Shared death experiences: Long excerpt #19

Radiation oncologist Jeremy Long writes in his article, "Evidence for Survival of Consciousness in Near-Death Experiences: Decades of Science and New Insights" - “Shared near-death experiences are defined as occurring when two or more people have a life-threatening event simultaneously, with at least one person surviving and the other(s) permanently dying. They are aware of the other(s) during their experiences and often interact with each other. The surviving person, the NDEr, later describes the shared NDE. Shared NDEs are important, as they provide one of the most direct lines of evidence that what is described in NDEs is the initial experience of those who  permanently die. Here is an example:

I was in the car taking my girlfriend to her parent’s home in Welland. I fell asleep while driving. I then realized that we were out of our bodies and flying quickly upward while holding hands. We flew straight up for about a minute. We then saw a park or countryside-like landscape. Suddenly, we encountered four creatures. Two flanked each of us, and they began to separate us gently. They overwhelmed us with a feeling of the highest love and compassion beyond anything we could experience on earth. We were feeling a divine love. Therefore, we did not resist their effort. I felt sort of like a baby in mother's arms, though it's hard to describe accurately. Two of the creatures moved her upward toward the distant landscape, and two moved me back downward. I felt so much love, peace, and comfort that I wanted to protest and say, 'No, please let me stay here.' But I heard inwardly or psychically that I couldn't stay. Next, I saw my car in flames, from about a quarter-mile up above. I felt a falling sensation and awakened in the car. The front was on fire. I moved her from leaning on me, as she was when I fell asleep, knowing that her body was only an empty shell. I had left her above with the beings.

“Some shared near-death experiences include awareness of another person dying geographically far away or without the NDEr knowing that the person they encountered in their NDE was dying. An example of this is from Jennifer, who had multiple NDEs over a short time interval due to surgical complications. This shared NDE is remarkable given that her NDE occurred in Florida, yet she interacted with her uncle who died unexpectedly at the same time in Pennsylvania: 

During the other NDE I had, I was in my late uncle's operating room in Pennsylvania. My relatives and I did not know that Uncle Bill went into the hospital for elective surgery to remove some polyps. He wasn't ill, so it should have been an easy routine operation. I found myself together with him, hovering in the corner of his operating room, watching his medical team cover his dead body. We didn't speak or look at each other. He was not wearing glasses as he had in life. I had a shape or form, as did Uncle Bill. We communicated without speaking or using words. We communicated with a meaning that conveyed a knowing. I don't know how to express it. We watched them cover his body, and we then left the room. I understood that I was the only person of my relatives who was aware of my uncle's passing. After I recovered consciousness, I wondered why nobody talked about my uncle's death. Why hadn't anyone mentioned it? I then realized that they were not aware my uncle had died. This was confirmed when I asked what happened to Uncle Bill, and they didn't know what I was talking about.

“David was seriously injured in a severe auto accident that killed his friend. They shared an NDE:

It was like looking down through the branches of a tree. I saw a fuzzy and dark image. I thought, 'What is that?' My friend answered, 'I do not know, what is that?' The images were distorted like the sunlight seen from the bottom of a swimming pool. The dim fuzzy dark image was illuminated momentarily by brighter lines moving across our field of view. I said to my friend, 'That is my brother's car.' I saw a police car to the left, and a group of people behind the police car. To the right was an ambulance and another police car. My friend said, 'That is us.' At that moment, we both said, 'We are dead.’

“When shared near-death experiences occur, they may happen with observations of ongoing earthly events or in an unearthly realm. Lacee was riding with her husband on a motorcycle. They crashed, and her husband died. Lacee survived with serious injuries. They shared an NDE in an unearthly realm:

I began to fly through the tunnel, and the first thing I noticed was looking down at the embankment we had crashed into. I felt the pull to go further becoming ever stronger until I reached the tunnel where a light appeared. I continued fighting with all my strength to stop and not go further. Suddenly I was in a field of tall, beautiful, green grass. The grass undulated in waves, yet there was no wind. Overhead the sky was pink/rosy/purple. I felt a strong sense of well-being as if I were in a beautiful paradise, sort of like the Garden of Eden. My husband was walking towards me through the grass. We looked at each other, and without talking, I understood he had died. I knew we had to say goodbye at this moment. He let me know that he will be waiting for me, but I need to care for our boys for now. I was then back on the ground in my body and feeling overwhelming pain.

