Observations placeholder
Allan Pring undergoes a life review during his NDE
Identifier
021113
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
In 1979, Allan Pring was undergoing a surgical operation, during which he thought he died. He saw a replay of events of his life, which started from his early childhood and included many occurrences that he had completely forgotten. He said:
A description of the experience
Near death experiences - Ornella Corazza
On Monday 6 August the preparation for surgery was routine and I lost consciousness within seconds of being injected with an anaesthetic. 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 I 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 my 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 alone 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.
(Fenwick and Fenwick 1995: 113-14)