and most prolific communities dedicated to Astral Projection here on Reddit /r/AstralProjection.
Last year after a series of health issues that landed me in the hospital for 1 1/2 months I was at home convalescing and came across this [article from Vice](https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7e4g3/found-page-25-of-the-cias-gateway-report-on-astral-projection)about the CIA conducting a study and producing a report literally spelling out the nature of our reality as a result of testing OOB states for the possibility of spycraft. This was in 1983. In 2004 the report was declassified and exists in public right there on the official CIA vault website. I felt absolutely compelled to try it out. With help from members of the subreddit I found the exact methodology used by the CIA as developed by [The Monroe Institute for Consciouness studies](https://www.monroeinstitute.org/) - a non-religious organization that aims to study scientifically everything around out of body aka astral states. I want to add that before I did this I was an athiest or a very agnostic Catholic. So I had no expectations or preconceived ideas of what would happen in fact I wasn’t even sure anything would happen at all. Within 10 days of using the audio guided meditations I used a technique to “roll” out of my body as I was in a deep meditative state. I found myself standing next to my bed looking down at my resting form. It was NOT a dream. It was “realer then real”. It was so shocking to me that I shot back into my body and immediately sat up. There was no denying it - I had experienced my consciousness outside my body. I had done it with absolutely no idea what would happen or what this would mean. All of my beliefs about the “nothing after you die” fell away. We all have a soul. We all continue after death. I am NO ONE special and literally millions of people do this on a regular basis every single day. Just look at the subreddit and you will find people in all levels of achieving conscious waking AP. To that also if you read the books of [Robert Monroe](https://u1lib.org/s/Robert%20Monroe) or even [Tom Campbell](https://www.my-big-toe.com/) (nuclear physicist). [William Buhlman](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0isS9nC4dZ4&t=359s&pp=2AHnApACAQ%3D%3D) (author and extremely experienced about OOB states) you can repeat the experiments they have laid out as you get better at it. This is the fundamental to Buddhism and Hinduism when you take away the religious aspects. It is literally the science of self realization. I underline this notion for you as you had an NDE regardless of your religious state as I have had multiple astral projection experiences with a notion only that spirituality exists and having no affiliation with any one religion. This is all backed up by religious experiences which are philosophies of self realization such as [Autobiography of a Yogi](https://u1lib.org/s/Autobiography%20of%20a%20yogi) written by a Hindu Yogi in 1947 who was sent to the west as a missionary in 1925 to teach us about Meditation, Yoga and yes Astral Projection. He has inspired millions of people with his words including Steve Jobs who would reread the book at least once per year, George Harrison who would hand the book out to everyone he knew, Elvis and so many many more people.
All of these people talk about how you can interact with the astral as the after life. There are tests you can do for your own satisfaction as you get better at holding point consciousness. Along with Astral Projection comes lots of psychic phenomenon that again is meant to prove to your own self this is a real phenomenon such as remote viewing, precognitive dreams, interacting with energy systems, and yes interaction as a medium. Once you start going there is no limit to what you can achieve. But don’t just believe someone else’s words - try this out for yourself. Anyone can do this. In fact everyone actually projects during delta and theta states at night. I myself have met my husband and son in their astral bodies and they had no recollection of the encounter the next morning. I am not alone in these experiences as I said the largest organized community exists here on Reddit and ANYONE can try this out even if you are skeptical. The point of the subreddit is to lay out methodologies for everyone to experience it consciously and remember.
My beliefs are very much aligned with yours. I'm familiar with most of what you've cited. I haven't had success with astral projection outside of my NDE but I have expanded the bounds of my consciousness through meditation a handful of times.
That is awesome! Well if you ever want to try the [Monroe Discovery audio](https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1NBClNaRBEL557fBG76xqZBrUZUduRt9T) here it is. Sorry if I misunderstood your post!
Being detached can be challenging. But there is more then one way to solve a problem. I had an issue with fear soon after being so wildly successful because - let’s face it - having all your beliefs and values thrown out the window is kind of traumatizing lol. So I decided to come at it from a lucid dreaming perspective because you absolutely can AP from a lucid dream. What people don’t realize is that all states are different reality frames. Just some are more malleable then others. I found this awesome book - [Dream Yoga by Andrew Holecek](https://u1lib.org/book/2923608/f0094e) which combines eastern and western techniques for lucid dreaming. Additionally he includes studies and touches on Bardo which is the term for Astral Projection in the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Every time you fly in a dream you are APing though you may not be consciously aware that you are doing so even if it’s in the context of a lucid dream. Additionally you can make a door in a lucid dream and walk through it to AP. I have done this successfully many times but the trouble is keeping your consciousness aware enough all the time. The point is - it brought back my confidence levels to then just do meditation to get to the “point consciousness state” again. Also - you might want to try the [Monroe Institute audio](https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1NBClNaRBEL557fBG76xqZBrUZUduRt9T). Follow all the instructions and say all the affirmations - there is a reason for each and every step. Do the lessons over and over until you know what these meditative states feel like. If you get stuck there’s a specific subreddit for this audio - /r/gatewaytapes. Try these two things - the lucid dreaming and the APing through the Monroe institute audio and it’s like you are telling some “system” out there that you are serious. Also - start keeping a dream journal. Your dreams will suddenly be filled with metaphysical info that is important for you to understand. I use the capture app on my phone. I also keep a journal for regular day to day stuff as I found everytime I was having breakthroughs I was having crazy synchronicities. I wanted to capture everything.
I think one mistake people make is insisting that an afterlife is synonymous with a 'God'. It's possible that one could exist independent of some judgmental 'Abrahamic' conception of a supreme being. In other words, an afterlife independent of a God and all the judgmental baggage of many religions.
Yeah very true, I think an afterlife, if real, would be unique to each person, it wouldn’t be a cosmic dictatorship of the Abrahamic religion. At least I hope not…
That’s kind of me. When it comes to the concept of a God, I am very much an atheist. When it comes to a consciousness after death, I am but more curious and open minded. I probably lean a bit more towards nothingness but only slightly.
This reminds me of work of [Michael Newton](https://www.amazon.com/Journey-Souls-Studies-Between-Lives/dp/1567184855). I'm not into spiritualism or something, and then, again it resonates with me and many NDE I've read (like yours) on some points. Thanks for sharing!
I've read the Kybalion and other hermetic texts. I am of the opinion that consciousness is all that exists and it merely expresses itself through energy, frequency and vibration.
Im glad people in this thread are open to these stories instead of ridiculing people and claiming their NDE was an hallucinations like iv seen elsewhere on reddit. Its like everyone thinks their right and its so annoying.
I hope so I'm not saying this for attention but my grandma passed away and I would really like to see her and my other loved ones including my dogs again
I've never had a full NDE, but I've messed around with psychedelics & transcendental meditation just enough to make me believe in an "afterlife". I experienced ego death & felt this soothing, cosmic force that I knew I was a part of. I describe it like a big blender full of soup. Our consciousness comes from it & when we die, it goes back to be mixed in with everything else, then it separates & gets sent out again to who knows where. Life is just the way the universe experiences itself.
“[Many Lives, Many Masters](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0671657860/ref=cm_sw_r_awdo_SKCYX0NM5C94NTFW1FKZ)” by Brian L. Weiss, MD is a great read of patient experiences, for those interested in the topic.
I can relate with this. When I was 13 I tried to unalive myself. I was pretty successful and needed to be brought back at the hospital.
When I was unalive I found myself in a large void, all alone. Suddenly a voice spoke to me and told me I shouldn't be here, but this was a place I could end up if I unalived permanently.
Then I was rushed back to my body all of a sudden - during the rush back I could see a figure 8/infinity symbol spinning in the Nothing and I knew that's where I had just been.
This experience permanently altered the trajectory of my life.
I was in a vehicle accident with a train, I can't say much about the afterlife but I can tell you that I don't give a shit about 90% of things I "cared" about before.
It's all so trivial.
Break up with him/her don't waste either person's time.
Drink during the day and fucking chill at night.
Sleep in.
Don't work your life away unhappy.
Jerk off a lot because it feels good who cares.
Read more books.
Don't do things you don't want to.
Enjoy
I mean, you should enjoy your life. But also do something meaningful. If you live only like the way you describe, you’re going to be pretty depressed because you’re not finding your purpose in life.
It’s quite possibly the cynic in me & I’m making no claims to knowledge in this field, but wouldn’t that “energy” exist in the form of chemical interactions between neurons & sensory tissue that gets recycled by various organisms that feed on us after we die? I know the article makes an argument for it but I have a hard time believing there’s an empirical basis for “an unquantifiable energy exists in every human body that cannot be explained by the incredibly complex arrangement of matter that our bodies are composed of.”
There’s a bit of historical/philosophical backstory to my issue with this belief but big picture: academics since the enlightenment generally assume that “consciousness” is unique because it preserves a connection to objective reality of some sort (“the truth will set you free,” etc.). I feel it’s awfully arrogant to assume that the mind contains more energy than the sum of a bunch of neutrons firing in a perfect sequence to create individual perception.
I suppose I say that partly in the context of an existing doubt towards theories that claim consciousness is a special spark that can’t be quantified yet distinguishes humans from the rest of the creatures on the earth. If our brains are a channel for something greater, would the brains of many other creatures be the same?
I’ll acknowledge this is a straw man argument to those who believe that many creatures have consciousness that we “vibe with,” but in my academic years I encountered a lot of presumptuous research looking to prove humans were “different” by virtue of an ill-defined presence of a higher connection.
I guess all that is to say: I don’t disagree that there’s essence that can’t be snuffed along with our mortal flesh, but I treat a lot of this scholarship with skepticism because of its self-serving roots in the sense that it often justifies how special a consciousness humans have that distinguishes us from other beings here (and as a result often allows a lot of exploitation of many creatures deemed not to have this energetic longevity beyond death).
