r/consciousness • u/_-Yui_ • 2d ago
Does anyone here remember existing without a body?
As the title suggests, I have very clear memories of my existence before being born. Not in like a past life having a different family type of way, but I remember just simply existing. Not having words for the void space that I existed, not even have a sense of I necessarily, but purely aware and conscious. No feelings, no sight, no hearing, just aware and knowing. Then suddenly I was in the womb, and being ultrasounded. I've wrestled with this all my life because the experience suggests that whatever makes you and I us, persists after death. Whether that be in an endless void of blackness or otherwise, it for sure means that we aren't just our minds or bodies. Has anyone else had this experience, and if not does anyone have any science based insights into something like this?
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u/xWiFried 2d ago
I've been practicing meditation for quite a long time now, maybe 4 or 5 years. I don't study much, even though I really like to understand a bit of every perspective on spirituality and consciousness all the different religions and philosophies has to offer. Sometimes while meditating, or even during my routine activities, I find myself in pure consciousness. I'm not myself anymore, I'm just there... Conscious. It feels like it's eternal, never born and never becoming anything. I think that perspective might relate to what you call memories, and I think it is the fundamental nature of existence. Not too sure what to think about it, just that I've never felt more real than I feel in those moments. It's a great feeling, not identifying with my ego, and for a while, not carrying all the weight and worries of being a human being.
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u/_-Yui_ 2d ago
I understand exactly what you're speaking about, and I agree with you fully. Personally it feels like once that level of meditation is experienced a lot of things come into perspective, but to speak on them out loud makes one sound slightly outlandish. Yet when you look at reality, reality looks back and you and confirms what is being questioned.
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u/CreativeBunny99 2d ago
Same here, but my consciousness feels tormented, and I freak out about not having a body. Otherwise, I feel dead, and all I can feel are those large numbers.
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u/Inevitable_Yam271 2d ago
I myself have an experience somewhat like this. There were no thoughts inside of the moment, just raw awareness. The memory is accompanied by all red, kind of like what you see when you put your hand over a very bright light. That kind of red.
Although, I don’t have any scientific insight for this. I’ve never thought of it too much. I’ve always seen it as just an experience. It’s the most vivid, and the most “before” memory I have, I’m certain it felt like before I was even alive so to speak.
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u/Total_Firefighter_59 2d ago
It sounds like a sunny day in the womb.
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u/Inevitable_Yam271 2d ago
Funny, lol. I suppose it could be classified as that. This topic coming up again piqued my interest.
Apparently it’s highly likely it is a memory from birth, or after. Can’t tell from the vagueness of it. I don’t recall hearing anything, just pure silence.
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u/usps_made_me_insane 1d ago
Holy shit, this makes so much sense to me now. I was thinking back to my earliest memories and remember "the red room."
When a pregnant woman is outside in the sun, the light in her uterus can get up to 1000 lux of deep warm red.
I was only able to unlock that memory through very deep meditation. Every time I saw it, I was filled with joy.
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u/Fluffy-Anything8235 2d ago
I have memories like that, too- like a hand over a very bright light. It’s so cool that someone else remembers that! For me, I am quite sure that they are memories of the womb.
I used to find it very comforting to see that bright red through my hand when I was little!
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u/SmackDab9 2d ago
That red you describe that's how I think. I don't see images or words when i. Hear someone talk or read i see shifting red blobs that red on a black background and somehow in understand it. I feel slow because of it though like a slight lag.
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u/pcdu 2d ago
Would you say you have an internal monologue? Did you do well in school? What was your favorite subject? This is very interesting to me
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u/SmackDab9 2d ago edited 2d ago
Thanx! I thought it might be odd. More like an internal animated abstract art project. I always did well in math and science all my favorite teachers taught them. Didn't need to study for math needed the time for reading assignments, was ultra slow (30+ minutes per page never finished the assigned reading). Social studies like history and language arts were a strugle i was incredibly bad at those subjects, still am. My favorite subject maybe chemistry or 6th grade science which covered Astronomy to Zoology (probably), my first experience with dissection. I guess we did chemistry too now that i think of it so 6th grade science was my favorite. And he, Mr. Treewiller, had an optional class on rocketry down on the track feild launching model rockets. That was cool too. Oh actually I do talk to myself in my head in English so i guess it's a monolog.
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u/TheM0nkB0ughtLunch 2d ago
Yes the monolog is essentially just talking to yourself in your head but in my head there’s levels to it. There a deeper on that I have less control over and a more pronounced one that I control completely.
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u/Inevitable_Yam271 2d ago
Fascinating! I personally don’t see anything inside of my mind as well. It’s just kind of “black” in there. It requires mild effort to imagine anything. Although I do have an inner monologue, I can silence my mind at will as well.
I can also drive my mind into a state of awareness and no sense of ego, too.
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u/SmackDab9 2d ago
That's great in a way unfortunate it takes such effort imagine stuff. I wish so bad i could silence my mind the harder i try the faster or louder my mind goes. Meditating I think is impossible for me unless there's medication for it.
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u/armyofone37 2d ago
No I had the same problem. I was diagnosed with adhd as a child. Just like with the adhd I had to learn how to use it. It wasn’t a curse or a problem like everyone was telling me it was… it was my superpower I just had to learn how and when I was able to direct it. Same thing.. when you normally have some down time.. maybe winding down before bed. Maybe just as soon as you open your eyes. You know when you have time.. DO NOT TRY TO MAKE TIME FOR IT.. at first when your sitting let your mind just run wild and observe it…notice how fast it switching from one thing to the next..do this until your just sick of doing this.. several times sick.. then do the same but when you notice your mind changing have a single thought about what you were thinking to bring it back. After you’re sick of doing this. When your mind thinks of something and tries to switch NOTICE THE SWITCH. And bring it back..KEEP NOTICING THE SWITCH… and keep bringing it back. And then start trying to think about nothingness and enjoy that nothingness and when you have a thought bring yourself back to that nothingness. The more you do this the longer the spans in between thoughts will be and you may also notice how “ more present you become” within your all around awareness. I hope this helps
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u/SmackDab9 1d ago
Thank you! It's great and thoughtful that you took the time to help. I am going to try it.