“Skeptics may say that near-death experiences may not tell us what happens to those who have permanently died. But shared NDEs, while uncommon, are significant evidence that NDEs are describing the actual beginning of a very real afterlife.

“Shared near-death experiences suggest that what occurs in NDEs is the initial journey of the irrevocably deceased. The NDERF website has received more than a dozen shared NDEs over the years, and they are available for review by anyone. These are among the most remarkable of NDEs and provide powerful evidence for the reality of NDEs and their consistent message 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

Aftereffects of NDEs: Long excerpt #18

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 usually produce long-lasting changes in beliefs and attitudes. The changes following NDEs are collectively referred to as aftereffects and often take many years to develop fully. The aftereffects of NDEs have been extensively investigated. One of the earliest NDE studies found that NDErs were more likely to be self-confident, have a stronger sense of spirituality, reduced materialistic values, and have a greater appreciation of life. Over time, NDErs often become increasingly concerned about others. NDErs also may become progressively more confident that life has meaning and purpose.

People generally don’t make substantial and lasting changes in their lives in response to unreal experiences such as dreams or hallucinations. They also don’t ordinarily make considerable life changes after their experiences if they doubt that the experiences are real. However, near-death experiencers generally accept the reality of their NDEs and usually respond with significant changes in their lives.

One of the most common near-death experience aftereffects is an increased belief in an afterlife. Multiple prior studies confirm the frequent increased belief in an afterlife following NDEs. This is not surprising, as NDErs typically believe they personally glimpsed an afterlife.

The most recent version of the NDERF survey explores near-death experience aftereffects by asking questions about beliefs and values at the time of their NDEs and when they shared their experiences with NDERF. The responses to these questions are among the most remarkable in the entire NDERF survey. Over and over, the survey answers show enormous changes in the beliefs and values of the NDErs. There may be no other single life event in the lives of the NDErs that is associated with such sizeable and lasting changes in beliefs and values.

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

Verifying NDE life reviews: Long excerpt #17

Radiation oncologist Jeremy Long writes in his article, "Evidence for Survival of Consciousness in Near-Death Experiences: Decades of Science and New Insights" - "One of the more astounding aspects of life reviews is that some near-death experiencers relive their lives through the perspective of those they interacted with:

I went through a life review. The life review was all about my relationships with others. During this, I felt what they had felt in my relationship with them. I felt their love, pain, or hurt from things I did or said to them. Their hurt or pain made me cringe. I found myself thinking, 'Oooh, I could have done better there.' But what I mainly felt was love, so it was not too bad. No one judged me during this life review. There was no disapproval from anyone else. I felt only my personal reactions to it all while the feeling of unconditional love continued to saturate me. I judged myself, and nobody else judged me in this life review.

"Here is another example of a life review with awareness of the feelings of others:

I went into a dark place with nothing around me, but I was not scared. It was peaceful there. I started to see my whole life unfolding before me like a film projected on a screen, from babyhood to adult life. It was so real! I was looking at myself, but it was better than a 3D movie. I could sense the feelings of the people I had interacted with through the years. I could feel the good and bad emotions I made them experience.

"Life reviews with awareness of what others were thinking and feeling while the near-death experiencers interacted with them are robust evidence for a consciousness that transcends the physical. These types of NDEs support the reality of an afterlife with retained accurate and detailed remembrance of our entire lives.

"When near-death experiences occur, the NDErs are usually unconscious or clinically dead for only a brief time. The awareness of part or all of their prior lives during such a short time of unconsciousness illustrates the remarkable acceleration of consciousness commonly described in NDEs.

"I previously published a study investigating the reality of what is observed in life reviews. If near-death experiences and their associated life reviews are real, then it would be expected that the events in life reviews, even if long forgotten, actually did occur. I reviewed 617 sequentially shared NDEs and found life reviews described in 88 (14%). In reviewing these 88 NDEs, none of the life reviews contained any unrealistic content, either by my determination or the NDErs themselves.

