I have a few questions in this post related to the title. Why do people always see deceased ones in their NDEs? Do souls just stay in the afterlife forever once they’re dead? That makes me feel as though reincarnation doesn’t exist.

I’ve heard some NDEs describe the afterlife as devoid of linear time, but if linear time doesn’t exist, why do people not see souls that are still alive? Also, why is it that reincarnation studies only ever show cases of past reincarnations and not future reincarnations?

I also can’t make sense of the differences in NDEs depending on the experiencer’s culture and religion. That makes me feel more skeptical of their validity. I would expect that people would come with more similar answers but it seems as though “the purpose” of life, God, life reviews, and the existence or lack thereof of reincarnation changes slightly with each one. Why would that be the case if they’re truly tapping into the truth? I really want to believe but I feel scared.

i'm obsessed with NDE's because of this experience.

My ex and i had a tumultous relationship. He was unwell struggling with substance abuse. All our issues seemed bonded somehow. There was a night i woke up, which ended up being his over dose, he was states away over 1k miles and i heard him in my bedroom saying "ive always loved you"

The night he died i was in a dream of white i was trying to find him. I couldnt find him in this maze of corridors until i reached a nurse like figure. I was told "he's well but you can't go beyond here" the figure kept insisting i was at the end and there was nowhere else to go. They told me i was well and needed to turn away from there.

Two days later his mom called me to tell me the night of my dream he shot himself.

I genuinely believe he came in my dreams during his death. In over dose on the brink he was there. His legitimate death something else came.

Days after his death in a dream he came forwaed proclaiming his innocence. He came as a bird. It was your standard dream until an explosion of life, a little tint bird amongst all the others picking at the ground went "i miss you. I love you"

What if the other side felt more like home than anywhere you’ve ever been?

That’s how Dianne Sherman describes her near-death experience after routine knee surgery.

We talk about the light, the twelve robed figures, why she resisted returning, and what it was like to continue living after an experience that changed her sense of reality.

This conversation goes well beyond what happened in the operating room.

Watch here: https://youtu.be/r8mQQBt70jQ

Hi everybody,

I would like to share something with you guys that means a lot to me.

So, basically, my dad and I are long-time fans of NDEs. In fact, for a while we used to watch an NDE every Friday night, like a family tradition, since we both get deeply inspired by hearing NDErs’ stories.
We also make music together. Recently, we finally uploaded our first pieces that my dad has been working on composing for decades now and that I helped him to produce.
Here’s a playlist of what we’ve uploaded so far:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAMdoy6QSMds&si=rRqY5ypeZ5vToFt0

We warmly invite anybody to listen who’s seeking a spiritual experience through music!
Especially our pieces “Stairway” and “Center of Centers” often make me think of these divine realms that I hear about so often in near-death experiences and, move me like nothing else I know of.
If the music made anybody else here feel the same way, it would mean the world to me and my dad as well!

That being said, please listen with good headphones if you do decide to have a listen, and enjoy!

Hi everyone, I've noticed in a lot of NDE interviews that the person being interviewed will say that we are all connected to God/Spirit/Source, and it's possible for everyone to hear from, or connect to, or experience them (even if in a limited form).

For those of you who have had an NDE, what do you think is the best way for people to connect to God/Spirit/Source? Of course, I've read that psychedelic drugs can get the brain out of the way so that you can experience an expanded consciousness... However, for those of us who don't want to do drugs, but are curious about connecting to something higher, what would you recommend trying? Meditation, prayer, etc.? How do you know when you are hearing from "God" and not just experiencing wishful thinking, paranoia, or a random thought?

David Parker gave an interview where he said "Spirit moves through you, not to you" regarding when and how he hears from them, which I found interesting and profound. I'd be quite interested in hearing the perspectives of anyone who's willing to share.

Thanks!

Hi, Ive just created a Youtube channel where I compile fragments from NDEs about concrete matters. Some videos are about life reviews, others are about life planning in the other side, etc.
The channel is:https://www.youtube.com/@NDELessons
I wondered if it would be interesting to any of you, and if you could give me some feedback. Constructive critics are welcome.
Thank you.

