In 1987, 21-year-old John J. Davis died on an operating table for approximately 7 minutes after a severe allergic reaction to anesthesia stopped his heart during a routine hand surgery. Unlike most near-death experiences (NDEs), which occur on this side of the “white light,” John was taken past the light into the afterlife itself, where he received an extraordinarily detailed, hours-worth of information and experiences that he was later tasked to share with the living. He returned with a complete, vivid memory of the other side that has never faded, and he has spent decades sharing his story to help people overcome the fear of death.
The Orientation Center: Arrival on the Other Side
John’s last memory on Earth was feeling the warmth of anesthesia entering his arm, then everything went black. He woke standing in an immense building made of polished white marble, so long he could not see its end. He did not initially realize he had died; his first thought was that the hospital was far bigger than he expected.
A being named Allan (spelled with two L’s, a name John had no prior association with) appeared at his left side and identified himself as John’s spirit guide. Allan communicated in a rapid, fast-forwarded voice, telling John he was in the “orientation center,” the place everyone goes after finishing a lifetime.
John never looked directly at Allan. He was guided so quickly from place to place that there was no time to stop and observe. Movement between locations appeared instantaneous, as if by thought rather than walking or flying.
The orientation center contained rows of white marble tables, each staffed by two “orientation counselors.” Every six feet along the left wall were 90-degree tunnel doorways cut into solid marble, through which the newly deceased entered from Earth.
An elderly man emerged from a tunnel, hand over his chest, having just died of a heart attack. A female counselor met him, took his hands, and led him to a table to help him remember where he was from. As John watched, the man transformed from an elderly gentleman into a young man in his 30s. Allan explained that God created all souls in their 30s, and everyone on the other side appears at that age, whether they died young or old.
After orientation, the man walked into vast gardens where 100–200 people were waiting for him in a joyful reunion of family, friends, and fellow souls. Allan told John that coming to Earth is considered a tremendous act of courage because of how difficult the lessons are, and that those who make it here are regarded as warriors.
The Life Review: Feeling Every Action’s Impact
Allan took John to a large rectangular marble building with columns and a round room inside. Around the ceiling were 15–20 movie-like screens, each displaying a different episode from John’s life simultaneously. The images were ones John had never seen before, not from photos or home videos.
Allan explained that the life review is “the greatest teacher of the soul” because the person watching can feel exactly how their actions affected others. John relived a moment from second or third grade when he helped a classmate named Troy, who had a disability and used crutches, after Troy fell at recess. John could feel Troy’s gratitude. Conversely, Allan explained that anyone who intentionally hurt another person would feel the full weight of that pain in their own review.
The life review confirmed for John that time operates differently on the other side. Though he was clinically dead for only seven minutes, the experience felt like hours. There is no linear time in the afterlife.
Past Lives Theater: Three Previous Lifetimes
Allan brought John to a building that resembled a college campus, with different structures serving different functions. Inside one building was a small theater with a single seat. Allan told John he would show him three of his past lifetimes, a concept John initially resisted because Catholicism does not teach reincarnation.
First lifetime: John was an elderly man with a shaved head wearing a red gown in a monastery in Southeast Asia, teaching young boys how to become monks.
Second lifetime: John was a man in Eastern Europe pushing a wooden wheelbarrow full of shoes down a cobblestone road, working as a cobbler who repaired people’s footwear.
Third lifetime: John was a fisherman standing in a rickety wooden boat on a lake or ocean, throwing nets to catch fish for a village, somewhere in the Middle East.
Allan explained that souls have existed for eons, as eternal as God. While the other side is a paradise of love, joy, and compassion, certain lessons can only be learned through difficulty, challenge, and hardship, which is why souls choose to come to Earth or similar worlds. There is no war, hunger, poverty, aging, or disease on the other side.
