Experience description:

Prior to the experience, I collapsed from overwhelming stress caused by conflicts at work, overworking, and severe depression. I became almost entirely bedridden for several months. In the end, I only had a few thousand yen left in my savings, and I was starving so badly that I was sure I was going to die within a week or so. The electricity and gas had already been cut off. It had gotten to the point I couldn't even pay the next month's rent.

Having decided to let myself die, I finally went out to use the last of my money for my late payments. While I was out, my mother contacted me for the first time in half a year. When I heard her voice, I couldn't stop crying. I choked out that everything was impossible to bear. I worried her. My mother helped me financially, and I was able to escape poverty. However, seeing as I intended to die, I'd already completely lost all my will to live. Just like that, I returned home, and in a state of extreme starvation I slept for days on end. It was then that I saw the warm and enormous great tree of light.

My thoughts were no longer dull, and rather than feeling empty, my heart felt peaceful. Upon just one glance at the great tree, I was filled with a profound sense of love and blessings. The great tree seemed to be moving from its roots to its trunk like a waterfall. I understood that the great tree of life which stood before my eyes was at the same time a collector of souls and their administrator. When a dead soul separates from its body and becomes one with the great tree, it returns the results of its life to the tree. Bodies are a system given by the great tree to individual souls for their own training. Until that training is completed, the cycle of reincarnation continuesÄand
this was the starting and ending point of that. As I tried to get a better look at the great tree, I felt like I was able to zoom in on my own. On the magnified great tree of light, I realized there were a number of even brighter fruits. Each of these had a different face-like pattern on it. On Earth, these are the existences we call Gods.

I also found that, for a soul's most important training to occur, it is born in the ideal placeÄin proximity to souls it connected to in previous livesÄthe ideal body, and with the ideal relationships. I understood on a fundamental level that life is blessed because it wraps up the good and the bad together, and I have never been more moved in my life. At the moment I understood the wonder of being alive, I realized I still needed to go on living. Then, I got the sense that the great tree was telling me to go and guide other souls. That is when I woke up.

When I awoke, I was so moved that tears flowed down my face. It didn't stop for a while (maybe 30 minutes). For months, I continued to be filled with joy and compassion, and during that time I never felt depressed. Since then, I am gradually heading towards remission of my symptoms.

At the time of your experience was there an associated life-threatening event? Yes. Extreme stress and starvation.

Was the experience difficult to express in words? Yes. There was a sense of love and blessings towards all life.

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness? >From the moment I laid eyes on the great tree of light until I regained consciousness.

How did your highest level of consciousness and alertness during the experience compare to your normal everyday consciousness and alertness? More consciousness and alertness than normal. Despite how, at the time, my thoughts had been dulled by depression, I was calmer and wiser than in the real world.

Please compare your vision during the experience to your everyday vision that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. I could zoom in and out at will.

Please compare your hearing during the experience to your everyday hearing that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. Some sort of white noise peacefully flowed from the great tree.

Did you see or hear any earthly events that were occurring during a time that your consciousness / awareness was apart from your physical / earthly body? Uncertain. Just by looking at them, I could understand various things, but at the end it felt like I was being asked to guide other souls, too.

What emotions did you feel during the experience? Love and blessings.

Did you pass into or through a tunnel? No.

Did you see an unearthly light? Yes. The great tree of light which is astonishingly large and warm.

Did you seem to encounter a mystical being or presence, or hear an unidentifiable voice? No.

Did you encounter or become aware of any beings who previously lived on earth who are described by name in religions (for example: Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, etc.)? Yes. The Buddha and various indigenous gods were connected to the great tree like fruit.

Did you encounter or become aware of any deceased (or alive) beings? No.

Did you become aware of past events in your life during your experience? No.

Did you seem to enter some other, unearthly world? A clearly mystical or unearthly realm. The beginning of the universe. A place where there was no concept of time or space.

Did time seem to speed up or slow down? Everything seemed to be happening at once; or time stopped or lost all meaning. I lost the concept of time.

