WEBVTT - 8 | Dragged Under, Lifted Up

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<v Speaker 1>You're listening to Alive Again, a production of Psychopia Pictures,

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<v Speaker 1>an iHeart podcast.

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<v Speaker 2>In two thousand and six, I had a freak accident.

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<v Speaker 2>I was pulled under the wheels of a speeding train,

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<v Speaker 2>and as the surgeon's thought to save me, I had

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<v Speaker 2>a profound out of body experience. I take myself back

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<v Speaker 2>to that realm where time did not exist. For the

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<v Speaker 2>first time in my life, I was complete, and I

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<v Speaker 2>was in the present moment.

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<v Speaker 3>Something more powerful than me.

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<v Speaker 2>Was at force that was at save me, that take

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<v Speaker 2>and all I could think was, I've got to share

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<v Speaker 2>this with everybody.

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<v Speaker 3>Everyone needs to know about this.

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Alive Again, a podcast that showcases miraculous account

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<v Speaker 1>of human fragility and resilience from people whose lives were

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<v Speaker 1>forever altered after having almost died. These are first hand

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<v Speaker 1>accounts of near death experiences and more broadly, brushes with death.

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<v Speaker 1>Our mission is simple, find, explore, and share these stories

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<v Speaker 1>to remind us all of our shared human condition. Please

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<v Speaker 1>keep in mind these stories are true and maybe triggering

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<v Speaker 1>for some listener, and discretion is advised.

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<v Speaker 2>I grew up well in the Midlands of the UK

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<v Speaker 2>and I had a very happy upbringing.

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<v Speaker 4>Them.

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<v Speaker 2>I was in a really good place, to be honest

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<v Speaker 2>with you. My family was good, and I felt really

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<v Speaker 2>good about the world, and all that was about to

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<v Speaker 2>change when I started at the state school.

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<v Speaker 3>We call it comprehensive school over here.

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<v Speaker 2>And that's really because I'd got learning difficulties inasmuch as

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<v Speaker 2>I'm dyslexic, and I was never actually diagnosed with dyslexia,

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<v Speaker 2>and so once I got into that system within the school,

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<v Speaker 2>I was immediately sort of seen as being sort of

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<v Speaker 2>like a not only a slow learner, but like I

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<v Speaker 2>wasn't interested, you know, that I got no interested in learning,

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<v Speaker 2>which is completely untrue. You know, I wanted to learn

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<v Speaker 2>as much as I could about life. So that was

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<v Speaker 2>kind of like a blueprint really for the rest of

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<v Speaker 2>well for a long time, you know, into my adult

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<v Speaker 2>years that I felt like a failure and I felt

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<v Speaker 2>like trouble, and it hit me hard throughout my teens

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<v Speaker 2>and so into my late teens, I suddenly decided that

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<v Speaker 2>I wanted to go out and enjoy myself and party

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<v Speaker 2>dislike everyone else, I'm sure, but I kind of took

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<v Speaker 2>it slightly to the next degree, you know, and that

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<v Speaker 2>carried on throughout my twenties, so I moved to London.

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<v Speaker 2>You know, I figured that London was going to be

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<v Speaker 2>the land of opportunity. So I thought, it's not working

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<v Speaker 2>for me here where I'd grown up. And I did

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<v Speaker 2>fall into some really interesting circles of friends, which was great,

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<v Speaker 2>but that became tougher for me in a sense because

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<v Speaker 2>most of those friends, well pretty much all of them

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<v Speaker 2>were successful in whatever they were doing, and quite a

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<v Speaker 2>few of them happened to be working in the music

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<v Speaker 2>industry and photography and things like that, and I really

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<v Speaker 2>wanted to get in. I tried to keep pushing that

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<v Speaker 2>door open, as it were, but nothing ever happened. It

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<v Speaker 2>just wasn't working for me either. It was a bit

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<v Speaker 2>of a double edged sword because as much as they

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<v Speaker 2>were a brilliant bunch of friends to have around me,

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<v Speaker 2>it was also like having this mirror again in front

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<v Speaker 2>of me, saying, David, you are still a failure. You

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<v Speaker 2>were still not even able to succeed at this and

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<v Speaker 2>these people are why not. I was picking up work,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, sort of like working on construction sites, working

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<v Speaker 2>in kitchens, washing up anything I could do to make money,

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<v Speaker 2>and I also discovered I wasn't really that good, that

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<v Speaker 2>kind of stuff, especially construction work. Anyhow, I started to

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<v Speaker 2>think a lot about the past. I started to think

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<v Speaker 2>about opportunities that I messed up on, and all I

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<v Speaker 2>could feel was absolute despair. I was struggling, and so

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<v Speaker 2>I would say, I started to drink to try and

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<v Speaker 2>quash this feeling of inadequacy and fear of running out

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<v Speaker 2>of money. I was about to lose my apartment. I

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<v Speaker 2>remember getting a viction notice coming through the post, and

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<v Speaker 2>I spoke to my sister on the phone and she said,

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<v Speaker 2>come on stay with us for a few weeks. She

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<v Speaker 2>lived out in the countryside with her young family. So

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<v Speaker 2>I went up there for a couple of weeks just

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<v Speaker 2>to try and get my head around what I was

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<v Speaker 2>going to do to be able to live in and

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<v Speaker 2>fit into life. This was in two thousand and six.

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<v Speaker 2>I don't think I could could have sunk any load

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<v Speaker 2>than I had at that point. It was pretty pretty

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<v Speaker 2>depressing and frightening as well. There's an interesting story when

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<v Speaker 2>I was just going up for a weekend and I

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<v Speaker 2>was on the train and there was an elderly couple

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<v Speaker 2>sat opposite me, and I remember that particular day, I

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<v Speaker 2>was not feeling in a great place, and I didn't

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<v Speaker 2>really feel like firing up conversation, but she was really

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<v Speaker 2>keen to open up this conversation about the fact that

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<v Speaker 2>they were going to see this medium in the town

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<v Speaker 2>where my sister lived. And I said, okay. She said, look,

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<v Speaker 2>take this flyer. She's really good, and I went, okay.

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<v Speaker 2>So I just put it in this flyer in my pocket.

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<v Speaker 2>And I remember turning up at my sister's house and

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<v Speaker 2>there was a lot of mayhem. The kids were running

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<v Speaker 2>around stuff like this. So I said, look, I'm just

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<v Speaker 2>going to go and have a drink at the local bar.

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<v Speaker 3>So I went down.

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<v Speaker 2>I went and I sat there and I bought myself

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<v Speaker 2>a beer and I opened up this flyer and looked

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<v Speaker 2>at it and I thought, do you know what I'm

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<v Speaker 2>going to go? And I walked in and it was packed.

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<v Speaker 2>And then it got towards the end of the session

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<v Speaker 2>and she started pacing around, I remember, and she was

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<v Speaker 2>very animated. She was walking backwards and forward. And then

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<v Speaker 2>she turned around and she said, gentleman in the blue sweater,

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<v Speaker 2>which was me. She said, your life is about to change.

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<v Speaker 2>And I thought, you know again, me back then it

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<v Speaker 2>was all about you know, I need the money, you know,

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<v Speaker 2>I said, it was fantastic. Am I going to win

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<v Speaker 2>the lottery?