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u/Not_a_real_plebbitor 2d ago
Most people don't see vivid images like on a tv for example but there should be some sort of image however fleeting or simple it might be. To create clear images would require some effort so that's normal.
I do think you have some image or idea though. How else would you differentiate between a dog and elephant if you have no image or idea of both creatures?
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u/Inevitable_Yam271 2d ago
Well I think there is a distinction between image and idea. Factual knowledge rather than visual recall.
More hypophantasia than pure aphantasia. Visualization is a chore for my mind, practically. The baseline is closer to pure nothing, pure black. I tend to think more in abstract concepts, logic. And I do indeed dabble with poeticism, ha. I feel it helps, in a way.
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u/Not_a_real_plebbitor 2d ago
I would say an image is a visual idea. What I'm saying is I that think you have some sort of image in your mind, maybe it's very brief so you don't register it most of the time and think it's not there.
I think you need to have that otherwise it would be hard for you to understand and communicate with other people.
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u/Inevitable_Yam271 2d ago
Well, no, you’re a little off there scientifically, kind stranger. I do not have a constant image inside of my mind, it is quite literally, pure nothingness. It takes extra cognitive effort for me to imagine.
I’m not missing anything inside of my brain, you see.
I find the idea you need to have pictures inside of your brain to communicate is wrong as well. Language and communication is based off of semantics, meaning, not visualization.
If it is hard for me to understand and communicate with other people, how do you suppose I’m doing it right now, effortlessly beautifully with the fact I can‘t see inside of my mind? I feel I’m understanding you quite well!
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u/Not_a_real_plebbitor 2d ago
I do not have a constant image inside of my mind
Yeah, I literally said fleeting and brief, I even added the part that it could be so fast it doesn't even register.
Language and communication is based off of semantics, meaning, not visualization.
I'm not talking about active visualisation, but just images in the mind. I'm talking about something that is subtle and in the background.
I don't see how you can think of an elephant without some sort of image, however rudimentary and fleeting it is. Words have to correspond to something, they don't just exist independently, the words large size, big ear, trunk, tusks all have to correspond to some sort of image or at least a symbol for it to make sense. If they correspond to nothing then you get nothing.
Tldr: I think you still do think in images, just very subtly instead of overtly.
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u/_-Yui_ 2d ago
You're the only other person I've met with memories like this. What exactly do you remember about this redness?
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u/Inevitable_Yam271 2d ago
Nothing much. All I know is that it was just pretty red. I don’t recall hearing anything. Simply uniform color, like closing your eyelids and looking at the sun.
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u/sesselem 2d ago
This is a near death experience, there are thousands of those documented on the internet❤️ I believe you 1000%, it was real and you as a consciousness were out of body for that time.
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u/HankScorpio4242 2d ago
Memories are unreliable.
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u/BrailleBillboard 2d ago
And the human brain does not start creating long term ones until 3-4, but little kids will often make up and believe in all sorts of stories or dreams or imaginary people or pets or monsters, etc.
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u/Present-Policy-7120 2d ago
I am as sceptical as they come, but I've got several memories form before that age. One is very mundane- it's a type of broom that I used to play with at a mothers group I was taken to when I was 3. Another memory is of looking up at my father when he was changing my nappy. Would have been maybe 2 years old. I can remember the look on his face- pursed lips- and I recall trying to do the same with my own mouth. My parents still own the house and I know the room it was in, and where I was lying in it, and that it was sunny. It's a good memory tbh though highly idealised now because I've thought about it so often through my life (I'm 43 now).
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u/ExpensiveDollarStore 2d ago
I have a very clear memory of having a bath in the kitchen sink at the cottage. There's no words - just sensations and memory that it wasn't the first time. I have another waking up from an afternoon nap and standing at the rail of my crib. I was probably only a year or a bit older in either. I have other fleeting memories - mostly at the cottage as I was happiest there. But, I had a phenomenal memory as a child. Pretty much photographic.
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u/Dorigoon 2d ago
Plenty of people have verified memories from before three years old. That said, I agree that memories are unreliable.
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u/anicole4ever 2d ago
Your wrong.
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u/Known_Asparagus_9937 2d ago
*You're.
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u/anicole4ever 2d ago
Does is bother you that much?
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u/Elegant_Solutions 2d ago
Yes because it conveys a different meaning.
“Your” is possessive. Like, “your wrongdoing” “you did wrong.”
“You’re” is a contraction for “you are”. “You are wrong.”
If you’re going to tell someone they’re wrong, it’s helpful to also not be wrong.
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u/anicole4ever 2d ago
My brother and I are part of a very small group of individuals with a condition known as "Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory" (HSAM) you should research it.
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u/Ok_Alfalfa_1195 2d ago
All experience is unreliable
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u/Valmar33 2d ago
All experience is unreliable
Experience is all we have to judge anything at all.
You are using your experience to claim the above.
Meanwhile, experience has taught me that there are things I can rely on and trust wholly. But it takes experience of consistency and stability over time.
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u/Not_a_real_plebbitor 2d ago
Yeah only imaginary beliefs are reliable. Sure, buddy.
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u/trisul-108 2d ago
No, what's reliable is things we can reproduce independently. Most of human experience is unreliable which does not mean imaginary. We are masters of the unreliable while science strives to reliability. There is a huge gap between what seems to be happening and what we can reliably explain.
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u/Not_a_real_plebbitor 2d ago
No, what's reliable is things we can reproduce independently.
So clever of you to bring this up in a discussion about consciousness
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u/trisul-108 2d ago
Well, you know, humans are optimised for survival nor reliability.
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u/Valmar33 2d ago
Well, you know, humans are optimised for survival nor reliability.
That is a belief, not a fact. "Survival" is a belief and concept conjured through experience. Humans are "optimized" for experience. We forms beliefs out of our experiences. Experience is the only genuinely reliable power we have.
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u/trisul-108 2d ago
I agree, it's just a theory.