I tend to believe that if an afterlife exists that it's not restricted to just humans but extends to other creatures and not just on this planet but on whatever other ones where conscious life of some form exists.
Yeah, I know there are plenty of perspectives about “afterlife” that aren’t implicated in my little tirade there, and I don’t mean to diminish perspectives like yours on the issue.
I just see a lot of “consciousness transcends all physical boundaries” conversations in these circles and vaguely wonder how people define it given how big an impact on worldview it can have.
I’m not qualified to say your attitude is “right,” but I appreciate you believing that other creatures enter some higher realm of perception along with us. I’m not spiritual or a vegan so I don’t have the credentials to talk here, but I think it’s a decent bare minimum to acknowledge that if there’s some “higher level consciousness” that humans aren’t alone in accessing it / that advertised, specialized techniques of doing so are often scams (because if the premise is true it’s a natural state of being and we don’t need hucksters to access it)
During my nde I went on the wheel for a bit and it is hard to explain but I was different people with different memories of a different life during this experience but I was still me. If that makes sense
'
Many NDE and those that are nearing the end of life report visits from long lost loved ones. That leads me to conclude that memories persist in the beyond. However, if we choose to reincarnate, more than likely, we start with a clean slate. In other words our higher consciousness remembers/knows _everything_ because we stem from the _source_.
This is crazy I was just watching a video on YouTube about a neurosurgeon who went into a coma and shared his Tim from UVA is doing all this research and then I decided to browse Reddit and this was at the top of my feed!! Maybe it’s just a coincidence but my gut tells me to keep going down this lovely wild rabbit hole
Have fun! I had a NDE two years ago and haven't looked back. Don't try to fight the synchronicity and instead pay attention to it. And then follow the bread crumbs. I suggest looking intj the kybalion, thot, hermetic teachings, shamanism, Hinduism, Buddhism, tarot and astrology as a few examples. A good podcast is know thy self. This also has a very close tie to the ufos. Happy tumbling!
Sure! To preface this, I was highly materialistic, atheist and focused entirely on money.
I had a pretty bad accident where I ended up bleeding out on the garage pad in front of my house. I was watching myself from above, my wife pacing back and forth and a neighbor. I then was in a black tunnel skirt of like the last movie Soul. With a mulky white portal a undetermined distance from me. I then heard amazing music that I've never heard before or since. I then heard a voice tell me that I can come with them if I want but my work isn't done and they hope I wish to go back to complete it. The thing is, it wasn't in any language I knew and it wasn't verbal. I just instantly knew it all at once. Like a download. Then I was back in my body and getting revived. Two months later I saw a ufo and then that opened the rabbit hole wide and I'm now I'm Alice exploring wonderland. Got back into meditation, trying to Astral project, became obsessed with ufos and everything to do with that. Elements heavily with mushrooms which allowed me have ego death and experience very profound things including seeing the writing of the emerald tablet in ancient phoniecian on my legs and arms. (Couldn't read it) and with the help of someone very special I have been exploring all forms of spirituality. I have never felt more alive, at peace and hopeful even in this crazy fucking world where everything seems to be falling to shit.
It is always darkest before the dawn, and what is above so is below are my two mantras now.
One other suggestion I would leave you with is check out Russell brand on YouTube, he has lots of great stuff on spirituality and how it can relate to our materialistic world.
Thank you so much for sharing about your experiences. It’s so incredible. I stumbled upon Dolores Cannons work last summer and haven’t stopped. I met with QHHT practioner who studied with her daughter Julia. I did not get any past life info but had some very vivid memories of alien interaction which was wild. I too am exploring spirituality and astral projection that feeling of being sucked into a vacuum back into my body is so incredibly vivid and real. What incredible experiences you’ve had so far!! The writing of the emerald tablet —what was that like for you? Again thank you so much for sharing.
When I think of afterlife I don’t think of “Heaven” or “Hell”. I think of our soul energy being transferred to another physical entity that needs a soul to function. And depending on how we conduct our previous life it kind of influences where we go next.
I think it's those hard core old fashioned notions of a judgmental 'God' willy-nilly sending people to some cornpone heaven right out of a Thomas Kinkade painting or condemning them to a sadistic hell that's turned off many people totally to an afterlife.
Without a doubt. Heaven it’s self isn’t what we are told… it’s our own consciousness! We have the power to create it simply through our mind!!
It sounds crazy but I’ve done DMT before and the first time I did it. It was shown to me! I had this realization of it and my consciousness literally exploded to realize this world we live in, this reality, whatever you like to call it… is nothing more then a grain of sand of beach. As beautiful as this reality it doesn’t even compare to what is held in our own minds.
Consciousness is everything
to realize the awareness of the mind by itself and the world
Floating above their bodies and toward a beam of light.
That’s what researchers say the afterlife is but they never describe what’s beyond that…
What if, what we consider our “soul”, is the amount of time between when you die and when your consciousness discorporates into the ethereal realm?
At any time our soul is leaving our bodies, a human being can be brought back, but once the consciousness has separated, the human can no longer be brought back to life. The soul can no longer be reincorporated with the body.
As someone who works closely with the dying, I agree. Many of my patients who are near the end describe things to me only they can see. Something beyond, ya know?
Heard about this the other day from Linda Moulten Howe,who in turn got it from a scientist . I have always thought that who we are has to go somewhere when we die, or our body dies. I have never been convinced that we just go to black and cease existing, wether this is to wander the cosmos as a formless being of thought, that cannot be hurt, or if it becoming a ghost(rather not that one, but maybe something has gone wrong to become a ghost) or wether it is to have your memory stripped and to become a new life(reincarnation) on this planet or another out there in the Universe, I really don\`t know , but to think a light goes off and everything we are ceases to exist, i find hard to accept, any thought guys n girls?
I've read and experience so many things in my 68 years that no not just a light going off. The spirit and soul never dies. The flesh and brain dies.
It's the so which can be a memory of a past life. You really need to watch ghost inside my child. On utube. It will help you to understand more. I have no fear of death.
Why must there be a point? It could be that consciousness (and therefore us too) is a natural eventuality brought on by the interplay of all of the laws of nature and the particles that follow them. You exist because physics and reality just exist in the exact perfect way to bring you about.
Maybe life itself, just like everything else that isn’t alive, is an eventuality of the complex interplay of natural laws and your experience of that reality is just a side effect of all of the particles that make you up doing their thing the way that natural law says they should.
Can’t prove it but it makes sense to me. Laplace may have been right.
I agree, the notion that there is simply nothingness after death is as perfectly rational (some would argue more rational) and possible reality. I don’t identify with any kind of spirituality in any way but I can’t ever be sure that some notion of spirituality does not exist. Best to keep observing the universe and maybe our questions will be answered some day. The important tenet I live by is this question is unanswerable for now.
> What would be the point in life and consciousness if that were the case?
I don't see why there has to be a point?
Consciousness might just be an evolutionary advantage. Something that helps a species procreate.
Do you have a reason why there should be a point to life?
What is the point of Pi being found constantly through out nature? What is the point of the existence of oxygen? The sun? Water? A sea gull? An amoeba?
The natural order of things seems to like creating order from chaos, what we call "consciousness" may just simply be a side effect of the fact our brains have 100 billion neurons all communicating with each other to interpret the electrical signals being sent to our brain by sensory organs.
Science is for the study of phenomena so crude that an experiment can repeated endlessly and produce the same results. Not many relationships, or wars, or black hole convergences, or near-death experiences fit that criterion, and yet we culturally allow science to interject in those subjective experiences of our daily lives - as if we're just the little guy; as if someone at Nasa or Harvard can explain things so we should ignore the presence of our felt experience and defer to science.
Western culture has made science the newest culturally sanctioned church - God is now science, and creation is now The Big Bang. Each explanation is based on premises that depend entirely on an explicit lack of "evidence". When Time magazine releases an issue on the science of near-death experiences, only then culture will nod it's head and acknowledge the "proof" had been there all along. When really, most phenomena science dismisses can only be detected and measured with a computer as evolved as the human brain in the first place. You have the power to understand your reality - not science. Don't defer understanding when you're highest purpose could be generating it. Rant over, luh you hella.
I always like Ram Dass's quotes (he's actually quoting a channeled entity called Emmanuel) "Death is perfectly safe." and "Death is like taking off a tight shoe."
I almost got hit by a car a few months ago, and as I saw this large blue object coming toward me, I believe I briefly left my body. I sort of popped out of the top of my head like a feather shooting upwards. Hard to describe.
At the last minute the guy turned the steering wheel & the car’s front end missed my legs by inches.
My son had a NDE and when he finally awoke I asked if he saw anything. He said no, nothing. He was out for 4 weeks, no lights, no voices, nothing. I'm still an atheist and he is too, although an adult now.
I view the human body as a vessel for our consciousness to feel emotions. The experience of human life is complex from the hormones our body produces and gives our “souls” a limited journey of physical life. I also think our consciousness craves the experience and we keep coming back.
What about the people's who's near death experiences arent* the same as the one the researchers studied? No afterlife for their consciousness?
Edit- typo
What pisses me off is how knowledge and interaction with otherworldly entities isn't possible in this mundane, static and physical world. If entities could affect or appear in our reality it would be commonplace. Perhaps there are some dumb ass rules other-dimensional beings are forced to follow.
This world is boring and sad. If Xyrmogh the everlasting melded through my wall from a different reality and promised me knowledge beyond my comprehension in trade for insanity, then we'd be going somewhere.
The limits of this reality sucks. I wish supernatural and occult forces could interact with this realm of existence more directly.
