5,000 NDEs Reveal Life’s Deepest Mysteries with Dr. Jeffrey Long

The essence of existence often reveals itself when we dance at the edge of life and death, and few understand this truth more profoundly than Dr. Jeffrey Long. A radiation oncologist by trade and a seeker of the spiritual mysteries by calling, Dr. Long has spent over 25 years exploring the phenomenon of near-death experiences (NDEs). In this episode, he takes us on a journey beyond the veil, where light, love, and the eternal nature of the soul become undeniable truths.

Dr. Long began his research in secrecy, aware of the skepticism that surrounded such inquiries in the medical community. “When I started my near-death experience research, I didn’t want to alienate my colleagues,” he shared. Yet over the decades, his work and the stories of countless experiencers have shifted the narrative, not only among healthcare professionals but also within society at large. Through his research, Dr. Long discovered that the vast majority of NDE experiencers report their journeys as deeply real, transcendent encounters that permanently transform their understanding of life and death.

“What rules this universe,” Dr. Long explained, “is overwhelming love beyond anything we could possibly know on Earth.” This is the message that NDE survivors bring back to share—a universal truth that echoes across cultural and religious boundaries. While some experiencers maintain their original religious affiliations, others move toward a more personal spirituality, liberated from fear-based doctrines. Yet all seem to emerge with a profound awareness of the interconnectedness of existence and the abiding presence of divine love.

One of the most fascinating insights Dr. Long shared involves the life review, a feature of many near-death experiences. In these moments, individuals are shown their lives with an extraordinary clarity, experiencing not only their own actions but also the ripple effects they’ve had on others. This isn’t a moment of judgment but a lesson in compassion and understanding. As Dr. Long emphasized, “The life review has a tremendous potential to help people become better versions of themselves.”

His research also touches on the rare but transformative phenomenon of “hellish” NDEs. Rather than serving as eternal punishment, these experiences often act as catalysts for profound personal growth. For many, such encounters serve as a spiritual wake-up call, encouraging a shift toward love, compassion, and forgiveness. Even in these shadowy realms, the free will and spiritual autonomy of the soul remain intact, highlighting the wisdom and grace that permeates the universe.

Dr. Long’s studies further affirm the long-lasting aftereffects of NDEs. Those who journey to the edge and return often exhibit a profound spiritual awakening, characterized by increased compassion, decreased fear of death, and a newfound confidence in the beauty of the afterlife. These changes are not fleeting; they grow and deepen over years, even decades. The two most common words used to describe these experiences—light and love—capture the heart of their transformative power.

SPIRITUAL TAKEAWAYS

  1. The afterlife is a realm of overwhelming love and light: NDE survivors return with the assurance that beyond this life lies a reality filled with boundless compassion and joy.
  2. Life reviews teach profound lessons in empathy and interconnectedness: These experiences allow individuals to understand the far-reaching impact of their actions and inspire positive change.
  3. Spiritual awakening often follows NDEs: Increased compassion, courage, and a deeper connection to the divine are lasting gifts brought back from the brink of death.

In a world often overshadowed by fear and uncertainty, Dr. Long’s work serves as a luminous reminder of the beauty and resilience of the human spirit. Through the stories of those who have glimpsed eternity, we are invited to live more fully, love more deeply, and trust in the greater tapestry of existence.

Please enjoy my conversation with Dr. Jeffrey Long.

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Follow Along with the Transcript – Episode DE047

Alex Ferrari 0:00
Tell me what your life was like before you died.