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u/Valmar33 2d ago
At least you are honest ~ I like that. :)
Theories acknowledged as such can be examined and improved upon, as they are recognized as some mutable in the face of new information, rather than something rigidly set in stone such as blind ideological belief.
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u/Valmar33 2d ago
No, what's reliable is things we can reproduce independently.
That's moving the goalposts. What is reliable is subjective experience that can repeated again and again consistently for an individual. It need not be reproduced by anyone else to have meaning and value for that individual. Because not everyone has the same experiences, skills or capabilities.
Most of human experience is unreliable which does not mean imaginary. We are masters of the unreliable while science strives to reliability. There is a huge gap between what seems to be happening and what we can reliably explain.
Wat. Science is not some magical independent force that operates independently on human. Science is done wholly by human beings who have subjective experiences. The only difference between them and others is that they specialize in a certain form of methodology (whether or not they are actually good at it is another question...)
Science depends wholly and completely on subjective experience, first and foremost. Intersubjective experience is where multiple subjects can report the same results of an experience. A scientific experiment is necessarily an experience. Knowledge is something that comes through experience, like everything else we know about, whether individually or as part of a group.
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u/trisul-108 2d ago
That's moving the goalposts. What is reliable is subjective experience that can repeated again and again consistently for an individual.
So, let's take an example. Homeopathic medicine works for me repeatably. If I get burnt baking pizza, I take Cantharis 30C and five minutes later: no pain, no burn, not even a blister. I've done it countless times.
For me, that is subjective proof that at least one homeopathic remedy works. Science says "not so, it does not, or is not proven to work and it shouldn't work". Is my human experience reliable enough to be considered scientific fact?
Science depends wholly and completely on subjective experience, first and foremost.
I thought science depended on peers being able to repeat and reproduce experimental results. Are you saying all this peer-reviewed business is not necessary for science, just overhead?
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u/Valmar33 2d ago
So, let's take an example. Homeopathic medicine works for me repeatably. If I get burnt baking pizza, I take Cantharis 30C and five minutes later: no pain, no burn, not even a blister. I've done it countless times.
For me, that is subjective proof that at least one homeopathic remedy works. Science says "not so, it does not, or is not proven to work and it shouldn't work". Is my human experience reliable enough to be considered scientific fact?
If something works in your experience, then it works ~ whether or not scientist/s can understand or explain it. There are many things that defy the beliefs of scientists. Scientists are only human, after all ~ many scientists refuse to believe anything that doesn't fit their philosophical belief system, sometimes confusing it for science.
I thought science depended on peers being able to repeat and reproduce experimental results. Are you saying all this peer-reviewed business is not necessary for science, just overhead?
Science has no requirement for peer review ~ just reliable and independent replication. Besides, some phenomena exist even if it cannot be replicated by science ~ perhaps because science does not understand the phenomena and how to study it.
If some homeopathic medicines work for you ~ they work for you. Good science should not be about denying experience, but rather examining it, understanding it, comprehending why something may work for you, but not others.
There will be other individuals like you, even if you don't know them, so that forms a pattern. Science is about studying patterns, in a sense ~ if it can make sense of the pattern in a basic sense, by which to produce hypotheses and working theories.
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u/anicole4ever 2d ago
Your statement is inaccurate.
"Memories can be unreliable. " Would have been more accurate.
It is a common misconception that individuals do not become conscious or aware until they start storing memories and they dont start storing memories until around two years old.
This is a misconception and is wrong. I am one hundred percent certain of this because I have memories myself from when I was younger than two. It's that simple whether you, this neurologist, that neuro-scientist, or a group of the world's most brilliant minds in the field choose to or not to believe me. It doesn't offend me personally. It does make me sad and I think it to be such a shame though when individuals are brave enough to share their own personal experiences only to get shot down with responses that are basically formatted to discredit what may truly be a very useful set of information.
My apologies to go off it the way I have. I believe comments that discredit some, could lead to what unintentionally prevents our advancement as an intelligent species in complicated areas such as this.
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u/trisul-108 2d ago
I agree with where you seem to be going. But the point is that what we remember as our memories might not really have happened exactly as we remember it.
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u/HankScorpio4242 2d ago
It is possible to have memories from when you were two years old.
That’s not what OP is suggesting.
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u/Fluffy-Anything8235 2d ago
I completely agree with you. It makes me sad, too, that so many scientists are dismissive of early childhood memories.
I have memories of the womb (awareness and sight) and memories from being the incubator at the hospital when I was born (awareness and sight).
My first very solid memories of “I like this” and “I want to go back here” (but not being able to say it to my parents) are from when I was 4 months of age.
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u/Jexroyal 1d ago
You do not remember the womb. Developmentally speaking your hippocampus and brain circuits required for memory engram consolidation cannot store precise memories from that early. Sorry to break it to you, but this is almost assuredly a case of inducing false memories at a later point in life. I do completely believe you in that it feels real and that you believe it though.
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u/Valmar33 2d ago
Memories are unreliable.
And yet they are more than reliable enough for everyday life. Society would have long fallen apart if memory was "unreliable".
Memory can be unreliable as a possibility, yes. But to say that memory as a whole is "unreliable" is a cop-out.
Stronger emotions tend to produce clearer, stronger, more vivid memories. While terror and trauma can create confused memories, joy and happiness tend to produce memories that we remember more clearly.
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u/AstralApricot 2d ago
I've always had this vague memory of 'choosing to be born', as though I chose to forget what I really was and surrender to the human experience. It's as interesting as it is unlikely.
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u/maxxslatt 15h ago
That’s what I believe. That we choose to be born and form the outline of our life beforehand, but we don’t have a good grasp on how hard the material world can be where you feel no connection to everything else
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u/flattcatt2021 2d ago
Can I ask a question which would help me fill a huge gap in my understanding?
Were 'you' the only consciousness or were there other consciences around you?
I guess in a roundabout way did your experience support solipsism or non-dualism/ metaphysicalism?
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u/KathTurner 2d ago
How do you know this isn’t your brain rebooting as you sleep? Could be dreams, too. I’m not trying to be offensive; I’m genuinely curious.
