I was in my last semester of a four year college degree in biology. It was about three weeks into that final semester, while taking a cell physiology course, that my most major inner conflict at the time came to a head. I was having significant difficulty reconciling the view of life I grew up with, with the prevailing scientific view of life.

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Once upon a time, specifically February 1969, I was in my last semester of a four year college degree in biology. It was about three weeks into that final semester, while taking a cell physiology course, that my most major inner conflict at the time came to a head. Having spent 12 years in a strict Catholic school, with 17 years of being "guided" by my Irish Catholic mother, I was having significant difficulty reconciling the view of life I grew up with, with the prevalent scientific view of the day (and for many, to this day).

Not that this was the beginning of my religious doubts, which had begun about age 13, but it most clearly brought them to a boil. Trying to keep this short, I dropped out of college and headed west, both "to figure things out" and, ideally, to ski in Colorado or Utah. Like just about everyone, I had gone through infinite spins of the dial as to "what I wanted to be when I grew up." It had actually come down to being a brain surgeon or a ski bum about that point in time.

I stopped in Chicago to visit my best friend, a year ahead of me, then graduated from Notre Dame and teaching fourth grade. That hung me up for about six weeks in the windy city, where psychedelics and parties were found in abundance. My buddy had a reasonable circle of friends, also graduated from ND, several of whom had attended the same Catholic school I had on Long Island.

I had modest experience in the "mind altering" department, as what I can best describe as a "wanna be" hippie, though my interest was not so much in partying as searching for meaning and experiencing the universe through the Albert Hoffman lens, discovered in 1947, the same year I appeared, in the form of lysergic acid diethylamide 25-- aka LSD, along with a few other more natural mind-altering substances.

My truly brilliant friend and I had done much research for quite some time on these substances and we both came away concluding it was the most sensible way to get a deeper understanding of the world we lived in. In fact, for my senior project, my delightful adviser and open minded biology professor (who later founded Orion Nature Quarterly, still going strong, with a long chain of prestigious awards), helped me examine my chromosomes under I think a 600x microscope, and take pictures of them. This, to get more serious evidence on the claims by much of the press, that LSD damaged chromosomes (it doesn't).

My friend and I had amazing and mind-opening times, such as examining luminescent jellyfish for hours one night in the Peconic Bay, watching a sunrise from a lone coastguard tower on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean, watching a Jimi Hendrix/ Janis Joplin concert, having deep philosophical discussions, wading in the surf, going to a zoo for many hours, and much more.

One day my friend was teaching and I was hanging out with two of his downstairs neighbors, in an old Chicago brownstone apartment (before my getting a short term job in a G.D. Searle lab, to fund my way further west). The couple happened to have a small white pill, one of the modes of LSD transport at the time, and we decided to split it three ways. I have zero idea of the actual dosage, nor how it was distributed throughout the pill.

I took my portion while lying down on a couch, while the couple sat across from me on comfortable living room chairs. There was a Beatles's album on the record player, and we were all rather laid back listening to the various songs.

At one point in time, not long after "the drop," on came Strawberry Fields Forever click here. I recall that the fellow across from me, who I knew only moderately well, told me to lay back and enjoy the music, which I did. Shortly after, he told me or so I think to this day, that this was "my song" and this was "my day." Which I thought rather strange, but I was not in the mood to question it.

I had my head on the couch pillow when I recall a strange but powerful emotion coming over me, as though it was somehow lifting up my body. In short order, with my eyes closed and simply laying there listening to Strawberry Fields, I was suddenly travelling down a long eerie tunnel, with various images of people from my past whirring by on the sides, old friends, my mother, and others who I felt the essence of more than actually "saw."

Time was irrelevant and I can't even imagine what it may have been "in real time." At the end of the tunnel, I recall a clear image of a large Chinese gong, in the form of a large gold circle, seemingly about six feet in diameter, that I was passing through.

As I traveled through the gong, a fantastically loud noise sounded, as if to say, "Yes, this IS the real thing." Remarkably real, as I well recall to this day. When I say "I passed through the gong," I am referring to my consciousness alone, sans body.

Next in my field of awareness appeared a large bright light, which filled my field of vision. It was no ordinary light, such as an incandescent light or the sun, just a large, warm, loving light. There is no other way to describe it.

I was headed into this light, and felt my ego being dissolved as I did so; but this was absolutely no problem, as the light was so warm, loving, and inviting that I was delighted to be leaving anything that might be called "Daniel Geery" behind, and about to be absorbed into the light, which I can now best describe as "the universe turned inside out."

