Many people who have experienced clinical death claim that their whole life flashed before their eyes. But is it possible at this stressful moment to look into the future as opposed to the past? Tony Kofi, a prominent British saxophonist, had his first brush with fame when he fell from the third floor as a teenager. It was after this incident, the musician would say later, that he decided to pick up an instrument and learn to play, a thought that had never crossed his mind before.
“In my mind’s eye, I saw many, many things: children that I hadn’t even had yet, people that I had never seen but are now my friends,” Kofi said about his near-death experience. But he especially remembered playing a musical instrument.
The online magazine Brinkwire, which reported the story, added an expert comment to the article from psychologist Steve Taylor from Leeds Beckett University. The scientist investigates the concept of time as “spatial.” This theory assumes that we live in a static world, where time is stretched out in the form of a panorama, and the past, present and future exist simultaneously. Therefore, to Taylor, Kofi’s story seems quite plausible.
“However, what about Tony Kofi’s apparent visions of his future?” asks Taylor. Could he have seen actual flashed of his future life? Is it possible that he saw himself playing the saxophone because his career as a musician was already predetermined? “Of course, there are some banal interpretations of Tony’s experience. Perhaps he became a saxophonist merely because he imagined himself playing the instrument in his dreams.”
Let us add that the near-death experience is one of the phase states, which also include lucid dreams, out-of-body experiences, sleep paralysis, etc.
Have you ever seen your future while in a phase state?