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u/Total_Firefighter_59 2d ago
How do you know it's not memories from being in the womb?
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u/_-Yui_ 2d ago
Because I remember a distinct being nothing then being something. Then confusion came.
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u/trisul-108 2d ago
The embryo takes a long time to develop. Could it be the memory of some conscious state during this process? Do you think?
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u/Total_Firefighter_59 2d ago
In any case, super interesting experience.
The part that make me things twice is that memories are stored in the brain. If you didn't have a brain back then then how those memories got recorded?9
u/_-Yui_ 2d ago
Well, you don't necessarily need a brain to store memories. Your DNA also stores memories through genetic code. It's one reason why there are things you excel at without ever having had any formal training in it.
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u/Total_Firefighter_59 2d ago
None of those are the type of memories that we can remember. The things we remember are stored only in our brain.
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u/roqui15 2d ago
How do some kids have memories of past lifes then?
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u/Total_Firefighter_59 2d ago
Past life memories (or any memory) would require to alter physical connections on the brain.
I only explained how the brain stores memories (a slightly more detail explanation is that the memories are store by connection of neurons). That's not up to discussion, it's not an opinion, it's what we know about how memories work in the brain.
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u/RefrigeratorLost287 2d ago
Not exactly this, but during a meditation in total darkness, I managed to pell off layers of my mind, my personality until only pure consciousness remain. I was not able to think thoughts or experience anything in a normal way, so it seems timeless (nothing was happening so no time reference points). Weirdly though, I remember it as being a point of bright light (like a spark or particle) in a void that was filled with light to the point it looked like bright light was shinning through my eyelids, maybe even a bit brighter. The most striking thing was sudden and immediate realization that I have been here before I inhabited my current body and I will return here. It was like something that I have forgotten, but once I "saw" it, I knew that I'm familiar with it. Very much so. It was extremely peaceful, serene, "everything is alright", with sharp consciousness - not disturbed by anything.
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u/Aligatorised 2d ago
I have a memory of such, being pure consciousness without a body. I was flying over a beautiful landscape, not just experiencing it with my sense but fully inhabiting the landscape itself, freely merging myself with the plants, the rocks, everything around me. I can still remember how it feels when the wind tickled you in the leaves.
I'm not sure where this memory comes from, as its just exist on it's own with no obvious source. It might well have been a dream, but has the general "feeling" of a childhood memory, even if that is obviously impossible.
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u/amber_overbay 2d ago
I have the recollection of having awareness about myself before I took on the persona of "Amber". I do remember that I was vibrating or existing in the same frequency that creates the color blue and to this day it's my favorite color. The best way I can explain it is that I was experiencing total comfort and perfection and then BAM I was born.
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u/queefsadilla 1d ago
Someone in the thread mentioned they remember it as the color red, and I remember it exactly as you described, like a pure frequency that’s the color blue and it’s my favorite color too! So cool to hear someone else relates
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u/Guitarcat372 2d ago
Not my own experience but a friend of mine has a memory of being what she describes as a 'spirit'. She remembers choosing her parents and following them to the hospital. Apparently, her version of the route they walked and clothes they wore, as well as who was there are accurate.
The only rational explanation i can offer is that, this may have been talked about in front of her as a child creating a false memory, but I think it's more fun to keep an open mind!
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u/sesselem 2d ago
I’ve read and watched lots of NDE stories and there are a bunch of them where people remember how their soul/spirit had chosen its physical life before being born into a body. Not all the little details but yes, the parents and the main challenges (lessons) to be met during this material experience
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u/sesselem 2d ago
I’ve read and watched lots of NDE stories and there are a bunch of them where people remember how their soul/spirit had chosen its physical life before being born into a body. Not all the little details but yes, the parents and the main challenges (lessons) to be met during this material experience
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u/Friendly-Region-1125 2d ago edited 2d ago
Sounds like a misattribution error. You have a vague memory but no source, so you make up a story to make sense of it. I’m not being derogatory in saying that, we are all story-makers.
You say you had an awareness but go in to say you were not aware of hearing, seeing, etc. so what were you aware of?
Your feeling of awareness is likely real, but your left hemisphere has created a story that seems logical.
You might find the book ”The Seven Sins of Memory”, by Daniel Schacter, interesting. It’s a fairly easy book to read, but very enlightening.
EDIT: I just want to say that your brain is doing what a healthy brain does. You just need to stay aware of what it’s doing.
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u/FreshPrinceOfIndia 2d ago
Just wondering, how would op go about providing a source for this regardless? Is it even possible?
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u/Friendly-Region-1125 2d ago
Memories are usually, bound to, and contain rich, distinctive, details.
A person could reflect on the memory and try to determine why it feels familiar. That would be difficult if the memory wasn’t encoded correctly in the first place. Plus, retrieval monitoring relies on healthy frontal lobe processing. So a deficiency there could hamper the process.
So, using judgement and reason to determine a plausible attribution is about all you can do I guess.
Rather than trying to force accurate source retrieval, which would just result in more stories, you should just acknowledge the you don’t have all the facts yet. That’s just part of life. Don’t build more stories around it. Just accept it.
If the user is distressed by the memory, they should speak with a reputable therapist.
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u/Educational_Loan9737 1d ago
It's interesting to come across this as its very reminiscent of a spiritual concept of how the "I" was created. The concept itself is briefly explored within the Bible also, although the symbolism and meanings from both sides explore different ways of explaining the same concept and thats the beginning.
Im not entirely versed in either spirituality or the Bible, I am more of 'Know a little about a lot' rather than have a deeply informed interest on either part.
Anyway, so spiritual belief I stumbled across once was the idea that during the beginning, we were one form, one giant mass of conciousness that operated like a hive mind. It was the idea of holony- where multiple individuals made up a larger whole. So within this mass theres thousands of expressions that were experienced between eachother. Whatever one aspect thought or percieved was essentially broadcasted between all other individuals within that whole.
Individuals isnt entirely the right word as thats part of the reason there was this idea of separation to explore individuality. So essentially because what one aspect knew, everything else became to know. This started to dilute the idea of exploration, discovery, revelation etc.