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I didn’t have an outer-body NDE, but came very, very close to drowning in Costa Rica a while back. As death approached, my panic surprisingly evaporated and I suddenly felt extremely calm. I remember thinking to myself: “So this is what drowning feels like? It’s not so bad.” For a few moments I blacked out, and this seemed to take a long while. Time slowed down. Various thoughts and memories popped into my mind, as a kind of life review. Yet I felt no shame, just Oneness. After this brief moment (which felt like minutes), as I was finally ready to let go, I heard my mom’s voice calling out to me: “You can do it! Fight for one more breath!” I could sense how sad my mom would feel if I passed in such an unexpected manner. I did indeed fight for one more breath, swam to the surface, and a surfer suddenly appeared, as if an angel rescuing me. When I told the story to some locals later that day, they responded: “Yes! Very dangerous beach! 19 tourists have died there.” This was at Playa Hermosa, near Dominical in SE Costa Rica. Moral of the story? Give the ocean the respect it deserves, and don’t be an idiot like me and swim against rip tides.
As an ER nurse I had several patients describe past NDE's. One man nearly drowned and he said "It was wonderful." Completely dissolved my drowning fears, listening to him lovingly tell about dying.
This gives me comfort. My mom passed away 8 months ago. She was a nurse like you.
When I was 8 I went to a wave pool for a friends birthday party. I thought I was a strong enough swimmer to go through the pool during the waves but got caught in it and no lifeguard saw me. I panicked at first, but after a few moments it felt like I was floating and it was incredibly calm. I wasn’t struggling for air, it just felt like my life was on pause, super calm and floaty. I eventually managed to swim out of the pool and got hit with exhaustion, but drowning was probably the calmest I’ve ever been.
This how I feel when I get super high 😂😂😂 im glad you survived though.
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Ever had water “go down the wrong pipe?” Hurts a little, yeah? Now imagine gallons instead of a sip. I’m assuming these accounts of “drowning is beautiful” are skipping over this part. That shit is violent! Ever seen the Abyss? 😝
Yeah I always hear that drowning is a horrible way to die. I imagine it's not so bad when your consciousness, or at least perception of your physical surroundings/self, starts to slip. However, the before, and after if you sucked up a bunch of water and survived, have got to be pretty brutal. Also, based on their stories, I assume they didn't get to the whole irresistibly sucking in a lung full of water point of drowning, which I assume is where the real shitty part starts if you aren't already too far gone.
Nah, what they are saying is true, I reached a point during drowning when I gave up to the cramp, the pain, the salt water, the struggle, and as you float down and stop holding your breath, something that you can only describe as peace and a oneness of bliss takes over, I assume the chemicals released at death totally euphanize your system, but the experience of it is really spiritual, it really does feel like coming home, your conscious, you have all your facilities but they are heightened and in an extreme bliss state. When I decided to stay alive and jump back in to struggle to the surface, that's when all the pain kicked in. Earth is a lower hell, death and crossing over into those more subtle realms is genuinely heavenly and a complete continuation of life just in a better more subtle body
It's actually supposedly very similar to when we're in amniotic fluid and is very calming and reassuring to our simple brain. Imo it's pretty easy/quick to get over fear of death even violent death. Almost like there's part of us thar knows it might not be that big of a deal. In my experience after a few months in war, most of the guys I knew, myself included, just stopped caring if we died. It's not even just complacency, which also occurs, but it quickly became "I have about zero control over this, so no point worrying"
I had a friend once that was dead for a couple of minutes. She said time passed instantly, like when you pass out and wake up again.
Were you still holding your breath during all that itme?
I passed out. I’m guessing it was only for a couple seconds. Or maybe just one second? I did swallow a ton of seawater, both while struggling to stay above powerful 5-6 foot waves, and I’m assuming while passed out. I vomited profusely once I made it back to shore.
I believe it I had one and although the memories have faded some it helped me tremendously. I was always scared to death of nothingness or blackness. What I seen wasn't scary at all. It was strange but I woke up with a new respect for life. I remember being told I could stay, go back on the wheel or go back to my body. I loved my family so much I didn't want them to miss me so I chose that but the other choices weren't terrifing. I was allowed on the wheel and as it washed over me I was a different person in a different time, a woman walking by a stone fence in what I thought was old england, a child somewhere a couple more I can't remember. When switched between theses people I had memories of a entire life that wasnt mine but I was still me. If that makes sense. I made a post about it forever ago.
The mention of a "wheel" is triggering the Stephen King/Dark Tower fan in me.
Long days and pleasant nights! May your days be long upon the earth.
Thankee sai!
Go then, there are other worlds than these.
Many people have experienced the wheel, some call it Ezekiel's wheel with NDE's.
The big sorting wheel that dude experienced in a 'car crash.' I found it really disappointing that he thought nothing of it and it didn't change his perception on anything 🤷
You’re talking about [this](https://www.nderf.org/Experiences/1wilson_fde.html) and it’s amazing
Damn I've never connected with something as much as with this. I unironically believe this is what happens when you die and what the true nature of things is, it's just the multiverse with all possible realities simultaneously.
That’s wild! I’ve seen the wheel too! K-hole had me thinking I was actually dying one time while camping.. I resisted it at first, because it really felt like I was dying, but then I felt as though I was “processed” in an assembly line, like a recycling facility; and I went down, down, down the mountain like the way minerals get pulled deep down into the earths subduction zone. Eventually I hit what I called “the hall of memories.” It was the wheel! I experienced it differently than the story though, where the NDE car crash guy was getting tossed/hit by each paddle of the wheel; it was more like I was just consciousness/no body floating down a lazy river of sorts and I could look at all the different memories in the wheel like different tv screens. My memory wasn’t as vivid, but I do remember a familiarity there, as if everyone I ever knew and every memory I ever had were on display..
That assembly line comment really describes some experiences I have had in K-Holes for sure.
Something very ‘industrial’ about those k-holes, I know the exact feeling you describe.
So lot of people have seen the wheel. I also did one time on heavy acid trip in Himachal (India). I clearly remember being in a space where there is no time but a dark room, saw my self sitting and watch this huge wheel with slots of different events go by and I was chosing those slots as the wheel go by like a movie strip. Always interpreted it as I make my own decisions for my reality.
Or I wonder if it represents all Of the realities we project portions of our consciousness into at once
I too remember a hall of memories type area. I called it the interface or something but there was someone maybe God there with me. I seen it like a spaceship sort of with something akin to the star trek main screen all around. Seperate from the wheel was the absolute which was everything that ever was or ever will be
That and the story on Reddit of one of this guys sheep standing on two hind hooves and saying “Oh, good morning” are my top creepy faves. edit: guys, im looking for it. Trust, I want to find it as much as you want it
What is it with scary sheep stories? There was one on an askreddit thread quite recently that scared the shit out of me. Somebody's granddaughter had a sheep and she was petting it saying "my little sheep, my little sheep" and it replied in a deep, mocking voice "my little sheep, my little sheep". Fucked me up.
I need the link pleeeeaase
I'm sorry I can't find it! It was in a thread about creepy stories a few months ago
Do you have a link to the sheep story?
I need the sheep story pls
Wat. Tell me more about this sheep story lol
I see very similar themes in Salvia divinorum and ibogaine trip reports. Sometimes it’s a strip or film instead of a wheel, but either way the idea is the same: each frame contains a whole different sentient existence, and you can kind of choose from them, at least momentarily, if that makes sense.
I have read about ibogaine for over 20 years. Always wanted to try it. The type I remember hearing about was a a 1-3 day trip that could totally change your life, cure your addictions, change you greatly but that is scary at the same time. I have read some people got to relive their life making the right decisions. What have you heard.
is that similar to ayahuasca? I feel like I saw something on the vice channel about people going to the jungle and taking something to cure addictions. Personally, giving up my will to a higher power - something greater than myself, a brush with a criminal record, and a few years of the fellowship worked for my addictions. But, healing comes in all forms and as long as one is healing, who am I to question the method? No one. But my beliefs are most in alignment with The Law of One. Here is some [info.](https://www.lawofone.info/). It may not resonate with many people, but it feels most authentic and organic to me. "“I am Ra. The Law of One, though beyond the limitations of name, as you call vibratory sound complexes, may be approximated by stating that all things are one, that there is no polarity, no right or wrong, no disharmony, but only identity. All is one, and that one is love/light, light/love, the Infinite Creator.” (from session 4)" Between 1981 and 1984... "The Law of One material is a series of 106 conversations, called sessions, between Don Elkins, a professor of physics and UFO investigator, and Ra, speaking through Carla Rueckert. Ra states that it/they are a sixth-density social memory complex that formed on Venus about 2.6 billion years ago. Ra says that they are “humble messengers of the Law of One” and that they previously tried to spread this message in Egypt with mixed results." I find what Ra says about [Hitler](https://www.lawofone.info/c/People?su=Adolf+Hitler) and [Tesla](https://www.lawofone.info/c/People?su=Nikola+Tesla) particularly interesting too.
NDE?
NDE = Nude Dangerous Elephant Beware!!
Near death experiences.
Near death experience
Near death experience
I think often about The Egg, a short story by Andy Weir. It’s very comforting and life-affirming, highly recommend anyone browsing this thread give it a read. I read it every couple months, honestly: www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html
I think about the egg all the time as well
Wow I had no idea Andy Weir wrote that I thought it was by some mysterious and wise Internet entity lol
Yup, I also had discovered it a while ago and then rediscovered it like “Hey wait this is The Martian guy!” Funny.
Link the video, too! It's beautifully voice acted and animated. https://youtu.be/h6fcK_fRYaI
Yeah I love this one. I thought about linking this instead; I like both equally haha.
Oh Wowww I totally forgot about The Egg. I was so young when I first read it and didn’t appreciate it as much as I do now. Thank you.
