For a minute, Id thought you were saying you had an experience that suggested nothing afterwards. It's one thing to be not conscious at all and then wake up...even a 1000 years later, but to never wake up at all. That
does terrify me. The analogy of a darkened room doesn't cut it as you are still perceiving the blackness, the silence, you are alone in your thoughts BUT you are still thinking. To not exist precludes this;now some would say what therefore is to be frightened of but if I knew I was going to cease to exist completely in 5 minutes time then maybe I would just go to pieces. To not be aware at all is beyond comprehension. I suspect many atheists must secretly be paralysed with fear when the end is near. The analogy is often used " Well I was dead for xx billion of years and it didn't bother me then so what's any different". Ahh yes, but that was behind you, not in front. It's certainly no reassurance. This is the whole thing with NDE's, paranormal activity, mediumship; it could all be a defence mechanism to combat the terror of utter annihilation. I hope that's not the case but how can even the most well meaning medium ever know for sure that messages aren't self created unknowingly or possibly from reading the subjects mind, even the so called Akashic field (if it exists)?? My sister swears by her NDE, she had the classic tunnel of light, saw the doctor treating her from an angle impossible from her pov on the bed and she said she was told that she had to go back (she had three young children). She said what she felt was pure unconditional love. She has always been adamant that the experience was real and not an hallucination. She also seems to have developed some psychic abilities as she was able to see the spirits of several deceased family pets. She said they appeared as silhouettes and she would see them in the corner of her eye. She said if you looked full on though they would disappear. I was a massive sceptic until one day about 9 years ago she said that the spirit of a particular dog was present. Now I was particularly thinking of this dog as she had been euthanized only about a week before and I was actually thinking about how I hadn't always been as patient with the dog as I could have been. Now I didn't speak of this aloud but my sister actually said that the dog was in particular concerned about me and was right by my knee. My sister knew nothing of my thoughts and yet said all this. I thought it was really odd!! I never even told her until a few weeks ago!! She was amazed herself.
Sis has not enjoyed good physical health and says that she has often felt my maternal grandmother present with her in hospital. She also said that she felt my late father's presence with her in the week or so before our mother (very recently) passed away. She said she felt his presence leave and she knew he had gone to pave the way for mum who passed about 2 days later.
I absolutely believe my sister and that to her the experiences at least are very real. Whether these experiences are spiritually real I guess can never be proven.
I do know that when I add them up and also add in the haunting that occurred in my family home some 30 years ago (I keep meaning to post this, it's pretty convincing) and also, a few odd things have happened around the house since mum passed, I have reasons to be optimistic at least on Survival. However I do have that critical side and even if my mum appeared to me in waking hours, I would still try and pass it off as last night's Chinese takeaway
Rambled on loads, getting back to your NDE, from your experience how certain are you that it was a real event, as regards a subconscious experience/comforting mechanism??
It's good here innit, you get a lot of conflicting answers but at least you find people asking questions!