Meeting the deceased in NDEs: Long excerpt #11

Radiation oncologist Jeremy Long writes in his article, "Evidence for Survival of Consciousness in Near-Death Experiences: Decades of Science and New Insights" - "In most experiences of altered consciousness such as dreams or hallucinations, if any beings are encountered, they are generally alive at the time. Virtually everyone has dreams and is aware of this. If near-death experiences were only due to physical brain function, then it would be expected that a predominance of the beings encountered would be alive at the time of their NDEs. But as you will see, that is not what happens in NDEs.

"Near-death experiencers may see living people during the OBE part of their NDEs as they observe ongoing earthly events. However, when NDEs are taking place in an unearthly or “heavenly” realm, virtually all beings encountered are deceased at the time of the NDEs. This was demonstrated in a study published by Emily Williams Kelly, PhD. She investigated 74 NDErs who met the deceased during their NDEs, and compared this group to 200 NDErs who did not meet deceased people. This study found only 4 percent of NDErs described meeting beings who were alive at the time of their NDEs. Kelly found that 95 percent of beings encountered were relatives of the NDErs. Only 5 percent of the beings were friends or acquaintances.

"When deceased loved ones are encountered in near-death experiences, they generally appear completely healthy even if they died of a disfiguring accident or illness. Beloved pets that died are also regularly seen in NDEs. Whether NDErs meet cherished deceased people or pets, the reunions are characteristically very joyful. NDErs may also encounter seemingly familiar beings unknown to them during their NDEs that they later identify through old family picture albums.

"Bruce Greyson, MD, published a compilation of experiences with awareness of deceased people not known to be dead at the time of the experiences. These accounts included near-death experiences and other related experiences. Greyson called them Peak in Darien cases. He concluded:

Such cases cannot easily be explained as hallucinations based on expectation; in fact, the experiencer is usually quite surprised and sometimes puzzled by the vision of someone thought to be alive. In some of these cases, the appearance of the vision suggests strong motivation on the part of the deceased individual to communicate a message. As such, these Peak in Darien cases provide some of the most persuasive evidence for the ontological reality of deceased spirits.

"Many other near-death experience accounts describe encounters with deceased brothers and sisters they never knew existed. NDEs with this content generally occur in childhood. Parents may be reluctant to tell their young children about a tragic sibling loss until they are old enough to understand death better. Jessica met her brother for the first time when she nearly died at age eight from encephalitis:

I did not know about my brother before my experience. I met him at the end of the tunnel. We talked for a while. I was thrilled, as I had asked for a brother since the age of three. I was not sure what place we were in, but we were sitting on white garden furniture. We talked for a while. I asked questions such as does God exist? He answered that God does exist.

"James was also eight years old when he contracted an illness that nearly killed him. In his near-death experience he met several deceased siblings he never knew he had:

Another angel arrived. We departed, traveling through what most would describe as a tunnel. We reached the gates of Paradise. After arriving, I saw someone that looked somewhat like me. I asked who that person was and was told it was my brother. I did not know I had a brother that had died. We were joined by two other people who were introduced as another brother and sister. They were a set of twins that had also died.

"Encountering the deceased in near-death experiences, especially if the NDErs never knew they had died, is another very persuasive line of evidence for the reality of NDEs and an afterlife. 

Jeffrey Long, MD, "Evidence for Survival of Consciousness in Near-Death Experiences: Decades of Science and New Insights." In the next several posts I will share excerpts from Long's 2021 article. Footnotes have been deleted. The complete text is available as a pdf at https://www.nderf.org.