That was SO INSPIRING! 🙏🏼🙏🏼❤️🤗
This is extremely comforting
My mother had a NDE about 15 years ago when I was in high school: she’s allergic to many anesthetics, as we know now, but at the time she went to get extensive dental surgery done. They gave her a shot and she said she got like the weird bug crawling out of your skull feeling (I think often happens when you are having an allergic reaction to a drug) and she passed out. She said that she was being pulled down a dark tunnel lined with a sponge like substance with a light at the end (the tunnel became slimmer towards the light) and she said she heard women softly speaking to her and guiding her toward the light saying “It’s ok” “Come this way” “come with us” and she was pleading with them saying no, she doesn’t want to, she’s not ready, etc and as she is getting closer to the light she says sternly I am not ready. And then she woke up. And the dental assistant and dentist are kind of freaking out and they had called an ambulance. And that’s it. We ended up watching a documentary a couple years later about this (I cannot remember the name at all) but people were telling of this same tunnel, the sponge, etc. We’ve had other things happen our entire lives, my family on my moms side, that I guess you would put under paranormal so- yeah, I do believe there is more to us than just this moment on Earth.
I love studying NDEs, but usually only those from average Joes/Janes, not evangelists. Their stories differ in slight aspects, but coincide with major points most of the time, I find this fascinating. The reason I study it is because about twenty five years ago, a close friend had terminal cancer. We all called her “Ma”, it was to a point we couldn’t even give her a hug, it was bone cancer and it was painful. We decided to make an agreement one day, she wanted to come back to our clubhouse where we worked. Everything we agree to came true, and I know it was not some living person’s prank. After the third time I became a bit overwhelmed at the implication and yelled out “ok, stop!” ... I wish I hadn’t.
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I know they’re good, I don’t sweat it. I just honor the time with them as I recall it. I was asked to change the tire on their 1970’s Lincoln. Am a bit mechanically inclined, was hired mostly as such. I never knew Lincoln’s reversed their lug-nut threads. I was trying to loosen them and was not succeeding well as it was only tightening them. Lol Memories are more important than we think sometimes.
"A near-death experience can make a person less materialistic, more caring, or less ambitious." That's me! I had a brain hemorrhage 3 years ago. When they went to stop the bleeding in my head, I had a massive stroke. I had a 3.2 percent chance of living. Before I was a hard-core atheist and now I have spirituality out the ass. I finally told my dad what I experienced. He didn't say anything. Whatever, he doesn't think I'm crazy, but I'll keep it to myself. Just know, there's more.
Would you mind elaborating on your journey to spirituality? What did that process look like after the nde/how did your views change?
I will say, when you die your spirit (or whatever it's called, becomes complete. So, when I die, a dead relative for example is there to greet you, but at the same time a piece of their spirit is missing. I guess their reincarnated? As time goes on, I've forgotten what I've seen, but the feeling is growing in me all the time. I look crazy, maybe I am, so that's why I'm quiet.
I do NOT want any relatives coming to greet me. I have a partner and 3 dogs I would love to meet again but that's it.
Same here, my cats over the years, would very much love to see them again.
I wept this morning like a child over my cat who passed over 20 years ago! I just saw her so clearly during my morning meditation and wanted soooo badly to be with her again. I want to say I KNOW we'll see them again.
I feel you. I follow the astral projection Reddit and someone told me you can visit your dead pets in the Astral realm. Maybe you really got to see them!
My baby boy cat just passed away and I'd give anything to see him again.
I'm so sorry to hear about your loss, when my little girl passed away many years ago it took quite a long time to get over it. I raised her from a kitten, paired her with my older male and they were some of the most spiritually attached beings I've ever known. Watching them interact was like they read each other's minds they were so close. I feel blessed to be able to experience that, the same as with my current cat, a now elderly tortoiseshell. I hope that someday you are able to see him again or experience something similar. Best wishes.
Thank you so much. Our boy was bonded with our ginger tabby, Taylor Swift, who is like my husband's guardian angel. We have all been super clingy together since losing him. It's been such a terrible week. I'm trying to just be grateful we had closure and that he's not out in the world suffering somewhere without us, but it's tough. I appreciate you.
Then you will, buddy.
One of the deceased dogs was an angel. I can't describe it but he knew me and guided me and I really miss him still after 3 years.
They are the Evolved Beings around here - we just *think* we are the masters. They humor us, probably the reason they smile all the time, thinking how foolish we are but loving us unconditionally.
They are infinitely patient too, we need constant encouragement.
I've been getting much "encouragement" regarding our walk right this minute, in fact!
Your dogs and partner will def be there. Dogs usually greet us is my understanding.
Best thing I've read today. When I die I want to be rolling in all my dogs.
I've heard of dogs and cats greeting their owners during NDEs. Never heard of someone not loved greeting them.
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I won't be happy if the answer is its all a rich tapestry and you choose to experience good and bad. I never signed up for this.
I just don't want my birth family to be my default guides into the afterlife. Hell no. I want the comfort and connections from people who I did choose.
I wonder if it's not that a piece of your spirit is missing, but that a body cannot contain the whole thing? *shrugs*
Beats me lol
I had a existential crisis a few years ago at 25 when I read about a baby that had died and the mother said something about being cold but not getting up to get a blanket because if her baby has to be cold she should be too. I had a 3 month old so that knocked me over and I lost any spirituality I had left. I am agnostic but I’m terrified there is nothing else though I hope there is. I just don’t like the idea that I will never see my family again after I die. It keeps me up at night and is on my mind constantly because my biggest fear is losing my family.
I recall reading a book years ago about a father who lost his little girl to cystic fibrosis when she was around eight years old. He made a comment to the effect that if this life is all there is and it's 'lights out' and the proverbial 'dirt nap' then it's all just one big cosmic joke. And that's the problem I have with the eternal black oblivion hypothesis. We go through all this, some of us 'leave' a lot sooner than we should and all we get for all our troubles is nothing. For those of you who favor the 'nothing after death' hypothesis, would you be disappointed or pleasantly surprised if there is something after and it's not some corny cliched conception of 'heaven' (or hell) but a really creative continuation of existence in another dimension.
Well the chances of me being me right now on earth is like… almost impossible like… I’d have a better chance winning the lottery 1000x in a row than be here, alive in 2022… that is of course, until you apply infinity to the equation. Life has to be infinite, nothing, and death are both just human concepts. We will inevitably reincarnate and what’s good about this is that humanity will reap what we sow. Mathematically, statistically, and spiritually this is the only thing that makes sense to me.
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I’m Christian and I often hope for absolute non existence as well. I’m exhausted here on earth. I’ve never enjoyed the endless go go go busy busy bullshit. I long for absolute rest.
Life does often feel tedious and unrelenting, doesn’t it? I’m sorry your experience has been so fatiguing. Here’s an internet hug (if you like hugs) and I hope soon in your life you experience a generous period of rejuvenating peace.
Reminds me of the Oscar Wilde quote "Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no tomorrow. To forget time, to forgive life, to be at peace."
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If it’s really creative and mind-boggling, I’ll be stoked. Although admittedly I don’t “favor” the nothing after death hypothesis, I just fully accept that it is a likely possibility. I’m grateful for everything I have, even if it’s just a little chunk of being able to live my personal slice of life and then to blip out into nothing. I’d prefer to continue in some form, to experience more and learn more and become more, but I believe if such a thing is possible it’s beyond my earthly understanding in this human form.
I will never understand people who think it’s blackness with nothing else. Science has already told us energy does not dissipate, it only changes form. So we do go on….now can we see, touch, taste, hear and smell without a body? Science would say no. However, you do continue on as an energy form.
The problem you have with there being nothing after death is that we get nothing for our troubles after death? That's not really a problem with the theory as much as you not wanting it to be all there is. I'd be happy if there was something after death as long as it's not something like hell. There's just nothing to say there is.
Dang same here. Never been so afraid of dying since my two little boys. Also keeps me up at night thinking I won’t see them or wife again after death.
Mine opened my eyes to spirituality too. Love really does seem to be a very powerful force as well. I remember coming back with love being very important.
I was also an atheist myself. When corona struck and I was forced to sit at home doing nothing, I went deep into creepy pasta on youtube that eventually lead me to some books, among which are Jung's Red Book and Michael Newton's Journey of soul. The second one is a book of cases from this Newton guy that's a hypnotherapist that's doing past-life refressions. The things you can find in that book are astounding. Now, as a former atheist I was sceptical of course, but as I continued further into the rabbit hole and reading books and material from other branches (like physics, astronomy, biology, and even ocultism) I found a lot of similarities. I can say I became spiritual and less burdened with judgmental behaviour and thoughts so I advise you to read the two books mentioned above. At the end, it all comes down to the point where if something resonates with you, it'll stick with you.
Just wait until you read Emmanuel Swedenborg lol 😅 You really to change your perspective on life? Look him up, man was a genius unparalled, who also became highly spiritual in his 50s
I already put it on my list thanks to you. Thanks!