"NDErs may become aware of events during their life reviews that they had forgotten. However, when they later investigated what they saw in their life reviews, they confirmed that the events actually occurred. Here is an example from Alma, who was 54 years old when she had her NDE. Alma was vividly aware of her early childhood during a life review:

A moving-art drawing of my life was presented to me, followed by another, and yet another. I was having a life review. I was moving in the drawings, and they showed me that I was kind to people at different ages of my life. At about two years of age, the first moving drawing was me chasing a butterfly that was teasing me to pursue it. I was giggling and having fun as I was playing with this butterfly. I had a pinafore edge dress on, was in a park, and running with the delight of being a little girl. I was sure that I saw myself in the moving picture drawings being presented to me. It was a life review, although I could not have known that at the time. I later saw a picture of myself as a child and recognized that I was in the same park as during my NDE. I was about two years old in the photo. I asked my mother to find a photo of me for a class project in 2017. I saw the pinafore dress I was wearing during my NDE.

"Life reviews consistently describe events that actually occurred in the lives of near-death experiencers. Virtually nobody has a perfect recall of every prior event of their life unless they have an NDE. Examples of over 150 life reviews are available as supplemental material on the NDERF website. NDErs that have life reviews can vividly understand how their actions affect others. This awareness helps them to make more loving choices for the rest of their lives. This observation, along with the remarkable acceleration of consciousness and verification of long-forgotten memories in life reviews, provides further strong evidence for the reality of near-death experiences 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

Life reviews in NDEs: Long excerpt #16

Radiation oncologist Jeremy Long writes in his article, "Evidence for Survival of Consciousness in Near-Death Experiences: Decades of Science and New Insights" - "A life review during a near-death experience involves seeing all or part of their previous earthly life. Life reviews occur in about 20% of NDEs. The details described in life reviews may vary. One study found:

The most important finding of the present study is the evidence of a wide variety in the life reviews the subjects experience... The popular picture of the ‘whole life’ being seen all at once (panoramically) is false as a generalization about these experiences. Some subjects do indeed have this kind of experience, but the majority [do] not.

"The NDERF studies also found that the setting in which life reviews occur during near-death experiences can vary. In life reviews, it is common for NDErs to see pictures of their life flashing, as if on a screen. The life review may be a sequential order of prior life events, or it may skip around. There is often one or more beings with the NDErs during life reviews. NDErs almost never report being judged by other beings during their life reviews. NDErs report a range of emotions, including feeling happy or sad about what they see in their prior lives. Life reviews are among the transformative events that happen in NDEs. The lessons learned from the life review may help NDErs to live better lives after they recover from their close brush with death.

"Here are some examples of life reviews in near-death experiences:

My whole life was there for me to witness, much like a movie film of pictures filling up in front of me with a solid background. I was not aware of anything other than these pictures. I would not call this 'my life flashing before me' because it was still and entirely present. Knowing and experiencing each emotion ALL AT ONCE, and not one after the other, was incredible to me.

There is no way to describe the immaculate beauty of this experience, though I've tried every day for the last 35 years. I wish I could find a way. Bliss is a merely descriptive word. 'Bliss' is close yet does not convey what I wish I could. I saw and experienced every detail of my present life up to that moment. It was like watching a movie yet starring as the main character while everything happened simultaneously. As I had not lived my life in a state of serene joy, I felt quite sad and ashamed. I re-experienced every moment of my life in refined detail, including feelings, thoughts, sounds, smells, people, loves, hates, anger, sorrow, fear, happiness, fun times, food, everything up until I was in the Goldenness. It was like I relived my life, but from the standpoint of a witness.

"Some life reviews include awareness of only part of their prior lives:

It was so natural. We discussed my life while I relived what seemed like portions of it. The review proceeded from the oldest event to the youngest event and only stopped when I seemed uncertain of my actions at the time. There was no condemnation, right or wrong. I felt complete acceptance and understanding with only one loving 'don't you think you could have done it this way' type of comment. You judge yourself!

"One of the more astounding aspects of life reviews is that some near-death experiencers relive their lives through the perspective of those they interacted with:

I went through a life review. The life review was all about my relationships with others. During this, I felt what they had felt in my relationship with them. I felt their love, pain, or hurt from things I did or said to them. Their hurt or pain made me cringe. I found myself thinking, 'Oooh, I could have done better there.' But what I mainly felt was love, so it was not too bad. No one judged me during this life review. There was no disapproval from anyone else. I felt only my personal reactions to it all while the feeling of unconditional love continued to saturate me. I judged myself, and nobody else judged me in this life review.