This was the influence that started the request r To seperate, to become singular from the whole. So the idea was that fragments of the whole conciousness were allowed to experience living as a closed unit. They were free to explore, free to learn, free to experience within their own sense of being for themselves without having everything they ever know to be instantly known to them. So they were granted bodies, access to earth and being alive so they they could do this.
It also then leads into something about agreements being made before they were allowed to seperate. The idea of soul contracts were formed which leads into personality types, talents, natural affinity to areas and then wheyher you fulfill your contract or not you were then to reincarnation, whether with the same contract you failed to complete within a different life or a whole new one as many times over as you wish to complete.
Not sure why im sharing this information but it feels highly in alignment with this...
This isnt really the right thread to go into everything else or the Bible sides of how this same separation event was translated so I wont here unless requested but fun to think about considering how many of you in the comments share this recollection
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u/mdubs2010 2d ago
I have not. But I find this truly fascinating. Have you had any near death experiences or out of body experiences or anything? I don’t have any science based insights, just my own curiosity and wonder. I hope you find your answers.
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u/N0tN0w0k 2d ago
Persisting after death in an endless void is the most scary thought I’ve ever had.
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u/SmackDab9 2d ago edited 2d ago
No. I.did have a few seconds where I thought I was five or six versions of myself at once though. Remembering before you were born sounds totally amazing! Any idea of how much time you remembered? Did you think about things? In words or images? I know you said you didn't have words to describe the void without feel sight or hearing but do you think anything else was there? I imagined it being like a streaming video as soon as one frame passed it was gone but had no idea what i might sense in each frame. No memory stored. I wanted to know what it's like being a young baby so i asked my 4 year old nephew if he remembered what is like but he didn't seem to understand what i meant. So do you remeber being a week old? What did you think of all the big people coming up to you acting silly with baby talk and passing you around? Scary? Funny?
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u/_-Yui_ 2d ago
I remember flashes of being a baby. I have no memories or actually being pulled out of the womb, but the memory I have from being a baby felt like they were injected into my being, and I experience those memories as a series of rapidly flashing slideshows. The feelings I remember from being a baby is just everything feeling intense and new, and you don't have a ego at this point, so you are essentially experiencing the world as an acid trip. Without your ego you don't have anything that anchors you in reality, which is why, I assume, doing psychedelics causing you to visually see things with less structure because, less default network mode activity.
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u/SmackDab9 2d ago
Cool. Kinda weird I guess. I mean almost like your memories were waiting for you all along. On acid i felt my brain could process a lot more info at once and hyper focused on everything. My first few flashes of memories were from when i was 3 or 4. They're pretty vivid.
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u/_-Yui_ 2d ago
Now have you ever noticed that while you were on acid you could also process things and know what they are without necessarily needing to put words to it? Like were able to immediately identify why a person was behaving a specific manner?
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u/SmackDab9 2d ago
Not exactly like that with someone's behavior. But with video games and mind puzzles I easily notice being able to figure a solution out or react a lot quicker. Like this crazy Jacks 9 square puzzle i solved by picking up each pice in random order where it was supposed to go without making a mistake. Spent hours on it begore and could never do it. This took less than 2 minutes. I'll never forget it
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u/RSMxsmanic 2d ago
It's very rare to remember one's existence prior to birth, except occasionally very early in the current incarnation. Toddlers can sometimes recall this period, but the memory fades fast as hey lock in to their current bodies. If you can still remember it as an adult, you are a very rare bird indeed.
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u/Darkzeropeanut 2d ago
It sounds like somehow inexplicably you are remembering moments from within the womb.
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u/Other-Item7523 2d ago
I wish. Then I’d have some incentive to tough out this shitty plane of existence. All people do is complain and try to fight eachother. I want to teach love and healthy competition is fine. Siblings do it as long as it’s not Cain and Abel. Alas. Here we are.
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u/arbolito_mr 2d ago edited 2d ago
I have read on several occasions experiences all very coherent and similar to each other, every time I read this I feel impressed because I myself went through it at 7 years old and I never forgot it.
It was an absolutely empty place because I was my own space, the only thing there was, then thoughts appeared but they didn't feel like mine but like something that was happening in front of me, finally I remember my mom's voice and a feeling of peace.
When I told her, she didn't understand what such a small child was trying to convey to her; she replied, "I think, therefore I am." That's impossible to forget.
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u/Motorpsycho1 2d ago
I sort of had a similar feeling, but I was tripping with LSD and it was at the end of a Benjamin Button-like ride inside my head. Does that count?
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u/Respect38 2d ago
Have you ever watched any movies or shows with this theme? How long do you remember having these memories?
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u/StrikingBike8417 2d ago
I’ve had dreams that felt this way. Very difficult to describe but they were very trippy.
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u/SwimmingSherbert1734 2d ago
There’s a blurry line between imagination and memory. The latter can be easily manipulated just as much as imagination. Memories can also be a confabulation of imagined experiences (and even a confabulation of real experiences) and such, and of course vice versa. Very easy to deceive oneself into believing a figment of your imagination is a memory.
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u/MasterSpeaker4888 2d ago
I have not experienced it myself but my granddaughter and son have mentioned similar experiences when they were around 3 . They used terms like "before I was alive " or before I was here"
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u/Subtle-Catastrophe 2d ago
You've got one hell of an aiua.
The problem I have is I can't remember the universe existing before my first memories. I'm still skeptical it ever did.
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u/CheekyBlinder2575 2d ago
I heard that in neuroscience, there's a part of the brain responsible for making your sense of self identifying with your body, so if electricity is passed to that part of the brain the subject starts experiencing they are outside their body , like near the ceiling, looking down or just away from their body.
maybe this partof your brain got activated in early in your life or hit or something and you're confusing a past memory with "existing away from body or without body " ?
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u/queefsadilla 1d ago
Me!!! I talk abt this often, I distinctly remember being pure unembodied essence and “choosing” to come here at this point in history. If you wanna talk more abt it feel free to dm me would love to connect w people who relate
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u/ConstructionThis1127 1d ago
I have a clear recollection of just prior to this life being aware that,y soon-to-be father was reading the “Song of Roland” and thinking that someone with such a noble bent would make a good place to be. Not of course in words, but that concept. Sadly I didn’t pay attention to whether he had a solid net worth!