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<v Speaker 5>What?

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<v Speaker 2>What is it going to change? She said, oh, they're

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<v Speaker 2>they're not telling me. She said, just be prepared for

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<v Speaker 2>it. It's going to be a very big change, but you

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<v Speaker 2>will be protected. And that's what she told me. I

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<v Speaker 2>met up with somebody actually, and this was just a

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<v Speaker 2>few weeks prior to me going up and staying with

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<v Speaker 2>my sister and her family, and I've got this connection

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<v Speaker 2>with her. It was just like one of those She

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<v Speaker 2>had a grounding effect on me. And when I went

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<v Speaker 2>to stay with my family, with my sister's family, that is,

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<v Speaker 2>she said, well, I come and hang out with you

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<v Speaker 2>for a few days. This is my friend Anna who

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<v Speaker 2>i'd met, and I said that, yeah, that'd be great.

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<v Speaker 3>So she came up.

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<v Speaker 2>To see me and we hung out for a few

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<v Speaker 2>days and we had a brilliant time. Then she had

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<v Speaker 2>to get back to London. She got an appointment to

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<v Speaker 2>get back for so I took her down to the

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<v Speaker 2>rail station to see her off. That was the day

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<v Speaker 2>that my whole life was about to change. It was

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<v Speaker 2>a cold February day in two thousand and six, it's

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<v Speaker 2>a bright blue sky that was hardly a claud in

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<v Speaker 2>the sky. And we stood there. The train came down

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<v Speaker 2>the track. I remember seeing it coming down, and then

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<v Speaker 2>I helped her onto the car with her bags and

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<v Speaker 2>I gave her her going to kiss say goodbye to her.

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<v Speaker 2>We both heard the automatic doors buzzers going, so she

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<v Speaker 2>said you'd better get off. I said, yeah, sure, I better,

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<v Speaker 2>and I stepped back and it was at that point

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<v Speaker 2>that those automatic doors closed on my coat. So I

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<v Speaker 2>was wearing like this three quarter length sheepskin coat which

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<v Speaker 2>is quite thick in quality, so it jammed right in

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<v Speaker 2>there and I just couldn't pull it free, and I

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<v Speaker 2>thought this is not good. I yelled out for help,

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<v Speaker 2>hoping there would be a guy, and I didn't realize

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<v Speaker 2>there was no god working on this actual network. So

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<v Speaker 2>I started banging on the windows and carried on corning,

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<v Speaker 2>hoping that the driver may be able to see me

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<v Speaker 2>through the window or something, you know, But this just

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<v Speaker 2>didn't happen. There was only one other guy on the

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<v Speaker 2>platform that day, and he was also seeing off his girlfriend,

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<v Speaker 2>and I remember he actually turned around to me and

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<v Speaker 2>shouted at me, take your coat off, mate, take your

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<v Speaker 2>coat off, but it was just too tight. I started

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<v Speaker 2>to feel pretty scared. At this point, I could see

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<v Speaker 2>my friend Anna. I could see her through the glass

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<v Speaker 2>of the car. The look of horror in her eyes

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<v Speaker 2>filled me with absolute inevitability that this could be the

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<v Speaker 2>end for me. I suddenly felt well. I felt like

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<v Speaker 2>I was staring death in the eyes. At that point,

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<v Speaker 2>It's like time had stretched. It didn't slow down, it

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<v Speaker 2>wasn't like slow emotion, but at times stretched, and I

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<v Speaker 2>I thought, how am I going to cope with this?

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<v Speaker 2>The train's engine started to rev up and started pulling

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<v Speaker 2>out the station, and I heard and felt every gear shift,

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<v Speaker 2>and I suddenly lost my footing. Then I was dragged

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<v Speaker 2>at great speed along the platform, and then I was

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<v Speaker 2>sucked between the edge of the platform. Then I under

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<v Speaker 2>the train itself, and I still got this sense of

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<v Speaker 2>time stretched, and I just remember saying to myself, relax.

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<v Speaker 2>I'd seen this news article a couple of weeks back,

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<v Speaker 2>and it came into my thoughts, and it's where a

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<v Speaker 2>young infant had been thrown from a burning apartment block

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<v Speaker 2>from the third floor, and they said that that infant

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<v Speaker 2>survived because because children don't tense up like we do

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<v Speaker 2>as adults. So that's what I did. I relaxed my

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<v Speaker 2>whole body, and suddenly the train became more like this

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<v Speaker 2>mechanical beast as I got sucked down between this gap,

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<v Speaker 2>and I'd gone from that moment into what felt like

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<v Speaker 2>absolute hell. It was like being thrown into a washing

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<v Speaker 2>machine at full spin. But it was violent, and it

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<v Speaker 2>was dark, and there was just the smell of oil,

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<v Speaker 2>and you know, the sensation the feel of the metal

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<v Speaker 2>was really terrifying. And then I was finally thrown down

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<v Speaker 2>to the ground in between the tracks.

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<v Speaker 3>I was in absolute agony.

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<v Speaker 2>The train was still continuing on, and I thought to myself,

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<v Speaker 2>it's not over yet. You know, part of the undercarriage

0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:44.600
<v Speaker 2>of that train could hit me because it was a

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<v Speaker 2>long training. It was still continuing on, and I still

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<v Speaker 2>got this sense of time slowly expanding, and I thought

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<v Speaker 2>to myself, remember all the double O seven James Bond movies,

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<v Speaker 2>or the Indiana Jones movies. What would they do now?

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<v Speaker 2>They would put their face right down into the gravel.

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<v Speaker 2>So that's what I did. So my face was in

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<v Speaker 2>that gravel, and the train eventually moved on, and there

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<v Speaker 2>I was in complete agony. I remember seeing my arm

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<v Speaker 2>completely ripped it right open as well, and ah, the

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<v Speaker 2>pain was just really intense, but I was just so

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<v Speaker 2>glad to be alive because I didn't think I was

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<v Speaker 2>going to survive this. It still amazes me to this

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<v Speaker 2>day that I was so calm at the point of

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<v Speaker 2>this whole thing unfolding.

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<v Speaker 3>It really is.

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<v Speaker 2>I understand the whole phrase now of ftal flight, but

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<v Speaker 2>not only that. I saw a documentary only recently of

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<v Speaker 2>this neuroscientist called Dr David Eagleman. Basically, the mine goes

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<v Speaker 2>from if you like, the best way he described it

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<v Speaker 2>was being if we view day to day life through

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<v Speaker 2>a VHS old video camera, then it's like going from

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<v Speaker 2>that to super cinematic wide angle film. And that's what

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<v Speaker 2>it is. So it's not only visually do you take

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<v Speaker 2>everything in, but you're able to hear more, you're able

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<v Speaker 2>to think more, and you're able to process exactly.

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<v Speaker 3>How you're going to deal with this situation.

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<v Speaker 2>So me as a person, I'm no superhero and I'm

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<v Speaker 2>not you know, when things do go wrong in all fense,

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<v Speaker 2>I'm not that kind of cool collective person. Normally I'm like,

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<v Speaker 2>oh well, no, wow, yeah. Within minutes it felt like

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<v Speaker 2>the paramedics arrived, and I remember the doctor in the

0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:01.480
<v Speaker 2>back of the ambulance turned around to me and he said, look,

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<v Speaker 2>we've just come from a war hospital around the corner.

