I’ve studied thousands of near-death experiences and have become convinced there’s an afterlife

Seeing a bright light or hovering over one’s body like a ghost have become cultural tropes for describing near-death experiences.

Dr. Jeffrey Long, a cancer expert practicing in Kentucky, believes they have become figures of speech because they are true. after studying thousands of cases for decades.

Dr. Long, a former skeptic, argued that years of research into the similarities between different accounts of people’s encounters with death have turned his own beliefs about a possible afterlife upside down.

He has so far collected more than 5,000 stories in more than 30 languages ​​from people of different religions and cultural backgrounds.

Dr. Long has set up an online repository where people can describe their own experiences of mortality.

They contain many stories, such as one of a person being led by a figure in a robe to a field where departed loved ones sat, while another witnessed an orb of light leave her chest, hover for a moment, and whiz out of the room.

Thirty-seven years ago, an article appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association piqued the interest of Dr. Long for what the authors called near-death experiences, something they presented with no clinical or medical explanation.

Dr. Long told Insider: “It held me back. All my medical training told me you were alive or dead. There was no in-between. But suddenly I read of a cardiologist who described patients who died and then came back to life, reporting very different, almost unbelievable experiences.’

He described a near-death experience as a person who is in a coma or clinically dead with no heartbeat, while still having a lucid experience in which he feels, sees, and hears emotions, as well as interacting with other beings.

He reportedly reviewed thousands of anecdotes, all of which are strikingly similar, regardless of the person’s belief system, be it Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, or atheist.

In 1998, he and his wife founded the Near-Death Experience Research Foundation, whose website enables people from all over the world to document their own spiritual and out-of-body experiences.

A user named Harry said, “The bits of light closest to me were my parents, grandparents and family who had all passed away before – and those further away connected to them were good friends, and connected to them were people who loved me.” had influenced and whom I had influenced.’

Another star named Star wrote: ‘A pure, brilliant light engulfed me and I no longer had a physical body. But I still existed? I had no eyes to see, but I looked at everything around me. I was in the center of a vast nothing, but the nothing was not empty. It was completely filled with the presence of the living God.

And from Italy, a user named Sarah said: ‘These three pure Beings spoke to me in a different language. They used my thoughts, but it was different from thoughts… I already knew that by being by their side, everything came back to me. They gave me so much love… I didn’t want to leave, but I had to go back. That’s how it had to be.’

Through his decades of research, Dr. Long has concluded that about 45 percent of near-death experiences involve an out-of-body experience where people’s consciousness is separated from their physical bodies.

About three-quarters of those who experience this said they want to stay in the afterlife because of the immense love and joy that overcame them. More than half say they have seen a ‘heavenly’ realm and about a quarter of them are shrouded in light or fog.

This also means, he added, that nearly 100 percent of those who encounter death no longer fear death.

His research has changed the way Dr. Long takes care of his patients permanently changed. Previously, he didn’t talk about his research in this particular area, but if his patients want to talk about it, he doesn’t hesitate.

Dr. Long said“I tell them that based on my research, I am very confident that there is a wonderful afterlife for all of us and that we will be reunited with our departed loved ones. And that is a great comfort to them. I think it’s a blessing to be able to share that with them.’

He added that it has helped him be a better doctor who helps his patients tackle life-threatening illnesses with “more courage and passion.”

“My goal is to help them have more healthy days here on Earth. But I am convinced that if and when they pass over, they will be at peace.’