Near Death, Near Dream

Abstract

I will describe here an experience of mine which was in all its characteristics a neardeath experience (NDE) except that ultimately there was no evidence that I had been near death, and which, except for my believing I had died, was similar to a number of earlier experiences of mine which had always occurred only in context of lucid dreams, that is dreams in which I know I am dreaming. I have been a frequent lucid dreamer since 1976 and have experienced many "out-ofbody" (OBEs) both in the context of lucid dreams and between dreaming and awakening, though never with verification that I had left the body. Before this "NDE," if I may call it such, I had experienced a number of times a brilliant light in which I felt God was present. This has always been in continuity from ordinary lucid dreaming, and has occasionally grown out of an experience of darkness (see Gillespie, 1985).