A direct encounter with what the experiencer identified as God or the divine
A direct encounter with what the experiencer identified as God, the divine, a cosmic intelligence, or a higher power — experienced as unmistakably real and distinct from their own mind.
The narrow gap between the two numbers reflects that those who described it did so with specificity and conviction, rarely in passing — when it was mentioned, it was almost always described in depth.
The first thing you know instantly is you're in the presence of your creator and you flat out know it! There's nothing else that can be! Nothing! You know it, that being is in command and you know it!
What I've been seeking is has been who I've been all along — and what everything is, a kind of manifestation of that, in form, of that formless reality, that presence of God. So why haven't you been aware of that before? It's a mystery.
I finally ended up in the presence of a higher power and it was humbling. I could not look at the higher power. I could not. There were souls all around me. And I was asked a question — it had to do with what good have I done in my life.
God, the universe, literally woke up and looked — peered out through my eyes. I knew that there was one supreme being and that it was dreaming itself into everything. My entire life has been a dream.
Among accounts that include divine presence, these were the most common pathways that preceded it:
Experience types most commonly reported in the same accounts:
Among the 176 accounts that include divine presence, these integration challenges appeared most often — shown as a percentage of those accounts:
Physical phenomena reported by people whose accounts include divine presence:
First-hand accounts from people who described this experience — drawn from the interviews in this collection:
Francisco Valentin was a young Catholic man from Puerto Rico who died in a severe car crash in 1979 at age 17-18, experiencing a death event…
Watch interview →Peter Panagore was an outdoorsman, first responder, and later ordained clergy who suffered severe hypothermia during an ice climbing expedit…
Watch interview →John Butler is a British farmer, meditator, and writer who from childhood showed a deep attunement to nature and stillness. His awakening un…
Watch interview →Jurgen Ziewe is a British artist and author who began meditating in 1969 and, after about three years of practice, had a spontaneous enlight…
Watch interview →Debra Martin was a mother and emerging medium who experienced three near-death experiences, including a profound third NDE in 2012 while cri…
Watch interview →Tara Springett grew up in a troubled, atheist household in Germany and experienced her first Kundalini awakening at 17, though she only reco…
Watch interview →