Here is Jean\u2019s account of his NDE: it contains many interesting elements, particularly an astonishing journey through space and the remarkable connection with his parents, who were living several thousand kilometers away at the time and\u2014apparently\u2014knew nothing about what he was going through. I\u2019ve kept the conversational style of our exchanges. <\/p>\n\n
I’m 49 years old and I live in Brittany. I went to Moscow in 2000 to visit some Russian friends. I also practiced meditation at a Buddhist center, even though I’m not religious. <\/p>\n\n
I had discovered meditation a few months earlier and was meditating every evening at a Tibetan Buddhist center. When my friends could no longer put me up, the Buddhists took me in. <\/p>\n\n
One morning, I stumbled into a window and my arm went right through it. The artery was severed; I was losing blood very quickly. Emergency responders arrived quickly, but I had already lost three-quarters of my blood; the doctor told me that later. Under normal circumstances, I should have died. <\/p>\n\n
I was wheeled into the hospital on a stretcher; I could see the ceilings flashing by above me. I was taken into a rather cold room. I fell asleep because of the general anesthesia. The NDE occurred during the operation. <\/p>\n\n
Suddenly, my parents and my sister were right beside me, as if they were physically present in the room. I think they were there because I was experiencing a moment that was important to me. All of a sudden, I began to rise into the air. I wanted to stay with my family, but it was impossible\u2014I couldn\u2019t resist. I was carried up to a height of about 30 meters. It was strange because I was in both Russia and France at the same time. At one point, I saw the town where I grew up and the preschool I used to attend appear before me. <\/p>\n\n
I saw my entire life all at once. I didn\u2019t take in the details, but the whole picture at once, in an instant. My attention was focused on my preschool, and I realized that what happened there had shaped my entire life. Everything else was simply a consequence of what I experienced during my preschool years. <\/p>\n\n
Then I was pulled upward again; I still didn\u2019t want to leave\u2014I felt a very strong emotional attachment to the place where I grew up and lived. I felt a very strong connection to those places, but I was torn away and kept rising. I passed over the Mediterranean and left Earth\u2019s atmosphere. <\/p>\n\n
I found myself in the space between the Earth and the Moon. Everything was black, except for the stars. I was amazed to be there; it was dark and silent. I sensed a Presence, and yet I felt completely alone\u2014though it wasn\u2019t a painful kind of loneliness. There was a kind of immense Presence of which I was a part; I can\u2019t explain it, but it was very powerful. <\/p>\n\n
I could see 360 degrees in every direction\u2014down, to the right, to the left. I could also travel to every corner of the universe and return instantly. <\/p>\n\n
I felt like I finally understood all the workings of the world\u2014what goes on behind the scenes. Now I wouldn\u2019t be able to explain any of it, but at the time, I understood everything. <\/p>\n\n
I had lost all memory of home, of my loved ones, of my country; it had all completely vanished. None of it mattered anymore; I had forgotten everything. <\/p>\n\n
I didn’t have a body, but I saw myself as a tiny dot. I started moving forward and saw that there were lots of other tiny dots\u2014thousands of tiny dots just like me. We all moved forward in the same direction, and we started to pick up speed. <\/p>\n\n
I started to get scared and tried to break free from the current that was pulling me along. I did what you do when you\u2019re in a river: I tried to aim for the bank to get closer to it. But it was impossible\u2014I was being completely swept away. After a while, I realized the current was too strong for me, so I just let myself go. It was moving at a very high speed. <\/p>\n\n
Then I saw, far ahead of us, a light toward which we were heading. I sensed that on the other side of the light, there was a lot of life and that I was expected there. It was a bit like being born. I also sensed that on the other side of the light, there were people who knew me, who were waiting for me, and who loved me, but I couldn\u2019t identify who they were. In any case, I could tell that on the other side, life was very vibrant and that I was expected there. I felt that there were people who loved me and were waiting for me, but I couldn\u2019t go there because, at the last moment, my path took a different turn. <\/p>\n\n
I passed to the lower right of the light and found myself in a very turbulent area, with very strong jolts, like a plane experiencing turbulence. It was stressful and very difficult psychologically. That was the hardest part of the experience. I was being tossed around in all directions. <\/p>\n\n