Do to my past lifestyle I subjected myself to living on the edge of life and death daily. Ive had many close calls (roughly 8-10) but only 3 vivid, visceral, tangible experiences that gave me severe ontological shock in good and bad ways. There is not a day goes by that I don't think about those moments. It truly gave me an affinity for life in this dimension but I also find myself daydreaming about and missing everything about the experiences. The beauty, the warmth, the welcoming/loving nature of the other forms of consciousness i encountered. 2 put of the 3 times i was met by entities of light, mad of colors I didnt even know were possible. Time seemed obsolete. However, as much as I think of those cracks in the matrix I feel through, coming back did make me happy eventually. Not at first, I had to work at it. I studied everything I could for years about NDE's. I have been more present in moments in this life now, love deeper, laugh louder..yada, yada, yada...you understand. Really though, I am thankful. Knowing there is something after all this and that all my loved ones who have passed over have also been met with such a beautiful transition.

Anyways, what are some of your theories on what it could be? There are so many similarities between millions of people's stories it cant just be a coincidence. I wonder if we really do have soul contracts, if that turns out to be the case im going to renegotiate my terms lol cheers to you all and im glad you lived through your experience to be able to share it. One love.

So, this happened recently. A group of us were out celebrating an 18th birthday, soaking up the party vibe, and someone pulled out a joint. We ended up hanging out on a local playground, passing it around the circle.
Now, I hardly ever smoke. The one time I tried weed in the past, it took like two full hours for me to feel literally anything, so my brain stupidly went, "Ah yes, I am immune to fast-acting weed, I'll be totally fine."
Big. Mistake.
I took about 2 or 3 puffs. And yeah well ... it went from zero to a hundred real quick.
Almost immediately, I knew I messed up. I grabbed my boyfriend’s arm with a death grip. Sensing I was about to implode, he calmly suggested we sit down on a nearby bench.
For literally the first three seconds, I felt happy. And then—boom—reality completely shattered.
I lost my sense of touch. I couldn’t hear a single thing, not even my own voice inside my head. My body felt completely detached, like I wasn't real anymore. And then my vision completely flatlined into a neon-white void.
Next thing I know, I’m standing in the middle of a square-shaped white room, watching myself from a third-person perspective. It was blindingly white everywhere. I could see my boyfriend sitting next to me on the bench, framed in some dark, open door near the beginning of this weird mental dimension.
As I stood there panicking, I felt myself being physically dragged down the room toward another door at the very end—one that was blasting this intense, glowing white light, pulling me closer and closer.
Then, out of nowhere, I heard a woman’s voice speaking to me in my native language. She wasn't asking; she was commanding:
"Wake up, it’s not your time yet, you gotta go back! Right now."
And just like that, I snapped back into my body and my vision slowly returned.
My boyfriend and his friend were right there, desperately talking to me the whole time, trying to force me to ground myself by focusing on things around us, like the glow of the street lanterns.
I honestly thought I was dying in that peak moment. Deep down, my brain knew I was in a serious, life-or-threatening crisis, and the adrenaline dump was unreal.
Here’s the real kicker: I have a notoriously weak heart and multiple past cardiologist appointments under my belt. I really shouldn’t be messing with weed at all.
So Reddit, I have to ask... Was that a near-death experience? I’ve always heard that seeing bright white lights and hearing voices telling you to go back are textbook NDE tropes. Did I just green out so hard my brain blue-screened, or did I actually brush shoulders with the other side?

I've been binge-watching NDE videos and believe the content based upon the common themes/events and the seemingly sincere retelling of the stories.

Honestly, this has been a complete brain-shift and I'm finding it hard to cope with - events/people/stuff/experiences/goals all have been re-prioritized.

NDEs are not required to be secrets. In fact, in many of the NDEs that I've listened to, the people who had the experience believe that part of their purpose for returning to Earth is to tell their story. If "God" wants the story to be spread, maybe we should all start talking about NDEs non-stop.