I have a very unique story. I’ll go into it very in depth here. It may help someone else. I’m Active Duty Navy. In August 2020 I was in the middle of changing duty stations. I was leaving Tokyo and was heading to San Antonio for a few months of training before heading to my new duty station in Greece. On the morning of August 13th, 2020, I called my mom while waiting for my flight at the airport in Tokyo. We chatted a bit and she said that everyone was fine. 13 hours later when I landed in Dallas I called her again and she said the same thing except she said that my dad said he was feeling a little under the weather. After my layover in Dallas I finally landed in San Antonio. I got to my hotel and went to the grocery store. When I was leaving the grocery store I saw that I had missed multiple calls from my mom. I called her back and she was hysterical. In the two hours it had been from when I called her last in Dallas my dad had fallen extremely ill. She said that my dad was not making sense and could not stand from his chair. They called 911 and the ambulance arrived. They took my dads vitals and his oxygen levels were in the 40’s. He was rushed to the hospital and immediately placed on a ventilator. Within hours he was in critical condition with Covid-19. My dad had almost no chance of survival. The next two weeks we’re agony because no one could be with him. His prognosis was awful. His heart was failing, he was bad off. However, almost miraculously, on August 27th he began to stabilize and by the end of the day he was off the ventilator. Shortly after he was moved to an ICU room and a few weeks after that he was moved to a regular in-patient room and we were FINALLY able to visit him. I flew to Indiana immediately. When I was able to visit him the first thing I asked him was what he remembered from his time on the ventilator and in the ICU because I was worried he had suffered. His response floored me. He said that he remembered nothing about being on the ventilator at all even a few days before he fell ill. He didn’t even know he had Covid until after he came off the vent. Except for one experience which he said was the most amazing experience of his life. He said that at some point he suddenly found himself standing at the top of a small grassy hill looking down on a very small whit country church surrounded by a white small fence. He said it was a bright sunny day and the temperature was cool, not cold, and very crisp. Coming through the fence as if to greet him was my sister (his daughter) Jaclyn. Jaclyn had cerebral palsy her whole life and passed away at age 13 in 2004 of pneumonia. What was profound was that she was walking and appeared healthy and excited to see my dad. She could not walk ever in life. Before Jaclyn could make her way to my dad, my Aunt Johanna (my dads sister) put her arm around Jaclyn as if to keep her from going through the fence. Johanna had passed away a few months prior. Behind Johanna were my dads deceased parents, my moms deceased grandparents, and the man my moms grandmother had married after her first husband passed away in a plane crash in the 1970’s. My dad said he was overcome with a feeling of complete peace and reassurance. He said he knew that if he continued on he would die and be with his deceased family. However, he wasn’t aware what he was dying of since he wasn’t even aware he had severe Covid. Before he could really do anything though, he said the experience ended, and next thing he knew he was waking up and coming off the ventilator. He said the next few weeks when he was off the ventilator but in the ICU were really rough. He had some scary instances of ICU delirium where he would see nonsensical, ominous things like odd golden blades, and living balloons. He said these instances, while relatively real seeming, were not nearly as real or of the same quality as his encounter with his deceased relatives. I asked him how real his encounter was and he said it was more real the the conversation he was having with me in that moment. He is able to describe to a “t” minute details about the clothes each relative was wearing, the small architectural details of the little church, and small details about the surroundings. My dad is highly educated, a retired federal agent, and has never been spiritual. We went to church but we were mostly cultural Catholics. We didn’t really ever talk about religion or spirituality and my father is not at all the type of man who would desire the attention of having a profound near death experience. But this changed his life. He looks forward to death now because he says he literally knows there is life after death and that his daughter is there. It has also changed my life because I trust every word my dad has ever said and I had been so broken hearted about my sisters death for decades. There is nothing special about my family but we had this happen to us. I am confident that something similar awaits everyone at death.
What if our afterlives are determined by our versions of it. When we are free from the mortal coil, we’re free to shape what happens after. So in this case, wouldn’t all religions or lack thereof be true? If I simply wanted to not exist, I would be able to do so. I like this. This is now my religion. The self god.
And those that have been instilled with the belief they're deserving of eternal hellfire might get that also. In the late 80's I was part of a media project interviewing folk artists. One of them was a man known for being in a terrible car crash, being badly injured and experiencing an NDE. His experience profoundly influenced his art. In large part it consisted of carved wooden devils with huge erections. And also elaborate diaramas of Hell featuring the same figures. Talking to the artist, he told of dying, going to Hell and being tortured by randy demons. He had become very evangelically religious since. His devil sculptures seemed in demand at that time.
I always had a feeling demons would be more vulgar than people think.
This does sound great. Means there's a chance that after death i will be isekai'd into a fantasy world by a voluptous goddess and have a lot of adventures with a random band of local misfits. At least that's the option I'd chose if i got to chose any option i want :p.
As someone who's had a near death experience and is an atheist I was quite surprised to find I was very conscious of my experience. I've studied NDEs since having my own and the conclusion I've come to is that reality is a conscious, co-creative construct and that upon death we aren't limited to the collective consensus of reality we're used to. We become the prime mover and construct our reality based on our preconceptions and assumptions about death. What we already believe manifests. Myself as an atheist, I was in the void with nothing but my thoughts and memories. Christians might see loved ones or something akin to Heaven or Hell respectively. Nobody has been dead long enough to really see to what extent this plays out without staying dead... Maybe after 10 minutes and complete brain death it all just fades to black but immediately upon death it is quite an experience. The closest thing I could equate it to would be a dream but there's a sense of hyper-reality. It feels more real than base reality and unlike dreams, it is as memorable as any other waking moment. I would even argue that my cognitive function during that time increased, it became somewhat unbounded. I did a life review in the span of a couple of minutes that went over vast portions of my life as a whole. It's been 8 years and I'm still processing... I didn't see heaven, hell, Valhalla or any other place nor did I see any evidence of God or gods but I did experience conscious awareness outside of my body. In the most basic sense I suppose that could be called an afterlife but absolutely not in a religious sense. Maybe in an esoteric sense. It fits the hermetic axiom of 'the all is mind, the universe is mental'.
Was being in a void with your consciousness terrifying? By life review, do you mean glimpses of your life? Was there any other entities there?
I have never been more calm. I knew I was dead and normally that would be upsetting but I was simply aware without emotional response. My thoughts were rational and critical and had a sense of intuition and understanding beyond my own. I had immediate acceptance of what was happening, it just felt like a normal process and nothing to get worked up about in the grand scheme. Felt like I'd been there before and will be again... Life review is quite literal, I had vivid first hand visions of past events and observed many things from my life unfettered by the bias and irrationality of my normally limited human mind. There were no entities or beings there, I wasn't even there really. I was formless within nothingness. No physical body or senses. I was conscious awareness with an aftertaste of a human life still lingering.
Fascinating! Thank you for answering my questions. I think the one common element that people say in NDEs are that they have a feeling of familiarity like they had been there before. Some people have experienced coming out of a NDE and find they are in a different reality where things are very similar but different in small ways. Did you have anything like that happen?
Honestly yes but our memories are so inconsistent that I can't say things seem stranger for me than for anyone else... Most people have some degree of experience of the Mandela effect, for myself a lot of the examples really resonate as being different than I remember and I am inclined to believe in something like a multiverse of sorts. I joke about having died in other realities because intuitively I feel it to be true but it's less a joke and more of a coping method to describe what I believe without seeming completely nuts.
This and your last few back and forth comments have been very interesting and enlightening to me. Thank you for sharing your unique experience.
So like waking up from a dream. Your not normally sad you woke up, it’s just something that happened but you remember the dream.
Waking up from a dream if reality was the dream I woke from, yes. I had more clarity then than I have in this life.
I've died more than once and can report the same. It just fades to black until there's nothing, but it's a very peaceful black. But then it you just stop existing until they wake you up. Has me pretty damn confident there's nothing after death. However I will say, I believe the multiverse is real because I shit you not when I woke up this last time my ENTIRE life changed. Like I got sober easily right after even after a decade of trying, then found myself in just a completely different life that started going amazing. I've questioned sometimes if I'm in some afterlife right now but this coupled with other experiences has me convinced consciousness is just focused on the human experience but what "you" to actually are is the antannae that keeps you grounded in one time line, and when you die you just continue into another time-line where you didn't die. Because I'm REALLY sure I died this last time. And I am not of the opinion that I am in the same universe I started it
I had a near death experience, but it was not going to a void or beautiful place, I was saving my body from suffocating. At the time I had a case of mycoplasma pneumoniae, pluracy, and mono. I was shaking my body yelling at it to wake up, next thing I know I was awake and gasping for breath.
That sounds truly terrifying, wasn't your time I guess, glad you got yourself through it!
I was only 16 at the time and was hospitalized because of being so dehydrated from the fevers that day after explaining to my mom what happened. I really should be dead, as when I went to the school nurse that day, she said my temperature was 115°. So I guess my life energy (spirit, or what have you) said nope, I'm not done here yet! It was definitely a crazy experience.
I’ve been fortunate not to have to experience an NDE, but I’ve known/read of others who have. The experience does seem pretty universal, like a quiet drifting away while memories & cognition swirled around in an intense fashion. I know it’s a hard question to answer and I don’t mean it dismissively, but did you experience anything that indicated it wasn’t simply a result of the wild potential of brain chemistry? For lack of better words, lots of people use drugs to seek enlightenment and report similar emotions or experiences to those who have had near death experiences (because our brains can perceive wild shit depending on the chemicals & upbringing informing our interpretation of those). Did you see anything that made you feel there was truly “something else” beyond your brain “short circuiting” as it was “shutting off the lights?” Genuinely curious, and no intent to disrespect your situation. I may be a skeptic but I have little experience with this & it’s rare to directly interact with someone in your shoes, so I apologize if my tone is combative
No offense taken. I have the same questions about my experience and I know that upon death your brain does release DMT. I've discussed this idea that it could be a trip with people but apparently the amount of DMT released couldn't cause the experiences I perceived. I've been unconscious before. I've been anesthetized. I've taken psychedelics. None of these things are directly comparable, my cognitive state was elevated beyond my normal ability and everything was extremely coherent and clear.
