“David Oakford’s experience on The Other Side of death’s curtain is real, valid, and profound. Although drugs were the initial trigger for what he went through, and clearly the evidence for drug effects color the first part of his episode and the beginnings of the second part, what happened next was a full-blown ascended state that had a significant impact on him. Near death experiences are not magic, nor do they produce saints. And we can thank David for revealing this, for baring his soul. From the struggles and depression that followed, there emerged a truly changed man who knew, positively knew, that there is more to life than we are taught, and more to God’s Greater Plan for us than we might imagine.”
David was born in 1959, in the shadow of the great auto plants, on the outskirts of Detroit. He grew up learning to fend for himself in a neighborhood made for trouble. By the time he was 19 he had no expectations of a long life and abusing his body with drugs and alcohol led to his near death experience in 1979.
At the time, he didn't fully understand what had happened to him and the few trusted people he told about it told him he was crazy. He pushed the experience to the back of his mind and put his efforts into doing something more with his life. While working in a machine shop he met the woman who would soon be his wife in 1982.
The next 20 years were difficult for David, just as he had been told they would be, as employment difficulties plagued him. David kept his experience a secret until he picked up a "New Age" book his wife was reading and realized that what he was reading was similar to his experience. Through metaphysical chat rooms and conversations with experts, David discovered the truth about what had happened to him and what it all meant.
Wanting to share the story of his experience with friends, he wrote the first excerpt of his near death experience. Once this was published on line he was astounded by the number of people who wanted to talk to him about it and they didn't think he was crazy.
For David, publishing this story has been a way for him to explore his experience and work through the emotional consequences of having the experience. As David says, "You can decide to not believe it, I can't." His hope is that reading his experience will change your life, because as he found, once you know, you can't pretend you don't.