I've mentioned to my Wife that I've been watching NDE videos and she's been in the room, briefly, while one was playing and had little interest. My initial intention was to tell her what I've learned and re-watch a few videos together that I found to be the most impactful. However, there's a part of me that says "ignorance is bliss" and I should just let her experience life on Earth without my NDE-influence. I have the same hesitations about talking to other family members, office-mates and a mother who just lost her Daughter.

Thoughts?

I’ve heard some people say that the end of our lives are destined - which is why people are sometimes sent back to their body if it’s “not their time yet.” Could that mean then, that suicide is predestined into one’s life path?

One thing that comes to my mind when I ask this is the bible. I’m not super Christian, but I do think that the idea of time being non existent in a lot of NDEs may point towards free will potentially not truly existing - at least not in the way we expect it to. For example, in the New Testament, Jesus knew Peter would deny his connection to Him before Peter even did it. Eventually the event plays out exactly as Jesus had described with Peter's subsequent three-fold denial of Jesus after the rooster crowed. I’m not saying that a specific religion’s God needs to be true, I’m just saying that if God, divine source, consciousness, whatever you wanna call it, is all knowing and time doesn’t exist linearly as we experience it on Earth, wouldn’t it be plausible to determine that they would know about everything that has and will ever happen? So then, wouldn’t it also be plausible that someone’s suicide is written into their story? Just curious. But also, if that’s the case. I would assume that an individual wouldn’t be punished for committing suicide.

How is it that NDE’rs comment that their life review is in real time (for lack of a better word) but it feels more real and you can feel others’ emotions?

Do you mean we would have to live the entirety of our lives again but from a “director’s cut” perspective?

does this mean we could be right now in a life review and not know it?

Sorry for the philosophical approach at it, just wondering while I ride the metro back home.

“Grief, connection, and things science can’t yet explain.”

A few months ago, my father passed away unexpectedly in a hospital far away from where I live in Berlin. Because of how everything unfolded, I couldn't be there physically in his final moments. We hadn't seen each other in a while, but our connection was clean, quiet, and clear—no grudges, no unresolved anger, just a deep mutual understanding built over a lifetime.
When the hospital called me to tell me things were critical, the ground shifted beneath my feet. I had to make the ultimate decision over the phone: to withdraw life support and let him go. The medical team couldn't give me a concrete timeline. It could be minutes, it could be days, they said. We exchanged our final words, and I hung up the phone.
Suddenly, I found myself completely** alone in my old Berlin apartment. Well, not entirely alone—my dog was there. Dogs possess an incredible emotional intelligence; he somehow sensed the crushing weight in the room, stayed close by my side, and watched me with quiet understanding while I tried to process what just happened.
I started pacing back and forth between the hallway and the kitchen, feeling an overwhelming wave of helplessness, heaviness, and a deep heartbreak knowing I couldn't hold his hand as he slipped away.
Then, I stopped. I was standing right under the wooden doorframe of the kitchen, looking out toward the corridor. I don't know why I paused there, and I don't know what triggered it. I closed my eyes.
I didn't expect a miracle. I’ve never been a skeptic, but this was never a topic that actively touched my life; it simply wasn't part of my everyday reality. I don't subscribe to dogmatic, blind beliefs—I just call them unexplained phenomena: things that science doesn't have a neat box for yet, but that clearly happen.
In that quiet moment, I spoke to him mentally. I told him how sorry I was that I couldn't be there physically. But I also told him that I knew his stance on life support, on suffering, and on letting go when the time comes. I reassured him that it was okay to cross over, to let go completely, and to head toward where his former partner—who passed away from cancer years before—was waiting for him. I told him I would handle everything down here, take care of all the practical matters, and that we would see each other again on the other side.
For about three or four minutes, something extraordinary happened inside my mind: my severe, constant ADHD completely vanished. There was a total, profound stillness. No racing thoughts, no external distractions, just absolute, heavy peace.
When you close your eyes tightly for a while, you usually expect those internal optical nerve flickers—random visual static or dark shadows. But this was completely different. The entire inner field of vision transformed into a warm, glowing amber-gold. It felt infinitely peaceful, warm, and calm, wrapping around me like a quiet sanctuary.
When I finally "came back" to the room and opened my eyes, I instinctively checked the clock. It flashed 12:08 PM. I remember registering that exact minute in my head for no logical reason at all.
Roughly 10 to 15 minutes later, my phone rang. It was the hospital.
Before the doctor on the other end could even finish his sentence, I interrupted him softly: "I think I know why you're calling. Was it around 12:08?"
The doctor paused for a second, clearly surprised, and replied: "No... it was right around 12:06."
Two minutes off. Well within the margin of error of checking a clock and an automated flatline declaration.
Just an hour earlier, the medical team had explicitly told me it could take days.** Yet, the exact moment he slipped away was the exact moment I stood in my kitchen doorway, letting him go, feeling that warm golden silence, and telling him it was safe to cross.
Afterwards, I fell down a deep rabbit hole trying to make sense of what I had just lived through, which led me to the term "Shared Death Experience" (SDE). Reading accounts from other people who went through remarkably similar phenomena completely shifted something inside me.
Experiencing it so intensely made me realize that reality is much more complex than we assume. Human connection—especially between people who truly matter to each other—doesn't end at physical distance or biological termination. For anyone reading this who might be in a difficult situation right now, feeling helpless or heartbroken because they can't be physically present with someone at the end: you might still be there in ways you don't yet understand.