I sensed beings around me that I couldn\u2019t identify\u2014they were quite tall\u2014and they were trying to help me. I understood that they were very eager to support me and that they would have given their lives to help me. There was absolutely nothing I could do except let them do their work. I tried to help them help me. I let them help me and accepted what was happening to me. Little by little, things calmed down, and I found myself in the recovery room. <\/p>\n\n
When I saw a doctor, I told him roughly what had happened to me, not in detail. He looked taken aback and walked out, giving me a strange look. <\/p>\n\n
What\u2019s also very surprising is what my parents experienced during my NDE, even though they knew nothing about what was happening to me. At the time the operation was supposed to begin, my father, who was asleep, was suddenly awakened by my cry for help. He explained to me, \u201cIt wasn\u2019t like a dream. It was real, brief, and intense.\u201d <\/p>\n\n
The next morning, my parents went to the market, and there, my mother had a very intense crying fit\u2014the likes of which she had never experienced before. She was crying without knowing why. My mother felt very unwell, so they had to go home. She had a feeling that something difficult was happening to me. She tried to call me, but she got my voicemail. It wasn\u2019t until the next day that they received a call from the hospital in Moscow and arranged for my repatriation. <\/p>\n\n
I found my experience so strange that at first I didn’t tell anyone about it except the doctor in Moscow. I mentioned a few things to my parents, bit by bit, without going into detail, and only after several months had passed. <\/p>\n\n
Above all, I didn’t know it was a near-death experience. I didn\u2019t find out until 10 years later. While talking with a coworker, he told me about his NDE. I thought it reminded me of my own experience, so I told him about it. I remembered everything, in great detail. <\/p>\n\n
He was the one who explained to me that I had experienced an NDE. After that, I did some research; I read Raymond Moody\u2019s book, *Life After Life*<\/em>, and then a book by Jeffrey and Jody Long. Then I stopped reading about the subject. A few years later, I became interested in NDEs again and contacted Jeffrey Long. I translated a few NDE accounts into French for the NDERF[1]<\/a> website, and my own account is also on that site. <\/p>\n\n After that, I mentioned it a few times to people around me. It\u2019s easier to talk about it now; people are more open to it. <\/p>\n\n It’s hard to say because I was going through a very turbulent time in my life back then. As a result, I have a hard time seeing what I gained from it. The years that followed were very difficult, with a lot of trauma. <\/p>\n\n Ten years later, I began practicing Tibetan Buddhism. In 2010, during yet another turbulent period, I was set to leave for Berlin. The night before I left, I saw a vision of a group of people. It wasn\u2019t a hallucination: I couldn\u2019t see their faces, but I could clearly sense the presence of a group. I felt that they were loved ones, people I knew. I thought to myself, \u201cI belong to this group,\u201d even though I didn\u2019t know who they were. I had a strong intuition that they were the Buddhist group I had been part of in Moscow. <\/p>\n\n I did some research online and discovered that they also had centers in Berlin and Paris. In Berlin, I went to visit them and started practicing with them again. Once I returned to Paris, I resumed practicing with them for several years, though I was still not religious. <\/p>\n\n I associate this desire to practice Buddhist meditation with my NDE, even though I don\u2019t know why. In any case, meditation allows me to return to a state similar to what I experienced during my NDE. Later, I distanced myself from Buddhist groups: I didn\u2019t feel sufficiently in tune with them. <\/p>\n\n Another change I\u2019ve experienced since my NDE is my perception of time: I sometimes feel as though time doesn\u2019t exist. Even in my everyday life, I sometimes feel out of time and out of step with society. <\/p>\n\n My relationship with death has changed, too: I\u2019m not anxious about the idea of dying. I know that we transition into something else, that there is life after life on Earth. <\/p>\n\n I didn’t feel depressed after my NDE, but it’s true that I was going through a very difficult phase in my life at that time. I feel like I’ve peacefully come to terms with my NDE. <\/p>\n\n To read more NDE accounts: The NDERF website<\/a> offers a wide variety of NDE accounts\u2014some of which are in French\u2014as well as videos, books, and more.<\/p>\n\n For more testimonials on this site, see this page<\/a><\/p>\n\nHow will this affect my life?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n
Meditation has been helpful to me<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n
I’m no longer afraid of death<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n
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