"Here is another example of a life review with awareness of the feelings of others:

I went into a dark place with nothing around me, but I was not scared. It was peaceful there. I started to see my whole life unfolding before me like a film projected on a screen, from babyhood to adult life. It was so real! I was looking at myself, but it was better than a 3D movie. I could sense the feelings of the people I had interacted with through the years. I could feel the good and bad emotions I made them experience.

"Life reviews with awareness of what others were thinking and feeling while the near-death experiencers interacted with them are robust evidence for a consciousness that transcends the physical. These types of NDEs support the reality of an afterlife with retained accurate and detailed remembrance of our entire lives."

 

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

 

A vivid experience for 50 years: Long excerpt #15b

Radiation oncologist Jeremy Long writes in his article, "Evidence for Survival of Consciousness in Near-Death Experiences: Decades of Science and New Insights" - "The findings of the NDERF studies are corroborated by an investigation of Cherie Sutherland, PhD, a prominent near-death experience researcher. Dr. Sutherland reviewed studies published over thirty years in the scholarly literature regarding the NDEs of children, including very young children. Dr. Sutherland concluded this about NDEs in very young children:

It has often been supposed that the NDEs of very young children will have a content limited to their vocabulary. However, it is now clear that the age of children at the time of their NDE does not in any way determine its complexity. Even prelinguistic children have later reported quite complex experiences... Age does not seem in any way to affect the content of the NDE.

"Skeptics may say that near-death experiences in children may not be accurately recalled when reported many years later. This concern was addressed by William Serdahely, PhD, in his study comparing five NDEs shared by children with five NDEs that occurred in children and were shared many years later when they were adults. He compared 47 NDE characteristics between the two groups. Dr. Serdahely concluded:

This study...supports the claims of previous researchers that adults’ retrospective reports of childhood NDEs are not embellished or distorted.

"Another study by Bruce Greyson, MD, provided substantial evidence that near- death experiences are neither embellished nor forgotten even after nearly 20 years. This study included 72 NDErs who responded to the sixteen questions in the NDE Scale in the 1980s and answered the same questions again an average of more than 19 years later. Greyson compared the responses from the two NDE Scale administrations. There were no significant differences in the overall NDE Scale scores or the answers to any of the sixteen questions comprising the NDE Scale.

"Near-death experiencers often shared that they remember their NDEs exceptionally vividly:

I remember it more accurately than any other experience in my life because it was absolutely fascinating to see the other side!

This experience has been vividly with me for 50 years. It is as real today as when it happened.

Although this happened many years ago, this is the event that stands out among all others in my memory.

"The best evidence finds that NDEs are generally reliably recalled years to decades later. This is exceptionally pertinent not only for investigating NDEs that occurred in children but also for helping to validate all retrospective NDE research regardless of the age that the NDEs occurred.

"The NDERF studies are by far the most extensive investigations of near-death experiences in very young children. These studies find that the core content of the NDEs in very young children is impressively similar to the core content of NDEs in older children and adults. We are now more confident than ever that the content of NDEs in very young children is not significantly affected by their NDEs occurring at such a young age. The NDEs of very young children strongly support the concept that core NDE content is not significantly modified by prior life experiences, beliefs, or cultural influences. This is further strong evidence that NDEs are real, along with their consistent message 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

Young children NDEs: Long excerpt #15a

Radiation oncologist Jeremy Long writes in his article, "Evidence for Survival of Consciousness in Near-Death Experiences: Decades of Science and New Insights" - "An important line of evidence for the reality of near-death experiences and its consistent message of the afterlife comes from investigating the NDEs of very young children. If NDE content is significantly culturally determined or based on prior life experiences, then very young children should have NDE content quite different from older children and adults. However, that is not what investigations by myself and others found. I previously published a study comparing the content of NDEs in very young children with older children and adults. I compared the NDEs of 26 children with NDEs occurring at age five and younger with 585 NDEs that occurred at age six and older. The average age of the five-year-old and younger group at the time of their NDEs was 3.6 years old. Responses to 33 survey questions from the prior version of the NDERF survey regarding the content of the NDEs were compared. This study concluded:

Very young children had every NDE element that older children and adults had. There was no statistically significant difference in the responses to any of the thirty- three survey questions regarding the content of the NDEs between very young children and older children and adults. There were only two questions with a trend toward a statistically different response between the two groups.