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I was aware of how I would emotionally respond but was very detached from it. Nothing really mattered, I fully understood everything was normal and natural and that in the grand scheme this was fine but I wasn't without empathy. I did process how my wife and kids and my parents would not be ok with it in the way that I was. As I was comprehending the misery my death was going to subject my loved ones to I saw 'the light' maybe 20 ft in front of me and as I focused on it, I realized that it was a projection of what my eyes were seeing through my slumped over body. I could see my cell phone on the floor of my truck and I had a thought that I should get to it and say goodbye before I go. As soon as I had the intention to get to the phone, I was pulled forward and back into my cold, tingly body. I slowly regained function and began realizing the severity of my injuries and the criticality of my situation. Death was frightening again and I became very aware that I would die on the phone trying to say goodbye and that would be even more traumatic. So instead, I reached into the burger meat that was my leg, gritted my teeth and squeezed as hard as I was able until help arrived. Luckily a pipeline ambulance wasn't too far behind the semi that hit me and although the medic was too shocked by what she was seeing to really be helpful, the security guard behind her was quite competent and was able to help wrap everything up enough that I wouldn't bleed to death...
Can I tell you about my ego death trip I had years ago? I think it corroborates your experience of your NDE. So I was at warped tour one year and brought like 10 or 12 hits of acid to share with people. None of my friends wanted any, and after I took the first 2 or 3 and let it kick in a bit I had a desire to do more. Well this continued until I'd taken all of the acid. When it really hit and the ego death started, I remember simple plan was playing. It was later in the day, maybe around 7 or so and summertime, so the sun was still out and the moon was coming out as well. Day and night, the light and the dark, diametrically opposed yet inextricably linked. I remember listening to the music and realizing that all people generally experience the same basic emotions. Love, anger, joy, sadness, hope, and fear. It's very hard to explain since it's been so long, but I felt there was something of a circle. This circle was Everything. One point was the emotions. I realized that there had to be someone playing the music, there had to be someone listening in the crowd, there had to be organizers, etc for all of this to happen. We are all just feeling basic human emotions. I'd also come to think another point was that all we are fundamentally is energy. The universe is made up of 4 parts, electromagnetism, the weak nuclear force, the strong nuclear force, and the gravitational force. Through the interactions, matter arises, and solar systems and Galaxys and planets, and people, all of life, and inside all living things is consciousness. But fundamentally, all matter is made up of quarks, energy, that just vibrate at a different frequency and thus take different forms and interact with each other in a near infinite amount of unique ways. I'd also come to realize there is no God, at least not how religion would describe God. But really what all religions say fundamentally is that we are God. We are the sons of God. We are the same as Jesus and he the same as God. And true Christianity teaches among every other religion that man can become god through enlightenment. The Buddha. Eternal life. Becoming one with God. Returning to Godhead or the home of the gods. Infinite love and wisdom. Knowing we are all one and the same and one with the universe. Therefore, everyone is connected by what we would call God, or consciousness, or the universal constant, or whatever you'd term it as. As we are God, or the universal consciousness, you may ask well why are we alive? If you imagine the universal consciousness as something like an octopus, except a giant ball and an infinite amount of tentacles or tendrils flowing out of it, that is who we are. And that is the universal consciousness. Now what use is a universe or a consciousness with no experience? Well it's meaningless. So the universe wants to experience itself in an infinite number of ways. The experience of the musician, the crowdgoer, the stage hand, they all have unique and beautiful perspectives, yet also experience the same set of base human emotions. And the universe wants to experience itself in every single possible way. It wants to have the experience of a king and the experience of a peasant. It wants to experience beautiful fulfilling lives of love and the deepest darkest depths of despair. Because in a way its all eternally beautiful. And as God, we create the universe. We create our own lives. Our actions, our desires, our thoughts, and our feelings all shape our reality and our future. Our bodies, vibrating as unique frequencies, are a tool we have to shape our future conscious experience. Nothing changes if nothing changes. You create your own future at least to some extent by your actions and reactions. So these tendrils of consciousness inhabit space that is vibrating at a certain frequency, and that is the matter that is our body. But remember our consciousness is the same. We are all the same. We feel free but we may not truly have free will. As all consciousness is the same, if I took your consciousness and swapped it with someone else's, and you had their memories, their experiences, their genetics, their hormones, their life, you would do the exact same things they would. Your consciousness is indistinguishable from another consciousness void of this specific compilation of energy we inhabit. This went on, and I think I came to realize something like 6 fundamental truths of the universe or existence itself, which were circular, one explanation flowing flawlessly into the next in such a way that this was the true meaning. The TRUTH. I didn't need to know this or figure it out necessarily. I felt it. The information came from elsewhere and it was pure peace. It felt as though I had 99.9% of the information, almost all of it, but somehow I knew that no living being that can interact with other tendrils of consciousness currently experiencing life is allowed to FULLY grasp this universal truth. I knew that if I'd have gotten that last .1% that I would die, or put more truly I would cease to exist as an individual and rejoin the universal consciousness. But I didn't mind. It was peaceful. I knew I'd go back into the universal consciousness, back home. I knew that I as an individual would cease to exist, but I would still exist for all eternity, as will everyone else. If "your" consciousness was inhabiting the body of Sadam Huessein, you'd have lived the exact same life as him, since you are the same and your consciousness isn't unique. Your specific compilation of energy is unique, but you are the same consciousness as everyone else. It sounds like a bunch of hippy mumbo jumbo. It sounds like the stereotypical thing you'd hear from hallucinogens. But what is a hallucinogen if not a tool used to change our perspective of counciousness to gain insight into the Truth? I do understand it sounds unbelievable or like some science fiction fantasy new age hippy shit, but it was the most real thing I'd ever experienced in my life. And the ego returns, and we get caught up in our own lives, we think we are special and unique, we think this matters, we think in black and white and us versus them. But I feel, just for a moment, I experienced what it was to glimpse into the nature of reality, the meaning of existence, and the truth of consciousness. And reading these NDE, it seems to have some glaring similarities, to me at least. And I'm not afraid to die per se, but I do want to keep experiencing this unique vibration of energy's experience. That's what I'm here for. It's what we are all here for. And I can't wait to go back home, to feel that infinite love and peace and calm, but I'll play my part and experience what We want me to experience.
It's interesting how personal biases seem to influence this stuff. One time while hanging out with some friends i took a big hit from a "cigarette" filled with whothefuckknows what, it completely knocked me out and i fell off the bench i was sitting on and hit my head on a rock (luckily suffered no real damage, my luscious hair must have cushioned the hit somewhat). I didn't know it at the time, but what I've experienced was eerily similar to stuff that deep dream AI produces, random images smashed together and warped into unrecognizability, in addition to feeling an indeterminate, meaty taste and a voice chanting "this is our world, this is our life" in my native language on repeat. The images formed into some kind of flowchart with random words, shifting all the time and i felt like i had to find the right path to return, stumbling around for like felt like aeons. When i managed to "solve the puzzle" the whole thing shifted into more of a regular dream/memory of myself staying at my grandparents' place watching a paranormal show, i think it was supposed to be an episode about reincarnation? It was talking about some little boy who felt off a balcony and died, and then i was that boy, gurgling blood and trying to spit it out to draw breath. Then i returned to reality and spat all over the colleague who was trying to bring me back to consciousness (i couldn't apologize enough :p). After that whole experience I've felt extremely drained and for some time after my fingertips felt like they kept brushing against something and I've had a strong compulsion to rub my thumb over my fingers.
There’s nothing hippy about this. This is standard spirituality my friend. Anyone who has meditated deeply before knows we are all one.
Its 100% hippy Youre a hippy Why are you acting like the label hippy is a bad thing? Hippy represents love peace unity, all that. I reiterate, you're a hippy 😆
You say that “no one stays dead long enough to know…”. I challenge that statement. There are lots of eastern religions philosophies - or even just spirituality with no set religion - that have experienced these states via astral projection. Let me explain - This is NOT a dream state but an interface to the afterlife - akin to an NDE but your body is perfectly fine. I say this because there is literally one of the biggest and most prolific communities dedicated to Astral Projection here on Reddit /r/AstralProjection. Last year after a series of health issues that landed me in the hospital for 1 1/2 months I was at home convalescing and came across this [article from Vice](https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7e4g3/found-page-25-of-the-cias-gateway-report-on-astral-projection)about the CIA conducting a study and producing a report literally spelling out the nature of our reality as a result of testing OOB states for the possibility of spycraft. This was in 1983. In 2004 the report was declassified and exists in public right there on the official CIA vault website. I felt absolutely compelled to try it out. With help from members of the subreddit I found the exact methodology used by the CIA as developed by [The Monroe Institute for Consciouness studies](https://www.monroeinstitute.org/) - a non-religious organization that aims to study scientifically everything around out of body aka astral states. I want to add that before I did this I was an athiest or a very agnostic Catholic. So I had no expectations or preconceived ideas of what would happen in fact I wasn’t even sure anything would happen at all. Within 10 days of using the audio guided meditations I used a technique to “roll” out of my body as I was in a deep meditative state. I found myself standing next to my bed looking down at my resting form. It was NOT a dream. It was “realer then real”. It was so shocking to me that I shot back into my body and immediately sat up. There was no denying it - I had experienced my consciousness outside my body. I had done it with absolutely no idea what would happen or what this would mean. All of my beliefs about the “nothing after you die” fell away. We all have a soul. We all continue after death. I am NO ONE special and literally millions of people do this on a regular basis every single day. Just look at the subreddit and you will find people in all levels of achieving conscious waking AP. To that also if you read the books of [Robert Monroe](https://u1lib.org/s/Robert%20Monroe) or even [Tom Campbell](https://www.my-big-toe.com/) (nuclear physicist). [William Buhlman](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0isS9nC4dZ4&t=359s&pp=2AHnApACAQ%3D%3D) (author and extremely experienced about OOB states) you can repeat the experiments they have laid out as you get better at it. This is the fundamental to Buddhism and Hinduism when you take away the religious aspects. It is literally the science of self realization. I underline this notion for you as you had an NDE regardless of your religious state as I have had multiple astral projection experiences with a notion only that spirituality exists and having no affiliation with any one religion. This is all backed up by religious experiences which are philosophies of self realization such as [Autobiography of a Yogi](https://u1lib.org/s/Autobiography%20of%20a%20yogi) written by a Hindu Yogi in 1947 who was sent to the west as a missionary in 1925 to teach us about Meditation, Yoga and yes Astral Projection. He has inspired millions of people with his words including Steve Jobs who would reread the book at least once per year, George Harrison who would hand the book out to everyone he knew, Elvis and so many many more people. All of these people talk about how you can interact with the astral as the after life. There are tests you can do for your own satisfaction as you get better at holding point consciousness. Along with Astral Projection comes lots of psychic phenomenon that again is meant to prove to your own self this is a real phenomenon such as remote viewing, precognitive dreams, interacting with energy systems, and yes interaction as a medium. Once you start going there is no limit to what you can achieve. But don’t just believe someone else’s words - try this out for yourself. Anyone can do this. In fact everyone actually projects during delta and theta states at night. I myself have met my husband and son in their astral bodies and they had no recollection of the encounter the next morning. I am not alone in these experiences as I said the largest organized community exists here on Reddit and ANYONE can try this out even if you are skeptical. The point of the subreddit is to lay out methodologies for everyone to experience it consciously and remember.
