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.

In NDEs those who are deaf hear: Long excerpt #8

Radiation oncologist Jeremy Long writes in his article, "Evidence for Survival of Consciousness in Near-Death Experiences: Decades of Science and New Insights" - "Brian nearly drowned when he was ten years old. In all of Brian's previoius life, he communicated with others by sign language or lip-reading. However, in his NDE, communication was unearthly:

I approached the boundary. No explanation was necessary for me to understand, at the age of ten, that once I cross[ed] the boundary, I could never come back—period. I was more than thrilled to cross. I intended to cross, but my ancestors over another boundary caught my attention. They were talking in telepathy, which caught my attention. I was born profoundly deaf and had all hearing family members, all of which knew sign language! I could read or communicate with about twenty ancestors of mine and others through telepathic methods. It overwhelmed me. I could not believe how many people I could telepathize with simultaneously.

"Communication for Brian during his near-death experience was via telepathy which he never previously experienced. NDErs commonly report communicating by telepathy. Other hearing-impaired NDErs may describe supernormal hearing:

I'm a deaf-impaired person. But in the other world experience, I was not deaf. I heard beautiful classical music.

I am partially deaf in the left ear. At the time of this I could hear very well.

I became aware that my eyesight was better than it had ever been. I could see details and colors that I had never seen before. I have always been hard of hearing. But in my experience, my hearing was superior to anything it had ever been. The voices I heard were very loud, clear, and sounded almost like music rather than speech."

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.

NDE supernormal sensory vision: Long excerpt #7

Radiation oncologist Jeremy Long writes in his article, "Evidence for Survival of Consciousness in Near-Death Experiences: Decades of Science and New Insights" - “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.

“Another example of supernormal vision in near-death experiences is the frequent description of 360-degree vision during their NDEs. When NDErs use the term 360 degrees to describe what they see during their NDEs, they generally mean true spherical vision. Thus, NDErs are experiencing visual awareness simultaneously in all directions - forward, backward, right, left, above, and below. Two illustrative examples from the NDERF archives are:

Vision is very different and hard to describe. I feel it is more of a perception. At one point I was able to see and perceive 360 degrees.

Clear, more colorful, 360 view with zoom action.

“All five senses in our earthly life (seeing, hearing, touch, taste, and smell) are reported in near-death experiences. NDErs often describe enhanced function of these five senses, which is remarkable because they are unconscious or clinically dead during their NDEs. Of all these senses, vision is most often described as substantially different from normal vision during NDEs.

Everything became more vivid in color and brightness.

Having no material body, I was sensing, seeing, feeling, on another plane. It is like trying to explain the colors of the rainbow to a blind person.

I had extreme clarity and crispness to my vision during the experience. This is interesting because while I was in the coma a piece of the infection broke off from the heart valve permanently blinding me in my left eye. Before the experience I had perfect vision, since the experience I am legally blind in the left eye.

“The most recent version of the NDERF survey question asks, “Please compare your vision during the experience to your everyday vision that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience.” Responses to this question were in narrative format. Many near-death experiencers described supernormal vision. The common occurrence of supernormal vision during NDEs is vividly demonstrated in the hundreds of narrative responses to this question available on the NDERF website as supplemental material.

"Several NDErs responding to this survey question were legally blind at the time of their NDEs, yet had clear vision:

I could see clearly without glasses. I could see close up and far away without restrictions. In this world I am legally blind even with glasses.

I was born legally blind. I could only see about 12 inches in front of me before everything turned into a vast blur. During the near-death experience, I could see everything perfectly."

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.

NDE out-of-body experiences: Long excerpt #6

Radiation oncologist Jeremy Long writes in his article, "Evidence for Survival of Consciousness in Near-Death Experiences: Decades of Science and New Insights" - “At the time of a near-death experience, one of the first and most common elements to occur is the out-of-body experience (OBE). An OBE is defined as ‘the separation of consciousness from the physical body.’ When using the term OBE in this article, we will be referring only to OBEs occurring during NDEs. While NDErs are unconscious or clinically dead, their consciousness separates from their body. Their point of conscious perspective usually rises above their body. From this viewpoint, they may see and hear ongoing earthly events that may include the frantic efforts of medical personnel trying to resuscitate them. It is uncommon that consciousness during NDEs moves beside the physical body and only rarely goes below the body. About half of NDErs describe OBEs with awareness of ongoing earthly events.

“Most people have not had an OBE. This makes it difficult for many people to accept that OBEs are possible. However, this section will provide incontrovertible evidence that OBEs do occur during near-death experiences with accurate and verified OBE observations.