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<v Speaker 2>That's how we were able to get here so quick.

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<v Speaker 2>But the hospital is going to save your life is

0:14:09.280 --> 0:14:12.240
<v Speaker 2>a twenty five minute drive. And so the sirens went

0:14:12.320 --> 0:14:15.400
<v Speaker 2>on and we took off like a rocket down the highway.

0:14:18.160 --> 0:14:20.760
<v Speaker 2>We arrived at the hospital and I remember there was

0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:21.640
<v Speaker 2>a whole.

0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:24.840
<v Speaker 3>Team of nurses and medics and doctors are waiting there.

0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:27.720
<v Speaker 2>They got to work on me, and I knew that

0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:30.440
<v Speaker 2>I was losing a lot of blood. I'd see just

0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:34.200
<v Speaker 2>how much blood I'd lost on the track. And the

0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:37.600
<v Speaker 2>surgeon he was a lovely guy, you know, and he said, look,

0:14:37.640 --> 0:14:39.880
<v Speaker 2>your family are here. Would you like to see them

0:14:39.880 --> 0:14:43.000
<v Speaker 2>before we wheel you into theater? And I said yeah.

0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:48.080
<v Speaker 2>So they came in and obviously all of.

0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:51.040
<v Speaker 3>Them were completely shocked and in distressed.

0:14:50.840 --> 0:14:53.840
<v Speaker 2>And I was saying to my mom, Mom, I'm so sorry.

0:14:54.400 --> 0:14:57.760
<v Speaker 2>It's always me bringing the dramas to this family, isn't it.

0:14:57.760 --> 0:14:59.360
<v Speaker 2>It's always me messing up.

0:14:59.400 --> 0:14:59.920
<v Speaker 3>So there you go.

0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:02.840
<v Speaker 2>Still got that sensation and have been that person and

0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:04.480
<v Speaker 2>of course she put her hand out of my mouth.

0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:06.760
<v Speaker 2>She said, it's not your fault, it's not your fault,

0:15:06.760 --> 0:15:10.960
<v Speaker 2>which it wasn't, of course. Well, then I was keen

0:15:11.040 --> 0:15:14.040
<v Speaker 2>to speak to my friend Anna, who I could see,

0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:16.160
<v Speaker 2>who were sat at the back, and she came over

0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:18.040
<v Speaker 2>and I remember she was just shaking her head from

0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:21.880
<v Speaker 2>side to side, and she was saying, I can't believe.

0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:22.200
<v Speaker 3>You were alive.

0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:25.720
<v Speaker 2>They actually announced that you were, that you were dead.

0:15:26.040 --> 0:15:29.840
<v Speaker 2>I also saw you go under the train. It was

0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:32.840
<v Speaker 2>at this point, just before I got whirled into theater,

0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:36.480
<v Speaker 2>that I left all the agony that I was in.

0:15:36.600 --> 0:15:40.960
<v Speaker 2>I left the drama of the hospital and all the

0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:46.080
<v Speaker 2>noise and the Fruessian light in my eyes, and I

0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:56.840
<v Speaker 2>was suddenly in a much calmer place. I'd left my body.

0:15:58.640 --> 0:15:59.960
<v Speaker 2>I was in a different realm altogether.

0:16:02.240 --> 0:16:02.600
<v Speaker 3>I was.

0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:06.360
<v Speaker 2>It felt like a small, darkened space, not like a

0:16:06.440 --> 0:16:10.560
<v Speaker 2>foreboding sort of darkness, but a very comforting sort of darkness.

0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:17.080
<v Speaker 2>And I felt safe instantly, and I figured that I

0:16:17.160 --> 0:16:19.600
<v Speaker 2>was dead. I thought, well, this is it. I didn't

0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:24.720
<v Speaker 2>make it, so this is death. I was made to

0:16:24.760 --> 0:16:25.760
<v Speaker 2>feel calm in.

0:16:25.680 --> 0:16:26.480
<v Speaker 3>This realm, you know.

0:16:26.800 --> 0:16:30.280
<v Speaker 2>I was like suddenly greeted by all these beautiful, pulsating

0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:34.120
<v Speaker 2>colors of light all around me, yellows and ambers and

0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:41.080
<v Speaker 2>golds and green, and I tried to get my bearings

0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:44.040
<v Speaker 2>because I realized I was no longer laid on the

0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:48.320
<v Speaker 2>hospital trolley. I was laid on this huge granite rock.

0:16:48.840 --> 0:16:52.280
<v Speaker 2>It felt so comfortable to lay on, even though it

0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:54.640
<v Speaker 2>was just it was a hard rock. And I realized

0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:57.680
<v Speaker 2>by this point I was no longer clothed either. I

0:16:57.720 --> 0:17:02.080
<v Speaker 2>was just covered in this really lovely sort of material.

0:17:02.720 --> 0:17:05.840
<v Speaker 2>And I felt comforted by this beautiful material that was

0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:09.439
<v Speaker 2>covering my body, and there was light reflecting off it,

0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:13.240
<v Speaker 2>and it was just like a beautiful light blue.

0:17:14.000 --> 0:17:14.919
<v Speaker 3>It's strange, but I.

0:17:15.000 --> 0:17:24.520
<v Speaker 2>Just felt great to be suddenly calm and comfortable. I

0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:27.480
<v Speaker 2>laid there for a while, and then I started to

0:17:27.480 --> 0:17:32.160
<v Speaker 2>see light coming through my eyelids. There were three symmetrical

0:17:32.320 --> 0:17:35.399
<v Speaker 2>grids of white light slowly closing in on me, and

0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:39.000
<v Speaker 2>I just couldn't take my gaze away from it. I mean, normally,

0:17:39.000 --> 0:17:42.000
<v Speaker 2>in this realm that we live in there, I wouldn't

0:17:42.000 --> 0:17:44.280
<v Speaker 2>be able to look into that kind of intense white light,

0:17:44.600 --> 0:17:48.439
<v Speaker 2>but I could hear. And the reason I kept looking

0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:52.080
<v Speaker 2>into that light. I realized there was a healing energy

0:17:52.200 --> 0:17:55.800
<v Speaker 2>coming from this light. There was healing the trauma that

0:17:55.880 --> 0:17:58.920
<v Speaker 2>my body had just been through, you know, this horrific accident,

0:17:59.000 --> 0:18:02.920
<v Speaker 2>and I felt like it was just slowly calming or the.

0:18:02.920 --> 0:18:03.920
<v Speaker 3>Trauma of it all.

0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:10.719
<v Speaker 2>Then I felt the presence of somebody near and just

0:18:10.840 --> 0:18:14.800
<v Speaker 2>there stood at my feet was a beautiful sort of

0:18:15.000 --> 0:18:19.800
<v Speaker 2>androdging this person. I had never seen somebody filled with

0:18:19.840 --> 0:18:23.680
<v Speaker 2>such purity and light as this person. But I knew

0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:26.440
<v Speaker 2>this person and I couldn't figure where from. And I

0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:28.600
<v Speaker 2>actually said that, lad, I said, I know you don't

0:18:28.720 --> 0:18:29.840
<v Speaker 2>where do I know you from?

0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:31.440
<v Speaker 3>And this person just.