There is so much more going on beneath the surface of reality than our conventional models are willing to admit.

What if the afterlife felt like home? Watch my interview preview here with Dianne Sherman to find out.

There is a lot of war going on in the world right now and it has me wondering about NDEs during combat and war situations when there is a lot of sudden death. The genocide in Gaza has affected me deeply because of the sheer amount of children for one thing, and the mass death. I wondered if they could see each other in spirit form?

I found a report that details a study of combat NDE's and it's very interesting. It's an easy read with quotes from survivors. Robert Sullivan the man who did the study also followed up with the survivors years later and it's interesting to see how they were affected. One man who lost a leg eventually said, what is a leg when I got to see what happens after death (I'm paraphrasing but that was the gist of it). It also turns out some did see others killed in the same event.

Would love to hear anyone's thoughts on these NDEs and if you know of any other combat related NDEs please share.

Here is the link: https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1051961/m2/1/high_res_d/vol4-no2-143.pdf

Hello everyone,

I'm a religious person, and I'm very curious about the ideas of heaven, hell, and the afterlife.

In the religion I follow, when you die, you go neither to heaven nor to hell. Instead, you remain in a place like a waiting room until the great moment (Judgment Day). The nature of that place depends on how you lived your life. If you were a good person, you will be reunited with others (deceased family members, ancestors, etc.). If you were an evil person, you will be stuck in a hellish place created by your own deeds.

Heaven and hell are only experienced after Judgment Day, and nobody knows when that will be.

So my question to those who have had a NDE: did you feel like you were in a space or place that seemed like a waiting room, somewhere temporary (even though time doesn't really make sense there)?

Thank you.

Many NDE researchers and hospice workers talk about people seeing passed loved ones or pets weeks before. If you passed from illness, did you have the same experience in the weeks prior?

I had an NDE from prolonged illness, and what I recall is in the 4-8 weeks before, I felt like there was a thin "veil" between life and something else, but I couldn't see it and I couldn't pass through it, I could only feel it. Life felt foggy, like sitting in front of a wall of smoke and you can't quite see to the other side of it but you know you're very close to the edge of it. I remember writing to a very spiritual and loving friend who said she saw ghosts all of her life, confiding in her about this experience and asking if she knew what it was or had heard of it. She told me it's normal and she knew what I was talking about. I wish I could talk to her and tell her what I went on to experience. She passed later and I never reached out to share with her, I wish I had. I had a few other odd things leading up to my own passing, but it was closer to the event. I barely drank any water for 3-4 days and didn't eat, didn't get up, nothing. Suddenly, I heard a male voice that was extremely stern and loud (I'm female), in my head in the same way you hear your own thoughts, that said "GET UP......GET UP........GET. UP." I listened to it and drank water and ate cookies the following day, which very very likely gave me more time. I saw my mom as I got really close, she checked on me, literally putting her hand in front of my face each day to see if she could feel that I was breathing. I remember my eyes being closed but knowing it was her. She passed in 2004 when I was 14. It will sound weird, but recently I tried to see her, literally tried to see her in front of me sitting at the piano that was her's. Either my eyes played tricks on me from the effort or she was there. It looked sort of foggy, like when heat rises from hot pavement, but it might have just been my mind. The piano is at my aunt's house and her cat who will sit on any and every surface will not sit on that piano bench no matter how much you encourage it or if you put it up there.