“Susan’s near-death experience is an example of an OBE. Her heart stopped from a severe allergic reaction to an intravenous injection of contrast for a medical scan. Severe reactions like what Susan experienced are fortunately extremely rare. Susan’s OBE observations during her NDE were later verified:

I was getting a CT scan as a diagnostic test for stomach problems. After I was injected with the contrast dye, I started sneezing uncontrollably. The scans were performed, and the nurse informed me that it was time for me to leave. At this point I couldn't speak or breathe. I then passed out, and the nurse frantically called for the code blue team. By the time the code blue team arrived, I guess I was 'dead.' I saw the team enter and surround a person; at least that's what I thought at the time. It never dawned on me that the other person was me. I was very calm but felt terrible for the lady (me) as the code blue team struggled to get her heart started. I saw 'me' being intubated and chest compressions as they tried to revive me. I saw my catheterization and everything else around me. Forty-five minutes later my heart started to beat on its own. I was pulled back into my own body. I saw everything and related this to the code blue team later, and they verified that what I saw really happened. I saw everything that happened in detail during my death. Every member of the code blue team confirmed this later.

“One of the earliest studies of the accuracy of OBE observations during near- death experiences was by cardiologist Michael Sabom, MD. Most NDErs in his study underwent cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). His study included thirty-two NDErs who had OBEs during their NDEs. The study comparison group was twenty-five “seasoned cardiac patients” who did not have NDEs at the time of their close brush with death. Dr. Sabom asked the patients in both groups to describe their own resuscitations. This study concluded that the NDErs with OBEs were far more accurate than those in the control group in describing their resuscitations. The findings of Sabom’s study were consistent with the NDErs’ generally firm belief that what they observed in their OBEs really happened, including witnessing their own CPR.

“Penny Sartori, PhD, published another study with methodology similar to Dr. Sabom’s study. In her interview of fifteen near-death experiencers, eight of them described OBEs. She also asked the NDErs who had OBEs to describe their own resuscitations. The study comparison group were patients who underwent resuscitation without associated OBEs. Sartori’s study found several NDErs who were remarkably accurate in describing what they saw during their OBEs. The comparison group that did not have OBEs was highly inaccurate and often could only guess at what occurred during their resuscitations. Sartori’s study provides further evidence that those having NDEs after their hearts stop can have remarkably accurate OBE observations.

“It is a medical fact that a highly lucid NDE-like consciousness during CPR resuscitation without an associated NDE should not be possible.”

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.

NDE accelerates consciousness: Long excerpt #5

Radiation oncologist Jeremy Long writes in his article, "Evidence for Survival of Consciousness in Near-Death Experiences: Decades of Science and New Insights" - “The most recent NDERF survey also asks, ‘If your highest level of consciousness and alertness during the experience was different from your normal everyday consciousness and alertness, please explain.’ In response to this question, NDErs described the remarkable state of consciousness during their NDEs:

Because that highest level of consciousness was not constrained to the physical plane of my everyday life, there were more dimensions and less boundaries.

It was a completely different way for my brain to process things. I thought of many different things at once and was able to comprehend them instantly. My consciousness was unconstrained by anything physical. There was infinite thought and wisdom.

It was a completely new consciousness. I felt like I was experiencing things not just through my earthly senses but also through other, perhaps new, senses that I wasn't aware of daily. I felt like my eyes were WIDE open. I could see everything, and it was so fascinating! I was very aware of each detail.

It was so clear and nothing I had ever felt before.

I felt that I was thinking with more than my brain. I WAS total and pure consciousness, knowingness, and BEingness of everlasting life!

It felt more real than ordinary life. Life seems like a fog when compared to it.

“These comments dramatically illustrate that consciousness during near-death experiences can far exceed ordinary earthly consciousness. This accelerated consciousness is further demonstrated when NDErs review part, or even all, of their prior lives during their NDEs. This is called the life review and will be discussed in more detail later. Here is what several NDErs said about their level of consciousness and alertness during their life reviews:

I am still astounded by my life review. It was exceptionally different from my everyday consciousness. On this earth plane, seeing an entire lifetime going by simultaneously is virtually impossible. Yet, I could comprehend as if I were living it all over again.

My mind understood incredibly fast. I worked it out that over 378 million seconds were compressed to just a few seconds in the life review, which included moral lessons. That's like superluminal light speed. I am aware it sounds impossible.

