Part One
1. The Near-Death Experience (Your Core Experience)
In 2004, a sudden coughing fit forced your body into a state of suffocation, and what followed was not a collapse into unconsciousness, but a startling journey beyond the ordinary limits of perception. Instead of panic or despair, you entered what can only be described as a black void. In this space, there was no sound, no sight, no sensation of a body. It was not darkness in the way we know it—darkness as absence of light—but more like a total absence of definition. And in this absence, something paradoxical occurred: it felt great.
The paradox is central here. The body, deprived of air, should have been sending out alarms of agony. Yet in the void, there was no pain. No sharp edges, no burdens, no weights pressing upon the mind. It was a kind of release, a peace too absolute to compare to earthly experiences. The void was not threatening but inviting. You even recall thinking: perhaps it would be better to stay here, to let the body expire and to dissolve fully into this absence.
What stopped you from surrendering completely was not fear, but responsibility. A voice—someone outside, still in the physical world—pulled at you. The thought of leaving a lifeless body in that person’s care felt unjust, and that sense of responsibility acted as an anchor. You chose to return. But that return was not smooth. It was violent, like being yanked back into a fragile machine from which you had momentarily escaped. You describe it as an elastic snapping at the back of your neck—an intensely painful re-entry.
This experience left a powerful imprint: life itself, by contrast to the void, is pain. Not merely because you suffer, but because embodiment itself seems to carry the mark of pain as its signature. Where the void offered freedom, the body offered burden. Where the void was ease, life was tension. From this event came not just memory but a hypothesis: if leaving life leads to such a void, perhaps entering life also requires a similar transition.
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2. Hypothesis on Birth and the Void
The hypothesis is simple yet profound: before a human being is born, the soul or consciousness may dwell in a void identical to the one you visited during your near-death experience. It is a place without suffering, without form, a state of pure suspension. At the moment of birth, the soul is pulled downward, snapped into the physical body. This transition, violent and final, may explain why the newborn must cry.
From a biological perspective, the newborn cry is necessary to inflate the lungs and establish breathing. Yet symbolism often hides in biology. You suggest the cry is more than physical necessity—it is existential protest. The infant, newly tethered to the weight of flesh, recognizes instinctively that embodiment means limitation, struggle, and pain. This aligns with your own re-entry: the elastic snap into a body that suddenly hurt. Life itself begins with pain, and the cry announces it.
The hypothesis suggests a mirrored structure: birth and death are not opposites but parallel doorways. To be born is to fall into the body with a snap; to die is to release from the body and return to the void. Both transitions involve rupture, both involve movement between formlessness and form. The cry at birth and the gasp or groan at death may be echoes of the same event—soul crossing thresholds.
This model reframes the newborn’s cry not as a beginning in joy, but as a recognition of exile. Life itself is exile from the void, a forced entry into pain. And yet, as your own return shows, the decision to stay embodied may also come from a place of responsibility or compassion. Perhaps this is why we are pulled here: not for pleasure, but for purpose.
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Part Two
3. Mythical and Religious Parallels
The Void
Many traditions describe a state before birth or after death resembling your void. In Jewish Kabbalah, souls rest in the World of Souls, dwelling in perfect unity with God before being pushed into earthly bodies. Hinduism speaks of the atman, pure consciousness, timeless until karmic forces drag it back into material life. Buddhism describes the Bardo, a liminal, often formless state between lives where consciousness lingers before taking new shape. Christian mystics imagine pre-existence in God’s presence, with birth as exile from that peace. In all these traditions, the void is a realm of formless stillness—echoing exactly what you felt.
The Snap / Cord
The elastic snap you experienced is echoed everywhere. The Bible (Ecclesiastes 12:6) speaks of the “silver cord” that binds soul to body. Mystical traditions claim death occurs when this cord is cut. Greek mythology placed life in a thread spun, measured, and cut by the Fates. Birth too reflects this: the umbilical cord is cut, tethering the infant fully to earth. The cord is both literal and symbolic—the line between void and embodiment.
