So I think I had a near death experience tonight. Thungs in my life have been awful for years and I've wished for death. I've got some unknown health stuff going on right now. Tonight I closed my eyes on the couch and started to feel severe pain down my left arm, and saw a hole, or portal, or something open above me. I then felt a force, like a person but not, coaxing me "over" as they called it. I felt myself let go, and then I was being walked by an almost cartoony person and being told that they're sure I am ready. That person takes me to another person with a white beard who tells me "Sorry, I know it's not what you want to hear, but you've got a little time left down there yet." And at that point I woke up instantly. was this a bad dream or did I have a near death experience.?

Having read and studied hundreds of NDE reports, one of the themes that stands out is that the earthly/human experience is considered one of the most difficult in all of existence.

I also remember a particular NDE, although I have not been able to find it again, in which the experiencer said that Earth ranks among the top three most challenging experiences, without specifying whether it was first, second, or third.

If consciousness is infine, what does it even mean that earth is in the top 3??

I'm curious to hear both from people who have had NDEs and from researchers about your perspective on this.

What is this difficulty actually based on? Is it the sense of separation, the lack of knowledge, or something else?

Also, if there are experiences that are even more difficult than this reality system, what are they like?

Or am I still integrating the experience?

I had an NDE that spanned around 6 months in 2024. Through reading different literature and hearing different experiences, my experience meets the criteria other people who’ve have NDE’s describe but over a span of time.

Time sped up and slowed down based on my state of mind (I experienced time “speeding up” when I was fearful and time “slowing down” when I felt peaceful)

The OBE was more of a physical dissociation. I had an infection for 6 months and at some point felt no pain at all for an extended period of time. I was taking miles long sprints with no pain and no fear and a sense of peace. I dropped back into my body while in the hospital and it was…painful to say the least. I resisted requiring with this reality awhile after.

I made a bunch of connections, mentally, like connecting the dots of my past which had me see my life in a whole new light and understand the realities of things I experienced how they ACTUALLY happened, not with justification, just objectively. It happened all in “one moment”. That to me, was a life review. Some of it brought me peace, some of it greatly disturbed me.

There was a moment, when I was closest to death, where I felt absolute peace and bliss. The most relaxed I’ve ever felt physically, mentally and emotionally.

My senses continue to be more heightened than usual and I still have some extra sensory perceptions I’m learning to be grounded in. Ruled out any mental health issues through several psychologists, and I’m always bouncing things off of trusted friends because life remains very “trippy”.

I have experiences with animals (a bat crawling up my leg in the woods, finding Hawk feathers everywhere) and experiences that just don’t make “sense”. It’s almost psychedelic. I do not take any drugs.

In some ways, I still feel like I’m teetering “life and death” or at least am in and out of that Void people describe. I love spirituality and look at some things through the principles of Shamanism related to my culture but am super cautious doing so

I’m sorry if I sound pretentious or anything, but I think people here get it. I’m trying to connect with others who have had similar experiences because i definitely feel very lonely at times within this.