The ‘378 million seconds’ stated above works out to 12 years old, which was his age at the time of his near-death experience. This is evidence that consciousness not only survives bodily death but can be accelerated beyond anything we could possibly experience in our everyday life.

“Prior studies consistently described enhanced mental functioning during near- death experiences. Leading NDE researcher Bruce Greyson, MD found similar increased consciousness and lucidity in NDEs as the NDERF study:

Near-death experiencers often describe their mental processes during the NDE as remarkably clear and lucid and their sensory experiences as unusually vivid, surpassing those of their normal waking state. An analysis of 520 cases in our collection showed that 80 percent of experiencers described their thinking during the NDE as ‘clearer than usual’ or ‘as clear as usual.’ Furthermore, in our collection, people reported enhanced mental functioning significantly more often when they were actually physiologically close to death than when they were not.

“Vivid and highly lucid near-death experiences at the time of clinical death are among the best evidence for the survival of consciousness following bodily death. This is especially true given that supernormal accelerated consciousness is common during NDEs. The medically inexplicable consciousness of NDEs during cardiac arrest provides clear and robust evidence that consciousness survives bodily death.” 

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.

NDEs are medically inexplicable: Long excerpt #4

Radiation oncologist Jeremy Long writes in his article, "Evidence for Survival of Consciousness in Near-Death Experiences: Decades of Science and New Insights" - Near-death experiences, by their very definition, occur at a time of unconsciousness and even clinical death with an absent heartbeat. Speaking both medically and logically, having a highly lucid experience while unconscious or clinically dead should be impossible. However, thousands of NDEs describe lucid conscious perceptions even while comatose.

Near-death experiences often occur in association with a cardiac arrest, which means the heart stops beating. This condition is popularly known by the phrase “heart attack”. To understand how remarkable it is to have an NDE at a time of clinical death, it is essential to know what happens when the heart stops beating. After the heart stops, blood immediately ceases flowing to the brain. About ten to twenty seconds later, the electroencephalogram (EEG), a measurement of brain electrical activity, is flat.  At this time there is no significant measurable electrical activity in the cortex, which is the outer part of the brain. Multiple studies show that patients are usually amnesic or confused about events that took place before or after the cardiac arrest.

Consequently, almost immediately after cardiac arrest, it should be impossible to have a lucid, organized, and conscious experience. But when a near-death experience occurs, a lucid experience happens even while physical brain function is shut down. The NDERF website has hundreds of examples of NDEs that happened during a cardiac arrest. The typical high lucidity in NDEs following cardiac arrest defies any possible medical explanation. Here are two examples of NDEs that occurred at the time of a cardiac arrest:

Joan had a spinal anesthetic for surgery on her ankle. There were complications, and she coded, which means her heart stopped. Joan describes her near-death experience:

I went from being in my body to being in a place of absolute love. I can only describe it like being in a swimming pool, but even my body was filled with this loving. I was one with this place, but also apart from it. I was still me, but I was far more than me. I was one with everything - and it was ALL good. I did hear beautiful music, but it wasn't like our music. The music itself was part of me, but I don't think I was singing. It was more like it was just part of me, and I was part of it, but it was much more than just me. I felt weightless and free - absolutely free. I was enfolded in this loving and was part of it too. There was not one single part of me or part of anything else that was not love. Individuals did not exist in the same way as we do here. I was still me, but I was also part of the loving. 

 

I KNEW things without hearing a single spoken word. I WAS love. I KNEW that all religions had it wrong. There is no way rules and judgment could flow from this place. Earthly religions made it complicated when it was very easy. There is only love, and all of us are part of it. There is NO way that we cannot be loved. We ARE love. Time did not exist. I have always loved my family on earth, but I did not miss them. I did not think of them. I was more joyful than I ever have been. I felt utterly connected to everything and everyone. We ARE inter-connected as one. There is no such thing as 'death'. This experience has changed me.

Another example of a near-death experience occurring at the time of a cardiac arrest is from Yazmine. Her heart stopped for six minutes. She received cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), which brought her back to life. After recovering, she shared her remarkable NDE:

Then suddenly I was above my body, which was lying on a stretcher bed and wearing a white hospital gown. I looked at my body and knew it wasn't the real me. It was the thing I had been caught inside. Now I was free! I felt such happiness! The joy was all- pervading. We like to get knotted up about the real-world pain, suffering, and loss, but they are all illusory experiences.

