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Near Death Experiences TW: talk of death


Enbious1

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What do others think of near death experiences, where an individual may 'die' or fade out of life before coming back, often telling of an experience they had beyond life?

 

TW: My own near-death experience involves drowning and briefly mentions pain, fractures, and perceived death.

 

I had an event early in life, around the age of 12 in which I was technically dead for approximately 4-5 minutes. It was a result of a drowning on a beach where I was snorkeling with my family.

Spoiler

(I had been out a ways from the shore and my mother held me by my ankle underwater and I couldn't resurface before being drowned by her)

While the event itself of 'dying' was slighlty fuzzy in my memory, I recall the feeling of going from being in fear and and in pain to not feeling anything at all. I was in a black void at first but then all around me began to light up in a sea of various colors, some of which I can't describe as they were colors I can't usually see. I didn't possess any physical form and after what felt like a few hours I met and spoke with a being. I'm agnostic and have never beleived in any set religion or deity. The being I spoke to, while having been around for some time explained that it itself was miniscule to the vastness of time and space. The being didn't have any name itself, wo I just gave it the name of Eclipse. The weird thing was that we just talked about so many varying things and it felt like we talked for months. I'm unsure what has me feel this way, but it felt like 6-8 months that I spent in that realm. I don't beleive it was a heaven or anything like that. When I was coming back everything went dark and all of the physical feeling returned to my body. It felt jaring. I had come to, to what was on Earth just 4-5 minutes later to being resuscitated by a guide at the beach. I had the fear, the confusion, the pressure in both fo my lungs, the taste of vomit and sea water in my mouth, and so much pain, especially in my chest as I suffered fractures of my ribs from the CPR.

 

While there is no way to prove, nor disprove really, that I was in another place in time and space or there for so long while on Earth it was only a few minutes, it still intrigues me, as do others' stories. I hear the 'when in duress you begin to hallucinate' bit and the bit about how 'in death the brain is still active and can cause you to go into a dream state'. The odd thing is that I've had hallucinatins and really messed up dreams, but they still never had so much time dilation. The most I've ever dreamed was that three days passed. And we know in science that many people are only dreaming for 5-10 minutes at any given time during a deep enough sleep, the REM state. Curious as to what other's theories on NDEs are and if others have stories they wanted to share of NDE.

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I've personally never had one but I did read a good book about them called 'The Wisdom of Near Death Experiences'. It's written by a nurse who did a study into them after working on an intensive care unit and having a number of patients who had experienced them.

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I have been in deadly situation not sure if I should call it near death. I had life threatening brain hemorrhage when I was a teen, was in a could die could live situation. I hit my head and lost consciousness while some part of my brain started malfunctioning like a broken robot and started babbling non sense. I don't remember how I hit my head nor anything about what happened while I was unconscious. But when I did wake up, I wasn't surprised to find myself in the hospital. Its like I knew what had happened while I was out. I asked for my mom but she was away so I went back to sleeping (Or being unconscious). And as soon as my mom came back I woke up again. It was like I somehow knew about things happening around me, and people were freaked out by my reactions lol.

 

People often dissociate when they have near death experience. I have dissociated few times due to non death related reasons during which I have felt like I belonged to another world where time was flowing very slowly. And it was like I was watching things happening in real world from another world. Even though it lasted few minutes, it felt like hours. I guess, you felt the same time-stretch-effect due to dissociation? (BTW not everyone experiences dissociative episodes the same way, it varies a lot).

 

Thats an interesting experience by the way, thanks for sharing!

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Janus the Fox

It's rather fascinating the brains own way of coping with itself dying, shutting down in a rather pleasant way, dependent on a good death or not.  Fascinating also is that being brought back just before that moment for people to share those experiences.

 

I've never had an experience, though I had a 33% chance of death having knee surgery for a large blood clot after a simple fall on the stairs and 6 months of poor healing.  Signing off on that is rather hard to do, the op lasted 3 hours instead of the 30 minutes, if i come close to death or not well that's probably buried in the notes.  It was either surgery or suffering an eventual stroke related to the clot, all before the age of 25.