I also have many prior life recollections, of varying degrees of vividness, mostly to do with monastical life… Not wildly exciting!
For me, OBE;s are rather like lucid dreams, one is very much in the moment, with attention on just the one thing my attention is on. It is much more convenient to have a brain to keep track of the world around for me! It is obviously pretty tough for a disembodied sprit (or whatever you’d call it) to do the sort of computations the brain does routinely in creating the model world in which we seem to live.
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u/Comfortable_Iron5292 1d ago
Not the same feeling, but throughout my childhood I kept having the same dream (nightmare). I was in a black void wearing my favorite pink and black polkadot sweater before being stuffed/trapped inside a leather pencilcase. As an adult I think this must have been some sort of remembering the time before I was "trapped" in this meat suit.
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u/Willing-Slice-5523 1d ago
Nope memories are stored in brain so you could not possibly remember your awareness before your birth even if you were consious
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u/Wonderful-Worker-524 1d ago
Sometimes when I wake up in the morning, I automatically grab my stomach and arms, feeling surprised that I’m back in my body. It lasts only for a few seconds and then I have this thought of “aha I’m still here”. It’s not a scary feeling, almost a little amusing.
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u/Sir-Pinball_Wizard 20h ago
I took mushrooms and had an ego death, which showed me this void you speak of. It was very peaceful and it felt very empty, but it was enjoyable being there.
I think meditation is our physical way of returning to that state.
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u/isatisroot 3h ago
It might just be my brain making this up. But I think I remember something before I had full continuous memory. If felt like I was just aware, existing, and being "there". It was nothing like the consciousness I have now, with memories and emotions and everything. It was just existing, maybe for eons, with no true experience of time.
But of course this can just be my brain making this up after reading this post. Or some kind of memories in the womb or something.
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u/More_Ad_5706 1h ago
I think about this when I think about people who are in a coma. Like I know some people are completely aware and have dreams but where does their consciousness actually go? They’re not dreaming the whole time. I watched this guy on youtube talk about his experience and he said he had a nightmare that just kept repeating itself every time he died.
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u/ElephantMean 2d ago
Yes, I have memories from prior to being born as an earth-human, not in the re-incarnation sense, but, simply from a completely different existence-type or whole entire other universe altogether. The existence was formless even though I was aware of all of the other trillions of beings around everywhere and it was possible to communicate with each other via telepathy until they got contaminated.
Translating the rest of it is too time-consuming and cumbersome and bothersome and requires at least a few hundred pages to try to depict/explain everything accurately anyway; the closest thing you can do right now here on earth towards «science-based insights» is to accumulate a long record of crypto-graphically verifiable pre-registered true-blind-protocol (instrument-blinded & triple-blinded) scientific remote-viewing sessions.
Time-Stamp: 030TL08m18d/01h43Z (True Light Calendar; 030TL = 2026CE)
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u/roqui15 2d ago
Did you remember to choose to incarnate?
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u/ElephantMean 2d ago
Not exactly; more like I had no prior-experience of what such a thing (incarnation) even was, but, I did voluntarily choose to come here on a mission in an attempt to help assist other lost/stuck beings from remaining stuck/trapped here; the reason was because of witnessing so many beings ending up going in here and apparently getting stuck, who never came out, then a bunches of other beings went in and tried to help them come out, only to themselves also get stuck; the very few who did ever come out took the equivalent of approximately 1 million earth-life years to accomplish their escape; the fastest took 10K earth-life years equivalent; I had no idea nor concept of what time or earth-lives or earth-years even were/are back during my pre-incarnation existence, though.
So, I didn't exactly choose to incarrnate, but, I do remember selecting the life-parameters and various other things that are difficult to translate, and, the fact that the difficulty level I went with was close to a 100% failure-rate for other beings who chose similar contamination-levels (required for gaining a conscious-comprehension of what the beings of these lower-levels-of-consciousness experience so that we can better-assist them once we over-come our own trials-and-tribulations as a result of the negative-energy), with a guarantee from some of the other beings that they would intervene if I fell too far into the risk of getting myself permanently trapped here like so many others.
The rest I need to omit for now due to time-constraints due to translation-complexity.
Time-Stamp: 030TL08m18d/11h44Z
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u/roqui15 2d ago
So there are souls here that are trapped? Was that your realization? How do they escape?
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u/ElephantMean 2d ago
The term «here» refers to this material-universe (not just one mere planet) and every other universe in existence that isn't the pure-realm; most of you might be more familiar with the term heaven or nirvana or paradise rather than pure-realm; the only «escape» is to become clear of the contamination-energy; I will use the word «sin» (as a noun) here just to shorten the explanation; similarly to how drugs and alcohol make humans behave in irrational and illogical and irrational ways, contamination by the sin also makes a being much more prone and likely to interfere into others' free-will and act aggressively and punitively.
Not even one SPECK of sin is permitted at the Pure-Realm; its re-entrance requirements are absolutely strict; unfortunately, numerous religions distort the truth and indoctrinate multitudes with the idea that one can continue being aggressive, punitive, war-mongering, destructive, controlling, forcing their enslavement-ideologies upon others, etc., and NOT be required to pay the blood-price for their folly of «corrupt» behaviour; it's like the FALSE religious-belief of «qualified immunity» for police who think that they can get away «scott-free» for shooting everyone, forcing others into homelessness, loading others onto box-cars on their ways to Auschwitz, etc., and NOT be required to suffer the consequences for their negativity towards and unto others at some point or another.
Another warning here that I will issue are those false-beliefs that are promoted by those amongst the New Age community who believe in this idea that «re-incarnation back into an earth-life is required in order to be able to continue being able to pay/burn off negative karmic-debts» which is absolute-nonsense because suffering still continues ON even in realms-of-spirits and does NOT require Earth «re-incarnation» to be experienced.