"This prior study was replicated with data from the most recent version of the NDERF survey that included 34 survey questions regarding the content of near-death experiences. This investigation compared NDEs occurring in 33 children age five and younger with 798 NDEs that happened at age six and older. The average age of the five-year-old and younger group at the time of their NDEs was 3.8 years old. Three NDEs were excluded as information about their age when their NDEs occurred was not available. The criteria for statistical significance were the same as was used for the study of non-Western NDEs reported in the previous section. The full text of all 33 NDEs occurring in children, age five and younger, is available on the NDERF website.

"There were no statistically significant differences in responses to any of the 34 survey questions between the two groups. There were only three survey questions with borderline statistically significant different answers between the two groups. Very young children near-death experiencers were borderline statistically more likely to respond to the survey question, 'Did you see deceased or religious spirits?' with a response of 'No.' Very young children NDErs were also borderline statistically more likely to respond 'No' to the question, 'Did you encounter or become aware of any beings who previously lived on earth who are described by name in religions (for example: Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, etc.)?' Young children NDErs also were borderline statistically significantly more likely to reply 'Uncertain' to the survey question, 'Did you reach a boundary or limiting physical structure?' For the other 31 survey questions, there were no statistical or borderline statistical differences in the responses between the two groups.

"Understandably, very young children might be less likely to encounter deceased or religious spirits, and beings from religions during their near-death experiences due to their young age. They may not have lived long enough to be aware of or understand religious beings."

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.

Comparing non-Western NDEs: Long excerpt #14

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 version of the NDERF survey allows the unique opportunity to directly compare non-Western with Western near-death experiences. Study entry criteria were a single NDE, shared in English on the English version of the NDERF survey, shared in first-person, and an NDE Scale score of 7 or higher. Twenty-five non-Western NDEs met these criteria and were compared to 809 Western NDEs meeting the same criteria. Non-Western NDEs shared in English was felt to be the best source of direct comparison to Western NDEs because many survey questions contain words and phrases that might be difficult to translate into non-English. NDErs in non-Western countries that know English well enough to complete a detailed survey should be in the best position to answer the English version of the NDERF survey reliably. There were 34 survey questions regarding the NDE elements, which is what occurred during the NDEs.

"Direct comparison of non-Western and Western near-death experiences in this manner has never been previously reported. The results of this study found that every element of NDE occurred in both groups. Of the 34 survey questions regarding NDE elements, there was no statistical significance in the responses between the two groups for 30 of the 34 questions (88%). Borderline statistical significance was present in another four of the survey questions (12%). Overall, there was no difference in responses to the survey questions that were statistically significant or even borderline significant for 26 (76%) of the 34 survey questions.

"Several survey questions with statistically different responses between non-Western and Western NDErs might be challenging to answer even for those with English as a first language. For example, two survey questions with statistically different responses between the two groups were, 'How did your highest level of consciousness and alertness during the experience compare to your normal everyday consciousness and alertness?' and 'During your experience, did you encounter any specific information / awareness that a mystical universal connection or unity/oneness either does (or does not) exist?'

"Given the complexity of some survey questions, the similarity in responses between the non-Western and Western NDE groups is notable. This study of the content of non-Western and Western NDEs provides further significant evidence of a deep universal and cross-cultural consistency among NDEs worldwide regardless of the cultural background of the NDErs.

"Western near-death experiences as a whole do not seem to be significantly culturally determined. I was part of a team that reviewed thirty years of research about the characteristics of Western near-death experiences. Our findings were published in a scholarly book chapter. In this review, we could not find any core characteristics of Western NDEs that seemed culturally determined.

"The cross-cultural study of near-death experiences is more than just statistics. To deeply understand NDEs there is no substitute for reading NDEs from all around the world, including non-Western countries. Volunteer human translators have translated near-death experiences shared with NDERF into over thirty different languages. This allows people everywhere to readily understand the remarkable similarity of the content of NDEs regardless of where in the world the NDEs occurred."

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.