November 13, 2024 • 18 mins
I AM FASCINATED BY NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES Because in my mind they are the closest thing we have to proof of the afterlife. Today, I've got Jeffrey Long on the show. Jeffrey Long is a medical doctor specializing in the practice of radiation oncology, using radiation to treat cancer. As a scientist, Jeff founded NDERF in 1998. He wanted to know if NDEs were real by directly asking the NDErs themselves. The answer is a resounding YES! As a result of his research, he is the author of the New York Times best seller, "Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death Experiences." He also wrote "God and the Afterlife: The Groundbreaking New Evidence for God and Near-Death Experience." Find out more about his organization and read the story from NDErs yourself by clicking here. He joins me at 1pm to talk about it.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I got a text message in the last hour as
I was talking about my long time and ongoing fascination
with near death experiences in a texter said, Mandy, It's
just one of your eccentricities, and I've come to enjoy it.
And I'm thrilled about that because I am stoked about
my next guest. My next guest is doctor Jeffrey Long.
He is a medical doctor. He has been practicing radiation oncology,
(00:21):
helping people with cancer get over their cancer. And as
a scientist, he founded the National the Near Death Experience
Research Foundation back in nineteen ninety eight. And he has
hundreds and I mean hundreds of near death experience stories
on the website. And he's written two books, Evidence of
(00:41):
the Afterlife, The Science of Near Death Experiences and God
and the Afterlife, The Groundbreaking New Evidence for God and
Near death Experience. And now he joins me, doctor Long,
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Hey, Mandy, this is great. We've got a lot to
talk about.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Well, I want to start by asking you what started
your fascination with near death experiences.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Sure, over twenty five years ago, I was in the
medical library looking up a cancer related article. I'm a
radiation oncology doctor, I used radiation to treat cancer. But
looking for that article, I found a medical article that
had the term near death experience in it, and I
was fascinated on reading that. I mean, how can you
not wonder what happens after you die? But immediately I
(01:25):
realized there was significant evidence that all of us, our
consciousness survives our bodily death and we go on. And
this was the strongest evidence I read. I was hooked
immediately and vowed I was going to carry forward research
on that when I had the chance, and ultimately I did.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Well, you're a medical doctor, so you are supposed to
be grounded in facts and reason and rationality. How is
your we'll call it a side hustle, for lack of
a better way to put it.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
How is that? Do you talk to.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Other doctors about that? And do you do they think
you're insane?
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Actually, in in modern times, I've been doing this twenty
five years, Mandy, But in modern times there's far more
acceptance of near death experience among doctors, nurses, other medical staff.
In fact, a twenty twenty one survey found that about
seventy two percent of American adults believe that near death
experience is an observation of the spirit departing the physical body.
(02:23):
So the significant majority of people today actually understand and
accept the reality of near death experiences. It sure was
not that when I started out twenty five years ago.
There's a lot less belief in the reality of near
death experience.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
What do the naysayers say about near death experiences? I mean,
I've heard some things like, it's just indorphins being released
in your brain as you're going through the dying process.
What are some of the other medical reasons that have
been thrown out there?
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Do you know?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Oh gosh, I've been studying that for years. I mean,
you name it.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
I've heard these skeptical so called explanations of near death experience.
I'm have heard, like you say, in orphans' brain, electrical activity,
chemical activity, pre existing beliefs, culturals, training, and all that
other stuff. The reality is there's been over thirty different
so called skeptical explanations of near death experiences over the years,
(03:14):
and the reason there's so many is there's no one
or several explanations for the physiologic, cultural, or any kind
of cause of near death experience in the brain. There's
no explanation that makes sense even to the skeptics as
a group.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
I mean, think about it.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
That's why there's over thirty different of these, often even
contradictory explanations. Answer is, no skeptical explanation can explain anything
that we actually observe consistently in near death experiences.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Was there one particular case that put you into the
camp of a true believer that you remember?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Oh heck, yes there was. Vicky.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
She was born totally blind to her visions unknown and unknowable.
