I had a near-death experience in 1999. I careered off a mountain while hiking and was (for a period of approximately 30 seconds) facing almost certain death or catastrophic injury. Despite every sinew in my body keeping me upright and alive as I lost control, my “final” 5-10 seconds were “out-worldly.”

An intense fight-or-flight response is, in itself, a biological marvel. As an agnostic, I’ve explained away my experience as my brain preparing me for the inevitable.

As I neared my “end” I went through the following: (1) I realized intellectually that I no longer had any say in whether I was going to live or die, (2) this “certainty” was a tremendous relief; I literally felt the weight of life come off my shoulders, (3) my life flashed past me and I had the experience that I had indeed no regrets, and (4) I felt this tremendous “purity” and joy.

Then suddenly, I no longer existed as a separate entity “in” the world. I no longer felt distinguishable from the grass and rocks around me. I tell people I had the experience of “dissolving” into the space around me, like in The Matrix. I can relate to the TED talk neuroscientist who had a stroke who talks about tapping into the world’s collective energy.

I stopped struggling, as I felt the vessel that was my body no longer contained me and I had already begun to move on from the physical world. Before I hit the ground, I experienced tremendous euphoria/peace.

I can’t say the experience was life-changing, but I have made a point to tell my loved ones not to fear their final moments.

A few years earlier I had another “our-worldly” experience that doesn't qualify as an NDE, but I was intrigued to see a question related to spirits/angels. While hiking in a remote forest in Germany when I was in my early 20s, a few years before my NDE, I encountered what I believe was the spirit of a fallen WWII soldier who directed me (amongst other things) to "look down" and I did, and at my feet was the shell of an American rifle bullet dated “1942,” presumably fired from the spot he shot it from and perhaps where he was killed. As an agnostic/atheist I have no explanation for this event but, the fact of the matter is, it happened.