0:18:31.440 --> 0:18:34.720
<v Speaker 2>Kept smiling back at me and didn't say a word.

0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:37.280
<v Speaker 2>But that was fine because I felt that this person

0:18:37.800 --> 0:18:40.680
<v Speaker 2>was my keeper, if you like. This person was here

0:18:40.720 --> 0:18:46.320
<v Speaker 2>to protect me and guide me. And then I felt

0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:51.000
<v Speaker 2>the presence of more people either side of me. There

0:18:51.000 --> 0:18:54.960
<v Speaker 2>were two female forms and they had their hands slowly

0:18:55.480 --> 0:18:58.719
<v Speaker 2>hovering over the contools of my body. They weren't actually

0:18:58.760 --> 0:19:01.080
<v Speaker 2>touching my skin, but they would going over the whole

0:19:01.160 --> 0:19:05.800
<v Speaker 2>of my contour. The energy that was coming from their

0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:10.000
<v Speaker 2>hands was so powerful. It was very very intense, and

0:19:10.160 --> 0:19:13.800
<v Speaker 2>it was an energy of love. It was like unconditional love.

0:19:19.800 --> 0:19:23.240
<v Speaker 2>They were healing all those years of feeling like a failure.

0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:26.240
<v Speaker 2>They were healing all the years of feeling hurt and

0:19:26.560 --> 0:19:34.480
<v Speaker 2>fearful about my life. They were taking off one layer

0:19:34.520 --> 0:19:36.639
<v Speaker 2>at a time, and they were just getting right down.

0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:40.000
<v Speaker 2>And the closer they got to that puristence of my soul,

0:19:40.600 --> 0:19:45.359
<v Speaker 2>the lighter I felt. And I'd never felt so complete ever.

0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:48.720
<v Speaker 2>I'd always looked for other ways of finding happiness in

0:19:48.760 --> 0:19:57.800
<v Speaker 2>my life, but here was happiness in its completeness. I

0:19:57.840 --> 0:20:00.920
<v Speaker 2>started to think about my family at this point, because

0:20:01.040 --> 0:20:04.119
<v Speaker 2>I thought, well, clearly I didn't make it and I

0:20:04.160 --> 0:20:06.920
<v Speaker 2>am dead, so they're going to be even more upset now.

0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:08.920
<v Speaker 2>And I wanted to try and see if I could

0:20:08.920 --> 0:20:13.160
<v Speaker 2>see them. So I edged my way over the side

0:20:13.240 --> 0:20:16.120
<v Speaker 2>of this huge rock and look down.

0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:18.280
<v Speaker 3>I was hoping to be.

0:20:18.280 --> 0:20:19.960
<v Speaker 4>Able to see them.

0:20:20.119 --> 0:20:21.120
<v Speaker 3>I didn't see them at all.

0:20:21.560 --> 0:20:25.040
<v Speaker 2>What I did see was a waterfall, a waterfall of

0:20:25.160 --> 0:20:34.119
<v Speaker 2>stars the size of Victoria Falls on Niagara Force. It

0:20:34.240 --> 0:20:39.120
<v Speaker 2>was like absolutely vast billions of sparkling stars. It felt

0:20:39.160 --> 0:20:42.440
<v Speaker 2>like I was looking through one galaxy into another. I

0:20:42.520 --> 0:20:47.160
<v Speaker 2>was there in this universe, our universe, and that connection

0:20:47.320 --> 0:20:51.200
<v Speaker 2>I felt with the universe was so powerful, something I'd

0:20:51.200 --> 0:20:54.679
<v Speaker 2>never felt throughout the whole of my life. But the

0:20:54.680 --> 0:20:58.399
<v Speaker 2>most profound moment of the whole of this experience was

0:20:58.400 --> 0:21:02.640
<v Speaker 2>about to happen. That was I felt as I laid there,

0:21:03.440 --> 0:21:06.320
<v Speaker 2>this energy of love had suddenly turned like somebody had

0:21:06.320 --> 0:21:10.000
<v Speaker 2>turned the dial up, and I felt this energy was

0:21:10.080 --> 0:21:13.840
<v Speaker 2>like causing every single molecule of my body to vibray

0:21:14.119 --> 0:21:17.439
<v Speaker 2>with love. And I lifted my head slowly, and just

0:21:18.160 --> 0:21:21.320
<v Speaker 2>beyond the being of Light who stood there at my

0:21:21.359 --> 0:21:24.679
<v Speaker 2>feet still was this huge tunnel of white light that

0:21:24.800 --> 0:21:27.160
<v Speaker 2>was slowly closing in on me. It was coming through

0:21:27.200 --> 0:21:28.880
<v Speaker 2>the universe, It was coming.

0:21:28.600 --> 0:21:29.720
<v Speaker 3>Through the stars.

0:21:33.520 --> 0:21:37.760
<v Speaker 2>It was white, it was intense, and it was surrounded

0:21:37.760 --> 0:21:41.679
<v Speaker 2>by all these dramatic flames that were slowly circulating around

0:21:41.720 --> 0:21:47.840
<v Speaker 2>the edge of that white light. I was then being

0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:51.240
<v Speaker 2>told that what I'm looking at here is the source

0:21:51.280 --> 0:21:59.760
<v Speaker 2>of all creation. This is God, not God as I'd

0:22:00.160 --> 0:22:02.720
<v Speaker 2>believe God would look like, in some kind of human form.

0:22:02.800 --> 0:22:06.600
<v Speaker 2>No matter what faith we follow, there's usually some kind

0:22:06.600 --> 0:22:07.440
<v Speaker 2>of human form.

0:22:07.680 --> 0:22:08.000
<v Speaker 3>For me.

0:22:08.640 --> 0:22:10.639
<v Speaker 2>From my school books and stuff, it was always the

0:22:10.640 --> 0:22:14.399
<v Speaker 2>image of Michaelangelo's God on the Sistine Chapel. But this

0:22:14.600 --> 0:22:16.480
<v Speaker 2>wasn't the guy with a long gray beard a tour.

0:22:16.560 --> 0:22:21.080
<v Speaker 2>This was just intense white light and the power of

0:22:21.520 --> 0:22:24.960
<v Speaker 2>the love that was coming from it just made me

0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:31.520
<v Speaker 2>feel so complete and joyful. My head went back once more,

0:22:31.560 --> 0:22:34.159
<v Speaker 2>and I remember I was actually laughing with joy. I

0:22:34.160 --> 0:22:39.919
<v Speaker 2>had never laughed in the hole of my life. And

0:22:39.960 --> 0:22:42.320
<v Speaker 2>it was at this point that I came crashing back

0:22:42.760 --> 0:22:52.600
<v Speaker 2>into my body. I was back in the hospital. All

0:22:52.640 --> 0:22:55.520
<v Speaker 2>the pain came rushing through every single vein of my

0:22:55.640 --> 0:22:59.359
<v Speaker 2>body and muscle and bone. The noise level was like

0:22:59.480 --> 0:23:02.919
<v Speaker 2>it fell he was screaming into my ears. Yeah, it

0:23:03.040 --> 0:23:07.320
<v Speaker 2>was quite sort of shocked. I was wheeled into the

0:23:07.320 --> 0:23:11.560
<v Speaker 2>theater that at that point. So I was under anesthetic

0:23:11.640 --> 0:23:14.080
<v Speaker 2>for eight and a half hours with the first operation,

0:23:14.200 --> 0:23:17.000
<v Speaker 2>and I woke up in the middle of the night,

0:23:17.320 --> 0:23:20.600
<v Speaker 2>and of course a huge part of me was dealing

0:23:20.640 --> 0:23:23.480
<v Speaker 2>with with the with the horror of the accident, which

0:23:23.600 --> 0:23:27.239
<v Speaker 2>is completely natural, but the main part of me was

0:23:27.400 --> 0:23:32.119
<v Speaker 2>more absolutely trying to process this incredible experience that had

0:23:32.119 --> 0:23:35.080
<v Speaker 2>happened to me. Because I knew nothing about neo death experiences.