Did you suddenly seem to understand everything? Everything about the universe. About the meaning of souls and life.

Did you reach a boundary or limiting physical structure? Yes. At a mere glance, I understood that the great tree of light was both a place and an existence that unified souls, and that if you become one with it, it is also the boundary of reincarnation.

Did you come to a border or point of no return? No.

Did scenes from the future come to you? No.

During your experience, did you encounter any specific information / awareness suggesting that there either is (or is not) continued existence after earthly life ("life after death")? Yes.¨Regarding souls and life, the great tree
of life created concepts such as the individual for their practice.

During your experience, did you encounter any specific information / awareness that God or a supreme being either does (or does not) exist? No.

During your experience, did you encounter any specific information / awareness that you either did (or did not) exist prior to this lifetime? No.

During your experience, did you encounter any specific information / awareness that a mystical universal connection or unity/oneness either does (or does not) exist? Yes. I understood that the great tree of light unifies all souls and controls them.

During your experience, did you encounter any specific information / awareness regarding earthly life's meaning or purpose? Yes. To train one's own soul and guide the souls of others. A soul becomes an individual existence, and it can be effectively polished by engaging with others like stones on a sandy beach.

During your experience, did you encounter any specific information / awareness regarding earthly life's difficulties, challenges, or hardships? No.

During your experience, did you encounter any specific information / awareness regarding love? Yes. Souls and life transcend both good and evil, and receive love and blessings from the great tree of light.

During your experience, did you encounter any other specific information / awareness that you have not shared in other questions that is relevant to living our earthly lives? No.

Did you have a sense of knowing special knowledge or purpose? Yes. The training of one's own soul, and the guidance of other souls in this way.

What occurred during your experience included: Content that was both consistent and not consistent with the beliefs you had at the time of your exp. I didn't quite believe in reincarnation. It never even occurred to me that individual gods were one of the refined forms of the soul.

How accurately do you remember the experience in comparison to other life events that occurred around the time of the experience? I remember the experience more accurately than other life events that occurred around the time of th (sic). There was the depression, and my mother helping me, but aside from this near-death experience I don't remember much else.

Discuss any changes that might have occurred in your life after your experience: In the following months, I was filled with joy and compassion, and was no longer troubled by mental problems from depression. Since then, things have gotten better.

My experience directly resulted in: Large changes in my life

Did you have any changes in your values or beliefs after the experience that occurred as a result of the experience? Yes. I no longer drive myself into the corner. I consider how I may avoid worrying my parents, and I have come to rely on them more, too.

Do you have any psychic, non-ordinary or other special gifts after your experience that you did not have before the experience? No.

Are there one or several parts of your experience that are especially meaningful or significant to you?The fact that I found meaning in living.

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes. After more than a year passed. It was considered a meaningful experience. I was filled with the same joy, and I think it strengthened my compassion.

Did you have any knowledge of near death experience (NDE) prior to your experience? No.

What did you believe about the reality of your experience shortly (days to weeks) after it happened: Experience was definitely real. I believe this because, at the time, my depression always made my mind hazy, and I had perpetual nightmares. However, during this experience I felt an almost impossible sense of peace.

What do you believe about the reality of your experience at the current time: Experience was definitely real. Because even now I clearly remember that light, the situation, and the excitement I felt.

Have your relationships changed specifically as a result of your experience? Yes. So I could put an end to my shut-in lifestyle, I've learned to rely on my parents.


Have your religious beliefs/spiritual practices changed specifically as a result of your experience? Yes. Souls exist. Therefore the cycle of reincarnation and God exist too.

At any time in your life, has anything ever reproduced any part of the experience? No.

Is there anything else that you would like to add about your experience? Nothing in particular.

Did the questions asked and information that you provided accurately and comprehensively describe your experience? Yes. Yes. It's as I wrote in the experience description.

What could a national organization with an interest in near death experience (NDE) do that would be of interest to you? I would be grateful if someone could develop from clinical psychology to find ways to explain the existence of souls in neuroscience, biology, and physics.

Clarke,
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