Divine Encounters Episode 047 | Near-Death Experience Story
Dr. Jeffrey Long is a radiation oncology doctor who, by his account, began studying near-death experiences 25 years ago in secret, for fear of what his colleagues would think. In this Divine Encounters episode he tells Alex Ferrari what his research has found about how people change afterward, what they say about the afterlife, life reviews, distressing experiences, and the message he believes runs through the accounts: love.
Key Takeaways
- Dr. Long says he began his research 25 years ago in secret, afraid of what the medical community would think, and says attitudes have shifted a great deal since.
- He cites a 2021 Pew Forum survey in which 72 percent of Americans agreed that a near-death experience is an essence leaving the physical body during a life-threatening event.
- He says nurses have been at the front line, and that doctors learn about near-death experiences from their patients.
- He reports that about 94 percent of experiencers say their experience was definitely real, and another three and a half or four percent say probably real.
- He says only about 2 percent of accounts have hellish content, that many people describe it as a needed spiritual wake-up call, and that none of the researchers he knows believe in a permanent, involuntary hell.
- He says the life review is “essentially never” an external judgment, and that love is what rules the afterlife in the accounts he has studied.
| Guest | Dr. Jeffrey Long |
| Episode | Divine Encounters 047 |
| His work | Radiation oncology doctor and near-death experience researcher |
| How long he has researched | 25 years, starting in secret |
| What he reports from surveys | 94 percent of experiencers say their experience was definitely real |
| On distressing accounts | About 2 percent have hellish content, he says; many describe it as a wake-up call |
| Own experience | He speaks as a researcher, not as someone describing his own experience |
| The message | Love rules the afterlife, and we can look forward to a profoundly positive life after death |
Researching in Secret
When Dr. Long began his near-death experience research 25 years ago, he says, he did it in secret. He was afraid of what the medical community would think, and he did not want to alienate colleagues he works with every day. He is a radiation oncology doctor who treats patients with cancer using radiation therapy. That means working as a team, and it was very important to him not to put up a barrier between himself and the many other doctors he works with.
His research website, he says, went by the name Dr Jeff. Only when his New York Times best selling book came out could he no longer hide. In that era, he says, a lot of people were really skeptical. He understands why. It seems so unworldly, unlike anything we have.
How the Culture Shifted
And yet, he says, a Pew Forum survey done in 2021 found that 72 percent of people in the United States agreed that a near-death experience is an observation of an essence leaving the physical body at the time of a life-threatening event. He notes that the survey avoided the word soul, which other people use, or the word consciousness. They are synonymous, he says.
He credits public awareness, good podcasts like this one, other media and people simply sharing their experiences with each other. In America, he says, there has been a huge shift in the last 25 years, and it extends to healthcare, to nurses and doctors. Now, he says, virtually everyone knows about near-death experiences.
Nurses, Doctors and Patients
Especially in the last several decades, it was the nurses who really got the reality of near-death experiences, he says. Patients are often more comfortable sharing with a nurse, who is trained to be a little more non-judgmental and open-minded. For decades nurses have been at the front line, encouraging patients to share and telling them that what they had was a normal experience and “something that has the potential to change your life in a very positive way.”
Doctors, he says, are now aware and interested too. What is interesting is that even though they are the professionals, “doctors learn about near death experiences from their patients,” he says, the ones who have the courage to share with their doctor.
Belief in the Afterlife, and Daily Life
Experiencers, Dr. Long says, come back with a far greater belief in the reality of an afterlife. That is not surprising, he says, because “they know what lies beyond death’s door because they lived it.” The shift in belief is dramatic.
How does it affect them day to day? He sees overt and subtle ways. They are less afraid of living life and its challenges. They face life with more courage. In the past they may have worried about what happens to friends and family when they die, and now they know, from their own point of view, that there is a wonderful afterlife. That helps them with their own mortality and with the mortality of others.