You cannot explain vision to someone or totally blind in
terms of the remaining four physical senses. Vicky was a
talented singer. She was singing at a bar and unfortunately,
an inebriated patron was driving her home and boom, she
had a bad car wreck. First time Vicky had visioned
(04:15):
was during her near death experience. Consciousness above her body,
she saw it down below in the gourney. Her initial
emotional reaction was to be horrified because vision was so
unknown and familiar, and it was only after she correlated
the feel of her long hair and interestingly, a ring
that her father had given her that all her life
she only knew by the sense of touch now she
(04:36):
could see it and knew that was her down below.
Vicky went on to have a very detailed near death experience,
a visit to unearthly often called heavenly afterlife realms, with stunning,
very detailed vision. In fact, Vicky's vision is what we
call three hundred and sixty degrees. She could, as many
of her near death experiences described, remarkably, she could simultaneous
(05:00):
be aware of and process visual awareness in front of her,
behind her right, left, up down, technically spherical vision. And
since that was her only life experience with vision, I
told her all the rest of us have so called
pie shape vision because of where our eyes are in
our heads. Vicky literally laughed at me and said that
can't be, because her only life experience with vision was
(05:23):
that remarkable three hundred and sixty degree vision.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
What percentage of people who die and then are brought
back actually have a near death experience?
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Yeah, only about ten to twenty percent of people that
come close to death have a near death experience, So
eighty or ninety percent don't. I co authored a scholarly
book chapter on that very topic, and we studied literally
decades of prior research, and we really couldn't find any
demographic variable that would predict who would or would not
have a near death experience when they nearly die, work
(05:56):
what the content would be. So it's one of the
great mysteries above death experience.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
You know, let's talk about those near death experiences. And
you mentioned earlier that there are similar themes or similar
sorts of near death experiences that kind of cross cultural lines,
because I could see where a skeptic would say, Look,
you were brought up Baptist and you were told that
there's a bright light and you're going to go see God.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
So of course that's.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
The experience that you have. But what are the commonalities
that cross over those cultural lines?
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Right?
Speaker 3 (06:28):
I've been studying that for a long time and actually
published two papers with my colleague and Iranian near death
experience researcher with Muslim near death experiences. We've received scores
and scores of near death experiences on my website from
non Western countries. Bottom line, and I've published this several locations,
is the what occurs during a near death experience? The content,
(06:52):
the characteristics are strikingly similar wherever from the Earth they occur,
even in non Western countries.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
I mean, Mandy.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
The bottom line is, it doesn't make any difference whether
you say, a Muslim in Egypt, or a Hindu in India,
or a Christian in the United States, or someone who's
never even heard of near death experiences, wherever you are,
whatever your prior belief system is or lack of belief,
when you have a near death experience, the content is
going to be strikingly similar.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
What is that content and similar? Walk me through that?
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Sure a typical now, no, two near death experiences are
the same, but a typical detailed near death experience would
be Boom, there's that life threatening event. They're physically unconscious
or clinically dead. A typical first element is what we
call an out of body experience. Consciousness rises above the body.
From that vantage point, they can see and hear ongoing
(07:44):
earthly events, often including the frantic efforts of people trying
to bring them back to life. They then may pass
into or through a tunnel. The end of that tunnels
often described a beautiful, unearthly white light. When they pass
through that they're in that unearthly or heavenly They may
have what's called a life review around this time, where
they see a part or even all amazingly of their
(08:06):
prior life. In detail. They may encounter deceased loved ones.
These are joyous reunions, and even deceased pets may be encountered.
In this heavenly realm, as it's often called. They have landscapes,
beautiful flowers, plants. They often will say, there's beautiful colors there,
beyond anything that's even possible on earth, just beauty off
the scale.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Same thing with music.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
They may see, they may hear music in the background,
beautiful beyond anything possible on earth. There can be landscapes, buildings,
other beings are there to interact with them. At this time,
they're typically feeling overwhelming sense of peace and love and
even connection, like they really belong.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
In that unearthly after realm.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
And interestingly, they very often describe a strong sense of
familiarity in that realm, almost like coming home. Oh it
literally that fact. Home is one of the most common
words they use. It feels like home. I felt like
I belonged there, and so we hear that over and
over from people that have near death experience are common?