0:23:35.160 --> 0:23:38.240
<v Speaker 2>I'd never heard anything about this, and all I could

0:23:38.240 --> 0:23:41.880
<v Speaker 2>think was I've got to share this with everybody, everyone

0:23:41.960 --> 0:23:45.560
<v Speaker 2>needs to know about this. So I thought, because I'm dyslexic,

0:23:45.600 --> 0:23:46.920
<v Speaker 2>I thought that I'm never going to be able to

0:23:46.960 --> 0:23:50.119
<v Speaker 2>write about this. I thought, I'm going to paint it.

0:23:50.160 --> 0:23:52.639
<v Speaker 2>I'm going to do the painting like the ones the

0:23:52.960 --> 0:23:56.800
<v Speaker 2>Renaissance artists did, those big dramatic biblical scenes. That's how

0:23:56.800 --> 0:23:59.320
<v Speaker 2>it's got to be, even though I'd done nothing like

0:23:59.359 --> 0:24:03.800
<v Speaker 2>this before in my life. The British rail Police had

0:24:03.840 --> 0:24:05.680
<v Speaker 2>to do an inquiry on't it because of the nature

0:24:05.680 --> 0:24:09.280
<v Speaker 2>of the accidents, and the head of the rail police said, David,

0:24:09.560 --> 0:24:12.320
<v Speaker 2>we're still scratching our heads because we don't get it,

0:24:12.400 --> 0:24:15.800
<v Speaker 2>because by all our figures, you should be dead, you

0:24:15.840 --> 0:24:17.040
<v Speaker 2>should not have survived.

0:24:17.080 --> 0:24:18.119
<v Speaker 3>That we don't understand it.

0:24:18.160 --> 0:24:21.480
<v Speaker 2>We see these kind of these kind of accidents happen

0:24:21.520 --> 0:24:24.919
<v Speaker 2>and people never ever survive, and if they do survive,

0:24:24.960 --> 0:24:27.359
<v Speaker 2>they come off a heck of a lot worse. So

0:24:27.640 --> 0:24:31.040
<v Speaker 2>something more powerful than me was at force that that

0:24:31.320 --> 0:24:37.840
<v Speaker 2>was out to save me that take. It took me

0:24:37.880 --> 0:24:41.480
<v Speaker 2>a week to tell my parents about it, because them

0:24:41.480 --> 0:24:44.080
<v Speaker 2>both being Christian, I thought it's just gonna jar with

0:24:44.119 --> 0:24:47.280
<v Speaker 2>their teachings. And when I told them about it, my

0:24:47.359 --> 0:24:49.919
<v Speaker 2>mom turned around at the end, and she said, David,

0:24:50.000 --> 0:24:56.119
<v Speaker 2>we know and I said, you know, you know you

0:24:56.200 --> 0:24:56.760
<v Speaker 2>know about this?

0:24:56.840 --> 0:24:58.000
<v Speaker 3>I said, how He.

0:24:58.040 --> 0:25:01.919
<v Speaker 2>Said, well, every time we come in to see you,

0:25:01.920 --> 0:25:04.639
<v Speaker 2>you've got all these tubes and wires coming out of you.

0:25:04.640 --> 0:25:07.639
<v Speaker 2>You know, you're laid there with all the nurses constantly

0:25:07.920 --> 0:25:12.200
<v Speaker 2>caring for you, and you're glowing like we've never seen

0:25:12.240 --> 0:25:16.360
<v Speaker 2>you glow before, and you're just so positive, and you're

0:25:16.520 --> 0:25:19.960
<v Speaker 2>caring for everyone around you, whereas everyone should be caring

0:25:20.000 --> 0:25:24.679
<v Speaker 2>for you. And so I said, well, that's amazing. So

0:25:25.400 --> 0:25:27.760
<v Speaker 2>I was really pleased anyway that they got it, you know,

0:25:27.880 --> 0:25:30.240
<v Speaker 2>because it was important for me. There was no stopping

0:25:30.280 --> 0:25:32.760
<v Speaker 2>me from that point onwards, and I was out to

0:25:32.800 --> 0:25:39.359
<v Speaker 2>tell as many people as they could. A lot of

0:25:39.400 --> 0:25:42.119
<v Speaker 2>synchronicity started to come into my life. And one of

0:25:42.119 --> 0:25:45.640
<v Speaker 2>these moments of synchronisty was that a friend of my sisters.

0:25:45.680 --> 0:25:48.280
<v Speaker 2>Because I recuperated out my sister's home, you know, they

0:25:48.359 --> 0:25:50.439
<v Speaker 2>give me my own room, and so she came in

0:25:50.480 --> 0:25:52.439
<v Speaker 2>and saw me and she said, when are you going

0:25:52.480 --> 0:25:54.720
<v Speaker 2>to start this painting? And I said, well, you know,

0:25:55.400 --> 0:25:57.720
<v Speaker 2>there's not enough space in here, there's not enough light

0:25:57.760 --> 0:26:00.160
<v Speaker 2>and all things like this, and she said well, well,

0:26:00.400 --> 0:26:03.800
<v Speaker 2>we run a yoga Plartis center and we've got a

0:26:03.840 --> 0:26:06.320
<v Speaker 2>spare studio. You can come and do your painting there.

0:26:06.359 --> 0:26:10.879
<v Speaker 2>So I said, oh great. I became known as the

0:26:11.000 --> 0:26:13.399
<v Speaker 2>artist in the attic and people would come up and

0:26:13.440 --> 0:26:16.240
<v Speaker 2>they'd want to see what I was doing. And one

0:26:16.880 --> 0:26:19.080
<v Speaker 2>personal that came in, she was a cello player, and

0:26:19.119 --> 0:26:22.080
<v Speaker 2>she said, there is a spiritualist church. So I thought right,

0:26:22.240 --> 0:26:24.040
<v Speaker 2>and I'd just gone in and it was one of

0:26:24.080 --> 0:26:27.000
<v Speaker 2>their church meetings, and at the end of that meeting

0:26:27.160 --> 0:26:28.639
<v Speaker 2>got chatting with them and they said, oh, you had

0:26:28.680 --> 0:26:32.199
<v Speaker 2>a near death experience. And they said to me at

0:26:32.240 --> 0:26:34.960
<v Speaker 2>that very first meeting, they said, look, we do spiritual healing.

