Zante - I wonder if you would be interested in sharing that first experience?
I was brought up in a family with christian roots, none of them were
staunchly religious though and didn't seem to care what the other chose to believe after childhood. To that end I started drifting away from the idea of religion. During the time I was in my late teens I had all sorts of emotional problems going on (some of which I'd rather not talk about) and, in order to lessen the burden, I'd poke fun at those who believed in something that seemed so absurd to me, even my brother who pursued the idea of OBEs. I just thought of them as being weak, unable to cope with "reality".
There were times however, when things just seemed so hopeless, that I couldn't help but look to something I could believe as being more important than myself. So, that's when I started considering the idea of "God as an external entity". It was just a concept I kept in mind at the time, nothing more.
Lots of other things followed but it's this next experience which really got me thinking differently.
One night I found myself at the foot of a mountain, everything around this giant of a spectacle was flat. It really stood out. I looked up and, much to my surprise, my view zoomed in on the summit where I saw what I interpreted as being Jesus (it was the stereotypical archetype) looking down to me while waving, smile on his face to boot. There was a lot of meaning in it for me. That's the experience which gave me the final shove.
Looking back, it was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. It pulled me out of the box I was in, even if it was so I could experience another box later on. I was able to experience both ends of the spectrum thanks to that.
More spontaneous experiences followed and that's what got me to take my brother seriously (his interest in OBEs). I've done a lot of reading and I've heard and experienced some extraordinary things. I just need to be 100% sure of everything though. So far I'm about 95% certain that there's something very important going on here. Unless I can stand before a real skeptic with 100% confidence in my own truth, it's meaningless. It's amazing what some people need in order to be convinced. I've experienced just about every chakra sensation documented.
All I need to do is complete the experiment I've had set up for me successfully. : )
Then my life begins anew, again. ;p