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Are there common ways people come back? Do they choose
to come back? Are they told to come back? How
does that process happen or differ among these experiences.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Or the significant majority of people having a near death experience,
they're either sent back involuntarily or the experience is done.
They're not making a decision boom, They're back in their
physical body, usually fighting for their life. Interestingly, a thrillatively
small minority of people that may be interacting with other
beings during their experience are given a choice. They're very
(09:41):
directly asked, do you want to stay here in this
beautiful realm where return to your earthly life? But here's
where it gets really interesting. At that critical moment of
decision life and death, the significant majority of people having
a near death experience don't want to leave that unearthly
heavenly round, and they'll often argue it's some length with
the beings around them.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
I mean, it's just amazing to me to know that.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Their entire prior earthly life, friends, family, loved ones, everything
that they knew for those many years, typically decades of
their life, they're willing to literally be apart from. And
that's how engrossing, how enveloping these afterlife realms are. The
intensity of the peace, love, unity with others around them,
(10:25):
connection sense, of home is so profoundly positive that that's
the decision for those.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
That have a choice. For the great majority.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
Now after dialogue, obviously they all choose. Ultimately they make
that decision to return. The two most common reasons that
they make if they have a decision are to continue
family affairs typically children are very common, or other people
that may need them in their earthly life, or simply
more generically, to learn lessons that your life isn't done,
(10:54):
you have more to do.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
So are there hell experiences in near death experience or
are they all similar in the sense that they feel
heavenly or how does the concept of sin or any
of that stuff play out or does it at all?
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Yeah, there doesn't seem.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
About one or two percent of near death experiences describe
hellish content. In about half of those, they're aware of
some hellish realm, and that heavenly realm it seems to
be segregated, separate from heaven. So people say hell doesn't
exist in heaven. They're right, because that area seems to
be corded off. About the other half are actually involved
(11:34):
in a part of that hellish realm, and it can
be very frightening, as you could imagine. However, there's a
silver lining to that hell that they encounter. Many people
that have a near death experience will come back and say,
you know, I needed that.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
If you will, spiritual kick in the pants.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
I needed to have a way to confront the issue
significant issues in my life, those angers, resentments, guilts, and
there was really no other way other than for me
to have this type of experience to really learn the
lessons I needed to live my life better. So that's
really the you know, if you will, the silver lining
or you know helps explain how and why these these
(12:13):
hellish experiences occur.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
The good news is me and as the best of my.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Knowledge, all other major near death experience researchers do not
believe that these hell's realms described and near death experiences
are to be considered a threat for a permanent, involuntary hell.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
And that's important.
Speaker 4 (12:30):
So how many people come back?
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Because I've done multiple interviews with a guy named Vinnie Tolman.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
He had an after death experience.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
He was dead for a couple hours and was in
a body bag and then was brought back to life
by a paramedic. So his story he had a very
detailed near death experience and I was wondering he changed
his life dramatically after his near death experience, I mean,
really did an overhaul on his life.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
So what if what is that a common thing?
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Do people come back can say I've gotten another chance
and I want to make sure I get back there.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
I mean, how does that play out?
Speaker 2 (13:06):
You know, that's a great question.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
I've very recently published the largest study ever done on
what we call after effects, or the typical changes and
values and beliefs after near death experiences. We ask people
to assess their values and beliefs they had at the
time of their near death experience and then when they
shared it in the average of about fifteen years later.
And it's absolutely amazing how many changes people have and
(13:31):
how profound they are. Some of these typical what we
call after effects that we see in both prospective and
retrospective studies. Obviously, people become far more believers of an afterlife.
I mean, no surprise there, now, is it?