Dr. Jeffrey Long 0:08
When I started out my near death experience research 25 years ago, I literally did my research in secret because I was afraid of what the medical community would think about that I didn't want to alienate my colleagues that we all work together with. I'm a radiation oncology doctor, as you know, I treat patients with cancer with radiation therapy. So we all work as a team, and it's very, very important not to have a barrier between me and the so many other doctors I interact with regularly. I was literally on the website, my research website, Dr Jeff, it's only when my New York Times best selling book came out, I couldn't really hide anymore. But yeah, back in that era, there was a lot of people that that really skeptical of near death experience. I mean, I could kind of understand that it seems so unworldly, unlike anything we have. And yet, a Pew Forum survey done in 2021 found that in the United States, 72% of the people agreed with the statement that a near death experience was an observation of an essence, leaving the physical body at the time of life threatening event. So that's how things are in the modern era, the significant majority of people in America embrace not only the concept of near death experience, but that core definition of what it is, that essence, I noticed they avoided using the soul other people use that or consciousness. Those are both synonymous terms, but absolutely due to public awareness, excellent podcasts like what you have, and a lot of other media and a lot of people just sharing interpersonally their near death experiences a result of that in America, a huge shift over the last 25 years, and that extends to the healthcare arena too, nurses, doctors. Now, virtually everyone knows about near death experiences and understand that they're certainly real. And you know, especially in the last several decades, it was the nurses that really got the reality of Near Death Experiences. Patients would often be more comfortable sharing with a nurse they are trained to be, perhaps a little more non judgmental, a little more open minded than doctors are, so no question about that. Over decades, nurses have really been at the front line, if you will, of working with the patients, encouraging them to share their near death experience, emphasizing to that patient, hey, what you had was absolutely a normal experience and literally a blessing, literally something that has the potential to change your life in a very positive way. So nurses have been very instrumental in that we're now not to pull away from doctors, well, shout out to doctors too, because now they're also aware of Near Death Experiences. Interested and, you know, it's interesting, even though they're the doctors and they went to medical school and they're the professionals, they learn that doctors learn about near death experiences from their patients. They talk to that that have the courage to share with their doctor, probably better than any other source of information. So near death experiencers absolutely come back with a far greater belief in the reality of an afterlife. But again, that's not surprising, is it? I mean, from their point of view, they know what lies beyond death's door because they lived it. They experienced it. So they know from personal experience that beyond death's veil is an afterlife and a wonderful afterlife. And so it's not surprising that they have that increased belief, certainly a very dramatic shift in that belief. But how does that affect them on a day to day? Well, I think it affects them in a lot of sort of overt and subtle ways. Certainly overtly, they're going to be less afraid of living life and its challenges. I think they face life with more courage, certainly when they you know, in the past, they may have worried about what happens after they die, their friends, their family, their loved ones. I mean, are they gone forever? And they know they're not. They know that there's a wonderful afterlife. So I think it helps them to deal with their their own mortality and the mortality of other people around them. It's certainly doesn't take away the grief of a loss of a loved one, but it can sure, certainly dull that down and make the the pain a little less sharp, knowing that when someone dies, they're in an afterlife, as I tell my patients, when they have lost a loved one, they're in a much better realm than you and I. We study the religious beliefs of people the time of their near death experience and then their religious beliefs after their near death experience. So but the significant majority of people actually, even after their near death experience, retain their same religious affiliation that they had before. So, I mean, that can be their social group. It can be their life. It can be a very important part of their connections with their community. So not surprisingly, they maintain their religious affiliation. But like you point out, even within that religious affiliation, they will often, usually have. Values they're certainly less concerned about. You know, they're not, they're not going to be as open to fear based preaching, because they know there's nothing to fear life after death. They go. They know that that the afterlife and a wonderful afterlife is a reality. So they don't need convinced by by anybody in any religion or any other spiritual group. So I think it and of course, some other people do make significant changes in their religious affiliation. You tend to see people after a near death experience, tending in the direction of being more spiritual, but not religious.

