#18: To Infinity and Beyond

Hi Everyone,

Hoberleigh Preigh shares this intriguing spiritual experience.  He says, "The love that enveloped me was like the ocean compared to the drop in the bucket I felt on this earthly plane"... and... "In that moment I knew without a shadow of a doubt that THIS was home. It was where we all come from and where we all will end up again. The joy at that thought was immeasurable."

e-hugs, Gary

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND...

    It was December of 1986. I was in a class that met weekly for a couple of months. The theme was psychic development. I don’t remember much that is specific other than we practiced different exercises to become more intuitive. I had read about astral projection, the ability to travel outside of the body. It sounded fantastic and I wanted to be able to do it. I asked the instructor if we could do that one week. She agreed and I thought she had forgotten as the weeks progressed. She didn’t. I was delighted when she announced at the beginning of class that we would travel outside of our bodies.

    I remember quite clearly how it began. I was seated on the floor leaning against a chair. She began by having us relax our bodies and breathing in a certain way (though exactly how I don’t recall.) Then she began what sounded like a hypnotic induction. I think she gave us suggestions to travel to the place we would most like to be. I had no idea where that was so I didn’t focus on anywhere in particular.

    At the end of the exercise I found myself back in the room but it seemed like a million years had passed from the time I had closed my eyes. I looked at everyone else thinking they must have had the same extraordinary experience. Each person shared their story of where they went and what they experienced.

My father, who was also a student in the class, said he was flying over the Hawaiian Islands. He could zoom down to any of the islands he desired and zoom back up into the sky at will. Some people went to their favorite vacation spot, some went to their hometown. I kept waiting to hear someone describe something similar to my experience but it never happened. When everyone else finished telling their own story I spoke up. As I write this in 2013 over 26 years later I can remember this episode as though it happened yesterday.

    When we began I was breathing and hearing the count of the instructor when all of a sudden I was surrounded by complete darkness. I was more conscious and aware than I had ever been. I remember looking all around (with what I don’t know as I had no body and therefore no eyes) but look I did. I was seeking the light. “There’s got to be a light somewhere” I thought. “I keep hearing about a tunnel.  It’s got to be here somewhere.”  As I was seeking the light I became hyper aware of the peace that surrounded me. It expanded to a feeling of overwhelming love.

    I am apparently one of the fortunate individuals on this planet who grew up with love. Though nothing and no one is perfect in this life, including my family, I must say that I always felt loved as a child. So surrounded by darkness in this moment of incredible love I thought about my childhood and the love I felt back then. I imagined the feeling I used to have as I walked into the front door of the house where I grew up with my family. I attempted to compare the love I had felt then with the love I was experiencing at that moment. But there was no comparison. Not even close. The love that enveloped me was like the ocean compared to the drop in the bucket I felt on this earthly plane. Though here it didn’t seem like a drop. 

    In that moment I knew without a shadow of a doubt that THIS was home. It was where we all come from and where we all will end up again. The joy at that thought was immeasurable.

    I don’t believe in a heaven in the clouds with angels flying around playing their harps. I never did. I also don’t believe in a hell ruled by a devil with a pitchfork living in a barbecue pit. I’m just stating my beliefs or rather non beliefs with no intention of offending anyone else’s beliefs.

    I remember watching the character Fred Sanford on TV from “Sanford and Son” grasping his chest as he feigned a heart attack looking skyward and saying “I’m coming home, Elizabeth” I never understood what he meant by equating death with coming home. But now I understood. This was home. Because of this experience I don’t believe that the stories I’ve heard from neither individuals nor the books I’ve read about the life between lives is our real home either. Not that they are not real occurrences.

    I’ve heard and read many accounts about near death experiences. Many are very similar in nature. Going through the tunnel. Seeing the light. Being met by loved ones, guides, Jesus, the council of elders or whomever. Feeling the love. Often being told it is not their time and they must go back, etc. Don’t get me wrong. I believe each and every one is absolutely a real experience. And usually it is a very valuable and significant experience. 

    I’ve read about soul families and how we make agreements to learn certain lessons and have specific missions here on earth. That for the most part, we choose our lives, our parents and our challenges. That while we have freewill much is also predetermined. This is all very possibly the truth. I can’t deny it because I have no proof. I also can’t affirm it is ABSOLUTELY the truth.

    BUT the experience I had was nothing like I had ever read about. It was not like the accounts of others. First of all there was no light. There was no other person. Only the most pure sense of love one could ever imagine. It was a warmth as tangible as a heated blanket. It was soothing and comforting and ever present. As I became acclimated I began thinking of questions. I asked why my mother had died so suddenly earlier that year. I also remember asking about time. I heard it was said that time was an illusion. It was not real. I couldn’t understand how time was an illusion so I asked and it was answered. 

    In fact, every time I asked a question I received an answer. But here is the problem. When I came back into the awareness of my body I was not (apparently) allowed to bring back any of the information I was shown. I could remember every question I asked and I could bring back every thought I had about each experience but only those. If I did not initiate the thought in my own mind it was erased.

    Here is what I do remember. I was shown the history of the planet. It was like a movie that was played backward from the present moment back to the beginning of the earth’s formation. But unlike a movie I somehow experienced every part of life. It was all three dimensional and I was part of all of it. When it finished I remember thinking “Wow! That was the history of the earth!” But then it started all over again only this time it was a completely different version. I thought “The earth has had more than one life” and as soon as I had that thought I saw a third version of the planet’s history. I can’t tell you for sure if there was another one after that or not but I was feeling so astonished and overwhelmed that I said “That’s enough. I just want to feel the love some more.” And I did. After basking in the love for what felt like millions of years I was ready to ask more questions. Each moment that I was there felt all time and no time (at the same time.) There is no way to communicate this to make sense but while in that state it felt very natural and normal.

    I have tried through meditation many times to get back to that state but I have never been able to replicate the experience. I questioned it for many years but I know what and how I felt and it has altered my beliefs tremendously. I have wondered why my experience differed so much from all of the near death and out of body experiences I’ve heard and read about.  It made no sense until I read the book “The Disappearance of the Universe” by Gary Renard. I won’t go into detail here but I highly recommend the book. It helped give me an expanded perception of life.

    One thing I remember quite vividly is that I was more aware than I have ever been and I was in complete control of my experience. When I chose to be with the love I was ONE with God or Love or whatever you want to call it. I felt as though I was there for eternity and yet at any moment I could choose something else. The moment I had a thought it would become my experience - totally and completely. Whenever I chose to change the experience I would have another thought and then that one would be my new experience.

    So why or how did I come back? I really wished I didn’t come back to tell the truth. But I came back with a definite knowingness that over there is the place where we all return and that gave me peace. 

    When the experience ended I was sitting on the floor with my back against a chair. I opened my eyes and the instructor was in front of me glancing at her watch. She paused but didn’t see I had opened my eyes. She gently said  “Come back from wherever you are and become aware of your body and when you are ready you may open your eyes.” 

    So why did I come back before we were told to do so?  Maybe I wanted to beat the crowd. But in all honesty I think it was because there was a higher part of me that was tuned into both worlds and wanted my lower self to know it was paying attention. While I’m in this body in this dimension I will never know. But maybe someday....

Namaste,

Hoberleigh