NDEs from different cultures: Long excerpt #13

Radiation oncologist Jeremy Long writes in his article, "Evidence for Survival of Consciousness in Near-Death Experiences: Decades of Science and New Insights" - Portions of the NDERF website are translated into over 30 languages. Thousands of near-death experiences have been shared with NDERF in English and hundreds more in non-English languages from all around the world. This allowed the most extensive cross-cultural investigation of NDEs ever conducted. These studies found the core content of NDEs to be strikingly similar wherever they occur throughout the world, including in non-Western countries.

"I previously published an investigation of 26 near-death experiences shared in English, but with the NDErs living in countries where English was not the predominant language. These NDErs lived in different cultures specific to their country, yet were sufficiently fluent in English that they could share their NDEs and complete the NDERF questionnaire in English. The study comparison group was 583 NDEs shared in English from countries where the predominant language was English. The answers from the two groups to 33 survey questions from the prior version of the NDERF survey regarding the elements of their NDEs were compared. There was no statistical difference in responses to any of the 33 survey questions between the two groups. The study conclusion was:

The content of near-death experiences appears to be the same around the world. Such experiences, in both English-and non-English-speaking countries, include the same NDE elements. The elements appear to follow the same order of occurrence. In reading the accounts of NDEs from around the world, including those shared in English and those translated into English, I am impressed at how strikingly similar they are."

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.

Seeing unknown dead person: Long excerpt #12

Radiation oncologist Jeremy Long writes in his article, "Evidence for Survival of Consciousness in Near-Death Experiences: Decades of Science and New Insights" - "NDERF has received many near-death experience accounts describing encounters with people who, unbeknownst to the NDErs, had died before their NDEs. This is illustrated in an NDE from Sandy, who was five years old when she nearly died of encephalitis:

Another smaller beautiful light joined us. The light was a girl about ten years old that looked somewhat like me. She recognized me. We hugged, and she said, 'I am your sister. I was named after our grandmother, Willamette, who died one month before I was born. Our parents called me Willie for short. They were waiting to tell you about me later when our parents felt that you were ready." We talked without words. It seemed strange looking back on it, but it was natural at the time. As she kissed me on the head, I felt her warmth and love. She said, "You need to go back now, Sandy.' I was shocked as my next-door neighbor and dear friend, Glen, formed and shouted, 'Sandy, go home, go home now.' He said it with such authority that I quit crying and was back in my body instantly.

Later, a day after I went into the hospital, I was told that our neighbor, Glen, had died from a sudden heart attack. I drew a picture of my 'angel sister' who greeted me and described all she said. My parents were shocked and had a horrified look. They got up and left the room. After a while, they returned. They confirmed that they lost a daughter named Willie. Willie died of accidental poisoning about one year before I was born. They had decided not to tell my brother or me until we better understood what life and death were about.

"This remarkable near-death experience involved encountering a family friend that she was not aware had died and meeting her sister who died before Sandy was born. NDErs that encounter deceased siblings during their NDEs that they never knew existed are substantial evidence for the reality of NDE. These types of NDEs also provide vital evidence that NDEs really are providing awareness 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.

 

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.

 

NDEs under general anesthesia: Long excerpt #10

Radiation oncologist Jeremy Long writes in his article, "Evidence for Survival of Consciousness in Near-Death Experiences: Decades of Science and New Insights" - "The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines general anesthesia as “anesthesia affecting the entire body and accompanied by loss of consciousness.” Cardiac arrest under anesthesia is generally well documented, as the heart function and breathing are carefully monitored during surgery while anesthesia is used. As previously discussed, a cardiac arrest produces unconsciousness and coma within seconds for people not under anesthesia. Remarkably, typical near-death experiences do happen following a cardiac arrest while under anesthesia. As an example, I previously published the NDE of Valerie, who was 17 years old when her heart stopped during surgery while under anesthesia:

Sometime during surgery, I went through a tunnel. Parts of my life passed me by. I had closed my eyes tight; I remember someone saying, open your eyes. I was in a pure white space and could see rooms with spirits walking around. I started to cry, but no tears. I remember looking at my hands, and they were translucent. Then an angel appeared; she had such a radiant glow to her beauty to behold. She comforted me, telling me I was safe. I remember telling her I wasn’t ready to die. She said she knew that. Then she pointed down, and I could see the doctors doing CPR on a little girl. Not really understanding that was me, I watched my whole operation, CPR and all. I told her that was so sad, she looks so young. Then she said they are bringing her back, and I felt like I was pushed and thrown back into that painful body.

"If near-death experiences were solely due to physical brain function, NDEs under general anesthesia should have less consciousness and alertness than other NDEs. But that is not what the NDERF studies found. The NDERF studies found that typical NDEs happen under anesthesia, usually with greater consciousness and alertness as commonly described in all NDEs. Either general anesthesia alone or cardiac arrest alone results in unconsciousness without any possibility of a lucid memory. Thus, typical near-death experiences occurring while under general anesthesia are doubly medically inexplicable. This is powerful evidence that consciousness can function apart from the physical body and separate from biological brain function.

"Bruce Greyson, MD also reported near-death experiences that occurred under general anesthesia:

In our collection of NDEs, 127 out of 578 NDE cases (22%) occurred under general anesthesia, and they included such features as OBEs that involved experiencers’ watching medical personnel working on their bodies, an unusually bright or vivid light, meeting deceased persons, and thoughts, memories, and sensations that were clearer than usual.

"Unlike NDEs, anesthesia awareness experiences are often unpleasant, painful, and frightening experiences. Anesthesia awareness more often involves brief and fragmentary memories with hearing described more than vision.

"Near-death experiences under general anesthesia show that full consciousness can exist separately from the physical body. NDEs arising while under general anesthesia are 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.

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.