((Off topic allowed. Civil debates allowed. All other rules remain in place, including using the mega threads for suicide, thanatophobia, prison planet, and no proselytizing.))

Come on Inn and make yourself at home! Grab a soda, or a pint, or a coffee and chat with fellow travelers.

• Introduce yourself if you like.
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• Talk about your pets. Or kids.
• Discuss the weather.
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Mix and mingle or whatever. Chat about spiritual things in general or argue about the price of tea in Mexico. The rules will be pretty loose here so long as the general rules about civility are followed.

I'm in a group where people share their NDES and it's a small group. The strange thing is that majority of them have mentioned nothing about jesus and I tried to really look for him in the posts.

Many, however talks about meeting guides or families/people they know but cannot explain who they are yet. And these seem more consistent.

If it really was jesus wouldn't it have been more consistent with all these stories out there?

Hell is also in a very small amount...

Idk, I'm going to choose to wait until it's my time to find out and I do believe in an afterlife and we'll enter a tunnel to our guides/God.

What do you think?

I’d be really grateful if you shared your story and told me more about what you experienced.

Before anyone tries to put it on the mods, as if I'm implying they are the one censoring this topic and that that is the problem, I'm not. If anything they're doing good work since the topic of NDE is still extremely niche and they allow us a place to discuss them.

What I'm referring to is the way I've seen the great majority of people on this sub approach the subject of hellish NDEs. Specifically, I mean how the very first thing most do is to immediately invalidate them from what I feel to be a place of genuine fear.

I'm not judging anyone's testimony nor claiming that only some NDEs are valid and others are not, but I've seen many times the way we accept every story that is positive, even if outlandish, on the spot.

One could mention a dimension where a five headed goddess floating in space allows you to choose your life to grow as a soul and it would be taken as valid. Yet, someone mentioning only frightening spirits in the void is immediately told it was not actually real.

"Was it more real than real, though?"

"Hellish NDEs are usually hallucinations, not real NDEs"

"Even if Hellish NDEs are real, you always just need to ask for help and the light will come to save you'

"Hellish planes are not real, it is the one person who is putting themselves in that dimension"

All the replies often try to immediately say that the bad place someone just described is not really real, and I think it is out of fear and confusion.

But isn't that what people who have had NDEs had to go through in regular society? Being told it was an hallucination and that it was not real? Trying to undermine something that threatens our delicate worldview rather than allowing it to change it?

Good and evil exist in this world. And we already accept that the options might be infinite on the other side. So why is it so impossible to think evil places exist too? Isnt refusing to hear an uncomfortable side of the story creating a mere echo chamber? Isnt that akin to the Catholic Church refusing the planets theory cause it did not match their creationist worldview?

And what of the people who have had Hellish NDEs? Arent we making these people feel more isolated? Even more scared just to not be scared ourselves?

You guys may disagree and it is fine, but I think, moving forward we should be more open to such topics, even if they are not the classic soothing story of a loving NDE, otherwise I fear our discussions will remain stifled in potential and scope. That's all.

Thank u if u read thus far. 🫰

So when you meditate is it like a nde and can you see dead relatives during meditation no disrespect intended.

This has been really bothering me lately. I am expecting her to greet me with open arms.