It does not take away the grief of losing a loved one, he says, but it can dull it and make the pain less sharp. As he tells his patients who have lost a loved one, “they’re in a much better realm than you and I.” Please note this is Dr. Long’s perspective, and we share it as such, with no medical claims.
Religion After a Near-Death Experience
His team studies the religious beliefs of people at the time of their experience and afterward. The significant majority, he says, keep the same religious affiliation they had before. It may be their social group, their life and an important part of their community.
Still, he says, they usually carry different values. They are less open to fear-based preaching, because “they know there’s nothing to fear life after death.” They tend to move in the direction of being more spiritual but not religious. Others become more devoted to their existing faith, which, he says, is a blessing to those communities, because experiencers can share and reinforce what the great religions have taught for thousands of years: we are all eternal beings.
He also notes how difficult it can be to stay in a group that rejects the most important experience of your life. If you want to read about what recurring themes people report, see our complete guide to near-death experiences.
94 Percent Say It Was Real
Dr. Long’s team surveys experiencers about how real their experience seems now. He says 94 percent say it was definitely real, and about another three and a half or four percent say probably real. His point is that these are people who generally understand what is real in their lives. “You really need to take pause with that,” he says.
He hopes everyone who meets someone sharing an experience will be open to their deep, personal understanding that it really happened. Many, he says, change their lives significantly in response.
Distressing Experiences
About 2 percent of people who share near-death experiences, he says, have some hellish content. About half of those see a hellish realm at a distance, like a walled-off area of an otherwise heavenly realm where they are aware of evil entities. The other half are involved in it directly.
He offers some observations. First, in his research, the significant majority of people who report hellish experiences are not describing a near-death experience. He points to a compounding factor called intensive care unit delirium, a fairly common hallucinatory state in intensive care units that is more likely to be frightening than a near-death experience.
Second, among those who do share distressing experiences, it is fascinating, he says, to hear them say they needed it to change their life, to become more loving and compassionate and let go of resentment and bitterness. They needed, in the words of some, “a spiritual kick in the pants.” Many go on to live more loving lives with the same positive after-effects as anyone else. It makes him think there is a greater wisdom that knows what is best for each person.
No Permanent, Involuntary Hell
He wants to emphasize that none of the researchers who have studied a lot of these, himself included, believe in a permanent, involuntary hell. When people see that walled-off area with evil entities, what it tells him is that even in the afterlife, in a realm of pure beauty and light, free will still operates. Malevolent beings can choose to be together and separated from everyone else. To them, he says, that is their heaven and their comfort level.
And free will works both ways. People in such experiences who ask to be out of that environment, through prayer and asking, are taken out, which he says is what we see over and over. So nobody needs to worry, he says, about a permanent, involuntary hell. What rules the afterlife, as reported in near-death experiences, is “overwhelming love beyond anything we could possibly know on Earth,” and compassion.
The Life Review Without Judgment
In a life review, Dr. Long says, a person can become aware of what they did that was loving and compassionate and what was not, and how it affected others. But it is very important for people to know there is “essentially never any external judgment.” The person having the experience may form their own opinions. They might think, I really nailed that one, or, oops, maybe I should not have stolen that popsicle from a child.
He sees a silver lining in this. A life review has the potential to help a person be a better person for the rest of their life, he says, and to understand deep down “how important their interactions are with other people.” It probably underlies many of the value changes seen in the after-effects.
After-Effects as Spiritual Awakening
In his recently published research, Dr. Long says, experiencers reported an increased belief in life after death, decreased fear of death, increased compassion and increased belief in God. He describes a three or four fold or greater increase in the percentage who said they definitely held those values, comparing the time of the experience with when they shared it many years later.
They may not use the term spiritual awakening, he says, but that is what it looks like: more compassion, less fear, more confidence. And those changes become more pronounced in the years to decades afterward. People keep changing and growing spiritually long after.
Light and Love
The two most common words people use to describe what happened, he says, are light and love. They come back knowing from experience how critical love is, “the glue that holds the universe together.” If they encounter God, they almost invariably describe God as overwhelmingly loving. Other beings, too, are almost always described as overwhelmingly loving.
