When I was 17 years old, I underwent a surgical procedure to remove four of my wisdom teeth. In what should have been an uneventful and common surgery, I experienced something very profound that I can distinctly remember to this day (I am now 24).

After meeting with the doctor and the nurses, they began to prep me for the procedure and administer the anesthesia. I was to be completely knocked out for the entire surgery, meaning I was meant to be totally unaware and asleep, at a very deep level of consciousness. This was not just laughing gas or some topical pain reliever, this was the real deal anesthesia. I need to make that clear, because for this surgery, I should have experienced absolutely nothing - I should have experienced pure unawareness or blackness until waking up. However, what I experienced was so incredibly beautiful, words fail to describe it. I saw colors that are not existent on Earth, colors that had so many different shades and hues that I had never seen before.

I have tried describing the colors to my friends and family, and the closest I can come to it is by saying that a particular color looked like a mix between blue, green, pink and purple, but it was nothing I had ever seen before in my waking state. This is a huge affirmation to me, because I know I did not make up or imagine what I saw, because you can't imagine something that your eyes have no way of seeing. I couldn't have imagined these magnificent colors in my awake state; it would have been impossible. There is absolutely nothing to compare these colors to. It would be like telling a blind person to imagine what the inside of a watermelon looks like. They wouldn't be able to if they had never seen one before. There were so many of these amazing colors that were floating across my vision, it reminded me of those lava lamps that were popular back in the day. They were floating like blobs, or waves, in front of me and changing with colors, so beautifully. I remember seeing a volcano-looking structure in the distance amongst all of these colors. The colors seemed to be alive; they were shifting and changing and sparkling, and they had emotion to them.

I felt unconditional love when this was happening to me. I was so in awe of what I was seeing, it was like a show was playing just for me. Suddenly I saw faces, beautiful angelic faces that seemed to come out of no where and they were smiling at me. I remember one woman to my left leaned over me and gave me comforting words telling me I was going to be all right, and a man on my right leaned over me and smiled at me as well, giving me a sense of total peace and that I was being taken care of. Looking back on this experience, I am not sure if they were actually angels or if they were the nurse and the doctor's higher selves or souls engaging with my soul on the operating table. The amount of peace and well being on their faces is something very difficult to describe.

I did not die during this surgery, and if I did then I was never told about it, nor did I seem to have any complications. I personally believe that I have one foot in this world, and one foot in the other, so it would make sense to me that I could easily transition between worlds just from being knocked out during anesthesia. The surgery was a couple hours long, and of course after I woke up it felt like I was out for mere minutes, but the experience I had during that time seemed to last forever. It was like time stopped. I was bathed in such deep blissful emotions and I was seeing such a heavenly sight that was morphing and changing so rapidly like waves on an ocean. I am not sure why I couldn't see beyond these colors and look more clearly at the distant volcano scenery in the background, but I believe that's because I wasn't meant to. I also felt stationary for the most part. I was not flying, but rather all the sights were coming to me, happening right there in front of me. I didn't even blink or turn around at all.

The things I saw under anesthesia will stay with me for a lifetime. I have heard so many people tell me that I was just drugged and that's what happens when you're drugged, but the thing is, anyone who knows anything about anesthesia knows you are not supposed to dream of anything, your consciousness is basically turned off under deep anesthesia. And even if I was "just drugged", how does one explain the otherworldy colors I saw? Which I later realized many people who actually have NDE's describe seeing supernatural colors as well, and it brings me a great sense of peace knowing I have experience something they experienced in their glimpses at the other side. I was not supposed to feel, see, hear, or envision anything. But I did. And it was magnificent.