NDE memories remain accurate: Long excerpt #9

Radiation oncologist Jeremy Long writes in his article, "Evidence for Survival of Consciousness in Near-Death Experiences: Decades of Science and New Insights" - "Skeptics say that near-death experiences are only the result of what they would have expected to happen when they die. However, supernormal sensory awareness is present in the great majority of NDEs. It is not reasonable to believe that NDErs would expect to suddenly have supernormal senses that they never had at any time in their lives. During a life-threatening event with a sudden loss of consciousness, NDErs would not have time to formulate an expectation of what the experience should be like. In other life-threatening events, consciousness diminishes progressively with fading sensory awareness. For NDEs starting with a progressive loss of consciousness, it is also unreasonable to believe that a sudden transition to supernormal sensory awareness would be expected.

"During the unconsciousness of near-death experiences, sensory awareness and consciousness not only continue but are often supernormal. Supernormal sensory awareness is more common in NDEs with higher NDE Scale scores which are more detailed NDEs. All of this is further evidence that our sensations are part of the consciousness surviving bodily death.

"Another important point about the consciousness of near-death experiencers is that they accurately remember their NDEs over a prolonged time. Bruce Greyson, MD, published a study of seventy-two NDErs who shared their NDEs and answered the sixteen NDE Scale questions, then answered the same Scale questions again nearly twenty years later. Responses to both NDE Scale question administrations were compared. There were no significant differences in the overall Scale scores or responses to any of the sixteen questions. Dr. Greyson found that NDE accounts do not seem embellished or forgotten even after nearly twenty years. This study provides some of the most substantial evidence that NDEs are precisely remembered even decades after they occur.

"The largest prospective study of near-death experiences by Pim van Lommel, MD, also found that NDEs are remembered accurately. In this study, NDErs were interviewed about their NDEs shortly after they happened, then interviewed again two and eight years later. This study found that even eight years after the NDEs, NDErs accurately recalled the details of their experiences.

"The best evidence available finds that near-death experiences are recalled correctly, with details of the NDEs neither embellished nor forgotten. This conclusion validates the reliability of retrospective NDE studies where the NDEs may be shared years after their occurrence."

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.