Life has blessed me with multiple accidents, the last two of which were almost fatal. Yet, despite all of these, I am survived and my health is good, if not excellent. Friends used to say that I have nine lives, like cat. If the count is true, then I probably have only 2 or 3 lives before passing to the next life.
How's that, passing to the next life?
The last time I had an almost fatal accident, it was December the 30th, 2001. A few days before New Year, almost two weeks before my 29th birthday. I had multiple plans with several group of friends involving alcohol, drugs, and girls the day after. We live our lives fully during those days.
Something happened that night. I slipped from my motorbike and all went black. Luckily I had my helmets on, but my jaw was broken and I had to stay for two weeks in bed. Can't eat anything but liquid for the whole month.
You see, prior to the accident, life had been gracious to me. I worked, studied, made friends, occasional relationships, outdoor activities, adventures, etcetera. I had been philosophical but never really reflected those thoughts on myself. Yet, pleasure was the ultimate target. I did not ponder deeply, as I do now regret, when I thought I might have hurt someone.
I put my life on reflection, ever since that day. And so I remembered the other occasion, the last almost fatal accident before that one. The accident might have not been dramatic, so what happened right after I fell I did not tell anyone for many years.
This brings us to a day in 1993. A friend and I went into a wood, tried to reach a waterfall across the valley. We were off of the road, tried to look for a shortcut. The cliff was steep, more than 30 metres high. We made it to the first 10 metres down beyond the top, walking through a narrow path (or at least it looks like one). I grabbed on a root of tree. It was outgrown from the cliff walls. I thought it was strong enough to hold me. I held it strong while I tried to make the next step. It was dried, rotten. It broke, and I fell.
As I was falling, I screamed, "Mother Mary!". My feet landed on a solid soil somewhere, just to continue falling. When I finally bumped to the ground, I didn't faint. I tried to sit, my back felt so hurt I can only sit. I looked at the opposing cliff across the creek where I fell. I am still in confusion. But it is not a thick, massive, walls that I saw that moment.
Authors said that when you are about to die, you will see your whole life before you. It is indeed. During the sudden moment, I remembered the things that I could never recalled before. I do not even remember what are those, but I knew I had those memories being an infant, and some other events I can't identify when and where.
But not only this. As I sat on the banks of the creeak, the solid walls before me turned into tunnels. There were 3 or 5 of them, each one looked a bit long yet so close you can see the end of it. Each tunnel ends into another scene, each one with different activities. There was no light, like you seen on movies, but there's no darkness either. They seemed to offer peace, and tranquility.
Then those tunnels suddenly disappeared. I felt pain so bad in my back. I can't get up, I can only sit painfully. Help came soon. People carried me back to the village on the back of a local woodcutter. My friends transported me home, which is 30 minutes away, on a truck. May they be blessed.
I never told anyone about this vision for the next 20 years. I wasn't even sure what it is. Looking back at those many accidents in the past, they are escalating. The last accident brought me a reflection about the other accident, ten years earlier. I lived my life carefully ever since.
Recent years, I lost many of closest relatives. I witnessed my own father, mother, and sister died before me. I have one of my closest friends died at only 40. My brothers. My cousins. Some people I barely knew, but leaves a good impression on a short-lived acquaintance. All to the natural causes.
I feel sad because I lost them, although this is temporarily. When people said that the deceased are going to a better place, I said so with believe. Those people that you miss so much are not lost forever, they are simply passing through to the next life. About where, or when, I do not have the idea.