Speaker 2 (13:46):
They? From their point of view, they know what.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Lies beyond death's veil because they lived at they experienced it,
and they know, as a corollary, they have a greatly
decreased fear of death again knowing what lies beyond greatly
reduced fear of death. But beyond that, in living their
earthly life, you see them tremendously more compassionate on average, loving,
They care more about their relationships, They seek out loving
(14:11):
relationships and may depart from unloving relationships that become far
less materialistic. They become far more embracing they might not
have otherwise. They're simply more courageous, and the list goes
on and on. But in my study, we compared these
so called after effects to people that had a life
(14:32):
threatening event but did not have a near death experience,
and that people with a near death experience. I mean
literally orders of magnitude greater changes in these after effects
than the simple life threatening event with no near death experience.
So it's really the near death experience. It seems to
be transformative.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
How does faith play into this at all? Or I
guess what I'm asking is do people who are not
do atheists have near death experiences?
Speaker 4 (14:58):
Have you encountered that? And so how does that change
someone's perspective?
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Sure, that's a survey question we have, So we ask
religious belief, including lack of religious belief, and people can
can choose atheists, so we have a pretty good sized
series of people that were atheists at the time of
their near death experience. Their content of their near death
experience once again strikingly similar to people of any and
all other religious beliefs. Wherever on the world it might be,
(15:26):
there doesn't seem to be. And that's a key thing.
In near death experiences. There is essentially never a sense
of external judgment or judgment about what you believed or didn't.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Believe in your earthly life.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
By far and away, both atheists and others are far
more impressed with that overwhelming, all enveloping sense of love.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
They feel love.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
For who they are, all that they are, everything that
they are, regardless of what they previously believe. Now, certainly
many of these atheists encounter God during their near death experience,
and not surprisingly, essentially all of them stop being a
atheist if they have that component of their near death experience.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
I find that fascinating because I mean, doctor Long, I'm
talking to doctor Jeffrey Long from the Near Death Experience
Research Foundation. We were talking before we came on the air.
I believe that the reason I find this so fascinating
is it is to me feels like proof of God.
And I'm a believer, and it's not like I was
looking for some kind of concrete proof, But knowing this
(16:23):
is happening for me just reaffirms what I already believe
from blind faith. If there if you know, I guess
that's the best way to put it. But I want
to ask this question from our text line on the
flip side of life change? Do some people wish to
be back in the afterlife? Do you see anybody who
has tried to end their own life to get back
to where they they felt that those those feelings.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Yeah, yeah, that's a great question.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
It's fairly common for people, well not common, but it
happens to a number of people that have a near
death experience. There's that feeling of depression. They feel separated
from the best environment experience that they ever had in
their life, I mean, bar none off the scale better,
and so they may have that feeling of depression, resentment,
and a yearning.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Not surprisingly. I mean, you know who wouldn't want to go.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Back to heaven as they've experienced, and yet they learned
these importance and significance of their earthly life. That's a
very common and powerful after effect or changed after a
near death experience. So interestingly, it is extremely rare for
people that have a near death experience to attempt suicide
or self harm to reclaim that near death experience realm.
(17:32):
They know that earthly life is important and even if difficult,
it's literally a gift and it's something that they need
to live out, however difficult to walk.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Vinnie Toolman, who I just mentioned before, who's my favorite
near death experience I've ever talked about? He said he
researched the most dangerous jobs in the world just in case,
you know, just if you figured if he took a
really dangerous job, then maybe that would increase his chances
of going back sooner. But then he realized that was
not a great strategy either, so he has now given
that up as well. This question goes back to the
(18:04):
question of skepticism that we were talking about earlier. Oh geez,
just realize what time it is, doctor Long, I am
out of time with you. I could go for days
on this, so hopefully we can have you back on
for a longer period of time. If you want more
information about the Near Death Experience Research Foundation, I put
a link on the blog. There are tons of stories there.