The Planning Building: Scrolls and the Soulmate Library
Allan took John to a gigantic round building with a dome and white marble columns, where souls come to plan their lifetimes. On a white marble table sat a rolled scroll with a blue ribbon, resembling Egyptian papyrus. Allan said every soul writes down what they want to accomplish in a lifetime before incarnating, then returns after death to review how they did.
John tried to read his own scroll, but it rolled back up before he could. Allan implied that knowing his plans in advance would have interfered with his ability to learn freely.
To John’s right was a wall stretching for miles, filled with scrolls corresponding to every soul alive in 1987. To his left was a massive window overlooking a walkway teeming with people and a crystal-clear round lake with weeping willow branches floating on its surface. Allan said everything available on Earth exists on the other side: all beauty, all activities, all forms of enjoyment.
In a section resembling a large library with maroon-colored encyclopedic volumes and gold vertical lettering, Allan showed John a book labeled “Nenina” and told him she is his soulmate. God created every soul with a perfect mate for eternity, and each book contains everything about that soul: their gifts, lifetimes, and what they’ve learned. John noted that not every soulmate comes into every lifetime together, and not finding one’s soulmate on Earth is not a failure.
The Planetarium: Billions of Worlds
Allan brought John to a stainless steel building resembling a sports stadium, filled with thousands of seats. This was a planetarium, and a single astronomy expert was present who communicated with John without revealing his name.
The expert first displayed what Earth’s population in 1987 knew about the universe: the sun and planets of our solar system. Then he showed what those on the other side know: millions upon millions of planets, some with water, some desert, some jungle, representing virtually endless worlds with life.
Allan explained that Earth is not the only place where souls can have lifetimes. God gave all souls a love of learning and created countless worlds to explore across eternity. John later researched astronomy and noted that the Milky Way alone contains roughly 400 billion stars and an estimated 100 billion planets, and the James Webb Space Telescope suggests there are approximately two trillion galaxies in the universe.
The History Library: Watching Actual Events
Allan took John to the largest building yet, resembling the U.S. Supreme Court with columns and steps, functioning as a vast library with wooden bookshelves 20–30 feet high. People were browsing, reading, and studying.
On the left side were rooms resembling modern library study rooms. In one, a woman with jet-black hair to her waist, wearing a purple gown, was watching what appeared to be a large flat-screen television mounted on the wall (remarkable because in 1987, flat-screen TVs did not yet exist). She was watching an actual historical battle between Native Americans on horseback and U.S. cavalry.
Allan told John that everything that has ever happened is recorded and can be watched in these rooms. Anyone can go there to study any period of history, including the lives of figures like Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, or Jesus. John expressed amazement that every moment of every person’s life could be recorded, concluding it must be “a God thing.”
The Castle: Reliving Earth’s Royal History
Allan brought John to a stone castle resembling those in England or France, with red carpeting and opulent décor designed to help visitors feel what royalty experienced on Earth. Life-sized paintings lined the walls, depicting historical figures like King George and Queen Anne, with a podium and book in front of each painting detailing that person’s lifetime.
A woman with strawberry blonde hair in a peach-colored gown approached John on a spiral stairwell and asked if she could help him find anything. John, caught off guard, said he was “just looking” and missed an opportunity to ask her anything. Allan explained she loved studying that era of Earth’s history and knew everything about medieval Europe, functioning like a professor.
Meeting Jesus in the Meadow
Allan led John to a perfect meadow with rolling green hills, sunshine, and wildflowers, then departed. John turned around and found a man standing before him wearing a white-golden gown, a golden sash, and gold sandals laced up to his knees. Lightning-like light radiated from the man’s face, making his features impossible to discern.
John knew this was Jesus. His voice was deep and authoritative. He spoke a single command: “You must tell them there is no death.” The phrasing was not a suggestion or request but a direct order. At that moment, John woke up on the operating room table with the medical team staring down at him in relief.
Coming Back: Depression, Purpose, and Sharing the Message
John’s first words upon waking were, “What just happened?” The medical team told him he had been dead for seven minutes and that they had used paddles on his chest to revive him (possibly more than once). The experience had felt like hours to him.