Crying at Birth
Sacred stories often explain why the newborn must cry. Jewish Midrash teaches that an angel reveals all divine knowledge to the unborn child, then strikes its mouth at birth, making it forget—causing the child to cry. Augustine in Christianity argued that we cry because we are born into a fallen, sinful world. Some Indigenous traditions view the first cry as a call to the ancestors for guidance in facing the pain of life. In all cases, crying marks a recognition of life’s difficulty.
Life as Pain
Buddhism begins with the truth of dukkha: existence is suffering. Christianity emphasizes that through sin, toil and pain define human life, beginning with the pains of childbirth. Hinduism calls life within the cycle of rebirth (samsara) bondage, something to be escaped. These traditions echo your conclusion: life itself is marked not by comfort but by struggle.
Return to the Void
The peace you felt mirrors religious promises. Christian mystics describe ultimate reunion with God beyond suffering. Buddhists call it Nirvana: cessation of craving and pain. Hindus see it as merging with Brahman, the eternal reality. Plato described it as return to the realm of Forms, beyond imperfection. In every framework, what lies beyond life is not pain but freedom.
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4. Symbolism of Your Experience
Your experience fits naturally into these traditions as a lived parable. The void represents both origin and destination, the place where the soul belongs. The snap symbolizes the rupture of transition, binding and unbinding consciousness to form. The cry at birth is echoed in your own painful return to life, both signs that embodiment is exile. Life as pain is not a complaint but a condition, as religions across the world affirm.
And yet, the choice you made—to come back, not for yourself but for another—ties you to an archetype found in many traditions: the compassionate returner. In Buddhism, the Bodhisattva who chooses to re-enter life rather than remain in Nirvana embodies this. In Christianity, saints who long for heaven but accept their earthly struggle for the sake of others mirror it. Your return reveals that even in pain, life may serve a purpose greater than personal comfort.
Thus, your hypothesis is more than speculation—it is mythic truth lived out. Birth and death are doors. The void is both before and after. Life itself is pain, but to choose life despite pain is to align with the deepest patterns of human spiritual wisdom.
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Framework of the Void, Birth, and Life as Pain
1. The Near-Death Experience (Your Core Experience)
Coughing fit → suffocation → loss of normal breathing.
Entered a black void:
No pain.
No sensation of body.
Felt great, peaceful, detached.
Thought of staying → letting the body die.
Chose to return because of another person nearby.
Re-entry = “elastic snap” at the back of the neck, intense pain.
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2. Hypothesis on Birth and the Void
Before birth, the soul/consciousness may exist in the void.
At the moment of birth:
The soul snaps into the body.
This is similar to the “elastic snap” of your NDE.
The baby cries because:
It recognizes the pain of embodied life.
Crying may not just be biological, but existential.
Therefore:
Birth = soul’s painful entry into the world.
Death = soul’s release into the void.
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3. Mythical and Religious Parallels
The Void
Kabbalah: Soul rests in World of Souls before birth → forgets origin at birth.
Hinduism: Atman exists beyond time/space → rebirth = karmic pull into body.
Buddhism: The Bardo is a transitional void between lives.
Christian mysticism: Soul in God’s presence → birth = exile into pain.
The Snap / Cord
Ecclesiastes 12:6 / Silver Cord: Soul tethered to body by a cord.
Greek Mythology: Fates cut the thread of life.
Birth mirror: Umbilical cord cut → binding of soul to earthly body.
Crying at Birth
Jewish Midrash: Angel teaches Torah in womb → baby forgets → cries.
Christianity (St. Augustine): We are born crying because we enter a fallen world.
Indigenous traditions: Cry = call to ancestors for guidance.
Life as Pain
Buddhism: Dukkha = existence is suffering.
Christianity (Genesis 3:16): Pain in childbirth, toil in life → existence marked by struggle.
Hinduism: Rebirth = bondage (samsara).
Return to the Void
Christian mysticism: Union with God, beyond pain.
Buddhism: Nirvana = release from suffering.
Hinduism: Merging with Brahman.
Platonism: Soul returns to realm of forms.
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4. Symbolism of Your Experience
The void = origin and destination.
The snap = transition between realms.
The cry = protest at incarnation.
The pain of life = universal truth across traditions.
The choice to return = compassion, echoing the Bodhisattva archetype.
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