 

Other than that I have chronic migraines one for many which could lead to an eventual stroke, but hopefully not well before another 40 years yet, eliminating all other health and lifestyle factors, my mother had chronic migraines, cant remove the family risk though.  So I may experience a near death in old age and earlier than most if unlucky.

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Had a couple near death experiences, worst one of which jumping on my bed with a metal afro comb in my mouth. 

 

I was singing, and had put it in my mouth to complete the mandatory dance moves. O_o

 

I slipped, fell and drove the comb's picks into my throat. I was essentially choking on my blood and the comb. 

 

I went into shock according to my parents so don't recall anything about the severity of the injuries. 

 

I have had the reverse. Near miss life events that would have been a certain death with a fraction of a second more time added. 

 

If anything, my most recent one was very narrowly avoiding trees after losing control of a truck on a slippery highway at 120km/h.

 

Some would say skill played a part, but am humble enough to admit I lost control of my steering and brakes and relied heavily on luck. 

 

Eerie part is I know someone who wasn't so lucky on the same highway. 

 

For me these situations along with losing a lot I'd people to illness in my life, just make me highly appreciative of everyday that I am given. 

 

Possibly why am told am an old soul. 

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Neutral Charge

its nice that you saw more then just the dark void.

for me all i saw was darkness taking over shapes and colors of reality from the edges towards the middle of my focus, as it was all going dark, my memories have started to go away, i could not remember who i was or where i was, couldn't remember who the ppl in my memories were and they started disappearing one by one from my memory as everything was going dark.

it felt like im being pulled inside a black whole of nothingness, maybe it takes a specific amount of time for the brain to pass the dark stage and into the light and colors expressions? not sure but all it was for me was nonexistence - i was slowly disappearing

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Calligraphette_Coe
18 hours ago, Lame_and_Cycling said:

What do others think of near death experiences, where an individual may 'die' or fade out of life before coming back, often telling of an experience they had beyond life?

Id bet everyone's is a little different, and having gone through one, I believe that everyone's is just as valid. 

 

THe one thing that seems common in everyone's is the desctiption of time, of haivng it sort of stop-- like you're living a thousand years in a short period of time.

 

I was in the back of an ambulance, one hour into my thrid cerebral stroke. I was in a lot of pain and felt every kind of terrible thate was, probably from the brain swelling. Last thing I remember is hearing the one EMT tellling the another that I had quit breathing. At this point, i was also kind of blind and felt like I was fading out. But, the agony suddenly stopped and though I didn't feel like I was in my hurting body anymore, I can't say where I thought I was. I didn't see any bright liights or any beings, it was like, if there is such a thing, a tunnel like a Mobius Strip.

 

I don't know if they hit me with adrenaline or something in my IV, but I woke up in Intensive Care with big  faces staring down at me and I didn't know  where I was. Unfortunatley, the pain came back quickly, and I later found out I was on a morphine drip, so how much of it after getting to the hospital is drug induced, is hard to say.

 

The other common thing that people who had NDEs say is that they aren't afraid of dying. IDK, it just felt like you were set free to somehow just let it happen and that you'll be at peace. It sure beats being in the hsopital for an extended stay, and then having to deal with the pallet-sized bills when you recover.

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What you will read below you may not look at as my near death experience, but many people who had endured it, describe these vision and feelings.
 

Many times God reveal himself in my life and has saved me on numerous occasions: drowning, car accidents, etc.
 

Once, I have been going through horrible time in my life. I was lying on the bed (during daytime) and cry out to God asking to end suffering and take me home, to heaven. Feeling my pain and despair, He showed a miracle! My spirit left the body, and I observe her lying on bed. At this time I felt tremendous peace and love surrounding my spirit. It was amazing; I can’t describe it with words! I felt disappointed when my spirit was returned back to its body, as I did not want to come back to this world.., but I was grateful for this experience.

One day, I will experience it to the fullest! :)

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Never had one, but personally I don't believe in life after death unless there is cosmic level of eternal recurrance going on (I'll believe if primordial b modes are never found). But, assuming that, you would be here again wondering if this is the last.

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Chemical reaction to the brain/body shutting down.  The body pushes everything to the brain.  Seeing the light is just a way for the body to make death happen easier.  

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7 hours ago, Nick2 said:

Chemical reaction to the brain/body shutting down.  The body pushes everything to the brain.  Seeing the light is just a way for the body to make death happen easier.  