0:26:35.240 --> 0:26:37.159
<v Speaker 2>And I said great, went kind of come, so I

0:26:37.240 --> 0:26:41.120
<v Speaker 2>said on Thursday, So off I went. And in those

0:26:41.160 --> 0:26:44.719
<v Speaker 2>healing sessions, a couple of the healers are Claire Warrington,

0:26:44.720 --> 0:26:48.440
<v Speaker 2>and they give very small brief messages at the end sometimes,

0:26:48.480 --> 0:26:51.320
<v Speaker 2>and each one of them started to say I was

0:26:51.359 --> 0:26:56.359
<v Speaker 2>picking up Wagner and Beethoven and Chopin wrote why would

0:26:56.359 --> 0:26:56.600
<v Speaker 2>that be?

0:26:56.680 --> 0:26:58.040
<v Speaker 3>And I said, I have no idea.

0:26:58.200 --> 0:27:00.760
<v Speaker 2>And then one of them turned around and she said,

0:27:01.440 --> 0:27:02.960
<v Speaker 2>they were telling me that you're going to write a

0:27:03.000 --> 0:27:06.080
<v Speaker 2>piece of music about your experience. You're near that experience.

0:27:08.640 --> 0:27:11.240
<v Speaker 2>I started working on what I thought was going to

0:27:11.280 --> 0:27:15.080
<v Speaker 2>be a song about this experience. Nothing was coming, nothing

0:27:15.200 --> 0:27:18.879
<v Speaker 2>was happening. Then one afternoon, I was just watching an

0:27:18.880 --> 0:27:21.879
<v Speaker 2>old movie on the TV, and then this core progression

0:27:21.920 --> 0:27:22.879
<v Speaker 2>suddenly came.

0:27:29.040 --> 0:27:31.719
<v Speaker 3>And I thought, wow, that's really lovely, you know.

0:27:31.960 --> 0:27:34.760
<v Speaker 2>So I got it down onto this cassette recorder, you know,

0:27:35.480 --> 0:27:37.960
<v Speaker 2>went off and made a coffee, came back, played it back.

0:27:37.960 --> 0:27:42.640
<v Speaker 2>I thought, this is really beautiful. And I thought, this's

0:27:42.800 --> 0:27:45.399
<v Speaker 2>not a song that they're asking me to write. It

0:27:45.400 --> 0:27:49.520
<v Speaker 2>needs to be played by an orchestra. So I met

0:27:49.560 --> 0:27:52.200
<v Speaker 2>with my friend, the cellist, and we were having coffee

0:27:52.240 --> 0:27:53.840
<v Speaker 2>and I told her about what I was up to,

0:27:54.280 --> 0:27:58.159
<v Speaker 2>and she said, oh, maybe our orchestra could form it

0:27:58.200 --> 0:28:00.440
<v Speaker 2>one day, and laughed, you know, and I thought, yeah,

0:28:00.480 --> 0:28:09.800
<v Speaker 2>that would be great. I was self taught, like a

0:28:09.840 --> 0:28:13.760
<v Speaker 2>lot of teenagers, you know, I needed to express myself.

0:28:14.119 --> 0:28:15.440
<v Speaker 2>Thought what am I going to do in my life?

0:28:15.600 --> 0:28:18.680
<v Speaker 2>So I thought, I'm going to join a punk band.

0:28:19.000 --> 0:28:21.680
<v Speaker 2>I could probably like a lot of kids that bang

0:28:21.720 --> 0:28:24.120
<v Speaker 2>out three corps, but that's all you needed to join

0:28:24.160 --> 0:28:27.880
<v Speaker 2>these kind of bands, And those really were my grounding

0:28:28.000 --> 0:28:32.639
<v Speaker 2>days for later writing music, which is crazy because I

0:28:32.680 --> 0:28:36.719
<v Speaker 2>remember when I met with a conductor with the final score.

0:28:37.320 --> 0:28:40.480
<v Speaker 2>He said, David, you don't understand the enormity of writing

0:28:40.520 --> 0:28:43.640
<v Speaker 2>a symphony, which is what you've done, even if you've

0:28:43.640 --> 0:28:45.800
<v Speaker 2>been to the university and you'd studied it. It's a

0:28:45.960 --> 0:28:49.600
<v Speaker 2>huge task and you've done it. He didn't even know.

0:28:49.640 --> 0:28:51.640
<v Speaker 2>I can't read or write music. I still can't read

0:28:51.720 --> 0:28:55.800
<v Speaker 2>or write music to this day.

0:29:00.120 --> 0:29:02.480
<v Speaker 3>But you know, I was thinking, wow, is this is

0:29:02.520 --> 0:29:03.200
<v Speaker 3>this gonna work?

0:29:03.480 --> 0:29:05.200
<v Speaker 2>I have no idea. I didn't know whether it's going

0:29:05.280 --> 0:29:07.280
<v Speaker 2>to work or not. I remember the conductor lifting his

0:29:07.360 --> 0:29:19.800
<v Speaker 2>button as it came down. Those opening chords came, and

0:29:19.840 --> 0:29:22.720
<v Speaker 2>they were the opening chords that I'd written that one

0:29:22.760 --> 0:29:27.520
<v Speaker 2>afternoon on that cheap little synthesizer. You know, it was

0:29:27.560 --> 0:29:29.120
<v Speaker 2>like three dimensional sand.

0:29:29.160 --> 0:29:44.320
<v Speaker 4>It was wah.

0:29:45.040 --> 0:29:47.760
<v Speaker 2>And after that first rehearsal, they said to me, oh, look,

0:29:47.960 --> 0:29:49.880
<v Speaker 2>would you mind saying a few words to the local

0:29:49.880 --> 0:29:51.440
<v Speaker 2>press about your piece?

0:29:51.480 --> 0:29:52.200
<v Speaker 3>I said yeah, sure.

0:29:52.800 --> 0:29:54.800
<v Speaker 2>So I spoke to the local press on the phone

0:29:54.840 --> 0:29:56.479
<v Speaker 2>and they said, hang on, you're the guy who went

0:29:56.560 --> 0:29:57.600
<v Speaker 2>under the train, aren't you?

0:29:57.640 --> 0:29:58.600
<v Speaker 3>And I said yeah.

0:29:58.640 --> 0:30:01.400
<v Speaker 2>And then the BBC so we'd like to interview you

0:30:01.960 --> 0:30:02.680
<v Speaker 2>at a rehearsal.

0:30:02.720 --> 0:30:03.240
<v Speaker 3>I said sure.

0:30:11.440 --> 0:30:14.360
<v Speaker 2>So the concerts sold out two weeks in advance because

0:30:14.400 --> 0:30:19.040
<v Speaker 2>of the BBC basically turning it. And it was amazing

0:30:19.040 --> 0:30:21.040
<v Speaker 2>because there was no sense of me feeling like the

0:30:21.080 --> 0:30:23.720
<v Speaker 2>great I am like, it's like, wow, this is my

0:30:23.760 --> 0:30:25.800
<v Speaker 2>big moment. I'm going to be like a huge star.

0:30:26.000 --> 0:30:28.360
<v Speaker 2>There's nothing to do with that. All I could think

0:30:28.520 --> 0:30:30.720
<v Speaker 2>was Great, We're going to have a full house and

0:30:30.760 --> 0:30:32.920
<v Speaker 2>I'm going to everyone's going to be able to and

0:30:33.120 --> 0:30:33.800
<v Speaker 2>I'm going to get this.

