Evolution of love

A DEEP NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE

A DEEP NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE

A FEW DAYS BEFORE my high school graduation, in the summer of 1955, I experienced an unusual, frightening, and incredible event. The memory of this event is not only crystal clear, but it remains intact, exactly as it happened. Every thought, word, image, action, and feeling of this memory abides unchanged in my mind, thoughts, and soul. I have spent years trying to forget, but I always remember, and I always remember the event as if it happened today. I am filled with joy and excitement. In a few days I will finally graduate from high school and move forward with my life. Our class decided to have a picnic at a nearby lake as our final outing before graduation, and I’m excited about going. I arrive at the lake and it is a great day for a picnic. The sun is shining and the sky is painted a beautiful shade of blue, dotted with perfect cotton-ball clouds. A warm breeze blows the fresh smell of the trees, sand, and lake everywhere.

I change into my swimsuit and begin the party with some beach games before lunch. After I eat, some of my friends swim out to a floating platform about one hundred yards off shore. Once they get to the platform, they wave and yell for me to join them. The water is much too cold for me to ease in slowly, so from 20 feet back I take a running leap and hit the water in a gigantic belly flop. My body warms a bit as I get into my swimming rhythm. Then, about halfway to the floating platform, I feel the first cramping pains in my stomach and groin. The cramps aren’t that bad, I tell myself, and besides, I’m almost halfway there. I can make it.

With every stroke the cramps and pain increase, and my knees buckle into my stomach. I can no longer kick my legs or straighten my body. I’m terrified! My arms move, and I don’t go anywhere but down. As I struggle beneath the surface I start gagging on the water. It’s in my nose, down my windpipe, and in my lungs…I’m sinking. As I struggle, I finally get my head up out of the water. Frantically, I search the water’s surface for the platform and my friends. No one recognizes my dilemma. Down I go again, deeper than before. My arms feel frozen in place and every muscle in my body screams with pain. I never imagined I could experience such unbearable pain. I sink deeper as the beautiful June sunlight fades to blackness.

Oh my God, it’s all black, I can’t see anything! A loud, painful, ringing sound is in my head. It feels as if someone is sticking an ice pick in my ears. I’m convinced my brain will explode any second. I’m falling endlessly down this freezing black hole. My body trembles uncontrollably in the frigid water. I continue to sink into this ice-cold black hole; it seems to last forever. Wait, I feel something. It’s the slimy, cold weeds at the bottom of the lake. Struggling in this tangle of weeds feels like I’m falling into an arctic snake pit. Finally, I hit the bottom. I try to push myself up with trembling, numb hands, but the goo at the lake bottom holds me down and sucks me deeper into the mud.

Then I hear a strange voice inside my head say, Andy, rest for just a moment; you need to let go. I reply, No, I can’t, I have to get to the surface for some air. Then the voice says again, ‘If you let go for just a moment, then I promise that you can return to the struggle’. I respond, Do you promise? And the voice answers back, ‘Yes, I promise’. In my frozen panic state I say to myself, All right then, okay then, I’ll stop for just a moment of rest. I stop struggling. I let go…

The very instant I let go, I am hurled into a dark, black tunnel. I look back and, somehow, I can see my body stuck in the weeds at the bottom of the lake. I look forward and see a brilliant Light shining at the end of the tunnel. Instantly, the freezing cold is gone; I feel warm. The horrible pain in my body is gone and I feel peaceful, calm, and very, very happy. The ringing in my ears and head is gone, replaced by a gentle silence, as if I were in the middle of a redwood forest with a gentle breeze blowing through the tops of the trees.

The radiant Light, which looks like a thousand exploding suns, overtakes the blackness. My retinas should be burned out by its brightness, but I can stare into the Light and it doesn’t hurt; it feels wonderful. Again, I realize that all of the pain that consumed me an instant ago is completely gone. Warmth, joy, and an indescribable feeling of love replace the cold, terror, panic, and fear that enveloped me. For some unknown reason, this dramatic rush toward the Light causes me no concern. I have no fear of the Light. I’m pulled closer and closer, as if I’m drawn into the Light by a giant, gentle magnet.

Then, in the next instant, I’m suspended inside the center of an immense sphere, bigger than our high school gymnasium. The inside of the sphere looks like an enormous series of unending movie screens, with hundreds of movies playing in every direction, all at the same time. I am completely surrounded by images of my experiences.

Wherever I look in the sphere, I see all the events of my lives; and I can hear, feel, touch, and smell the exact experience of living those lives. In this place there is no beginning; there is no end. I observe all of the moments of my lives all at the same time, all around me. My lifetimes are somehow mystically connected to each other. Strange, I sense no fear or judgments, no guilt or accountability, and absolutely no blame or shame. I re-experience every thought, word, and action of each life experience whenever I focus on one. I am suspended in a world of unlimited dimensions.

After what seems like hours in the sphere, I am instantly back in the tunnel again, drawn toward the Light. I can actually feel its brightness, warmth, and love. As I get closer to the Light, I am absorbed by its brilliance and perfect love. I am in the Light! Oh my God, I am actually in the Light. I am the Light! I look directly into the source of the Light and it appears to me in a human-like form. It looks like a massive, human silhouette radiating with the brightness of thousands of suns. Although I can’t remember seeing its form before, somehow I recognize it.

The Light speaks to me. ‘Andy, do not be afraid. Andy, I love you. Andy, we love you’. The Light actually knows me. The Light knows my name. The Light called me Andy. Surrounding the central Light form are millions and millions of other Lights welcoming me back home. I know them all and they know me; we are all pieces of the same Light. I hear myself say, It’s good to be back home. We are all together again.

--- Andy Petro is just a regular guy who happened to drown, die, and then returned to earth. He is able to remember exactly what happened to him while he was earth-dead. When he was forced back into his earth-body, after his Near Death Experience (NDE), he was not given any instructions, missions, or tasks to tell others about his encounter with the Light.

He was confused, frightened and very sad for many years. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't forget his experience in the Light and didn't know what to do about his memories. It wasn't until years later, he began waking up in the middle of the night ...