Jeffrey Long's recent argument for an afterlife

Long is the founder of the Near Death Experience Research Foundation (NDERF.org). His recent article entitled "Evidence for Survival of Consciousness in Near-Death Experiences: Decades of Science and New Insights" won a $50,00 prize in the Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies 2021 afterlife evidence contest. These are the opening paragraphs of his argument. Future posts will contain additional excerpts.

"Virtually everyone has wondered if there is an afterlife. This is understandable, given the appropriate concerns about the mortality of ourselves, our loved ones, and all of humanity. The question of an afterlife has been discussed and debated for millennia. As a physician practicing the medical specialty of radiation oncology, which is the use of radiation therapy to treat cancer, I have been intrigued by issues of our mortality. The question of what happens after bodily death is regularly present in my daily medical practice as I work with patients that have a life-threatening diagnosis of cancer. Prior investigations of near-death experience (NDE) combined with the research that I am presenting in this article have convinced me, based on evidence, that our consciousness survives bodily death.

"Evidence for the reality of an afterlife is available from multiple lines of scholarly study. Perhaps the most substantial evidence for the reality of an afterlife comes from near-death experiences (NDEs). It makes sense both scientifically and logically to investigate the experiences of those who died or had a seriously close brush with death regarding their possible insights into the survival of consciousness after death. NDE, and its consistent message of an afterlife, is the focus of this article.

"Scholarly research regarding near-death experiences has been published for over 45 years. NDE first became widely known in 1975 with the publication of Dr. Raymond Moody’s book Life After Life. As early as 2005 it was estimated that 'At least 55 researchers or research teams in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia published at least 65 research studies involving nearly 3500 NDErs, addressing the experience, its aftereffects, or both.'

"Up to the current time, near-death experiences have been the subject of hundreds of publications in peer-reviewed scholarly journals. Many of these studies were published in the world’s leading medical and scientific journals. This article will reference select previously published NDE research to help present the current state-of-the-art understanding of NDE as evidence of an afterlife. 

"In addition, I will present new and previously unpublished research to advance knowledge about NDE and its important implications for the survival of consciousness after bodily death. Much of the unpublished research presented in this article updates or expands my previously published investigations. This new and previously unpublished research helps assure that this article offers the most current and state-of-the-art insights into the NDE evidence of 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.

Blind woman sees during near-death experience

Supernormal sensory awareness is consistently described in near-death experiences. This is further evidence that consciousness in NDEs occurs separately from the physical brain, as would be expected if consciousness survives bodily death.

An excellent example of supernormal sensory awareness in near-death experiences is visual NDEs in the blind. Blind NDErs have reported normal and even supernormal vision. In 1998 Kenneth Ring, PhD, and Sharon Cooper, MA, published an important article in the Journal of Near-Death Studies. Their investigation found that visually impaired or blind people often described normal or supernormal vision during their NDEs. Several especially significant case reports described individuals born completely blind who had typical NDEs that included detailed vision.

The best documented case of a near-death experience in a person born totally blind was the account of Vicki. To Vicki, vision was unknown and unknowable. Vicki had two NDEs. Her first NDE was at age 12 due to appendicitis. Her second and more detailed NDE was at age 22 due to a car accident with head injuries so severe that she was still recovering a year later. In Vicki’s own words, she describes vision during her NDE:

I knew it was me... I was pretty thin then. I was quite tall and thin at that point. And I recognized at first that it was a body, but I didn’t even know that it was mine initially. Then I perceived that I was up on the ceiling, and I thought, “Well, that’s kind of weird. What am I doing up here?” I thought, “Well, this must be me. Am I dead?”...I just briefly saw this body, and ...I knew that it was mine because I wasn’t in mine.

Here is a sample of her detailed visual observations that occurred throughout her near-death experience:

I think I was wearing the plain gold band on my right ring finger and my father’s wedding ring next to it. But my wedding ring I definitely saw.... That was the one I noticed the most because it’s unusual. It has orange blossoms on the corners of it.

Vicki emphasizes the uniqueness of the vision she had during her near-death experiences, noting:

This was, she said, the only time I could ever relate to seeing and to what light was, because I experienced it.

I personally interviewed Vicki. There is no possible medical explanation for someone born totally blind to have a near-death experience with such vivid and detailed vision. 

Jeffrey Long, Evidence for Survival of Consciousness in Near-Death Experiences: Decades of Science and New Insights, https://www.nderf.org/.

 

Experiences God's love and healing by an angel

In the middle of the night, I awoke with a severe migraine. I'd experienced occasional migraines since I was a teenager, but this particular migraine was extremely painful and I should have sought treatment at the Emergency Room. However, since I had very young children at the time, I didn't want to wake them or my husband, so I attempted to treat myself. I took my prescription migraine medication, but it did not provide any relief from the pain. Instead of waiting an hour before taking the second dose as the instructions advised, I waited 20 minutes and took the second dose. I also took two over-the-counter pills for migraine. I have always been very sensitive to medications, but at the time I did not consider this. I was only focused on relieving the intense pain. 