He says that confidence that we will all be together, and that illness and misery are left behind, can help the adjustment after a loss. It can help with letting go of grief that impairs life, and with moving forward more positively. His bottom line is that “we can all look forward to that profoundly positive life after death,” and that the expectation of a wonderful afterlife is one of the most positive messages for humanity that is even conceivable.
How to Read This Episode
This episode is different from many in the series. Dr. Long is describing patterns he has found across many accounts, not telling one person’s story, and the figures he gives are his own. Researchers hold different views about what near-death experiences mean, and Next Level Soul does not make medical claims. If you want the individual stories behind the patterns, start with our glossary entry on near-death experience and browse the related episodes below.
Questions to Sit With
- Dr. Long says experiencers face life with more courage because they are less afraid of death. What would you do differently if you were less afraid?
- He says no external judgment appears in the life review. How might it change the way you think about your own mistakes?
- Light and love are the words people use most. Where did you feel both this week, even for a moment?
Choose one interaction tomorrow and treat it as if it matters a great deal. Greet someone fully, listen without checking your phone, then notice how it felt.
Spiritual Takeaways
- Dr. Long says that people who have these experiences generally report less fear of death and more compassion.
- He says the life review is about learning how our interactions affect others, without external judgment.
- He says free will operates even in the afterlife.
- He believes love rules the afterlife in the accounts he has studied.
- He says that a spiritual awakening continues to grow for years after an experience.
Please enjoy my conversation with Dr. Jeffrey Long.
Guest Links: Connect With Dr. Jeffrey Long
- Near-Death Experience Research Foundation
- After Death Communication Research Foundation
- Out of Body Experience Research Foundation
- NDERF on Twitter
Listen to the Episode
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- Download the MP3
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Dr. Jeffrey Long?
Dr. Jeffrey Long is a radiation oncology doctor and a near-death experience researcher. He says he began researching near-death experiences about 25 years ago, at first in secret, and he is the author of a New York Times best selling book on the subject.
Why did Dr. Long keep his research secret?
He says he was afraid of what the medical community would think and did not want to alienate colleagues he works with as part of a team treating patients with cancer.
What survey does Dr. Long cite about public belief?
He cites a 2021 Pew Forum survey in which 72 percent of people in the United States agreed that a near-death experience is an observation of an essence leaving the physical body at the time of a life-threatening event.
What does Dr. Long say about nurses and doctors?
He says nurses have been at the front line because patients often feel more comfortable sharing with them, and that doctors learn about near-death experiences from their patients.
How real do experiencers say their experience was?
He says 94 percent say it was definitely real and another three and a half or four percent say probably real.
Do experiencers change their religion?
He says the significant majority keep the same affiliation, though they tend to be less open to fear-based preaching. Some become more spiritual but not religious, and others more devoted to their existing faith.
How common are distressing near-death experiences?
He says about 2 percent of those who share have hellish content, and that about half of those see it at a distance. He also cautions that intensive care unit delirium can be mistaken for a near-death experience.
Does Dr. Long believe in a permanent hell?
He says no researcher he knows who has studied many cases believes in a permanent, involuntary hell. He says free will operates in the afterlife, and that people who ask to leave a distressing environment are taken out of it.
What does Dr. Long say about the life review?
He says there is essentially never any external judgment. A person becomes aware of what was loving and what was not, and how it affected others, which he says can help them live better afterward.
What does Dr. Long say is the heart of the message?
He says the two most common words people use are light and love, and that love is what rules the afterlife. He believes we can all look forward to a profoundly positive life after death.
Keep Exploring
- complete guide to near-death experiences
- what a near-death experience is
- what a life review is
- a researcher on patterns in 1,700 near-death experiences
- what thousands of near-death experiences revealed
- a researcher on the evidence for life after death
- David Suich on 14 years of near-death experience research
- a woman describes seeing hell, heaven and what she learned
- Browse more free masterclasses and the Divine Encounters podcast.
Follow Along with the Transcript
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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