If you've had a near death experience. I'm sure they
(18:26):
would love to hear from you. Continue this great work,
doctor Long. I'm fascinated by it, I'm glad you're doing it,
and I'm glad I found your website because I'm going
to be reading every story on here from now on.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
Well, that's fantastic, great discussion. Mandy really appreciate this.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
So thanks, thank you.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
That is doctor Jeffrey Long from the Near Death Experience
Research Foundation,
I got a text message in the last hour as
I was talking about my long time and ongoing fascination
with near death experiences in a texter said, Mandy, It's
just one of your eccentricities, and I've come to enjoy it.
And I'm thrilled about that because I am stoked about
my next guest. My next guest is doctor Jeffrey Long.
He is a medical doctor. He has been practicing radiation oncology,
(00:21):
helping people with cancer get over their cancer. And as
a scientist, he founded the National the Near Death Experience
Research Foundation back in nineteen ninety eight. And he has
hundreds and I mean hundreds of near death experience stories
on the website. And he's written two books, Evidence of
(00:41):
the Afterlife, The Science of Near Death Experiences and God
and the Afterlife, The Groundbreaking New Evidence for God and
Near death Experience. And now he joins me, doctor Long,
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Hey, Mandy, this is great. We've got a lot to
talk about.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Well, I want to start by asking you what started
your fascination with near death experiences.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Sure, over twenty five years ago, I was in the
medical library looking up a cancer related article. I'm a
radiation oncology doctor, I used radiation to treat cancer. But
looking for that article, I found a medical article that
had the term near death experience in it, and I
was fascinated on reading that. I mean, how can you
not wonder what happens after you die? But immediately I
(01:25):
realized there was significant evidence that all of us, our
consciousness survives our bodily death and we go on. And
this was the strongest evidence I read. I was hooked
immediately and vowed I was going to carry forward research
on that when I had the chance, and ultimately I did.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Well, you're a medical doctor, so you are supposed to
be grounded in facts and reason and rationality. How is
your we'll call it a side hustle, for lack of
a better way to put it.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
How is that? Do you talk to.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Other doctors about that? And do you do they think
you're insane?
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Actually, in in modern times, I've been doing this twenty
five years, Mandy, But in modern times there's far more
acceptance of near death experience among doctors, nurses, other medical staff.
In fact, a twenty twenty one survey found that about
seventy two percent of American adults believe that near death
experience is an observation of the spirit departing the physical body.
(02:23):
So the significant majority of people today actually understand and
accept the reality of near death experiences. It sure was
not that when I started out twenty five years ago.
There's a lot less belief in the reality of near
death experience.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
What do the naysayers say about near death experiences? I mean,
I've heard some things like, it's just indorphins being released
in your brain as you're going through the dying process.
What are some of the other medical reasons that have
been thrown out there?
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Do you know?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Oh gosh, I've been studying that for years. I mean,
you name it.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
I've heard these skeptical so called explanations of near death experience.
I'm have heard, like you say, in orphans' brain, electrical activity,
chemical activity, pre existing beliefs, culturals, training, and all that
other stuff. The reality is there's been over thirty different
so called skeptical explanations of near death experiences over the years,
(03:14):
and the reason there's so many is there's no one
or several explanations for the physiologic, cultural, or any kind
of cause of near death experience in the brain. There's
no explanation that makes sense even to the skeptics as
a group.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
I mean, think about it.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
That's why there's over thirty different of these, often even
contradictory explanations. Answer is, no skeptical explanation can explain anything
that we actually observe consistently in near death experiences.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Was there one particular case that put you into the
camp of a true believer that you remember?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Oh heck, yes there was. Vicky.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
She was born totally blind to her visions unknown and unknowable.
You cannot explain vision to someone or totally blind in
terms of the remaining four physical senses. Vicky was a
talented singer. She was singing at a bar and unfortunately,
an inebriated patron was driving her home and boom, she
had a bad car wreck. First time Vicky had visioned
(04:15):
was during her near death experience. Consciousness above her body,
she saw it down below in the gourney. Her initial
emotional reaction was to be horrified because vision was so
unknown and familiar, and it was only after she correlated
the feel of her long hair and interestingly, a ring
that her father had given her that all her life
she only knew by the sense of touch now she
(04:36):
could see it and knew that was her down below.
