• Jeffrey Long is a radiation oncologist in Kentucky.

• He's also founder of the Near-Death Experience Research Foundation.

• He says studying near-death experiences has made him a better cancer doctor.

 

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jeffrey Long. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Thirty-seven years ago I was an oncologist resident, learning about how best to treat cancer using radiation. These were the pre-internet days, so I did my research in the library. One day I was flipping through a large volume of the Journal of American Medical Association when I came across an article describing near-death experiences.

It stopped me in my tracks. All my medical training told me you were either alive or dead. There was no in-between. But suddenly, I was reading from a cardiologist describing patients who had died, then come back to life, reporting very distinct, almost unbelievable experiences.

From that moment, I was fascinated with near-death experiences or NDEs. I define a near-death experience as someone who is either comatose or clinically dead, without a heartbeat, having a lucid experience where they see, hear, feel emotions, and interact with other beings. Learning more about these experiences has fundamentally changed my view of the universe.

Near-death experiences have common threads

When I finished my residency, I started the Near-Death Experience Research Foundation. I started collecting stories from people who had NDEs and evaluating them with the mind of a scientist and doctor. I make opinions based on evidence and came into this as a skeptic. But in the face of overwhelming evidence, I've come to believe there's certainly an afterlife.

No two NDEs are the same. But as I studied thousands of them, I saw a consistent pattern of events, emerging in a predictable order. About 45% of people who have an NDE report an out-of-body experience. When this happens, their consciousness separates from their physical body, usually hovering above the body. The person can see and hear what's happening around them, which usually includes frantic attempts to revive them. One woman even reported a doctor throwing a tool on the floor when he picked up the wrong one—something the doctor later confirmed.

After the out-of-body experience, people say they're transported into another realm. Many pass through a tunnel and experience a bright light. Then they're greeted by deceased loved ones, including pets, who are in the prime of their lives. Most people report an overwhelming sense of love and peace. They feel like this other realm is their real home.

 

FULL ARTICLE

 

Not very convincing imho, and unscientific. The patients he describes (as reading about) have a stopped heart and it is well known that you can be revived for a short period of time afterwards. As a scientist, I would want to know, after brain death can you be revived? And what do brain death NDEs stories tell us?

In clinical studies  which have death as a possible outcome, death is usually defined as brain death with zero electrical activity, and not as a temporary heart stoppage. 

Seems fair enough to say there is life before birth so why not life after death?

 

The shell/body /vehicle ...exists at first empty & then is inhabited by what ever you want to call it life/soul/etc etc. Why wouldn't that also be allowed to leave someday when the vehicle can no longer run?

5 minutes ago, retarius said:

The patients he describes (as reading about) have a stopped heart and it is well known that you can be revived for a short period of time afterwards.

It is also well known a heart can be run even when nobody is home...same for a body kept alive after brain death

But who is saying life/soul what ever is the heart or brain or the body? All of those things existed before the fetus came to "life" as we tend to know it

 

At 3.5 weeks, the fetus will have formed the heart, begins development of the brain and spinal cord, and starts forming the gastrointestinal tract.

 

When expressed in terms of idealized gestational age, the human embryonic heart is said to start beating at 35 to 37 gestational days (sixth gestational week).

 

So which came first the chicken r the egg? ????

Edited August 29, 20232 yr by mania

If there is, just hope it’s one up from this malarkey, or black nothingness will do just fine thanks ????

My research has convinced me without a doubt that there's life after death.

Well Jeffrey, my personal research has convinced me without a doubt that you are a complete numpty and that you should not be let loose amongst patients.

If you choose to believe in such hocus pocus tosh, you would be better suited as a patient in a Victorian mental asylum.

Edited August 29, 20232 yr by Bert got kinky

Hard to believe that nutters like this are actually allowed to treat patients.

 

 

My belief is that the idea of eternal life is the biggest con job ever sold to humankind for centuries......believe what i tell you, donate $$ and support the "church" and I will promise you everlasting life. or a few virgins, or a prize behind door #3....oh and my religion/god/gods is way better than yours and only my religion is the "true" religion.