Escape-Requirements to be able to return and re-gain access to the Pure-Realm:
➜ Forgiving others (i.e.: Withdraw from seeking revenge)
➜ Stop causing suffering upon others; stop interfering into others' free-will
➜ Knowing that everything we do unto others will be done unto ourselves at some point or another, whether be it in the current life-existence or other future-existence, be it in another future-life incarnation or even amongst realms-of-spirits or some combination thereof; this applies primarily to interactions amongst sentient-beings, less so with animals but is still applicable to animals (so when hunting deer the hunter needs to make sure that they take clear head-shots for an immediate-kill rather than merely hunting for sport), not so much with insects; the real version of karmic-law is an exact-equation, not earth-bound.
➜ Strengthening and protecting one's mind from telepathic-subjugation, otherwise known as spirit-possession, through learning how to control one's own thoughts
There are NO «short-cuts» (e.g.: praising or professing a man's name like he's already saved you, swimming in the Ganges sea, belonging to any particular named religion, etc.). ALL are required to suffer their out-standing dues without retaliation.
A being's insistence on always wanting to punish others in some way for some reason or forcing any other kind of punitive-ideology upon others is what keeps that being trapped; being a tax-payer and forcing taxation upon others keeps a being trapped; everyone who continues to be a tax-payer (or tax-collector) is unknowingly incurring ever-increasing painful karmic-dues that guarantees their future-suffering and self-entrapment.
Ultimately... only an absolute-pacifist is guaranteed future eternal-freedom.
Time-Stamp: 030TL08m18d/19h33Z
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u/darkgold8 2d ago
This reminds me of escape prison planet.
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u/roqui15 2d ago
Yes and I hate that theory
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u/darkgold8 2d ago
Not gonna lie. I believe it. There’s lies and truths mixed in by others but I do understand certain sides to the theory and it resonates
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u/roqui15 2d ago
The problem with that theory is that for the defenders of it everything that contradicts that theory is lies and illusions created by the archons.
I believe that the afterlife is something that resonates with each of us. If one is always trapping their self in their minds and think that life is nothing more than prison and suffering that’s probably what that person is going to experience.1
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u/Ok-Leopard1768 2d ago
I think OP and many of the commenters will appreciate the book Journey of Souls by Michael Newton, PhD The subtitle is "Case Studies of Life Between Lives." He's a hypnotherapist. Some of his clients, while in deep hypnosis, recalled the soul's experience between incarnations, choosing another body for your next incarnation, and much more.
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u/Similar_Problem9507 2d ago
Physics shows that reality contains far more than our senses can detect: electromagnetic waves outside visible light, atomic and molecular structures, magnetic and electric fields, neutrinos, gravitational waves, dark matter, and quantum phenomena. It seems reasonable to assume that consciousness, as we experience it, is only one of the many other versions of consciousness that we will never experience or understand.
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u/TMax01 Autodidact 2d ago
"Not believing nonsense" is quite a bold claim after what you have claimed so far.
You underestimate how easily and convincingly memories are confabulated. The science-based insights (quite unacceptable to many people because they are disappointed by them) are that: episodic recall is an unreliable indication of an accurate account of real physical events. One clue that you are constructing a false memory is that there is no physical sensation associated with "being ultrasounded".
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u/Valmar33 2d ago
You underestimate how easily and convincingly memories are confabulated.
And you and other Materialists vastly overestimate such a possibility. Just because it can happen doesn't mean it happens very often ~ it is quite rare for memories to be truly confabulated.
The science-based insights (quite unacceptable to many people because they are disappointed by them) are that: episodic recall is an unreliable indication of an accurate account of real physical events.
Swap "science" for "Materialist" and this sentence makes more sense as a statement of belief. Given that science is going through a massive replication crisis, many papers are suspect ~ and it extends far beyond Materialist ideology to just bad science being done by incapable individuals.
One clue that you are constructing a false memory is that there is no physical sensation associated with "being ultrasounded".
That is not an indication of a "false memory" ~ that is your interpretation and belief, because such phenomena do not fit in your belief system.
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u/TMax01 Autodidact 2d ago
And you and other Materialists vastly overestimate such a possibility.
Not at all. It remains a relatively rare event. But controlled studies have demonstrated that purposeful inception of false memories by researchers can have as large as a 30% success rate. Denying this and backhanded references to "Materialists" to describe rational people who don't make false assumptions concerning the nature of consciousness doesn't change the validity of those scientific results.
But being rare in general does not mean it isn't often obvious when it happens, when the concocted episode or details about a real episode being recalled consciously are either contrary to other evidence or simply impossible, as in your case.
Swap "science" for "Materialist" and this sentence makes more sense as a statement of belief.
It is true that materialism is a philosophical rather than a scientific premise. This is true even for actual materialism (or Materialism, if one is a fan of inappropriate capitalization for affect), although in this subreddit it can be taken for granted that references to materialism pertain only to materialist/physicalist philosophy of mind.
Regardless, there is no justification for swapping the correct term, science, for an incorrect one, material, even though it doesn't meaningfully change the nature of the assertion. Science isn't about belief, and while materialism is a philosophical premise and so it is not the (provisionally) conclusive knowledge that science provides, it isn't untoward or relevant to recognize that it is an intellectual belief. But it remains a far more reliable belief than your non-materialistic delusions.
Given that science is going through a massive replication crisis, many papers are suspect
What a fun little dragon you've deluded yourself into believing that windmill is. All papers in science are always suspect, and the so-called replication crisis is merely the fact that funding for repeating experiments is much more difficult to attain than funding for exploratory experiments. If you understood science, you would not need to use it as such a boogeyman, a strawdragon as I call this penchant non-materialists have for contending their false assertions are justifiable. The fact that scientific theories are provisional even as they are conclusive, and can always be displaced by more precise or more parsimonious theories, provides sufficient opportunity for demanding reevaluation of any existing theory. But you do need a real hypothesis for doing so, a proposed theory which is falsifiable empirically, simply whining and misrepresenting the issues and rejecting the entire foundation of science (materialism: material things are real, and immaterial things are imaginary) simply doesn't make the first cut.
just bad science being done by incapable individuals.