On the drive home with his mother (the surgery had been postponed), John told her everything. She gave him Raymond Moody’s book Life After Life, the only such book available in 1987, and John realized he had been in what Christianity calls heaven, though the beings there called it “the other side” or simply “home.”
John fell into a severe depression for about two months. He did not want to be on Earth and even contemplated suicide because he wanted to return. He eventually realized the hope from his experience was not meant for him alone but was given to him to share with others so they would not fear death.
He came to understand that the happiest day any person will ever experience is their last day on Earth, because it is the day they go home. All pain, trauma, and hurt are left behind and replaced with learning, knowledge, and the person one became.
John volunteered extensively in hospice care, sharing his story with the dying to comfort them. He emphasized that no one ever dies alone; the other side always sends someone to guide the departing soul home.
Core Teachings from the Experience
There is no death. The transition from Earth to the other side is a homecoming, not an ending. Souls are eternal.
Earth is exceptionally difficult. Among the trillions of worlds in the universe, Earth is considered one of the hardest places to incarnate. Coming here is an act of courage, and simply being here is already a success.
God is unconditional love. John described God’s love as analogous to the love a parent feels for a child, but infinitely greater. There is no hell; hell was created by humanity, not God. God gave all souls free will and knows that even those who choose darker paths will eventually choose the light.
Success is measured differently on the other side. Earth measures success by possessions and wealth; the other side measures it by who you helped, who you became, and whether you lived a kind life.
The life review is the soul’s greatest teacher. Every action and its impact on others is felt fully, producing profound understanding and growth.
Religion was invented by humanity, not God. Every religion contains some truth, but no single religion contains all the truth. On the other side, there is no separation by religious affiliation.
Souls are stewards, not owners, of their children. John described his parenting philosophy as understanding that his children belong to God, not to him, and that each soul comes to Earth for its own reasons and experiences.
The other side is a paradise of activity and learning. Souls there hike, swim, attend music festivals, take classes, study history, and pursue what they love without the burden of paying bills or surviving. Everyone has a body that looks like their earthly form, appearing in their 30s, though they can shift appearance at will.
Skepticism, Memory, and Hypnotherapy
John addressed skeptics who might argue that his experience simply reflected his existing interests and knowledge. He noted he had never studied Greek or Roman architecture, art history, or libraries before his NDE, had not yet attended college, and had no prior knowledge of concepts like spirit guides, soulmates, or past lives. Everything shown to him was entirely new.
His memory of the experience has remained perfectly vivid since 1987, in stark contrast to his ordinary memory, which he describes as very poor. He believes the clarity of the memory was given intentionally so he could share the experience accurately.
Two months after his NDE, John visited a hypnotherapist to test whether past lives were real. Under hypnosis, he accessed three different lifetimes, confirming for him that his entire experience was genuine. He has practiced hypnotherapy since earning his certification in 1989.
John does not claim any special psychic abilities from his experience (no precognition, aura-reading, or telepathy). He believes his “gift” is the memory itself and the ability to serve as a conduit of hope for others.
God, the Universe, and Other Life Forms
John described God as the most extraordinary feeling of love imaginable, like holding one’s child for the first time but infinitely greater. He is uncertain whether the being he met as Jesus is God himself or a part of God that interacts with humanity.
He acknowledged the possibility that each of the trillions of worlds in the universe may have its own “other side” or that all souls may return to the same orientation center he visited. He does not know the answer.
Regarding extraterrestrial life, John confirmed that there are civilizations both more and less advanced than Earth, and that most are very spiritual. Earth is considered the hardest of all planets. His wife had a dream in which she visited another planet and encountered an alien who told her, “Thought is all. Choose yours.”
John believes people on the other side can hear the living when spoken to, and that communication often comes through dreams. He regularly speaks to his deceased parents and believes they can hear him.
Where to Find John
John’s website is johnjddavisnde.com, where people can read more about his experience and see images of the places he described.