0:30:33.840 --> 0:30:35.520
<v Speaker 3>Story across to even more people.

0:30:50.400 --> 0:30:54.280
<v Speaker 2>I remember, just as they started the opening bars, I

0:30:54.320 --> 0:30:58.400
<v Speaker 2>saw a dove landed on the stone window sill outside

0:30:58.480 --> 0:31:01.480
<v Speaker 2>and I thought, wow, that's that's really beautiful. And I

0:31:01.480 --> 0:31:03.280
<v Speaker 2>thought it was just me saw it, but so many

0:31:03.280 --> 0:31:11.920
<v Speaker 2>other people in the audience saw it as well. I

0:31:12.200 --> 0:31:15.280
<v Speaker 2>very rarely think about where my life would have gone

0:31:15.440 --> 0:31:17.480
<v Speaker 2>if I had not had this accident or of this

0:31:17.760 --> 0:31:22.200
<v Speaker 2>near death experience. I hardly ever think about the past.

0:31:24.440 --> 0:31:28.120
<v Speaker 2>I hardly ever think about the future. Before the accident,

0:31:28.160 --> 0:31:31.120
<v Speaker 2>that's all I ever did. I realized when I came

0:31:31.160 --> 0:31:33.960
<v Speaker 2>back from that experience that I'd spent so much of

0:31:33.960 --> 0:31:40.360
<v Speaker 2>my life, concerned with past mistakes or opportunities, doorways that

0:31:40.440 --> 0:31:43.480
<v Speaker 2>I could have gone through that I've messed up on.

0:31:44.120 --> 0:31:47.520
<v Speaker 2>I was concerned with the future, especially the point before

0:31:47.560 --> 0:31:49.680
<v Speaker 2>the accident, because I was about to be evicted from

0:31:49.680 --> 0:31:52.520
<v Speaker 2>my home, from my apartments, I was about to lose everything.

0:31:52.640 --> 0:31:56.160
<v Speaker 2>So I was concerned about the future and where my

0:31:56.200 --> 0:32:00.480
<v Speaker 2>life was going to go. But I very ay think

0:32:00.520 --> 0:32:03.120
<v Speaker 2>about either now. Yes, of course, like I said, I'm

0:32:03.160 --> 0:32:06.200
<v Speaker 2>not superhuman, there are times when anxiety get to grip,

0:32:06.360 --> 0:32:09.920
<v Speaker 2>But I take myself back to that realm where time

0:32:10.040 --> 0:32:14.480
<v Speaker 2>did not exist. For the first time in my life,

0:32:14.600 --> 0:32:17.600
<v Speaker 2>I was complete and I was in the present moment,

0:32:18.240 --> 0:32:21.360
<v Speaker 2>and I realized that being in the present moment is

0:32:21.400 --> 0:32:23.840
<v Speaker 2>the best place to be. So every time that fear

0:32:24.480 --> 0:32:28.160
<v Speaker 2>starts to happen, now, you know, especially the world is

0:32:28.360 --> 0:32:30.920
<v Speaker 2>you know, is not in a great place at the moment.

0:32:31.000 --> 0:32:33.560
<v Speaker 2>So there's there's fear that comes into all of us,

0:32:33.960 --> 0:32:36.600
<v Speaker 2>all of us and anxiety. But I just try and

0:32:36.640 --> 0:32:39.480
<v Speaker 2>say to myself, look, stop, you're okay where you're sat

0:32:39.480 --> 0:32:42.160
<v Speaker 2>at the moment. You're not under threat as it were

0:32:42.280 --> 0:32:44.480
<v Speaker 2>at this moment in time, and this is the present moment.

0:32:48.200 --> 0:32:49.960
<v Speaker 3>We don't I mean, we don't talk about death.

0:32:50.000 --> 0:32:53.160
<v Speaker 2>That's the other thing that I found I now find astonishing.

0:32:53.240 --> 0:32:55.960
<v Speaker 2>You know that death does not come into our we

0:32:56.240 --> 0:33:01.200
<v Speaker 2>don't plan for it. We plan for everything else, birth, marriage,

0:33:02.160 --> 0:33:05.480
<v Speaker 2>driving tests, but not death. And I don't think that

0:33:05.560 --> 0:33:07.440
<v Speaker 2>we should be sitting around talking about it all the time.

0:33:07.520 --> 0:33:09.800
<v Speaker 2>But you know, it's going to happen to us all

0:33:09.920 --> 0:33:12.520
<v Speaker 2>it's going to come, and we may as well address

0:33:12.560 --> 0:33:15.600
<v Speaker 2>it and then at least take away that fear element

0:33:15.680 --> 0:33:19.560
<v Speaker 2>of death, because I firmly believe that death is not

0:33:19.840 --> 0:33:22.160
<v Speaker 2>the end for us, that it's only the next stage

0:33:22.160 --> 0:33:25.320
<v Speaker 2>of the journey. And that's not me being romantic, it's

0:33:25.360 --> 0:33:51.720
<v Speaker 2>absolutely true.

0:33:54.440 --> 0:33:57.080
<v Speaker 1>Welcome back to This is Alive again, joining me for

0:33:57.120 --> 0:33:59.800
<v Speaker 1>a conversation about today's story or my other Alive against

0:33:59.800 --> 0:34:04.040
<v Speaker 1>story producers Kate Sweeney, Nicholas Takowski, and Brent Day, and

0:34:04.080 --> 0:34:07.600
<v Speaker 1>I'm your host, Dan Bush. So, Kate, that story is

0:34:08.120 --> 0:34:13.080
<v Speaker 1>harrowing and almost unimaginable, but what comes out of it

0:34:13.160 --> 0:34:17.000
<v Speaker 1>with his art and his creating a symphony without any

0:34:17.040 --> 0:34:21.160
<v Speaker 1>formal training and just sort of all of the events

0:34:21.160 --> 0:34:25.680
<v Speaker 1>surrounding this that point at not only his the precursor,

0:34:25.719 --> 0:34:27.400
<v Speaker 1>which is somebody warning him that his life's about to

0:34:27.480 --> 0:34:31.360
<v Speaker 1>change a few weeks before this incident, but also afterwards.

0:34:31.719 --> 0:34:33.319
<v Speaker 1>What are some of your takeaways from this?

0:34:33.600 --> 0:34:37.279
<v Speaker 6>I mean, yeah, right, like similar to Rodney White, I'm

0:34:37.320 --> 0:34:40.799
<v Speaker 6>struck again by the sense of confidence that this experience

0:34:40.920 --> 0:34:45.480
<v Speaker 6>opens up with David to take on these new enterprises

0:34:45.880 --> 0:34:49.319
<v Speaker 6>painting and composing with no formal training of either. And

0:34:49.360 --> 0:34:51.319
<v Speaker 6>I kind of wanted to like even like throw this

0:34:51.440 --> 0:34:54.920
<v Speaker 6>back to you, Dan, because you have done extensive reading

0:34:55.080 --> 0:34:58.360
<v Speaker 6>about near death experiences. Is this a common thing? Is

0:34:58.400 --> 0:35:02.000
<v Speaker 6>this something that happens to folks with these spiritual experiences?