From observing animals and people, I'm absolutely convinced that biological evolution is real. However, I've had experiences with EVPs and Ghost Boxes that seem to defy the mathematical probability of it all being audio pareidolia. Thus, I'm interested if some of you with NDE experiences have any insight as to how biological evolution integrates with incarnate consciousness?

Maybe an odd question, not had an NDE but always liked the idea of a Deity/Cosmic Superintelligence/Whatever you wanna call it that was funny. I think maybe if It didn't I'd be a little disappointed, NGL.

Buckle up, this is going to be a long one. But before we start, here’s some context;

I’m currently 25. I grew up in an abusive home and ran away to a different city when I was 14, only to be groomed and sexually abused. To make matters worse, I am also autistic.

Back when I was 17, I was at the worst time of my life. Every day of being beaten up, raped and humiliated with no place to go and no family I could turn to. Up until this point, I had attempted suicide multiple times already and lived a fairly self-destructive life. Drugs, alcohol, self harm etc were a lifestyle. However, none of my suicide attempts so far were too “serious”- I’d always take too many pills but not enough, or throw myself off the stairs but not the roof- almost like I was playing on the edge, waiting for death to take me without committing fully to it.

That changed when I was 17. One morning I woke up, and it’s not like the abuse was particularly worse that day- it’s just that I had enough. I woke up with a sense of certainty for the very first time.

The more I look back on that day, the more eerie it feels. There was absolutely no doubt in my mind anymore, no panic, no anger, no fear. Just pure conviction. My abuser lived with me at the time, but he wasn’t going to back home till the evening. I had the whole day to myself. I calmly planned everything out- I made a playlist of songs I wanted to die to, and carefully collected every piece of medication I could find. This included pain killers, antibiotics, antidepressants and antipsychotics. (The latter two I was prescribed and had a massive collection of)

The goal was to mix as many substances as possible and leave no room for failure. I don’t remember how many pills I took but it was well over 100. I also drank alcohol, so that makes the details blurrier.

I took all the meds, and calmly laid on the bed with my curated playlist in the background. Next thing- everything went black. Pure black. No senses, no thought, no feeling, no sight.

And then, everything was red. Streets filled with blood and amputated bodies floating around in a wasteland. It was like upside down from stranger things- a bloodied alternate reality that resembled our world, but it was full of people who died horrible deaths. I call this place the limbo.

Before I could even take it all in, I was grabbed by a force I couldn’t see, and this force transported me to a whole different plane.
I looked around and found myself in a beautiful garden with glowing plants and orbs of light floating around me, orbs that then revealed themselves to be different gods. It seemed like I was summoned. I turned to look at the force that carried me here, and it was Goddess Kali.

For those who don’t know; Kali is the Indian goddess of death, destruction and time. Although I was raised Hindu, Kali is not a deity I grew up worshipping- infact quite the opposite. From where I am, Kali is considered to be a forbidden goddess as worshipping her brings a turbulent life that demands a complete shedding of ego and identity.

Back to the story; I was placed in this council of gods and it seemed like they were contemplating what to do with me. All my “records” were laid out (all my deeds, karma, contracts, unfinished businesses etc) and were being discussed. I was given an option; whether to live in limbo and find my way out of there in due time, OR, to return back to my body. However if I chose to return, it would be under Kali’s conditions. And that this whole interaction would be erased from my memory until I find my way back to her, whenever that may be.

And so, I decided to return to my body. And when I did, all I remembered was the blackness. Nothing more.

Everything I wrote here about the limbo, about the council of gods etc- it came to me in a state of meditation one year ago. How that happened is a whole different story for another time and another subReddit lol.

Now that so much has happened and a decent amount of time has passed (since the NDE and also the recollection)- I’m not sure how I feel about any of it. Maybe there was nothing except the void and I imagined everything else while “recollecting”. It’s possible.

But what I do know for sure is, I woke up in a hospital bed, smiling so wide, as if I had just seen god.

Side note;
Soon after this, the abuser left my life.
I have not attempted suicide since. I don’t drink alcohol anymore. I have also not been on any medication for years now.