| Well, in Feburary of 1986, I had a Heart Attack. During that time,
I was given rather large doses of drugs (demerol and valium). Shortly
after getting the shot of valium, it felt as if I went to sleep.
Upon waking, there were lots of people standing around, and I was
in another room. I was told that my heart stopped and the Doctors
had to use the defib paddles on me twice. I had no sensation of
being anything other than asleep. The Doctor even asked if I had
seen the classical "light at the end of the tunnel" but I had not.
Ok, who's next?
Lowell
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| I suppose it's my turn now. I had an experience in 1978 that has affected
me significantly. These effects, however, did not start to manifest
themselves until 1982 [or thereabouts]. Here's the story:
My mother and I went for a drive up to the mountains [White Mountains in
NH] for the day. We stopped at a rather nice place alongside the
Kancamagus Highway. There was a river running along the way [The Swift
River, I should have taken that as a hint] and we decided to have lunch
there. Some people had 'constructed' a lagoon like area by moving a number
of rocks into a U-shaped barrier. This made the area more like a pool than
anything else.
Well, being an impatient 16-year-old, I decided to go a little ways
downstream. There was a natural rock formation that had a waterfall and
something like a rockslide only it was just the river running shallow over
a very long, smooth rock surface [I think it's called Slippery Rock].
Anyway, the water fall was on the left as you went downstream, cutting a
canyon out of the left side of the river while the river continued lazily
along the right side. Well, I decided to try nature's shower massage along
with a few other people. The feeling of standing in waist high water while
under a 6-9' waterfall drop with a LOT of water pounding on you is
interesting to say the least. When I decided that I had had enough [it
gets tiring], I showed considerable stupidity. Others were moving over to
the sides of the canyon and climbing up the rocks. I, however, kicked up
my legs and launched myself downstream.
I was fine until 5 seconds after I surfaced. An undertow caught me by the
ankle and yanked me under. I managed to fight to the surface but was
pulled under for the second and proverbial third times.
The third time was the worst. I felt myself being pulled further and
further under. As my air started to give out, my lungs felt like they were
going to implode. The pain in my arms and legs was some of the most
excruciating pain I had ever felt [short of surgery].
All I could think about was that I thought "This is it, you're dying". The
most sorrowful thought I had was that I knew I would wash up somewhere
downstream but I had no ID on me and my mother was 1/2 mile upstream. I
hated to think of the hell she would go through looking for me until some
park ranger [White Mountain National Forest] came up to her a day or two
later.
Then came the 'good stuff'. I started to slow down my efforts at getting
to the surface because of exhaustion and that I knew I was dying. When I
finally stopped everything, I heard the strangest "music" I have ever
heard. It sounded 'astral' if I had to put an adjective on it but it
didn't sound like any chorus I had ever heard.
At this time everything was black. I could no longer hear the sound of the
water around me. Then I seemed to open my eyes. I say I seemed to because
I never thought about opening them because of the water. I saw rays of
light that were coming from behind me. I was facing about 160 degrees from
the source of the light. I felt bathed in an incredible warmth. I started
to turn towards the light, again without conscious thought about moving
legs or anything like that.
When I caught sight of the light, it was with the corner of my 'eye'. The
next events happened in what seemed like a split second.
I had the briefest instant of understanding. I knew that all of the
questions I had would be answered in the light. I wanted not just to enter
the light, but to become a *part* of it. I kept turning to get a better
fix on the light when I was suddenly and VIOLENTLY jarred back to life.
Somehow, my body managed to hit air and my autonomic reflexes made me start
breathing again. There were about a dozen people looking over the sides of
the canyon walls to see if I was ever going to come up. I somehow made it
over to the sides and clung for a while before heading back up the trail
[upstream] to where my mother was. To this day she doesn't know about
this.
I took everything in stride for a couple of years until my [then] wife
bought an album for my birthday. It was Rick Wakeman's "No Earthly
Connection". Being a Wakeman fan, I listened intently. During a song
called "The Prisoner" I almost had heart failure because the sound that I
heard 'out there' was as nearly duplicated as anything I've ever heard. It
brought back a flood of memories SO fast that I actually had trouble
breathing.
Since then, I've been slowly coming to grips with what I experienced. I
still don't have the answers and only now have I really started to look for
them. One important thing, though. I no longer fear death. I KNOW
there's an afterlife and it's a wonderful place. It gave me an incredible
feeling of peace when I replayed the events in my mind over and over again.
If it weren't so dangerous, I'd say that everyone should at least catch a
glimpse of what I saw. However, there are many who probably would be
terrified of it.
Sitll looking,
dj
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