Guest host Rollye James welcomed founder of the Near Death Experience Research Foundation, Dr. Jeffrey Long, for a discussion on NDEs. On Long's website, which contains a repository of NDE accounts, the experience is defined by a "perceived consciousness apart from the body, occurring at the time of actual or threatened imminent death."

NDE descriptions are remarkably similar between children and adults and even among people of different religious or cultural backgrounds, Long reported. In one case, a woman who was blind since birth, had the disorienting experience of being able to see during her NDE. This and other similar cases suggest that handicaps are not operant during an NDE, said Long.

The majority of NDErs see their body from above, travel through a tunnel, spend time with deceased relatives and friends, and sometimes undergo a life review. In rare cases, people have reported reviewing multiple past lives, and have the same sense of self during each life, he detailed.

In one unusual case, a woman said she lived out an alternate life, forming close bonds with a new family that lasted a period of years, all taking place in a matter of minutes in earthly time, while she was near death. The majority of people find the NDE to be life enhancing, often renewing or clarifying their purpose, Long noted.