People talking lately about near death experiences. A friend asked me if I’d had one. Define near, I said.
His was the time he was underwater, trapped, out of air, hallucinating that this might be it. Then, at some point, he said, a miracle occurred. He’d managed somehow to get just his face above the water, gulped some air, then cried out as a deeply religious person does. Hard to describe the touch I felt, he said, but I knew then my cry had been answered, I wasn’t alone, none of us is.
This guy too had a near death experience with water. Though near the end of his story, he says that unlike the hallucinations of someone on LSD (even as he admits no personal experience with using psychedelic drugs), his experience was authentic, because, he claimed, the beings experienced in drug hallucinations are cynical, whereas the being of his experience was the real deal – mystic and multi-dimensional, benevolent, one that created in him a feeling of completeness, all of which, and more, he eventually concluded was God. One person said it was the most beautiful account of a spiritual experience she’s read all year. Thing is, though, with this guy, his experience was preceded by his attempt to drown himself, unlike my friend.
Near death experience, it seems, visits people of variable character. Interesting as well that both accounts involved water.
Speaking of which… there’s Cinnamon Girl, zooming over the surf so fast it seems like she walks on water. Miracle!