After taking the medications, I became very sleepy and returned to bed. When I drifted off to sleep, I would awaken by gasping for breath. I quickly realized that when I drifted off to sleep, I stopped breathing. I was fearful I would fall asleep and die. I said a very simple prayer, 'Dear God, please don't let me die. I want to be a mother and a wife.' As I said the prayer, I doubted God would hear me. At that time in my life, I felt insignificant. I was not sure God existed, and if He did, I didn't think he would know me. But I was about to be proven wrong.

Immediately after praying, I felt a presence come over my bed. I was lying on my back with my eyes closed, but I could sense a shadow had been cast as something moved over my body and then stood next to my bed. As soon as I felt the presence, I was frightened and I heard a Bible verse in my mind, 'An angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.' I realized I had received the Bible verse telepathically and an angel had arrived to help me. 

Then it felt as if the angel slipped his hand directly into my stomach. I felt a sensation unlike anything I'd ever experienced. Static was moving in my stomach and throughout my torso. I also saw in my mind's eye a vison of black and white static, as like on a tv set without reception. At the same time, I felt my deceased father's presence and I could hear him speaking into my right ear. He repeatedly said, 'You're going to be ok, you're going to be ok, you're going to be ok.'

As the angel stood to my left and my father spoke to me from my right, a very large, powerful presence hovered over the length of my body. When I noticed the large presence, my inner vision was changed to that of a crystal blue waterfall. The water was sparkling clear and the most beautiful blue I have ever seen. As I marveled at the sight of the water, the static sensation in my torso dissipated and was replaced with a sensation of liquid love rushing into my heart. The love was so pure and overwhelming that I immediately began to weep. The liquid love flowed through my heart and filled up my chest cavity to the point that I could not expand my lungs to inhale. I was aware of having difficulty breathing, but it did not concern me. 

I was so blissed out from the love, that nothing else mattered. I had the realization of, 'This must be God.' It was so large, infinite, and powerful, that I just knew it could have no other name than God. Once I realized I was in the presence of God, my next thought was, 'Oh no, God is going to judge me for taking too much medication.' I waited for the judgement. It did not come. I moved into the flow of God, searching for His judgement. No judgement was there. Not a speck. Only pure, adoring love was in the infinite flow of God.

At this point I lost awareness of my body. I did not recall I was a mother, wife, daughter, friend. I had no recollection of life on earth. I merged into an infinite presence that utterly and completely adored me. God did not speak words to me. The love said it all. I felt as if I was an awareness, a being without a name or identity, and I was expanding to the size of the cosmos. I was home. I realized home was where I wanted to remain forever and in my blissed-out state, it took all the energy I could muster to telepathically communicate, 'Take me.' With these two words, I was attempting to communicate that I wanted to remain in the pure love forever. 

As my presence continued to expand in a state of bliss, it felt as if I was nearing a point where I would explode into a billion atoms and forever be with God. I mentally prepared myself for the explosion and gladly welcomed it. At the very last millisecond before the explosion of my being and my total emergence into infinity, God pulled me out of Heaven and I landed with a shocking jolt into my body.

I lay in my bed, dazed and confused. My hair and pillow were soaked from the tears I had cried as the love consumed my heart and spirit. I have no idea how long I was with God, but when I returned to my body, it was completely healed. The medication had been removed. I was breathing normally. I was not lethargic. And my head felt normal. Usually after having a migraine, my head would be very sore to the point that brushing my hair would be unbearable. Now I could push against my skull and feel no pain or soreness. 

I attempted to process what had just happened. I knew that I had experienced something beyond any earthly experience I'd ever had. I told myself that I would allow myself to believe I had experienced a miracle, if when I awoke in the morning, I remained pain-free. Eventually I fell asleep and when I awoke in the morning, my body had no after-effects of a migraine or medication. I felt wonderful.

NDERF.org #9268

Life review while drowning

I was in a backyard pool (with a deep end) at a swimming party for our Brownie group. Playing with a beach ball a friend accidentally hit me in the face and I went under water. I was told that my mother saw me and tried to get someone's attention, but then I looked like I was ok. I wasn't. I had struggled up to the surface three times, and then had a very warm, comfortable feeling that everything was going to be fine. I saw what I thought was the sun sparkling on the surface of the water, then suddenly the water was gone and I was moving toward a figure. 

Before I got to the person, I had a flash of things that had happened in my life. As short as it was at the time, and can recall three or four things that happened when I was an infant (ivy wallpaper, getting my hair washed, having my tonsils out, my first dog dying, etc.), but there was only a happy feeling, nothing sad. I could then see that the man had a funny hat and the most beautiful face. He smiled at me and seemed to say that it wasn't time yet, but I kept close to him because it felt so comforting to me.

During this unspoken communication, I was suddenly jolted back by a hard pressure on my chest, and then I was floating above a scene by the side of the pool. My mother was crying and kneeling over me while my friend's brother was pushing on my back. It seemed like it lasted for a long time, but I saw several people doing things that I remembered to be strange, as I was 'treetop level' in the yard, (there was only an avocado tree in the yard, not a tall one). At that moment, I came whooshing back into my body, feeling like I couldn't breathe. Back to reality. 

