Allan Pring’s
account of his life review, Peter Fenwick reports in The Truth in the Light (1997), was the most detailed testimony in their initial NDE research project.
Allan recalls: "In 1979 I had no knowledge whatsoever of NDEs. I did not believe in life after death, I was not religious; I did not believe in God but I did believe that there was a scientific explanation for every mystery, though it could well take quite a few million years for man to figure it all out. Basically my views have not changed a great deal, except that now I believe it is impossible to die, which is not necessarily good news. The events of 1979 are as fresh and vivid in my memory as if they happened yesterday.
"The preparation for surgery was routine and I lost consciousness within seconds of being injected with an anesthetic. All perfectly normal. But the manner in which I regained consciousness was anything but normal. Instead of slowly coming round in a drowsy and somewhat befuddled state in a hospital ward I awoke as if from a deep and refreshing sleep and was instantly and acutely aware of my situation. Without any anxiety or distress I knew that I was dead, or rather that I had gone through the process of dying and was now in a different state of reality. The place that I was in cannot be described because it was a state of nothingness. There was nothing to see because there was no light; there was nothing to feel because there was no substance. Although I no longer considered that I had a physical body, nevertheless I felt as if I were floating in a vast empty space, very relaxed and waiting.
"Then I experienced the review of my life, which extended from early childhood and included many occurrences that I had completely forgotten. My life passed before me in a momentary flash but it was entire, even my thoughts were included. Some of the contents caused me to be ashamed but there were one or two I had forgotten about of which I felt quite pleased. All in all I knew that I could have lived a much better life but it could have been a lot worse. Be that as it may, I knew that it was all over now and there was no going back. There was one most peculiar feature of this life review and it is very difficult to describe, let along explain. Although it took but a moment to complete, literally a flash, there was still time to stop and wonder over separate incidents. This was the first instance of distortion of time that I experienced but it was the beginning of my belief that the answers to many of the questions that are posed by NDEs lie in a better understanding of the nature of time and what we term reality.
"After the life review I spent some time resting and considering the implications of what had happened. I did not feel that I had been judged expect by myself. There was no denying the facts because they were all there, including my innermost thoughts, emotions and motives. I knew that my life was over and whatever came next would be a direct consequence of not only what I had done in my life, but also what I had thought and what had been my true feeling at the time.
"Then I moved to a different place. It is very
difficult to describe but I knew that I no longer had a physical existence. I
was not conscious of having a body and the only senses that I was aware of were
sight and sound but even these were very different. I felt that everything
existed inside my non-existent head. Nevertheless, I had no doubt that
everything I was experiencing was real.
"I was in a room, without windows or doors, but having four corners in each of which ‘sat’ a ‘person.’ ‘They’ began to question me in a friendly way, rather like being de-briefed after a wartime operational flight. At first the questions were simple to answer but the next questions followed on logically and became progressively more difficult. However, I knew the answers. Eventually the questions were becoming impossible to answer; they concerned existence, the meaning and purpose of life and the universe itself. I could not possibly know the answers but I did! The questions came faster and faster and I knew with the most intense feeling of joy that no matter what ‘they’ asked me I would knew the answer.”
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