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Alfons: Electrocuted. Right. And it changed my life. I did experience". Of course, thirty years ago nobody talked about that. not feel too much at all, so I thought it was not too bad. But 380 So I thought I was the only person with such an experience. We volts had crossed my heart and my brain. The following day, I hadn't taken any pills with us. So when I was home we just said, began feeling kind of strange. I could not say exactly what I was "Okay, from now on it is going to be like this." I had all kinds of feeling, but I felt strange. And the more this feeling progressed, hallucinations, delusions and such things. I found myself in the the more I became estranged from myself. I became a stranger to war, I found myself travelling in space. myself. Engineers don't know anything about psychology or Willem: So you practically found yourself dying in the whatever, so I didn't know what was happening. I only knew that universe. I was not functioning as I had. To start up factories you must be Alfons: It was terrible. I thought, "Let me go; it is better to die in excellent condition. It is a heavy job. It is climbing towers, than to be alive, because this is no way of living." engineering, planning, ordering materials, installing, etc., etc. I Willem: You gave up. began functioning worse and worse until I thought, "This has to Alfons: I gave up. I wanted to go. But then, of course, the stop." I didn't dare to climb any more, I didn't dare to drive acar | memories came. I saw my wife and children, and I knew I wanted any more. And I said, "This has to stop." I turned to a to live for them. It was a struggle for life, and I was on the edge. I psychologist and then to a psychiatrist, and before I knew it I was was going to make it or not. But the light game, as I called it, in the hospital, where they gave me shots and I passed out. seeing things, rekindled my desire for life. I said, "I want to get Willem: So you worked in a factory. Someone turned on the well to take care of my wife and children." So I survived. main switch and you were electrocuted. You didn't die, you didn't Willem: You did not take any medication, either? have burns or... Alfons: At first not. But then I said, "If I take nothing, I will Alfons: No, that was just it. As an electrical engineer I knew certainly die, then it will be over and done with." And later, when exactly what was going on. I had no burns so I said, "It's rather _ life came back bit by bit, I had to take medication because of the okay". But I started to feel strange. delusions and hallucinations. I had to come down to earth again. Willem: Immediately? Our family doctor, who was also a close friend, began treating me Alfons: Yes. Pretty much so. Right after the incident I was very gently with great doses of medicines and he made me survive. dazzled. Then, in the first days, I took some aspirin and thought it Years later he told me that, as he began working on me, he was would pass. Yet I felt worse and worse. I took some sure I was going to die. So, professionally, he was doing the best tranquillisers and hoped it would pass. Then I started taking he could. But anyway, we made it. We survived. Of course, this drugs, and finally I found myself in changed my whole life. I found the hands of a psychiatrist. myself without a job. I couldn't work. Willem: So you went to the . . I didn't know much of my existence. psychiatrist and he gave you a shot. I said, "This has to stop.” The estrangement came straight from Alfons: Yes, it was thirty years H myself. I felt strange to myself. I had ago. And in Belgium, psychiatrists y turned toa psychologist an almost complete loss of identity. were, let us say, neurologists. They and then toa psychiatrist, and Willem: You felt like a kind of were just treating clinically. Without before | knew it | was in the vegetable. further notice, I got injections and Alfons: Almost; close; not faded out. I fell asleep. But the man hospital, where they gave me complete, but almost. And of course, shots and I| passed out. did not examine me. I had problems with my heartbeat. I did not know that, either. But while I was asleep, those things became aggravated. And didn't exist. the doctor did not come to see me or Alfons: Right. This went on and ask, "How are you doing?" The minute I woke up a little bit, I got on for many, many years; injections, living and not living, fears another injection. So I could not defend myself. I could not tell coming up, images coming up, and so on. them, "I feel terrible and I'm going to die." I could not react. I was powerless. And the doctor did not come to my bed in eight Journey into Homoeopathy all the drugs they were pumping into me made me a kind of zombie. Willem: You existed, yet you days. So at the end of the week, I was really ready to die. And Alfons: Then, one day, a lady told me about a good then, between shots, I gave my wife a sign to get me out of there. homoeopath she knew. That was new, thirty years ago. Nobody She was at my bedside and I said this was going completely talked about homoeopathy; at least, very few did. I lived in wrong and she had to take me home. The doctor told her I Antwerp and there was a homoeopath. The man had long waiting couldn't be transported for even a mile. lists. But the homoeopath this lady knew was the president of the Willem: You would die. Homoeopathic Society and very good. "The man is retired," she Alfons: Yes. So I kept making it clear to my wife to get me said, "but he can probably help you a little bit." So I tried to out of there because if I was going to die I wanted to die at home, contact him, but since he was retired there was no chance for me not in the hospital which was such a terrible experience. The to reach him. His nurse kept telling me, "No appointment, no doctor kept saying, "No, he will die," and I kept insisting on being appointment." But I kept calling. And one day, when the nurse taken home. Finally I did get out, and the doctor said, "He's going had the day off, his wife picked up the phone and she gave me an to die in the car on the way home." We didn't live far from the appointment right away—"...because," she said, "this is a sad hospital but he insisted that I would not make it. Anyway, we story and, though my husband is retired, I want to give you a made it home. chance. So much misery." I'd had experiences like getting out of my body. I saw myself Willem: And no one else could help you. lying down there. I saw the personnel of the clinic and I went into Alfons: No. And I tried everything. As an engineer and a light tunnel and had what they now call a "near death scientist, I believed in science and regular medicine—those men | said, "This has to stop." I turned to a psychologist and then to a psychiatrist, and before | knew it I was in the hospital, where they gave me shots and I| passed out. Journey into Homoeopathy Alfons: Then, one day, a lady told me about a good homoeopath she knew. That was new, thirty years ago. Nobody talked about homoeopathy; at least, very few did. I lived in Antwerp and there was a homoeopath. The man had long waiting lists. But the homoeopath this lady knew was the president of the Homoeopathic Society and very good. "The man is retired," she said, "but he can probably help you a little bit." So I tried to contact him, but since he was retired there was no chance for me to reach him. His nurse kept telling me, "No appointment, no appointment." But I kept calling. And one day, when the nurse had the day off, his wife picked up the phone and she gave me an appointment right away—"...because," she said, "this is a sad story and, though my husband is retired, I want to give you a chance. So much misery." Willem: And no one else could help you. Alfons: No. And I tried everything. As an engineer and scientist, I believed in science and regular medicine—those men 18 = NEXUS www.nexusmagazine.com OCTOBER —- NOVEMBER 2007