That is a possibility though it wouldn’t alone explain long lapses of time that are far less concurrent with that of a dream state. I take it you don’t believe in any NDE’s?

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I had a near death experience while in a hospital, when I had lost too much blood.  My blood pressure was down to some number over zero, and the nurse said, "That can't be right," and took my blood pressure again.  Then she hit a red emergency button and everyone came running.  It seemed like I was watching all this from above my body (but time did not slow down or speed up).  They put in an I.V. and it felt like I was getting pumped up like a bicycle tire, but with life instead of with air.

 

(In case it matters, I'm an atheist, and I don't believe in life after death.)

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Lord Jade Cross

Not sure you would call it being lucky or as some believe "not being your time to go" but Ive had a few situations that everyone that heard about it would always react with the "youre lucky to be alive son. That would have killed anyone easily" But rather than the infamous life flashing before your eyes, meeting some trancendantal being, seeing a light and whatnot, I never really experienced any of that. Being I guess dead for a few moments was no different than being asleep. You dont know when you fall asleep and you wake up not knowing how you do it.

 

That would be the best way I could describe it. 

 

 

 

 

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On 10/11/2019 at 6:34 AM, Neutral Charge said:

its nice that you saw more then just the dark void.

for me all i saw was darkness taking over shapes and colors of reality from the edges towards the middle of my focus, as it was all going dark, my memories have started to go away, i could not remember who i was or where i was, couldn't remember who the ppl in my memories were and they started disappearing one by one from my memory as everything was going dark.

it felt like im being pulled inside a black whole of nothingness, maybe it takes a specific amount of time for the brain to pass the dark stage and into the light and colors expressions? not sure but all it was for me was nonexistence - i was slowly disappearing

That sounds terrifying...

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On 10/11/2019 at 8:53 PM, R_1 said:

Never had one, but personally I don't believe in life after death unless there is cosmic level of eternal recurrance going on (I'll believe if primordial b modes are never found). But, assuming that, you would be here again wondering if this is the last.

What's a "primordial b mode?"

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6 minutes ago, Will-o-the-Wisp said:

What's a "primordial b mode?"

Primordial b-modes are gravitional waves generated by inflation. Ekyroptic universe predicts zero while the standard model predicts non-zero. Ekyroptic universe in theory can give rise to eternal recurrence.

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6 hours ago, R_1 said:

Primordial b-modes are gravitional waves generated by inflation. Ekyroptic universe predicts zero while the standard model predicts non-zero. Ekyroptic universe in theory can give rise to eternal recurrence.

U R Smart...

Wat?

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Janus the Fox
19 hours ago, Will-o-the-Wisp said:

U R Smart...

Wat?

It's familiar I've heard about it on a CBS video series  on YouTube on the theme of the universe not actually being how old we know it is, but a rather infinite universes has existed before ours.  A bubble universe within an already old universe, the dark matter in theory, was matter from this old universe, being reborn.  Scientists suggest such an occurrence is due soon, if it hasn't happened already in our existing universe.  Relatively few universes inflate given that above model.

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8 minutes ago, Janus DarkFox said:

It's familiar I've heard about it on a CBS video series  on YouTube on the theme of the universe not actually being how old we know it is, but a rather infinite universes has existed before ours.  A bubble universe within an already old universe, the dark matter in theory, was matter from this old universe, being reborn.  Scientists suggest such an occurrence is due soon, if it hasn't happened already in our existing universe.  Relatively few universes inflate given that above model.

I understand gravitational waves and inflation somewhat just not when it's really formulaic sounding 😅

I'm similar with theoretical physics... I understand the concept just not in math form.

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Janus the Fox
1 hour ago, Will-o-the-Wisp said:

I understand gravitational waves and inflation somewhat just not when it's really formulaic sounding 😅

I'm similar with theoretical physics... I understand the concept just not in math form.

Yup totally lost on the abstract maths as well

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  • 2 months later...

 

 

The quilt was warm and soft around my arms and shoulders and my ears. I
fell asleep where I sat, with the cup of brimstone tea in my lap, held
carefully in both hands so as not to spill. Sleep made one sensation
of the heat in my palms and the sugar on my tongue. I slept
precariously upright, aware of my bare feet, hearing the wood in the
stove crackle. More words passed between Sylvie and Lucille, but I
could not make them out. It seemed to me that whatever Lucille said,
Sylvie sang back to her, but that was dreaming.