But again, like you said, other people simply become more devoted to their pre existing religious belief. And what a blessing that is to that religious community, as they can share their near death experience and help in so many ways. Sort of reinforce, if you will, at the great religions have been teaching for 1000s of years. There it is in near death experiences and afterlife, you know some and we're all eternal beings. So again, that most profound message that the great religions have been teaching, reinforced by people that have near death experiences. You know it's a real shame that, and you're right, if someone has the most important experience in their life, their near death experience, and they know it, and they know it's the most important experience, it's going to be very difficult for them to stay with a group, social group, religious group, where their experience is rejected. They know darn good and well it's real. And by the way, we have a survey question on that. Again. No surprise, we do a lot of survey questions, but we ask near death experiencers what they think about the reality of their experience at the current time. And 94% say it's definitely real, and probably about another three and a half 4% say it's probably real. Bottom line is, overwhelmingly, people that have a near death experience are aware of its reality, and you really have to accept people that will generally understand in their life what's real, and it's a not real experience to have that overwhelmingly high percentage believe that their experience is real, you really need to take pause with that. And I hope everybody that encounters people that share a near death experience is open to their deep, gripping, personal understanding that their experience really happened and it's really important, and they're generally changing their life significantly in response, it's about 2% of people that share their near death experiences will have some hellish content. About half of those will sort of see a hellish realm at a distance, like when they're these unearthly heavenly realms, and they're sort of shown a what you know, basically walled off, if you will, segregated area of that unearthly heavenly realm where they sort of censor, are aware of there's some evil entities there. And by the way, when people say there can't be hell in heaven, that's correct, because it is a distinctly segregated portion of heavens. We do see that. And about the other half people that report these are actually involved in the hellish realm? Well, couple observations. One, first of all, in my research, the significant majority of people that have hellish experiences, it wasn't due to a near death experience. There's a compounding experience called Intensive Care Unit delirium, and that's a fairly common thing that happens to people in intensive care units. It's a type of delirium, so it's hallucinatory, and they're more often, much more likely to be frightening than near death experiences. So we have to be very careful about that. Secondly, when we have people that have shared these types of experiences, even hellish, it's fascinating to hear them say, Hey, I needed an experience like that to change my life around to become more loving and compassionate, to let go of that resentments, that bitterness, that that unloving attitude I had to people, and I really needed, if you will, a spiritual kick in the pants. And so a lot of these people that have these experiences, even hellish, will go on to live better, more loving lives and and show all those positive After Effects, life changes that people that have conventional near death experiences have, you know, it kind of makes me think, wow, there's that greater wisdom that really knows the best thing for each person that has a near death experience. But I want to emphasize the viewers me, and I don't think essentially, any near death experience researcher that studied a lot of these, none of us believe in a permanent, involuntary hell. There seems to be, you know, at best, in these people. In fact, when they see the near death experience, or see that segregated, walled off area where there's evil entities, what that tells me is Wow, even in the afterlife, even in a realm of pure beauty and bliss and light love, there still operates free will. In other words, there can be those malevolent entities that choose to be together and choose to be separated from everybody else, out of free will, an expression of that even in the afterlife. And to these evil entities all gathered in that hellish realm. Think about it this way, to them, that's their heaven. That is what they wanted to do. That's their choice, and that's their comfort level to be around other malevolent beings like them. I mean, it's just a example of spiritual sickness that seems to occur in the afterlife, and the expression of free will that we have on Earth, that we also have in heaven. Yes, absolutely we have that ability there, you know, free will, even if we're there to ask to be out of that environment. You know, prayers and asking, and that's what we see over and over in these types of hellish near death experiences. So again, as I've said, I don't think anybody needs to worry, at least for my research about a permanent, involuntary hell. What rules this universe we hear overwhelmingly consistent from near death experiences. What rules the afterlife is that overwhelming love beyond anything we could possibly know on Earth, that compassion and we're certainly in a very good environment in the afterlife, and I think that's where all of us that choose to be in the afterlife, there's going to be virtually everybody. That's why I say we can all look forward to that profoundly positive life after death. So again, the bottom line is going into an afterlife, whether it's your own concern about what lies beyond death's veil or your loved ones? I think basically, it's going to be beautiful. It's going to be wonderful. And in fact, the expectation of a beautiful, wonderful afterlife for us, for all of us, is really one of the most profoundly positive messages for all of humanity that's even conceivable. Essentially never Is there any sense of external judgment when you're reviewing your life. Yes, you can be aware of of what you did that was good, loving, compassionate, unloving, uncompassionate, how affected other people. And you imagine seeing that, but it's very important for people to know there's essentially never any external judgment. Now, of course, the person having the Near Death Experience is out of free will. They can form any opinion they want. They can think about, wow. I, you know, that was good. I really nailed that one. It was really loving compassion and and, gee, look how it affected that person's life so positively because I reached to them out in that very good way. And, you know, learn like, Oops, you know, maybe I shouldn't have stolen that popsicle from that child when I was a kid. So that can be, it's very important to know that there's, there's not going to be that external judgment. And in fact, the life review, there's a real silver lining to that cloud, and people can be transformed by that learn, see, I mean, I can't think of a better way to inform living the rest of your life than a life review to really understand in that very dramatic way, what you what was good, what was loving, how you want to live your life and how you don't want to live your life. So a life review has that tremendous potential to really help people to be better people for all the rest of their life and and really deep down, understand how important their interactions are with other people, and certainly it helps them to be much more aware of their interactions, much more focused on how they can reach out positively to others, to the world, than they possibly did before. It probably underlies a lot of these very important value changes that we see the after effects of near death experience in my recently published research, again, the change in their increased belief in life after death, decreased fear of death, increased compassion, increased belief in God. That was about a three or four fold or more increase in the percentage of people that said definitely have those values from the time they had their near death experience to when they shared it many, many years later. So they may not use the term spiritual awakening, but I mean glaringly, that's what it is. I mean, they are more compassionate. They are less afraid in living their earthly life. They have more confidence. So everything that I think you would define as a spiritual awakening is what we see so commonly, so consistently in people that have near death experiences. So I would have to say absolutely yes, we see that it's overwhelming, consistently and very dramatically. And in fact, that spiritual awakening that people have, that near death experiences have those, those changes in values, the After Effects, they actually become more pronounced in the years to decades after the near death experience. I mean, they keep changing and evolving and growing spiritually years even decades after their near death experience. I mean, talk about a part, important part of spiritual awakening to understand how profoundly important love is in near death experiences. Please, understand the two most common words that people use to describe what happened in the near death experience was light and love. They've understood from personal experience just how critical love and. Just like the glue that holds the universe together, if there's counter god, they're almost invariably going to describe God as overwhelmingly loving. They encounter other beings almost always described as overwhelmingly loving. So I think when they come back to Earth, and of course, you know life reviews, they see the importance of love there, and it can be profoundly transformative in terms of confidence in life after death, confidence that we'll all be together, confidence that cancer, misery, accidents, illnesses, are going to be gone when we exit our earthly life, and we're going to be in a realm where we don't have what we've known so much of our earthly misery. And I think that's important. I think that that helps the adjustment after a loss to moving on to letting go of grief that impairs your life and being able to move forward to live life more positively you.

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