Vicky went on to have a very detailed near death experience,
a visit to unearthly often called heavenly afterlife realms, with stunning,
very detailed vision. In fact, Vicky's vision is what we
call three hundred and sixty degrees. She could, as many
of her near death experiences described, remarkably, she could simultaneous
(05:00):
be aware of and process visual awareness in front of her,
behind her right, left, up down, technically spherical vision. And
since that was her only life experience with vision, I
told her all the rest of us have so called
pie shape vision because of where our eyes are in
our heads. Vicky literally laughed at me and said that
can't be, because her only life experience with vision was
(05:23):
that remarkable three hundred and sixty degree vision.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
What percentage of people who die and then are brought
back actually have a near death experience?
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Yeah, only about ten to twenty percent of people that
come close to death have a near death experience, So
eighty or ninety percent don't. I co authored a scholarly
book chapter on that very topic, and we studied literally
decades of prior research, and we really couldn't find any
demographic variable that would predict who would or would not
have a near death experience when they nearly die, work
(05:56):
what the content would be. So it's one of the
great mysteries above death experience.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
You know, let's talk about those near death experiences. And
you mentioned earlier that there are similar themes or similar
sorts of near death experiences that kind of cross cultural lines,
because I could see where a skeptic would say, Look,
you were brought up Baptist and you were told that
there's a bright light and you're going to go see God.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
So of course that's.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
The experience that you have. But what are the commonalities
that cross over those cultural lines?
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Right?
Speaker 3 (06:28):
I've been studying that for a long time and actually
published two papers with my colleague and Iranian near death
experience researcher with Muslim near death experiences. We've received scores
and scores of near death experiences on my website from
non Western countries. Bottom line, and I've published this several locations,
is the what occurs during a near death experience? The content,
(06:52):
the characteristics are strikingly similar wherever from the Earth they occur,
even in non Western countries.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
I mean, Mandy.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
The bottom line is, it doesn't make any difference whether
you say, a Muslim in Egypt, or a Hindu in India,
or a Christian in the United States, or someone who's
never even heard of near death experiences, wherever you are,
whatever your prior belief system is or lack of belief,
when you have a near death experience, the content is
going to be strikingly similar.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
What is that content and similar? Walk me through that?
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Sure a typical now, no, two near death experiences are
the same, but a typical detailed near death experience would
be Boom, there's that life threatening event. They're physically unconscious
or clinically dead. A typical first element is what we
call an out of body experience. Consciousness rises above the body.
From that vantage point, they can see and hear ongoing
(07:44):
earthly events, often including the frantic efforts of people trying
to bring them back to life. They then may pass
into or through a tunnel. The end of that tunnels
often described a beautiful, unearthly white light. When they pass
through that they're in that unearthly or heavenly They may
have what's called a life review around this time, where
they see a part or even all amazingly of their
(08:06):
prior life. In detail. They may encounter deceased loved ones.
These are joyous reunions, and even deceased pets may be encountered.
In this heavenly realm, as it's often called. They have landscapes,
beautiful flowers, plants. They often will say, there's beautiful colors there,
beyond anything that's even possible on earth, just beauty off
the scale.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Same thing with music.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
They may see, they may hear music in the background,
beautiful beyond anything possible on earth. There can be landscapes, buildings,
other beings are there to interact with them. At this time,
they're typically feeling overwhelming sense of peace and love and
even connection, like they really belong.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
In that unearthly after realm.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
And interestingly, they very often describe a strong sense of
familiarity in that realm, almost like coming home. Oh it
literally that fact. Home is one of the most common
words they use. It feels like home. I felt like
I belonged there, and so we hear that over and
over from people that have near death experience are common?
