I was jumping off the top of a small dam into the river. I followed the example of some older boys who were doing it for fun. It was a dangerous and risky activity, but I thought I could do it successfully. My first few jumps off the dam were exhilarating. I just needed to be sure that I jumped out far enough to clear the cascade of water falling down from the dam. Otherwise, one could get pulled down under the water and pinned to the river bottom.
Needless to say, I made
too short of a jump, and fell into the cascading water. I was tumbled
and pushed to the bottom of the river and pinned down flat by the water
pressure. I tried to break free, but was not strong enough. I held my
breath and thought to myself, 'This is it, I am going to die.' The
moment I drew water into my lungs, I thought, 'Dying is so easy, only
one breath-span between here and there.' It was soft, like gossamer on a
butterfly's wing.
My life flashed before my eyes in rapid sequence, like flashcards or
playing cards being ruffled quickly. All of my life moments, including
the inconsequential moments as well as important instances. They all
came flooding through. From the red canvas of my tennis shoes, to the
wind and smell of the oak trees I loved to climb; everything I
experienced was shown frame-by-frame in a part-second. I was suddenly
pulled by many filaments located in the center of my chest. I went
forward like a kite of a string, down through a tunnel or wormhole. I
went extremely fast, like a bottle rocket - whoosh! I was flying toward
a bright light at the end of the tunnel.
Then I was standing in bare feet on river sand. I was standing on the
edge of a great river which flowed from left to right. It looked to be a
couple of miles wide. Behind me were stabilized dunes with willow and
alder trees, intermittently spaced along the rivers edge. There was
grass in the dunes. I first looked for the sun, but found nothing that
provided a light source for the daylight conditions. I then looked
across the river, to see such an amazing world of mountains, trees,
waterfalls, exotic flowers. Everywhere was green, green, green! It
looked like our own natural world, but on steroids. There was so much
life with colors, textures, light, and smells that were all in a state
of absolute perfection and abundance. I could scarcely take it in.
Then whoooooooosh! I felt myself being pulled behind by the same
filaments between my shoulder blades back through the wornhole. I found
myself being resuscitated at the rivers edge. A couple of teenage boys
had jumped into the water, found me, and pulled me out.
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