Again, no sense of time involved here. Then, as I was entering this indescribable ball of light, another "gong" or loud noise was sounded, while my awareness, or consciousness, was turned around, and anything that I can possibly call "myself" was rejected by the light. I have no other way to describe it.

In what seemed like a second or less, I was dropped into a dark abyss, sans light, sans anything, save for my consciousness, my consciousness and that alone. Picture a stone in an utterly dark void, with nothing but that stone. Timeless, ageless, and aware of absolutely nothing but itself, assuming such were possible. There was no time, absolutely zero time as we know it in our daily lives, but simply eternity, and I promptly add "the ultimate hell,"me and me alone, with nothing to be aware of but myself, in that utterly unforgettable void, as real for me now, half a century later, as it was then.

I would have been ecstatic to have a rock or grain of sand even to look at, but there was none such available, just the eternal void, in a most literal sense.

Again, there was no sense of what my "real time" may have been in that condition, except to say that this experience was more real than my sitting in front of my computer right now typing about it. There was no time, simply eternity.

Then, to my astonishment and delight, I was pulled back into my body, upon which I launched myself from the couch, ran into the bathroom and slapped water on my face, to see if I was "still real."

There was a long chain of events, as in dozens of them over two weeks or so, leading up to this experience, many of which I recall but seem unnecessary for this story. What followed shortly thereafter was another visitor to the apartment, a woman about my age who was a friend of the couple. There was some conversation between them, which I don't recall or even think I heard, except that this woman was going to the airport and was happy to take me with her and talk to me on the way.

Turned out, ironically, she was studying to be a nun, but also a warm and sensitive person who could easily tell I had been through a traumatic experience. She held my hand while walking through the airport, and my main recollection then was how everyone we walked by was all from the same source, or I might well say Source. The actual sun was setting in a beautiful orange-yellow light, a more beautiful sunset than I could remember ever seeing.

Also, during this walk (to who knows where or for what), I shrank down to the size of a molecule, then instantaneously expanded to the size of what seemed to be the universe. I was experiencing God, or whatever one might wish to call it, such as "all there is." One of my most vivid recollections was how the vast masses of people seemed to have no idea of our inter-connectedness as humans, or of the force that animates all of us. To say "we are all one" seemed then and to this day, a profound understatement.

For many days thereafter, I had great trouble sleeping, for fear of returning to "the void." I recall from that time another Beatle song that ran through my head, with contained the lyrics, "I can't sleep at night" click here

I did promptly realize that the message from this experience was that my life was hardly over, and I had much left to do. I took a flight shortly thereafter back to New York, where I recall two things. One was that one of the four engines went out and the plane was flying at a steep angle, with everyone looking around at each other, considerable fear in their eyes, and soon thereafter the pilot coming on to talk of engine trouble and that we were making a landing in Toledo, to switch planes.

The other memorable incident was when I went to sit down in my plane seat, there was a business card already sitting there, which read, "Acid indigestion?"

I picked up the card, turned it over, and found this on the back, to my considerable astonishment: "Check your source."

Yes, I would say both that the universe is a personal place and evidently has a sense of humor. More incidents over the next five decades have hammered this point home more times than I can possibly recall. I ended up marrying the woman I had left behind and also quickly found myself in a teaching career, after finishing school that summer and working on a Masters during the next two years, whilst teaching.

Do I expect anyone to believe me? No, I certainly don't, and would even add that a large part of me frowns on anyone who might. If you happen to have read the fairly recent best-seller, "Proof of Heaven," by a practicing brain surgeon, I would say that was a pale shadow of my own experience, and certainly not what the title proclaims.

OTOH, it was some years after "my epidode" that I came upon "Life After Life," by Raymond Moody click here. This was sometime in the early seventies. Much research has been done in this area since then, and I suggest the website click here, where you'll find 4,600 near death experiences (NDEs) in 23 languages. I recall in Moody's book, which covered I believe 150 interviews with people claiming to have had similar experiences, and it was extrapolated that one out of six Americans have had such life-changing episodes, all with many similar elements out of a total of I think 15 (I had about 10 of them). Most folks, including myself, have been reluctant to talk about these events, both because they are so personal, and because by trying to explain it, you're likely to be thought of as belonging in a mental institution. For myself, this experience broke all bounds of my religious upbringing, while at the same time furthering me along what I can only call a road of "spiritual development."