Everything became clear to me. The nurses were calling my name. One nurse was crying, and another was saying, ''Oh my God, we've lost her!" I was above them thinking how silly it was that they were making all that fuss. I wondered why they couldn't see me. I just knew that all was perfectly fabulous! Then I saw an open window about 6 inches wide. I thought, ''Wow, I wonder if I can fit through there?" Then instantly I was in another state.

Near-death experiencers (NDErs) are unconscious, comatose, or clinically dead. However, the lucidity they experience is usually a state of supernormal consciousness. The most recent NDERF survey asked 834 NDErs, “How did your highest level of consciousness and alertness during the experience compare to your normal everyday consciousness and alertness?”

654 NDErs (78%) confirmed they experienced: “More consciousness and alertness than normal.” 142 (17%) experienced: “Normal consciousness and alertness.” And 38 (5%) experienced: “Less consciousness and alertness than normal.” 

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.

 

Evidence of an afterlife: Long excerpt #3

Radiation oncologist Jeffrey Long writes in "Evidence for Survival of Consciousness in Near-Death Experiences: Decades of Science and New Insights" - "I began investigating near-death experiences in 1998 with the establishment of the Near-Death Experience Research Foundation (NDERF). NDERF started with a website devoted to NDE, www.nderf.org. From its inception the NDERF website had a detailed questionnaire that included a request for the complete NDE narrative. The current version of the NDERF questionnaire asks over 100 questions. In the greater than 20 years that NDERF has been active, we received over 3500 NDEs. This combination of the availability of thousands of NDEs and the results from detailed surveys allowed the most extensive investigation of NDEs ever reported.

"The current version of the NDERF survey was closed for accrual after receiving 834 sequentially shared NDEs. The immediately prior version of the NDERF survey included 1122 sequentially shared NDEs. These NDERF studies are the most extensive scientific investigations of NDEs ever reported.

"The two most recent versions of the NDERF surveys included the NDE Scale questions. The NDE Scale asks sixteen questions about the content of the near-death experience. This Scale is the most validated research method to help distinguish NDEs from experiences that are not NDEs. A Scale score of 7 or higher is required to classify experiences as NDEs. Throughout this article, the NDErs whose survey results I am presenting all had NDE Scale scores of 7 or above. This further validates these experiences as actual NDEs. All experiences included in the NDERF studies also had clearly documented life-threatening events at the time of their NDEs. For inclusion in the NDERF studies presented in this article, unless otherwise stated, all NDEs were single NDE accounts, shared in English, and were shared by the individual who personally had the NDE.

"In all NDERF studies, experiences were classified as near-death experiences only if there was a lucid experience at the time of a close brush with death. Experiences in the NDERF studies are unbiased NDE accounts. No NDEs were excluded from the NDERF studies solely because of any particular content. The full text of the NDE narratives is posted to the NDERF website, excluding comments that would identify the NDErs, are significantly disparaging toward identifiable individuals, or contain inappropriate comments such as advocating illicit substance use. The NDEs posted on the NDERF website are edited to correct obvious spelling and grammar errors. NDEs quoted in this article from the NDERF website may be paraphrased for clarity. As remarkable as the NDE quotes are in this article, please remember that they accurately represent the real experiences of NDErs from all walks of life and around the world.

"The NDERF surveys are internet-based. The internet has been utilized for scholarly surveys for decades. Many published studies directly compared the reliability of internet surveys with “pencil-and-paper” surveys concluding that they are comparable in reliability. This important concept is discussed further on the NDERF website.

"The reliability of the NDERF survey is enhanced by using the tried-and-true scientific method of redundancy. This involves asking several questions addressing the same concept in different areas of the survey with slightly different wording. I am impressed at the consistency in responses to the redundant NDERF survey questions. The time required to complete the greater than 100 questions on the NDERF survey is a strong disincentive for anyone to complete the survey fraudulently.

"Another important method of validating the near-death experiences posted on NDERF comes from the large volume of visitors to the NDERF website. There are currently well over 50,000 unique visitors to the website each month. This allows an enormous number of people to read the posted NDEs and let us know of any concerns regarding possible plagiarized or falsified NDEs. Over the decades of NDERF’s existence it has been gratifying that far less than 1% of NDEs submitted to the NDERF website survey are plagiarized or otherwise falsified. My background as a physician also helps verify the validity of the described medical circumstances of the life-threatening events leading to the NDEs. Finally, it is notable that the NDEs published on NDERF are consistent in content with NDEs in published articles, books, and other reliable internet collections of NDEs. Further details regarding the methodology of the NDERF studies are available on the NDERF website."

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.