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Are there common ways people come back? Do they choose
to come back? Are they told to come back? How
does that process happen or differ among these experiences.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Or the significant majority of people having a near death experience,
they're either sent back involuntarily or the experience is done.
They're not making a decision boom, They're back in their
physical body, usually fighting for their life. Interestingly, a thrillatively
small minority of people that may be interacting with other
beings during their experience are given a choice. They're very
(09:41):
directly asked, do you want to stay here in this
beautiful realm where return to your earthly life? But here's
where it gets really interesting. At that critical moment of
decision life and death, the significant majority of people having
a near death experience don't want to leave that unearthly
heavenly round, and they'll often argue it's some length with
the beings around them.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
I mean, it's just amazing to me to know that.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Their entire prior earthly life, friends, family, loved ones, everything
that they knew for those many years, typically decades of
their life, they're willing to literally be apart from. And
that's how engrossing, how enveloping these afterlife realms are. The
intensity of the peace, love, unity with others around them,
(10:25):
connection sense, of home is so profoundly positive that that's
the decision for those.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
That have a choice. For the great majority.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
Now after dialogue, obviously they all choose. Ultimately they make
that decision to return. The two most common reasons that
they make if they have a decision are to continue
family affairs typically children are very common, or other people
that may need them in their earthly life, or simply
more generically, to learn lessons that your life isn't done,
(10:54):
you have more to do.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
So are there hell experiences in near death experience or
are they all similar in the sense that they feel
heavenly or how does the concept of sin or any
of that stuff play out or does it at all?
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Yeah, there doesn't seem.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
About one or two percent of near death experiences describe
hellish content. In about half of those, they're aware of
some hellish realm, and that heavenly realm it seems to
be segregated, separate from heaven. So people say hell doesn't
exist in heaven. They're right, because that area seems to
be corded off. About the other half are actually involved
(11:34):
in a part of that hellish realm, and it can
be very frightening, as you could imagine. However, there's a
silver lining to that hell that they encounter. Many people
that have a near death experience will come back and say,
you know, I needed that.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
If you will, spiritual kick in the pants.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
I needed to have a way to confront the issue
significant issues in my life, those angers, resentments, guilts, and
there was really no other way other than for me
to have this type of experience to really learn the
lessons I needed to live my life better. So that's
really the you know, if you will, the silver lining
or you know helps explain how and why these these
(12:13):
hellish experiences occur.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
The good news is me and as the best of my.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Knowledge, all other major near death experience researchers do not
believe that these hell's realms described and near death experiences
are to be considered a threat for a permanent, involuntary hell.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
And that's important.
Speaker 4 (12:30):
So how many people come back?
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Because I've done multiple interviews with a guy named Vinnie Tolman.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
He had an after death experience.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
He was dead for a couple hours and was in
a body bag and then was brought back to life
by a paramedic. So his story he had a very
detailed near death experience and I was wondering he changed
his life dramatically after his near death experience, I mean,
really did an overhaul on his life.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
So what if what is that a common thing?
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Do people come back can say I've gotten another chance
and I want to make sure I get back there.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
I mean, how does that play out?
Speaker 2 (13:06):
You know, that's a great question.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
I've very recently published the largest study ever done on
what we call after effects, or the typical changes and
values and beliefs after near death experiences. We ask people
to assess their values and beliefs they had at the
time of their near death experience and then when they
shared it in the average of about fifteen years later.
And it's absolutely amazing how many changes people have and
(13:31):
how profound they are. Some of these typical what we
call after effects that we see in both prospective and
retrospective studies. Obviously, people become far more believers of an afterlife.
I mean, no surprise there, now, is it?
Speaker 2 (13:46):
They? From their point of view, they know what.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Lies beyond death's veil because they lived at they experienced it,
and they know, as a corollary, they have a greatly
decreased fear of death again knowing what lies beyond greatly
reduced fear of death. But beyond that, in living their
earthly life, you see them tremendously more compassionate on average, loving,
They care more about their relationships, They seek out loving
(14:11):
relationships and may depart from unloving relationships that become far
less materialistic. They become far more embracing they might not
have otherwise. They're simply more courageous, and the list goes
on and on. But in my study, we compared these
so called after effects to people that had a life
(14:32):
threatening event but did not have a near death experience,
and that people with a near death experience. I mean
literally orders of magnitude greater changes in these after effects
than the simple life threatening event with no near death experience.