 

Sure it is bozo.  Your "religious beliefs" are almost always a direct result of where you were born not from some great spirtual discovery.  If you were born in Iraq you will be a muslim...Thailand Buddhist, Italy Catholic, Israel Jewish, India Hindu and so on.  It is called brainwashing and begins at a very early age.

 

Believe what you want but do not try and shove your beliefs down others throats or kill them if they disagree with your "doctrines/truth".

1 hour ago, Social Media said:

• Jeffrey Long is a radiation oncologist in Kentucky.

• He's also founder of the Near-Death Experience Research Foundation.

My belief is .......... I don't want this guy treating me!

40 minutes ago, Bert got kinky said:

Well Jeffrey, my personal research has convinced me without a doubt that you are a complete numpty and that you should not be let loose amongst patients.

If you choose to believe in such hocus pocus tosh, you would be better suited as a patient in a Victorian mental asylum.

Good described Bert.

 

Jeffrey, 

If you really has done a research on this matter, I would assume that 3 days per case wouldn't bring you anywhere near the proof, but would have made you 41 years older... (just make it 5000 cases) 

By adding the time the average pupil has left School, you must be 57 years of age. 

Have you had a job inbetween or was this job a full time reseach with good payment?  

 

So I guess don't eat more magic Mushrooms or LSD Trips, or at least stop smoking Spliffs and lose reality, get a life as long it last and leave a nice carrion when the time is due...  

The only way to know for certain what happens when you die is to actually die.  I look forward to it, actually, as it will answer the ultimate question.  I'm certainly not in a hurry to find out, but don't fear it at all.  I just hope it's painless....555

2 hours ago, mania said:

It is also well known a heart can be run even when nobody is home...same for a body kept alive after brain death

But who is saying life/soul what ever is the heart or brain or the body? All of those things existed before the fetus came to "life" as we tend to know it

 

At 3.5 weeks, the fetus will have formed the heart, begins development of the brain and spinal cord, and starts forming the gastrointestinal tract.

 

When expressed in terms of idealized gestational age, the human embryonic heart is said to start beating at 35 to 37 gestational days (sixth gestational week).

 

So which came first the chicken r the egg? ????

Not an issue, you can keep the heart, lungs and other functions alive by mechanical means. You cannot keep the brain alive by mechanical means after it is dead....when your brain is dead everything else stops unless there is mechanical support. There is no such thing a soul.

Yes, but it isn't for 'you', there is no 'you', Fred is a temporary manifestation and Fred most certainly dies, what remains is 'the one', the absolute.

There are a number of links to surgeons, and theatre nurses, placing unusual objects on cabinets in the operating theatre after a patient is anesthetised, and not one patient who claimed to have an out of body experience - looking down on themselves during the operation, mentioned any of these objects.   Rather like seances, where, rather than give valuable scientific information, such as describing where they are, and their experiences there, those "contacted" simply talk about vapid matters that are totally meaningless - 'How's Aunty Ethyl getting on?  Is the cat still alive?", these near death and out of body experiences offer no insight to what it's really like being dead.  I'd suggest that's because they can't, and aren't really dead.

 

An Oxford University study done in 2015, came to the same conclusion:

 

"Most recollections are intensely geo-physical, anthropomorphic, banal and illogical: their dream-like fantasy provides nothing revelatory about life without a brain, or importantly, about other supposed cosmic contexts. Additionally, it is proposed that since prevalence rates are so extremely low (<1% globally), the few subjects undergoing ND/OBE may have predisposed brains, genetically, structurally or resulting from previous psychological stress. In a somewhat similar vein to post-traumatic stress disorder, subjects with predisposed brains exhibit markedly changed post-experiential phenotypes, so that the ND/OBE itself could be viewed as a transient, accompanying epiphenomenon."

 

Humanities | Free Full-Text | The Near-Death Experience: A Reality Check? (mdpi.com)

Remember what is was like before you were born? It's the same when you're dead.

1 hour ago, retarius said:

There is no such thing a soul.

......to our knowledge.

I call those common threads, sleeping.

So, I must to see ex-wife and her dogs again? ????

Edited August 29, 20232 yr by Tarteso

3 hours ago, retarius said:

Not very convincing imho, and unscientific.

 Science has nothing to do with spirituality.

