In new book, he says that near-death accounts transcend cultures and ages.<\/p>\n
The near-death experience story is so common that it has become a bit of a clich\u00e9: A medical patient, hanging in a murky limbo between life and death, is drawn through a tunnel of bright light, meets their maker, and is told they must return to the land of living.<\/p>\n
But that scenario played out letter-perfectly for Mary Jo Rapini. And her story is getting firm backing by a doctor who has studied some 1,300 near-death experiences. Medical doctor Jeffrey Long chronicles Rapini\u2019s story, along with his own research, in a new book: \u201cEvidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death Experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the book, Long contends his study shows that accounts of near-death experiences play out remarkably similarly among the people who have had them, crossing age and cultural boundaries to such a degree that they can\u2019t be chalked up simply to everyone having seen the same Hollywood movie.<\/p>\n
Through a tunnel<\/p>\n
Appearing with Dr. Long on TODAY Wednesday, Rapini related her near-death experience to Meredith Vieira. A clinical psychologist, Rapini had long worked with terminal cancer<\/a> patients, and when they told her of their near-death experiences, she would often chalk their stories up as a reaction to their pain medication.<\/p>\n But in April 2003, she faced her own mortality. Rapini told Vieira she suffered an aneurysm while working out a gym and was rushed to the hospital. She was in an intensive care unit for three days when she took a turn for the worse.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of a sudden [doctors] were rushing around me and inserting things into me, and they called my husband,\u201d she told Vieira.<\/p>\n \u201cI looked up and I saw this light; it wasn\u2019t a normal light, it was different. It was luminescent.\u00a0 And it grew. I kept looking at it like, \u2018What is that?\u2019 Then it grew large and I went into it.<\/p>\n \u201cI went into this tunnel, and I came into this room that was just beautiful. God held me, he called me by name, and he told me, \u2018Mary Jo, you can\u2019t stay.\u2019 And I wanted to stay. I protested. I said, \u2018I can\u2019t stay? Why not?\u2019 And I started talking about all the reasons; I was a good wife, I was a good mother, I did 24-hour care with cancer<\/a> patients.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd he said, \u2018Let me ask you one thing \u2014 have you ever loved another the way you\u2019ve been loved here?\u2019 And I said, \u2018No, it\u2019s impossible. I\u2019m a human.\u2019 And then he just held me and said, \u2018You can do better.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n While Rapini\u2019s account may seem far-fetched to naysayers, Long says her recollections mirror nearly all stories of near-death experiences.<\/p>\n When Vieira asked Long whether Rapini might be prone to cultural conditioning \u2014 surely she heard similar stories before \u2014 he said her story is untouched by preconceived notions.<\/p>\n Crossing cultures and ages<\/p>\n \u201cI think if near-death experiences were culturally determined, then people that had never heard of near-death experiences would have a different experience,\u201d Long argued. \u201cBut we\u2019re not finding that. Whether you know or don\u2019t know about near-death experiences at the time it happens, it has no effect on whether the experience happens or not, or what the content is.\u201d<\/p>\n In his book, Long details nine lines of evidence that he says send a \u201cconsistent message of an afterlife.\u201d Among them are crystal-clear recollections, heightened senses, reunions with deceased family members and long-lasting effects after the person is brought back to life.<\/p>\n Long noted that he was especially fascinated that very small children who have near-death experiences almost always recount the same stories as adults, even if the concept of death isn\u2019t fully formed in their minds.<\/p>\n \u201cMy research involved experiences of young children age 5 and under, and I found the content of their near-death experiences is absolutely identical to older children and adults,\u201d he told Vieira. \u201cIt suggests that whether you know about near-death experiences, what your cultural upbringing is, what your awareness of death is, it doesn\u2019t seem to have any effect on the content of the near-death experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Long, a radiation oncologist, said that writing his book has actually made him a better doctor, as well as a believer in the afterlife.<\/p>\n \u201c[It] profoundly changed me as a physician,\u201d he said. \u201cI could fight cancer<\/a> more courageously. I found patients who died, it wasn\u2019t the end. It made me more compassionate and more confident.\u201d<\/p>\n Source: Today<\/p>\n http:\/\/today.msnbc.msn.com\/id\/34953759\/ns\/today-today_people\/?ns=today-today_people<\/p>\n