Do I have any idea what any of this truly means? No, I ultimately don't, except to say there is "much more to life" than meets the eye. Given the astounding breakthroughs in cosmology, astrophysics, and studies on consciousness, that I've read many of, watched videos on and regularly do, I might compare the depth of "my trip" to becoming a veritable black hole. I have also come to appreciate more fully the yin-yang symbol, developed so long ago, and which my friend happened to have hanging in his Chicago apartment, along with many other posters of the day.

(Article changed on April 18, 2019 at 00:54)

Authors Website: http://www.hyperblimp.com

Authors Bio:

In my run for U.S. Senate against Utah's Orrin Hatch, I posted many progressive ideas and principles that I internalized over the years. I'm leaving that site up indefinitely, since it describes what I believe most members of our species truly want: www.voteutah.us. I thank those who sent such wonderful comments, even though it forced me to go buy a few larger hats, which were among my top campaign expenses (just kidding).

My forever-to-write novel (now my favorite book for some unfathomable reason), A Summer with Freeman, finally got out the door, via Kindle and CreateSpace. Readers of this site, and anyone else with two or more brain cells who want some "serious humorous relief" may want to check it out: http://www.opednews.com/articles/A-Summer-with-Freeman-nov-by-Daniel-Geery-130528-385.html

My family and I lived off the grid in an earth-sheltered, solar powered underground house for 15 years, starting in the early '80s, proving, at least to myself, the feasibility of solar power. Such a feat would be much infinitely easier with off-the-shelf materials available now, though the bureaucracy holding us back is probably worse. http://www.opednews.com/articles/Living-on-Sunshine-Underg-by-Daniel-Geery-110318-547.html

I wrote a book on earth-sheltered solar greenhouses that has many good ideas, but should be condensed from 400 down to 50 pages, with new info from living off the grid. It's on my "to do" list, but you can find used copies kicking around online. Just don't get the one I see for $250, being hawked by some capitalist... well, some capitalist.

I'm 68 with what is now a 26 year old heart--literally, as it was transplanted in 2005 (a virus, they think). This is why I strongly encourage you and everyone else to be an organ donor--and get a heart transplant if you're over 50, unless your name is Dick Cheney.

I may be the only tenured teacher you'll meet who got fired with a perfect teaching record. I spent seven years in court fighting that, only to find out that little guys always lose (http://www.opednews.com/articles/Letter-to-NEA-Leadership--by-Daniel-Geery-101027-833.html; recommended reading if you happen to be a parent, teacher, or concerned citizen).

I managed to get another teaching job, working in a multi-cultural elementary school for ten years (we had well over 20 native tongues when I left, proving to me that we don't need war to get along--no one even got killed there!). http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_daniel_g_060716_alternatives_to_exti.htm

I spent a few thousand hours working on upward-gliding airships, after reading The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed by John McPhee. But I did my modelling in the water, so it took only two years and 5,000 models to get a shape that worked. You can Google "aquaglider" to learn more about these. As far as I know, this invention represents the first alteration of Archimedes'principle, spelled out 2,500 years ago.

"Airside," the water toys evolved into more of a cigar shape, as this was easier to engineer. Also, solar panels now come as thin as half a manila folder, making it possible for airships to be solar powered. You can see one of the four I made in action by Googling "hyperblimp"(along with many related, advanced versions).

Along with others, I was honored to receive a Charles Lindbergh Foundation Award, to use my airships to study right whales off Argentina. Now we just have to make it happen and are long overdue, for reasons that would probably not fit on the internet.

In 2010 I married a beautiful woman who is an excellent writer and editor, in addition to being a gourmet cook, gardener, kind, gentle, warm, funny, spiritual, and extremely loving. We met via "Plenty-of-Fish" and a number of seemingly cosmic connections. Christine wrote Heart Full of Hope, which many readers have raved about, as you may note on Amazon.

I get blitzed reading the news damn near every day, and wonder why I do it, especially when it's the same old shit recycled, just more of it. In spite of Barbara Ehrenreich and reality, I'm a sucker for positive thinking and have read many books on it. I find many many of them insane and the source of much negativity on my part. My favorites these days are by Alan Cohen, who seems to speak my language, and likewise thinks a bit like Albert Einstein did (as do I on this note). Albert: "Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discernible laws and connections, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion. To that extent, in fact, I am religious."

Though I rapidly note that I've kept alive my deceased and "devout atheist" friend's book, http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Foundation-of-Religion-by-Daniel-Geery-110510-382.html

Lastly, kudos to Rob Kall and those who make OEN the site that it is: one of the last bastions of free speech.