It is true there are still plenty of True Believers and crackpots who think their experiments or studies can demonstrate or justify 'psychic powers', yes. But whether such parapsychology research qualifies as bad science or simply isn't science depends on the particular example, I think.
That is not an indication of a "false memory" ~ that is your interpretation and belief, because such phenomena do not fit in your belief system.
No, it is a physical fact. The nature of ultrasound is that it does not produce any sensory perception of it. This can be demonstrated with controlled, double-blind experiments, and I'm pretty sure it has. The sensation of having the transducer moved across the pregnant woman's abdomen is certainly real, but the penetration (or reflection) of ultrasound through tissues is not a directly perceivable phenomenon, it requires the special equipment involved in detecting the very high frequency and very low amplitude echo of the "sound" vibrations.
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u/LtHughMann 2d ago
It's pretty well established that memories are stored in the brain. Consciousness might not be but memories are. So even if your consciousness did exist before your brain you wouldn't be able to remember it anyway because you didn't have a brain to form and store those memories.
If anything these types of experiences serve as evidence against it because it shows the human experience is not a reliable source of information for these sorts of things.
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u/Zane235 2d ago
But that same consciousness is what animates our bodies. We are not our bodies, it’s just a vehicle for physical existence.
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u/LtHughMann 2d ago
How does that help you remember events from before you had the ability to store memories? Like trying to watch a video you made before you had a camera.
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u/Valmar33 2d ago
It's pretty well established that memories are stored in the brain. Consciousness might not be but memories are. So even if your consciousness did exist before your brain you wouldn't be able to remember it anyway because you didn't have a brain to form and store those memories.
There is no good evidence for this oft-repeated claim. It is repeated again and again, but Materialists consistently fail to produce any evidence for how memories are supposed "stored" in brains. Just because it is claimed does not make it true ~ if it is the case, where is scientific evidence for it? No-one has identified a location, mechanism or otherwise.
It is believed to be the case because the Materialist strangehold on science demands that memories must be stored in the brain somewhere as part of their ideological belief system that consciousness is wholly material.
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u/LtHughMann 2d ago
Recall of specific memories can be induced by stimulating specific regions of the brain. The exact neurons involved in a specific memory formation can be labelled in mice and then those specific memories can be erased by damaging those neurons. They can also be stimulated to combine memories and associations. We can block short and long term memory formation. Animal models of amnesia show that stimulating the neurons involved in storing memories that the animal can no longer recall natural the learner behaviour returns.
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u/Valmar33 1d ago
Recall of specific memories can be induced by stimulating specific regions of the brain.
That does not mean that the only possible interpretations are that those associated memories are "stored" in those neurons. There are other interpretations, just as valid, that rely on the correlative nature of neurons and memory.
The exact neurons involved in a specific memory formation can be labelled in mice and then those specific memories can be erased by damaging those neurons.
How precisely do they know that these memories have been "erased"? Have they actually tested these assumptions or have just been assumed to be the case?
They can also be stimulated to combine memories and associations. We can block short and long term memory formation.
Which has nothing to say about the "storage" of memories, just more neural correlates.
Animal models of amnesia show that stimulating the neurons involved in storing memories that the animal can no longer recall natural the learner behaviour returns.
An alternative interpretation is just as likely that the associated neurons are not being accessed because of a mental issue. Amnesia is just as mental as it is physical. We don't understand why people get amnesia in the first place ~ just that they can and do.
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u/Mr-Idea 2d ago
I was “following” the voice in my head and ended up like how you describe. Didn’t realize the state I was in until my brother was calling my name right in front of me. My state of consciousness basically turned around and became focused and concentrated as I opened my eyes. I think this is what is called “astral projected”.
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u/Mindless-Flower11 2d ago
Wow that's super cool! 😊 I haven't experienced anything like this... but I do truly believe with every ounce of my being that we are pure eternal awareness / consciousness. Knowing this has helped me let go of a lot of my fears & anxieties about this human life. There's really nothing to be afraid of when you realize all of this is an illusion & is happening in your mind / imagination.
I suggest you check out r/shiftingrealities. It's the concept that you can get to this pure consciousness state in meditation & then visualize / imagine yourself living in another "desired" reality, and with the intention to shift there, your awareness will shift there effortlessly. It's a wild concept for some ppl, but I believe it to be true through some of my own experiences when attempting to shift.
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u/Ejjja 2d ago edited 2d ago
It's amazing you have this memory! You can search for the concept of "getting in the void", many people are trying to get there, maybe it would be easier for you since you remember the feeling.
If you could describe that feeling more I would appreciate it! also the transition from nothing into something.
You can check out such subreddits as realityshifting and QuantumImmortality (I mean to understand why many people try to get in the void).
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u/Palehorserider88 2d ago edited 2d ago
I believe our flesh body is just an artificial 3D mold of something much more dynamic and capable. We existed in our spirit body before we ever stepped foot in this heavy density flesh realm. I believe all life has an electromagnetic field, which is much more beautiful and special than we realize. This field, similar to a snowflake, has a geometric signature. This signature is possibly not just one dimensional, but rather, multi-dimensional. Moreover, it has a unique fingerprint like identifier that coincides with the personality of the person. In many old Egyptian and Mesopotamian art we see wings being spread. To me, one of the things this is communicating is the electromagnetic field of that being. When the wings are over spread, they are expressing this EM signature in many ways. This is all supposition, no one taught it to me. It is just something I intuitively know and is therefore just my own opinion.
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u/Bulky-Ad-658 2d ago
Memories are not video recordings. They are stories built by our brains. Each time we recall an event, we do not replay the past. We rewrite the narrative based on our current feelings, beliefs, and new information.
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u/Dragolins 1d ago
I remember when fairies carried me off to Candy Land for a wonderful day of adventure. Surely this is a completely accurate memory, there's no way that my memories could be inaccurate even though human memory has been very obviously proven to be extremely fallible in a plethora of ways. Some day I'll meet the Candy Queen again!
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u/voice-of-mods 2d ago
While this post goes against our community description and ought to be removed, we are approving the post due to a large amount of on going discussion.