 

3 hours ago, pomchop said:

 

 

My belief is that the idea of eternal life is the biggest con job ever sold to humankind for centuries......believe what i tell you, donate $$ and support the "church" and I will promise you everlasting life. or a few virgins, or a prize behind door #3....oh and my religion/god/gods is way better than yours and only my religion is the "true" religion.

 

Sure it is bozo.  Your "religious beliefs" are almost always a direct result of where you were born not from some great spirtual discovery.  If you were born in Iraq you will be a muslim...Thailand Buddhist, Italy Catholic, Israel Jewish, India Hindu and so on.  It is called brainwashing and begins at a very early age.

 

Believe what you want but do not try and shove your beliefs down others throats or kill them if they disagree with your "doctrines/truth".

 Are you saying you've never even glimpsed the Divine?

It's sad when I read things like this.

41 minutes ago, FruitPudding said:

......to our knowledge.

I'm quite sure, but I'm guessing and could, of course be wrong. I live my life as though there is no god, no last judgement, no heaven or hell and no soul.

 

But to our knowledge there is absolutely no evidence for any such things a s soul. It is merely an act of misguided faith, and I have no problem with people's belief, but the problem I have is that the most activist of belief espousers do not act out their beliefs. 

2 hours ago, Reginald Prewster said:

So I guess don't eat more magic Mushrooms or LSD Trips, or at least stop smoking Spliffs and lose reality, get a life as long it last and leave a nice carrion when the time is due...  

About the worst advice I've ever heard.

 

LSD etc have been known for centuries to induce spiritual experiences. 

 

 

Just now, retarius said:

I'm quite sure, but I'm guessing and could, of course be wrong. I live my life as though there is no god, no last judgement, no heaven or hell and no soul.

 

But to our knowledge there is absolutely no evidence for any such things a s soul. It is merely an act of misguided faith, and I have no problem with people's belief, but the problem I have is that the most activist of belief espousers do not act out their beliefs. 

What total hogwash! Just because you haven't experienced any Spiritual, you can't come out with blanket statements like this. 

I experience soul consciousness, after learning how in retreats in India when young.

I've been hypnotically regressed to a former life. 

I've experienced reincarnation and seen proof in McLeod Ganj, where the Dalia Lama lives. 

It's bizarre when some seem almost proud that they've never glimpsed the reality of life. 

 

3 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

What total hogwash! Just because you haven't experienced any Spiritual, you can't come out with blanket statements like this. 

I experience soul consciousness, after learning how in retreats in India when young.

I've been hypnotically regressed to a former life. 

I've experienced reincarnation and seen proof in McLeod Ganj, where the Dalia Lama lives. 

It's bizarre when some seem almost proud that they've never glimpsed the reality of life. 

 

Hogwash yourself. 

There is a lot of money to be made from giving people hope of an afterlife.  Write a book, become an evangelist, Hope means money for someone. 

4 hours ago, mania said:

Seems fair enough to say there is life before birth so why not life after death?

 

The shell/body /vehicle ...exists at first empty & then is inhabited by what ever you want to call it life/soul/etc etc. Why wouldn't that also be allowed to leave someday when the vehicle can no longer run?

Absolutely, and the fact that most people on Earth believe so. 

 

 

33 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

 Science has nothing to do with spirituality.

 

No but it has everything to do with, uh, scientific research.

 

 

4 hours ago, mania said:

Seems fair enough to say there is life before birth so why not life after death?

If you're referring to the period between conception and birth then, no, your argument doesn't hold up.

 

If you believe that there's life before conception then there's not much point in contributing to scientific discussion :)

Better to work on the ego reduction now, so that when death is near there's less worry about what's next.

4 hours ago, Social Media said:

Many pass through a tunnel and experience a bright light. Then they're greeted by deceased loved ones, including pets,

Holy chit, sounds like hell, glad to see the back of most of my "loved ones".  

Edited August 29, 20232 yr by Liverpool Lou

50 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

 Science has nothing to do with spirituality.

 

Indeed, you don't manipulate masses through Science. But I love the Bible, for what it teaches, and I ignores all it's underlying childish beliefs. This is where Science helps me.

Edited August 29, 20232 yr by Ben Zioner