0:35:02.640 --> 0:35:05.480
<v Speaker 1>I mean all of the experiences that in the classic

0:35:05.560 --> 0:35:07.680
<v Speaker 1>experiences that are noted in some of the more famous

0:35:07.680 --> 0:35:11.600
<v Speaker 1>books about near death experiences, where you actually flat line,

0:35:11.840 --> 0:35:16.759
<v Speaker 1>there's a consistency across the stories with certain experiences like

0:35:17.760 --> 0:35:22.200
<v Speaker 1>a feeling of complete warmth and a and a and

0:35:22.239 --> 0:35:24.560
<v Speaker 1>a feeling of of and sometimes they describe a white light,

0:35:24.600 --> 0:35:27.160
<v Speaker 1>which we all know about. And then there's other experiences

0:35:27.200 --> 0:35:32.399
<v Speaker 1>where they experience, you know, a life review, but there's

0:35:32.440 --> 0:35:36.000
<v Speaker 1>there's there's there's consistencies in these stories, which is fascinating.

0:35:35.760 --> 0:35:38.800
<v Speaker 6>That and just sort of you know, as I was saying, before.

0:35:38.880 --> 0:35:41.440
<v Speaker 6>I love how the story sort of marries the mystical

0:35:41.920 --> 0:35:46.560
<v Speaker 6>and sort of the everyday life experience because we see

0:35:46.560 --> 0:35:49.840
<v Speaker 6>here right like earlier in the story, before this happens,

0:35:50.719 --> 0:35:55.160
<v Speaker 6>he feels like a failure in life, and he doesn't

0:35:55.200 --> 0:35:57.279
<v Speaker 6>realize yet that that's due to the fact that he

0:35:57.480 --> 0:36:01.799
<v Speaker 6>has this neurodivergence. In his case, he has a which

0:36:01.840 --> 0:36:03.960
<v Speaker 6>by the way, we will see again dun dun duh

0:36:04.280 --> 0:36:07.880
<v Speaker 6>later this season when a completely different kind of story.

0:36:07.960 --> 0:36:11.520
<v Speaker 6>But in his case, this near death experience sort of

0:36:11.520 --> 0:36:14.880
<v Speaker 6>sets off this series of events that helps his perspective

0:36:15.040 --> 0:36:19.640
<v Speaker 6>to shift. He sort of takes on these new talents.

0:36:20.520 --> 0:36:23.600
<v Speaker 6>And one thing that I love about that is how

0:36:23.640 --> 0:36:29.279
<v Speaker 6>he refuses to take the credit for this work that

0:36:29.320 --> 0:36:31.800
<v Speaker 6>he produces, or really for anything that happens in his life.

0:36:31.840 --> 0:36:34.920
<v Speaker 6>He says, Oh, it's not me, it's me plus my guides,

0:36:34.960 --> 0:36:38.319
<v Speaker 6>it's me plus the universe. And I find that really

0:36:38.320 --> 0:36:41.360
<v Speaker 6>compelling because I think it's really easy to feel alone,

0:36:41.440 --> 0:36:44.600
<v Speaker 6>and I think, especially these days, right it's really easy

0:36:44.640 --> 0:36:48.040
<v Speaker 6>for us to live our lives in lots and lots

0:36:48.080 --> 0:36:50.520
<v Speaker 6>of solitude, and I think that can put a lot

0:36:50.520 --> 0:36:55.040
<v Speaker 6>of pressure on creative endeavors. So to believe in something

0:36:55.040 --> 0:36:58.600
<v Speaker 6>you know, whether it's your guides or muses, as artists

0:36:58.600 --> 0:37:01.680
<v Speaker 6>have sort of traditionally done for eons, whatever it is,

0:37:02.040 --> 0:37:04.560
<v Speaker 6>can be really helpful to kind of take the pressure off.

0:37:05.120 --> 0:37:08.520
<v Speaker 6>And in David, I think we kind of see a

0:37:08.560 --> 0:37:11.400
<v Speaker 6>really strong example of that, like, oh, it's not me,

0:37:11.480 --> 0:37:14.680
<v Speaker 6>it's the universe and who That just feels like a

0:37:14.719 --> 0:37:15.480
<v Speaker 6>breath of fresh air.

0:37:21.360 --> 0:37:24.160
<v Speaker 1>Next time on a Live Again, we meet Rodney White,

0:37:24.480 --> 0:37:27.200
<v Speaker 1>an artist and musician who survived a life altering car

0:37:27.239 --> 0:37:29.839
<v Speaker 1>crash in two thousand and eight. He flatlined twice and

0:37:29.880 --> 0:37:32.799
<v Speaker 1>required a medically induced coma, during which he had a

0:37:32.840 --> 0:37:35.640
<v Speaker 1>near death experience that transformed his life.

0:37:36.480 --> 0:37:39.680
<v Speaker 5>The car that hit me was a Honda City, So

0:37:39.800 --> 0:37:42.879
<v Speaker 5>to hit a jeep Cherokee and flip it and then

0:37:43.040 --> 0:37:52.920
<v Speaker 5>push it, those are spring speeds. I wouldn't change anything,

0:37:53.320 --> 0:37:55.200
<v Speaker 5>because the other side.

0:37:54.960 --> 0:37:57.120
<v Speaker 3>Of all of those experiences is.

0:37:57.160 --> 0:37:59.839
<v Speaker 5>This life I'm living right now, and it is.

0:38:03.360 --> 0:38:07.080
<v Speaker 1>Our story. Producers are Dan Bush, Kate Sweeney, Brent die

0:38:07.320 --> 0:38:11.960
<v Speaker 1>Nicholas Dakoski, and Lauren Vogelbaum. Music by Ben Lovett, additional

0:38:12.040 --> 0:38:16.080
<v Speaker 1>music by Alexander Rodriguez. Our executive producers are Matthew Frederick

0:38:16.120 --> 0:38:19.320
<v Speaker 1>and Trevor Young. Special thanks to Alexander Williams for additional

0:38:19.320 --> 0:38:23.120
<v Speaker 1>production support. Our studio engineers are Rima L. K Ali

0:38:23.280 --> 0:38:27.919
<v Speaker 1>and Noames Griffin. Our editors are Dan Bush, Gerhartslovitchka, Brent

0:38:28.040 --> 0:38:32.319
<v Speaker 1>Die and Alexander Rodriguez. Mixing by Ben Lovett and Alexander Rodriguez.

0:38:32.880 --> 0:38:36.480
<v Speaker 1>I'm your host, Dan Bush. Thanks to David Ditchfield for

0:38:36.520 --> 0:38:40.320
<v Speaker 1>sharing his story. For more about David, visit Shine on

0:38:40.480 --> 0:38:44.560
<v Speaker 1>Thestory dot com. Alive Again is a production of iHeartRadio

0:38:44.640 --> 0:38:48.279
<v Speaker 1>and Psychopia Pictures. If you have a transformative near death

0:38:48.320 --> 0:38:51.320
<v Speaker 1>experience to share, we'd love to hear your story. Please

0:38:51.400 --> 0:38:55.880
<v Speaker 1>email us at Alive Again Project at gmail dot com.

0:38:56.040 --> 0:38:59.239
<v Speaker 1>That's a l I v E A g A I

0:38:59.400 --> 0:39:03.400
<v Speaker 1>N p R O j E C T at gmail

0:39:03.440 --> 0:39:17.319
<v Speaker 1>dot com.