So it's really the near death experience. It seems to
be transformative.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
How does faith play into this at all? Or I
guess what I'm asking is do people who are not
do atheists have near death experiences?
Speaker 4 (14:58):
Have you encountered that? And so how does that change
someone's perspective?
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Sure, that's a survey question we have, So we ask
religious belief, including lack of religious belief, and people can
can choose atheists, so we have a pretty good sized
series of people that were atheists at the time of
their near death experience. Their content of their near death
experience once again strikingly similar to people of any and
all other religious beliefs. Wherever on the world it might be,
(15:26):
there doesn't seem to be. And that's a key thing.
In near death experiences. There is essentially never a sense
of external judgment or judgment about what you believed or didn't.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Believe in your earthly life.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
By far and away, both atheists and others are far
more impressed with that overwhelming, all enveloping sense of love.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
They feel love.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
For who they are, all that they are, everything that
they are, regardless of what they previously believe. Now, certainly
many of these atheists encounter God during their near death experience,
and not surprisingly, essentially all of them stop being a
atheist if they have that component of their near death experience.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
I find that fascinating because I mean, doctor Long, I'm
talking to doctor Jeffrey Long from the Near Death Experience
Research Foundation. We were talking before we came on the air.
I believe that the reason I find this so fascinating
is it is to me feels like proof of God.
And I'm a believer, and it's not like I was
looking for some kind of concrete proof, But knowing this
(16:23):
is happening for me just reaffirms what I already believe
from blind faith. If there if you know, I guess
that's the best way to put it. But I want
to ask this question from our text line on the
flip side of life change? Do some people wish to
be back in the afterlife? Do you see anybody who
has tried to end their own life to get back
to where they they felt that those those feelings.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Yeah, yeah, that's a great question.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
It's fairly common for people, well not common, but it
happens to a number of people that have a near
death experience. There's that feeling of depression. They feel separated
from the best environment experience that they ever had in
their life, I mean, bar none off the scale better,
and so they may have that feeling of depression, resentment,
and a yearning.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Not surprisingly. I mean, you know who wouldn't want to go.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Back to heaven as they've experienced, and yet they learned
these importance and significance of their earthly life. That's a
very common and powerful after effect or changed after a
near death experience. So interestingly, it is extremely rare for
people that have a near death experience to attempt suicide
or self harm to reclaim that near death experience realm.
(17:32):
They know that earthly life is important and even if difficult,
it's literally a gift and it's something that they need
to live out, however difficult to walk.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Vinnie Toolman, who I just mentioned before, who's my favorite
near death experience I've ever talked about? He said he
researched the most dangerous jobs in the world just in case,
you know, just if you figured if he took a
really dangerous job, then maybe that would increase his chances
of going back sooner. But then he realized that was
not a great strategy either, so he has now given
that up as well. This question goes back to the
(18:04):
question of skepticism that we were talking about earlier. Oh geez,
just realize what time it is, doctor Long, I am
out of time with you. I could go for days
on this, so hopefully we can have you back on
for a longer period of time. If you want more
information about the Near Death Experience Research Foundation, I put
a link on the blog. There are tons of stories there.
If you've had a near death experience. I'm sure they
(18:26):
would love to hear from you. Continue this great work,
doctor Long. I'm fascinated by it, I'm glad you're doing it,
and I'm glad I found your website because I'm going
to be reading every story on here from now on.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
Well, that's fantastic, great discussion. Mandy really appreciate this.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
So thanks, thank you.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
That is doctor Jeffrey Long from the Near Death Experience
Research Foundation,
The Mandy Connell Podcast News
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