A Kentucky radiation oncologist with a special interest in near-death experiences confidently referred him to life after death. Dr. Jeffrey Long founded the Near-Death Experience Research Foundation in 1998 when he was an intern and put together about 200 studies from more than 5,000 NDEs conducted by hundreds of researchers. Lucid experiences, such as perceived consciousness beyond the body, are defined as NDEs as propounded by the foundation website.

In an Insider essay, Dr. Long stated that NDE involves either comatose or clinically dead individuals who experience vivid states where they can see, hear, feel emotions, and interact with other things. He has heard accounts of NDE from individual subjects, whom he submits for scientific analysis using their description notes.

His evidence compiles, and Dr. Long speaks with firm conviction: I believe that there is an afterlife in the face of overwhelming evidence. Though the NDEs vary from one another, he identifies regular patterns among them. About 45% of patients speak of having a kind of out-of-body experience where they say their consciousness has somehow escaped their body, letting them look down on themselves while watching the environment.

After the out-of-body experience, Dr. Long says that people would describe being propelled to a full alternate dimension. Many speak of travelling through some kind of tunnel and seeing a light at the end, which usually turns out to be deceased loved ones in their prime, greeting them warmly with an overpowering sense of love and peace.

Most people report an overpowering sense of love and peace. They feel like this other realm is their real home, Dr. Long says.

Despite his exhaustive research into these experiences, he concedes there’s no scientific explanation that can fully explain what happens. After looking at brain research and considering many hypotheses, he has found none that adequately explain the phenomenon known as NDEs.