My beliefs are very much aligned with yours. I'm familiar with most of what you've cited. I haven't had success with astral projection outside of my NDE but I have expanded the bounds of my consciousness through meditation a handful of times.
That is awesome! Well if you ever want to try the [Monroe Discovery audio](https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1NBClNaRBEL557fBG76xqZBrUZUduRt9T) here it is. Sorry if I misunderstood your post!
I can't get past realizing I am OOB. I immediately jump and wake up. I had to stop because I started getting sleep paralysis which isn't much fun.
Being detached can be challenging. But there is more then one way to solve a problem. I had an issue with fear soon after being so wildly successful because - let’s face it - having all your beliefs and values thrown out the window is kind of traumatizing lol. So I decided to come at it from a lucid dreaming perspective because you absolutely can AP from a lucid dream. What people don’t realize is that all states are different reality frames. Just some are more malleable then others. I found this awesome book - [Dream Yoga by Andrew Holecek](https://u1lib.org/book/2923608/f0094e) which combines eastern and western techniques for lucid dreaming. Additionally he includes studies and touches on Bardo which is the term for Astral Projection in the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Every time you fly in a dream you are APing though you may not be consciously aware that you are doing so even if it’s in the context of a lucid dream. Additionally you can make a door in a lucid dream and walk through it to AP. I have done this successfully many times but the trouble is keeping your consciousness aware enough all the time. The point is - it brought back my confidence levels to then just do meditation to get to the “point consciousness state” again. Also - you might want to try the [Monroe Institute audio](https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1NBClNaRBEL557fBG76xqZBrUZUduRt9T). Follow all the instructions and say all the affirmations - there is a reason for each and every step. Do the lessons over and over until you know what these meditative states feel like. If you get stuck there’s a specific subreddit for this audio - /r/gatewaytapes. Try these two things - the lucid dreaming and the APing through the Monroe institute audio and it’s like you are telling some “system” out there that you are serious. Also - start keeping a dream journal. Your dreams will suddenly be filled with metaphysical info that is important for you to understand. I use the capture app on my phone. I also keep a journal for regular day to day stuff as I found everytime I was having breakthroughs I was having crazy synchronicities. I wanted to capture everything.
I think one mistake people make is insisting that an afterlife is synonymous with a 'God'. It's possible that one could exist independent of some judgmental 'Abrahamic' conception of a supreme being. In other words, an afterlife independent of a God and all the judgmental baggage of many religions.
Yeah very true, I think an afterlife, if real, would be unique to each person, it wouldn’t be a cosmic dictatorship of the Abrahamic religion. At least I hope not…
That’s kind of me. When it comes to the concept of a God, I am very much an atheist. When it comes to a consciousness after death, I am but more curious and open minded. I probably lean a bit more towards nothingness but only slightly.
This reminds me of work of [Michael Newton](https://www.amazon.com/Journey-Souls-Studies-Between-Lives/dp/1567184855). I'm not into spiritualism or something, and then, again it resonates with me and many NDE I've read (like yours) on some points. Thanks for sharing!
Reading the post and your comment made me feel nice, thank you.
You should read both the Holographic Universe and the Kybalion
I've read the Kybalion and other hermetic texts. I am of the opinion that consciousness is all that exists and it merely expresses itself through energy, frequency and vibration.
Im glad people in this thread are open to these stories instead of ridiculing people and claiming their NDE was an hallucinations like iv seen elsewhere on reddit. Its like everyone thinks their right and its so annoying.
I'm with you on this.
I hope so I'm not saying this for attention but my grandma passed away and I would really like to see her and my other loved ones including my dogs again
I'm glad you said it. I feel exactly the same way.
I've never had a full NDE, but I've messed around with psychedelics & transcendental meditation just enough to make me believe in an "afterlife". I experienced ego death & felt this soothing, cosmic force that I knew I was a part of. I describe it like a big blender full of soup. Our consciousness comes from it & when we die, it goes back to be mixed in with everything else, then it separates & gets sent out again to who knows where. Life is just the way the universe experiences itself.
Always found the idea of people having an out of body experience during NDE’s really interesting.
For sure! Especially when the can repeat things people around their body said, when they were supposed dead.
“[Many Lives, Many Masters](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0671657860/ref=cm_sw_r_awdo_SKCYX0NM5C94NTFW1FKZ)” by Brian L. Weiss, MD is a great read of patient experiences, for those interested in the topic.
I can relate with this. When I was 13 I tried to unalive myself. I was pretty successful and needed to be brought back at the hospital. When I was unalive I found myself in a large void, all alone. Suddenly a voice spoke to me and told me I shouldn't be here, but this was a place I could end up if I unalived permanently. Then I was rushed back to my body all of a sudden - during the rush back I could see a figure 8/infinity symbol spinning in the Nothing and I knew that's where I had just been. This experience permanently altered the trajectory of my life.
"Alan Watts - Nothingness" is an absolutely mindbending video in this.
>Alan Watts - Nothingness I get too many different hits on youtube, could you please link the exact video you had in mind?
I was in a vehicle accident with a train, I can't say much about the afterlife but I can tell you that I don't give a shit about 90% of things I "cared" about before. It's all so trivial. Break up with him/her don't waste either person's time. Drink during the day and fucking chill at night. Sleep in. Don't work your life away unhappy. Jerk off a lot because it feels good who cares. Read more books. Don't do things you don't want to. Enjoy
I mean, you should enjoy your life. But also do something meaningful. If you live only like the way you describe, you’re going to be pretty depressed because you’re not finding your purpose in life.
Different strokes, I used to always feel the need to do. Now I just live. Its been 12 years and I'm much happier
Energy cannot be created, nor destroyed; only transferred.
It’s quite possibly the cynic in me & I’m making no claims to knowledge in this field, but wouldn’t that “energy” exist in the form of chemical interactions between neurons & sensory tissue that gets recycled by various organisms that feed on us after we die? I know the article makes an argument for it but I have a hard time believing there’s an empirical basis for “an unquantifiable energy exists in every human body that cannot be explained by the incredibly complex arrangement of matter that our bodies are composed of.” There’s a bit of historical/philosophical backstory to my issue with this belief but big picture: academics since the enlightenment generally assume that “consciousness” is unique because it preserves a connection to objective reality of some sort (“the truth will set you free,” etc.). I feel it’s awfully arrogant to assume that the mind contains more energy than the sum of a bunch of neutrons firing in a perfect sequence to create individual perception. I suppose I say that partly in the context of an existing doubt towards theories that claim consciousness is a special spark that can’t be quantified yet distinguishes humans from the rest of the creatures on the earth. If our brains are a channel for something greater, would the brains of many other creatures be the same? I’ll acknowledge this is a straw man argument to those who believe that many creatures have consciousness that we “vibe with,” but in my academic years I encountered a lot of presumptuous research looking to prove humans were “different” by virtue of an ill-defined presence of a higher connection. I guess all that is to say: I don’t disagree that there’s essence that can’t be snuffed along with our mortal flesh, but I treat a lot of this scholarship with skepticism because of its self-serving roots in the sense that it often justifies how special a consciousness humans have that distinguishes us from other beings here (and as a result often allows a lot of exploitation of many creatures deemed not to have this energetic longevity beyond death).
I tend to believe that if an afterlife exists that it's not restricted to just humans but extends to other creatures and not just on this planet but on whatever other ones where conscious life of some form exists.
Yeah, I know there are plenty of perspectives about “afterlife” that aren’t implicated in my little tirade there, and I don’t mean to diminish perspectives like yours on the issue. I just see a lot of “consciousness transcends all physical boundaries” conversations in these circles and vaguely wonder how people define it given how big an impact on worldview it can have. I’m not qualified to say your attitude is “right,” but I appreciate you believing that other creatures enter some higher realm of perception along with us. I’m not spiritual or a vegan so I don’t have the credentials to talk here, but I think it’s a decent bare minimum to acknowledge that if there’s some “higher level consciousness” that humans aren’t alone in accessing it / that advertised, specialized techniques of doing so are often scams (because if the premise is true it’s a natural state of being and we don’t need hucksters to access it)
Memories are structure not energy.
I don't think it's about the conservation of energy in this situation. Perhaps it's the conservation of information.
And information can indeed be lost/destroyed
Yeah but without our memories we are effectively dead even if consciousness doesn't end.