So this is all death is, I thought. Sylvie and Lucille do not notice,
or perhaps they do not object. Sylvie, in fact, brought the coffeepot
and warmed the cup in my hands, and arranged the quilt, which had slid
from my shoulder a little. I was surprised and touched by her
solicitude.

She knows, I thought, and I felt like laughing.

Sylvie is sitting beside the stove, flipping through old magazines, waiting for
my mother. I began listening for the sound of the door opening, but
after a very long time my head fell sharply to one side and I could not
lift it up again.

Then I realized that my mouth was open. All this time the room was
filling with strangers, and there was no way for me to tell Sylvie that
the tea had tipped out of my hands and wet my lap. I knew that my
decay, now obvious and accelerating, should somehow be concealed for
decency's sake, but Sylvie would not look up from her magazine. I
began to hope for oblivion, and then I rolled out of my chair.

Sylvie looked up from her magazine.

"Did you have a good sleep?" she asked.

"All right," I said. I picked up the cup and brushed at the dampness
of my pant legs.

"Sleep is best when you're really tired," she said.

"You don't just sleep. You die."

 

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jun/22/100-best-novels-92-housekeeping-marilynne-robinson

 

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4 hours ago, Gatto said:

words

Don't you have any words of your own?

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In Paul Brickhill's book "Reach for the sky", the biography of Douglas Bader, there's a couple of paragraphs where Bader recounts seeing "White light and peace, it looks a nice place" (quote may not be verbatim, this is from memory), until he overhears someone from outside his room saying "Hush, be quiet, there's a boy dying in there", and he realised that it wasn't a nice place, and forced himself away and awake 

 

Obviously, there's no documented evidence to back this up, it's not impossible that it was the figment of the imagination when Bader had recovered from post-operative infection, a feverish hallucination, or either party involved "enhancing" the account to make it more dramatic. 

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On 1/8/2020 at 9:54 PM, daveb said:

Don't you have any words of your own?

Every time that I'd thought I'd invented my own, it has transpired that others had used them before. Once, I thought I'd invented the huneker, only to discover that Doug Hofstadter already had done so. And that is only the beginning. It so happens, that every idea, both the good and the bad, has been heretofore had.

 

https://matiane.wordpress.com/2019/10/11/immortal-by-jorge-luis-borges/

 

I prefer not to be falsely taken for a plagiarist or, worse yet, a mansplainer.

 

Nevertheless, I can say that NDE has cured me of my former atheism, and any consternation I may have had, regarding theodicy. At least, so it appears, post hoc ergo propter hoc, to me.

 

 

he-who-knows-does-not-speak-he-who-speak

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Seems to me that most likely what people experience in NDEs is based on physiology and physical responses due to things like the brain shutting down, brought on by the particular circumstances of the NDE, and interpreted through the individual's beliefs and cultural knowledge/background. From what I have heard, read, experienced, the same thing goes for many other phenomena, such as sleep paralysis, UFOs, etc.

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@daveb That sounds interesting.

 

When I experienced heat exhaustion/stroke (not sure which, as the school nurses didn't tell me) as a kid and lost consciousness, I didn't see any light in my mind; beforehand, I just feel extremely hot and tired, as though I wanted to sleep, then, the next thing I knew, I was opening my eyes from the ground.

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17 hours ago, yyy said:

It does seem that near death experiences  have a certain "genre" to them. Have you ever heard that someone  "died"  for a few minutes then was brought back to life  and said she or he saw  "Allah"  or "Buddha" ?  Perhaps  "Krishna" or "Zeus" ?

I would actually be fascinated by NDEs from the times when people legit believed in the old gods. Imagine someone waking up after a few minutes "asleep" and spouting that Anubis was weighing their heart and it was too heavy, so now that they have a second change at life they're going to do their best to lighten their heart to pass Anubis's test. Or an old viking saying he saw the valkeries coming for him before they flew away and he returned to his body, still alife. 

That would be so metal. So much cooler than seeing Yivo. 

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