NDERF.org #4277

Consciousness is being attuned to the world

Alva Noë, professor of philosophy at the University of California, has written in his 2009 book entitled Out of Our Heads: "to understand consciousness in humans and animals, we must look not inward, into the recesses of our insides; rather, we need to look to the ways in which each of us, as a whole animal, carries on the processes of living in and with and in response to the world around us. You are not your brain. The brain, rather, is part of what you are."

Noë explains: "In this book I use the term 'consciousness' to mean, roughly, experience. And I think of experience, broadly, as encompassing thinking, feeling, and the fact that a world ‘shows up’ for us in perception.”

 

“Conscious states are typically states that you and I can talk about, that influence what you and I do, and so they are states that you and I can make use of in planning.”

 

"The problem of consciousness, as I am thinking of it here, is that of understanding our nature as beings who think, who feel, and for whom a world shows up.

 

"Consciousness requires the joint operation of brain, body, and world. Indeed, consciousness is an achievement of the whole animal in its environmental context.

"Brains don’t have minds; people (and other animals) do.”

"The world is not a construction of the brain, nor is it a product of our own conscious efforts. It is there for us; we are here in it. The conscious mind is not inside us; it is, it would be better to say, a kind of active attunement to the world, an achieved integration. It is the world itself, all around, that fixes the nature of conscious experience."

Alva Noë, Out of Our Heads, pp. 9-10, 142.

Unlikely that conciousness emerged from the brain

Psychiatrist Elio Frattarnoli in Healing the Soul in the Age of the Brain writes: “As for the idea that consciousness must be biological because it ‘emerged’ through the biological process of natural selection, the truth is that consciousness is entirely different from any biological function that has emerged through natural selection. It cannot be explained the way biological functions can―as a result of genetic mutations producing new proteins producing new biological processes producing a new function. No doubt brain processes that are necessary to support consciousness did emerge in this way through natural selection. But they are only the necessary biological conditions for consciousness, not its sufficient causes.

Frattarnoli reminds us that neuroscientist Wilder Penfield, who mapped the neocortex of patients with epilepsy, reported: “The only sort of conscious experience he was able to evoke electrically was the passive experience of something happening to the patient or impinging on his awareness―what Penfield called ‘brain-action.’ This was not at all what he had expected. He had started out with the materialist assumption that all conscious functions and experiences must be controlled by the brain and would therefore be affected by the brain events he evoked with his stimulating electrode. But what he discovered instead was a presiding awareness in the patient that was utterly separate and unmoved by any of these brain events―that could recognize, remember, compare, and report on the various conscious experiences evoked by Penfield’s electrode but was itself unaffected by them.”

Frattarnoli concludes that consciousness: “simply cannot be explained in physical, chemical, or biological terms. Without a direct causal link between brain processes and consciousness, there is no persuasive reason to believe that consciousness emerged from the brain, or through natural selection, at all. Since it is a phenomenon of a fundamentally different order from any brain process, it would be much more logical to assume―if we are going to assume anything―that consciousness emerged from a source outside the brain.”

Consciousness is a cosmic principle

In an essay entitled “Science, Soul, and Death” Marilyn Schlitz and John H. Spencer assert: “There are many other contemporary scientists” who argue for a postmaterialist paradigm of science, “such as Lothar Schäfer, a retired professor from the University of Arkansas, where he taught physical chemistry for forty-three years. One of the harbingers of this new worldview, Schafer is optimistic that science is reaching a new way of understanding consciousness.

“Like Tanzi and other postmaterialist scientists, he speaks about wholeness as the core of reality, countering the materialist and reductionist worldview that reduces the world to its parts while pretending there is no whole. While he made his career in physical chemistry, measuring, manipulating, and explaining the microscopic world, he sees the basis of matter as nonmaterial and the universe as interconnected.

“’All things are connected,’ Schäfer explains. ‘Not in the empirical world, but in their nonempirical roots. The argument is this: if the universe is wholeness, everything comes out of it, everything belongs to it, including our consciousness. In that case, consciousness is a cosmic principle. The only chance you have that your consciousness survives when you die is that there is some consciousness outside. What may be in us is perhaps not our consciousness, but a cosmic consciousness’ (Schäfer, quoted in Schlitz, 2015)

“In discussing his own cosmology, Schäfer acknowledges that a personal transformation linked his views of death with his scientific worldview. When he was younger, he was frightened about death. Today he finds nothing frightening about it. Not that he has any clear opinion on what happens after; still, he believes that ‘there is a cosmic mind with which we are connected. If there is a cosmic mind, it would be strange if it wasn’t connected with ours’ (Quoted in Schlitz, 2015).”

Marilyn Schlitz and John H Spencer, “Science, Soul, and Death” in Beauregard, Mario; Dyer, Natalie; Woollacott, Marjorie, editors. Expanding Science: Visions of a Postmaterialist Science 2020 (p. 409). AAPS. Kindle Edition.

Schlitz, M. (2015). Death Makes Life Possible. Sounds True: Boulder.