NDE light and love experiences: Long excerpt #20

Radiation oncologist Jeremy Long writes in his article, "Evidence for Survival of Consciousness in Near-Death Experiences: Decades of Science and New Insights" - "Any investigation finding evidence that consciousness survives bodily death would be expected to provide insight into what that conscious existence is like after bodily death. As you will see, the remarkably consistent spiritual content in near-death experiences provides this insight with a profound message of reassurance and inspiration for all of humanity.

"This section will review the spiritual content of near-death experiences. The word spiritual means different things to different people. Regarding the spiritual content of NDEs, the term spiritual will be used consistently with the Webster dictionary definition of spirit, which is: A supernatural being or essence. Consciousness in NDEs is apart from the physical body and may be conceptualized as a supernatural essence. The Webster dictionary definition of spirit makes no assumptions regarding any religious or other specific beliefs.

"An essential scientific principle is that what is real is consistently observed. In a previous section we found that when near-death experiencers see ongoing earthly events while out-of-body, they are generally exceptionally accurate. Given this, it is reasonable to believe that when NDErs consistently describe their often unearthly spiritual experiences, they are similarly accurate.

"The spiritual content in near-death experiences is often unlike what the NDErs could have expected based on their pre-existing beliefs. The spiritual content is often described as unearthly, which further contrasts the spiritual content in their NDEs from any prior earthly experiences.

"When near-death experiencers are in unearthly realms, they often feel overwhelming sensations of peace and love. Here are examples of the peace that NDErs experience:

I was more aware of how ridiculous my fears were and how they didn't compare to the intense peace and love I was feeling at the time. 

 

Indescribable joy, happiness, and peace.

 

Conscious of peace and love on a much higher level than usual.

"We will discuss the love that near-death experiencers encounter in detail later. For now, you can get a sense of the unearthly love commonly described in NDEs:

I knew the being I met was composed in its very atoms of a substance I can only call love. That substance created a force or power like electricity is here. Love is the only word I have. It is not the right word here.

I knew that love was the greatest force around us and that we are all love. Love is the only real thing. Hatred, pain, hurt, and all the negative things are not the way it really is.

Love was everywhere. It permeated the afterlife. It was incredible.

"I could go on with literally hundreds of quotes like these from near-death experiences, but you get the picture. The otherworldly love commonly encountered in NDEs is often powerful, overwhelming, and may be difficult to express in mere words. One previously published study analyzed hundreds of NDEs posted on the NDERF website to find the most common words used to describe the phenomenology of their experiences. The two most common words were light and love."

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