Local doctor authors New York Times bestseller about afterlife

What happens when we die?

It’s an age-old question that has crossed the minds of virtually everyone, young and old, smart or uneducated in every generation.

But Houma doctor Jeffrey Long thinks he might have discovered the answer.

Long presented the findings of his New York Times bestselling book “Evidence of the Afterlife” last Wednesday to the Rotary Club of Houma.

His results? The outlook is pretty good.

“Based on the nine lines of evidence I have, I am absolutely convinced that there is life after death,” he said. “And a wonderful life after death for every one of us.”

Long’s book became available to the public in January. The book immediately became a hit, landing on the New York Times bestseller list and landing the Houma doctor in the national spotlight, including an appearance on the “O’Reilly Factor.”

“There has been an overwhelming and mammoth positive response to this book,” Long said. “I’ve been on national TV and national radio and countless other outlets. Probably 10s of millions of people have been made aware of my presentations in the past few weeks … Almost all of the interactions we’ve had have been profoundly positive.”

Long said he began studying near death experiences after reading an article about them in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Long said he was interested in the topic after reading the article, but didn’t become “hooked” until he heard a first-hand explanation of an NDE from a friend’s wife.

“I was fascinated that people were having these highly-organized experiences at times when doctors had labeled them incapable of organized brain activity,” Long said. “I knew I had to look a little further into this, because if these things were true, then it would change the entire way that I view the universe.”

During his presentation to the Rotary Club last week, the doctor explained a few similarities he has seen in his research of 1,300 NDEs – the largest study ever conducted on this topic.

“All of the findings we have seen are consistent and convincing,” Long said. “If they weren’t, I wouldn’t have gotten into publishing information on this topic.”

One thing Long found was that people in every culture experience NDEs and within those cultures, they all experience the sensations and see the same things.

“Whether in a Western nation, or a non-Western nation, the findings are consistent,” he said. “The people report being in a comforting place with increased consciousness of their surroundings.”

Long’s research held that 74.4 percent of people who reported NDEs said they had a “crystal clear consciousness” of the events that happened and they remember the precise details of their experience forever.

“We’ve seen people have their experiences 40 and even 50 years ago, who are having memory loss in their day-to-day life,” he said. “But they remember their experience like it was yesterday and can tell you everything about it.”

The doctor also explained accounts of the blind who have had NDEs and said they can see their surroundings during their experience.

“Those blind from birth have no way to explain vision, because they’ve never experienced it,” he said. “And yet, those who have been blind their whole lives have reporting having vision for the first time in their near death experiences. They’ve seen for the first time and were accurately able to identify how they looked and how the things around them looked.”

Long said while the book has largely been a success, he knows more research on the topic has to be done before larger conclusions can be made.

But the doctor said he encourages people to be more open about the things they feel, because there is nothing to fear about death.

“No matter how good or how bad, the research shows everyone has the same experience in the afterlife,” Long said. “Those who report these experiences no longer say they fear death and that’s a good thing, because openness about this topic will bring more truths to the surface.”

Local doctor Jeffrey Long poses with his book “Evidence of the Afterlife.” Long’s book is a New York Times best seller and he believes it proves there is life after death. * Photo by CASEY GISCLAIR