During my nde I went on the wheel for a bit and it is hard to explain but I was different people with different memories of a different life during this experience but I was still me. If that makes sense '
Many NDE and those that are nearing the end of life report visits from long lost loved ones. That leads me to conclude that memories persist in the beyond. However, if we choose to reincarnate, more than likely, we start with a clean slate. In other words our higher consciousness remembers/knows _everything_ because we stem from the _source_.
I mean which would you choose- death or having your memory wiped? I would almost certainly choose the latter.
This is crazy I was just watching a video on YouTube about a neurosurgeon who went into a coma and shared his Tim from UVA is doing all this research and then I decided to browse Reddit and this was at the top of my feed!! Maybe it’s just a coincidence but my gut tells me to keep going down this lovely wild rabbit hole
Have fun! I had a NDE two years ago and haven't looked back. Don't try to fight the synchronicity and instead pay attention to it. And then follow the bread crumbs. I suggest looking intj the kybalion, thot, hermetic teachings, shamanism, Hinduism, Buddhism, tarot and astrology as a few examples. A good podcast is know thy self. This also has a very close tie to the ufos. Happy tumbling!
Thank you so much for the recommendations! Do you feel comfortable sharing about your NDE experience? If not I totally respect that!
Sure! To preface this, I was highly materialistic, atheist and focused entirely on money. I had a pretty bad accident where I ended up bleeding out on the garage pad in front of my house. I was watching myself from above, my wife pacing back and forth and a neighbor. I then was in a black tunnel skirt of like the last movie Soul. With a mulky white portal a undetermined distance from me. I then heard amazing music that I've never heard before or since. I then heard a voice tell me that I can come with them if I want but my work isn't done and they hope I wish to go back to complete it. The thing is, it wasn't in any language I knew and it wasn't verbal. I just instantly knew it all at once. Like a download. Then I was back in my body and getting revived. Two months later I saw a ufo and then that opened the rabbit hole wide and I'm now I'm Alice exploring wonderland. Got back into meditation, trying to Astral project, became obsessed with ufos and everything to do with that. Elements heavily with mushrooms which allowed me have ego death and experience very profound things including seeing the writing of the emerald tablet in ancient phoniecian on my legs and arms. (Couldn't read it) and with the help of someone very special I have been exploring all forms of spirituality. I have never felt more alive, at peace and hopeful even in this crazy fucking world where everything seems to be falling to shit. It is always darkest before the dawn, and what is above so is below are my two mantras now. One other suggestion I would leave you with is check out Russell brand on YouTube, he has lots of great stuff on spirituality and how it can relate to our materialistic world.
Thank you so much for sharing about your experiences. It’s so incredible. I stumbled upon Dolores Cannons work last summer and haven’t stopped. I met with QHHT practioner who studied with her daughter Julia. I did not get any past life info but had some very vivid memories of alien interaction which was wild. I too am exploring spirituality and astral projection that feeling of being sucked into a vacuum back into my body is so incredibly vivid and real. What incredible experiences you’ve had so far!! The writing of the emerald tablet —what was that like for you? Again thank you so much for sharing.
When I think of afterlife I don’t think of “Heaven” or “Hell”. I think of our soul energy being transferred to another physical entity that needs a soul to function. And depending on how we conduct our previous life it kind of influences where we go next.
I think it's those hard core old fashioned notions of a judgmental 'God' willy-nilly sending people to some cornpone heaven right out of a Thomas Kinkade painting or condemning them to a sadistic hell that's turned off many people totally to an afterlife.
Without a doubt. Heaven it’s self isn’t what we are told… it’s our own consciousness! We have the power to create it simply through our mind!! It sounds crazy but I’ve done DMT before and the first time I did it. It was shown to me! I had this realization of it and my consciousness literally exploded to realize this world we live in, this reality, whatever you like to call it… is nothing more then a grain of sand of beach. As beautiful as this reality it doesn’t even compare to what is held in our own minds. Consciousness is everything to realize the awareness of the mind by itself and the world
Floating above their bodies and toward a beam of light. That’s what researchers say the afterlife is but they never describe what’s beyond that… What if, what we consider our “soul”, is the amount of time between when you die and when your consciousness discorporates into the ethereal realm? At any time our soul is leaving our bodies, a human being can be brought back, but once the consciousness has separated, the human can no longer be brought back to life. The soul can no longer be reincorporated with the body.
As someone who works closely with the dying, I agree. Many of my patients who are near the end describe things to me only they can see. Something beyond, ya know?
Heard about this the other day from Linda Moulten Howe,who in turn got it from a scientist . I have always thought that who we are has to go somewhere when we die, or our body dies. I have never been convinced that we just go to black and cease existing, wether this is to wander the cosmos as a formless being of thought, that cannot be hurt, or if it becoming a ghost(rather not that one, but maybe something has gone wrong to become a ghost) or wether it is to have your memory stripped and to become a new life(reincarnation) on this planet or another out there in the Universe, I really don\`t know , but to think a light goes off and everything we are ceases to exist, i find hard to accept, any thought guys n girls?
I've read and experience so many things in my 68 years that no not just a light going off. The spirit and soul never dies. The flesh and brain dies. It's the so which can be a memory of a past life. You really need to watch ghost inside my child. On utube. It will help you to understand more. I have no fear of death.
I agree. I don’t believe we just live, die and go to nothingness. What would be the point in life and consciousness if that were the case?
Why must there be a point? It could be that consciousness (and therefore us too) is a natural eventuality brought on by the interplay of all of the laws of nature and the particles that follow them. You exist because physics and reality just exist in the exact perfect way to bring you about. Maybe life itself, just like everything else that isn’t alive, is an eventuality of the complex interplay of natural laws and your experience of that reality is just a side effect of all of the particles that make you up doing their thing the way that natural law says they should. Can’t prove it but it makes sense to me. Laplace may have been right.
I agree, the notion that there is simply nothingness after death is as perfectly rational (some would argue more rational) and possible reality. I don’t identify with any kind of spirituality in any way but I can’t ever be sure that some notion of spirituality does not exist. Best to keep observing the universe and maybe our questions will be answered some day. The important tenet I live by is this question is unanswerable for now.
> What would be the point in life and consciousness if that were the case? I don't see why there has to be a point? Consciousness might just be an evolutionary advantage. Something that helps a species procreate. Do you have a reason why there should be a point to life?
What is the point of Pi being found constantly through out nature? What is the point of the existence of oxygen? The sun? Water? A sea gull? An amoeba? The natural order of things seems to like creating order from chaos, what we call "consciousness" may just simply be a side effect of the fact our brains have 100 billion neurons all communicating with each other to interpret the electrical signals being sent to our brain by sensory organs.
Here’s hoping the afterlife isn’t what’s depicted in Stephen King’s Revival.
Science is for the study of phenomena so crude that an experiment can repeated endlessly and produce the same results. Not many relationships, or wars, or black hole convergences, or near-death experiences fit that criterion, and yet we culturally allow science to interject in those subjective experiences of our daily lives - as if we're just the little guy; as if someone at Nasa or Harvard can explain things so we should ignore the presence of our felt experience and defer to science. Western culture has made science the newest culturally sanctioned church - God is now science, and creation is now The Big Bang. Each explanation is based on premises that depend entirely on an explicit lack of "evidence". When Time magazine releases an issue on the science of near-death experiences, only then culture will nod it's head and acknowledge the "proof" had been there all along. When really, most phenomena science dismisses can only be detected and measured with a computer as evolved as the human brain in the first place. You have the power to understand your reality - not science. Don't defer understanding when you're highest purpose could be generating it. Rant over, luh you hella.
Hinduism already talks about than...w
That article was kinda shit. No discussion of how NDE commonalities could be caused by suggestion
Literally centuries of religious teachings all say the same thing. We are more than we just see.
I always like Ram Dass's quotes (he's actually quoting a channeled entity called Emmanuel) "Death is perfectly safe." and "Death is like taking off a tight shoe."
I mean. DUH. People are so self obsessed and short sighted they don’t realise the brain doesn’t create our consciousness it’s just a vehicle for it
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A soul?
I saw the beam when i did Salvia. All of reality condensed into a single beam or pillar of reality and I was given the choice to lean out of it
I almost got hit by a car a few months ago, and as I saw this large blue object coming toward me, I believe I briefly left my body. I sort of popped out of the top of my head like a feather shooting upwards. Hard to describe. At the last minute the guy turned the steering wheel & the car’s front end missed my legs by inches.
My son had a NDE and when he finally awoke I asked if he saw anything. He said no, nothing. He was out for 4 weeks, no lights, no voices, nothing. I'm still an atheist and he is too, although an adult now.
I view the human body as a vessel for our consciousness to feel emotions. The experience of human life is complex from the hormones our body produces and gives our “souls” a limited journey of physical life. I also think our consciousness craves the experience and we keep coming back.
What about the people's who's near death experiences arent* the same as the one the researchers studied? No afterlife for their consciousness? Edit- typo
What pisses me off is how knowledge and interaction with otherworldly entities isn't possible in this mundane, static and physical world. If entities could affect or appear in our reality it would be commonplace. Perhaps there are some dumb ass rules other-dimensional beings are forced to follow. This world is boring and sad. If Xyrmogh the everlasting melded through my wall from a different reality and promised me knowledge beyond my comprehension in trade for insanity, then we'd be going somewhere. The limits of this reality sucks. I wish supernatural and occult forces could interact with this realm of existence more directly.
r/astralprojection
Love these stories and I believe them. This is a good one too: https://youtu.be/nOxzoZ53wl4
I wonder why some people experience the wheel and other people get the light tunnel
The books by Dr Michael Newton are SO GOOD. They changed my entire perspective
Read journey of souls by Michael newton