Was I close to death?
Scientist experimenting on rats have discovered the there is a surge of activity in the rat’s brain just before their death. This activity, the scientist believe, is responsible for the “near death” encounters that some humans report when they return from the abyss, encounters that include following a bright light and out-of-body experiences.
Now I cannot speak on behalf of the deceased rats, but I can for myself..
At the age of eight, I was involved in a car accident. My father was driving, and I was asleep in the front passenger seat. It was night, the weather was foggy, and our car was stationary. A lorry, whose driver did not see us, hit us from behind and shunted us into a tree.
My only memory of the actual accident was being woken up by the sound of the impact, and then, as far as I was concerned, I just went back to sleep.
But my father later told me that it was not as simple as that. When our car hit the tree, I was propelled forward, hit my head on the dash board and slid underneath it, oblivious to what was happening (this was long before the days of compulsory seat belts in the UK). My father pulled me from the wreckage and carried me into a nearby house, whose occupants had come out to help.
I was still unconscious and put on a couch,
I distinctly remember looking down from above at the scene below.
I remember seeing my unconscious self and remember exactly what clothes I was wearing at the time. I looked down onto my father, leaning over me and noticed he had a bald spot, something I was not aware of at the time being a small eight-year-old child. I could not have been out for long as when I came round I was still on the couch and my father was still leaning over me.
For years after the accident I assumed I had been dreaming and thought no more of the incident.
However, when people started talking of their own experiences, I began to revisit that night and to realise that I to may have had an out of body experience. But my memory did reveal some interesting facts regarding the event.
I clearly remember, in my so-called astral state, looking down at my father who was leaning over me from my right side, but I also recall that when I opened my eyes, he was leaning from my left, because the couch I was lying on was up against a wall on my right hand side, so there was no way he could have been to the right of me.
Over the years, people have asked me if I believe in “astral projection”, as it was being called by some people
I can only tell them what I experienced and I leave it to them to decide.
Some scientists and learned medical men say it is a malfunction of the brain under extreme stress, and they could be right.
But I do sometimes wonder how my disembodied self could actually see some things that were actually happening, and why many people experience the same thing.
I also leave that for others to decide.
One last thought, these experiences are attributed to people who have been close to death, the so called “near death experience”. For the record, I was never near death. I do not remember hitting my head, I never felt any pain, either at the time or subsequently, and suffered only minor bruising.
I was discharged from hospital after two days with a clean bill of health.
Unfortunately, my poor dad was kept in for three weeks and later had to undergo an operation due to some internal injuries he incurred.
If anybody was near to death, it was him and not me.
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