The problem of life after death philosophy. Essay: Life after death

The problem of life and death is connected with the experiences of a person of his own stay in the world. The dual (biological and social) nature of a person determines that he is born, as it were, twice. At the beginning as a biological being (individual), and then as a social being (personality). Therefore, philosophers and death are considered not only as a natural, but also as a social phenomenon.

Death generally means the natural end of every living being. However, unlike other living beings, man is aware of his mortality. At the same time, the awareness or comprehension of death occurs in different ways. The question of death becomes for a person the subject of his spiritual dimension, personal and religious experience associated with such existentials as fear, love, faith, hope, guilt, etc.

The ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus, on the contrary, called for moderate enjoyment of life, without fear of death. He argued that death has nothing to do with us: when we live, then there is no death yet, and when death has come, then we are no more.

And according to the teachings of the French philosopher Montaigne, in order to overcome the fear of death or to endure it more easily, one must get used to it, thinking about it constantly. Focusing on the problem of death stimulates the search for the meaning of life, which makes death less scary, because finding the meaning of life, a person goes (theoretically) beyond its boundaries.

An example of a calm and wise attitude to the problem of life and death can be the words of the Indian philosopher Mahatma Gandhi: “We do not know what is better - to live or die. Therefore, we should not overly admire life, nor tremble at the thought of death. We must treat both of them equally. This is an ideal option.” The problem of life and death is philosophically connected with the idea of ​​gaining immortality. As compensation for the fear of death, a dream was born of people about an immortal soul, remaining after the decomposition of the body and moving into other beings or gaining eternal life in God, in hell or in paradise. The real immortality of a person, according to many thinkers, is that a person dies physically, but does not die socially, spiritually. He remains in his affairs, children, the results of creativity, the memory of people.

The meaning of life is not given to man from outside. He must be found. The very search for meaning makes life meaningful. In philosophy, there are various concepts of the meaning of life:

    Hedonism (to live is to enjoy).

    Asceticism (to live means to renounce the world, torturing the flesh for the sake of atonement for sins, etc.).

    Eudemonism (to live means to strive for happiness as a person's destiny).

    Ethics of duty (to live means to sacrifice oneself in the name of serving the ideal).

    Utilitarianism (to live means to benefit from everything).

    Pragmatism (to live means to strive for success, following the principle “the end justifies the means”).

The meaning of life is a personal choice of each individual. It consists in the self-realization of the potential of the individual, in the choice not only of values ​​generally accepted in society, but also those that are determined by the individual qualities of a person, his personal life.

The complex nature of man, his transcending dual essence is distinguished by an extraordinary variety of forms of specific being. In philosophical anthropology it is customary to call them categories of being, modes or phenomena. In order to streamline them and study the specifics of human existence, the forms of human existence can be divided into phenomena and epiphenomena. Phenomena are characterized by an appeal, an intention to the metaphysical, and epiphenomena - to the empirical in man. In principle, any characteristic of a person has ambivalence, any epiphenomenon can become a phenomenon and vice versa. From this follows many philosophical doctrines of the phenomenality of man. There are also cultural anthropology, phenomena are a special subject of literature, cinema, etc. However, for philosophy, the analysis of basic, fundamental phenomena or categories, forms of human existence is of interest. These include: Death, the meaning of life, Love, Happiness, Game, faith, work, creativity

Each person, sooner or later, thinks about the finiteness of his individual existence. Man is the only being who is aware of his mortality and makes it the subject of reflection. The highest value for a person is life, but life ends with death. Therefore, it is often said that a person is born and lives to die, that life is a preparation for death, that philosophy is the teaching of how best to prepare for death. At the same time, death needs philosophy. “The solution to the question of the meaning of life inevitably implies the need to determine the appropriate status of death. In the face of the global inevitability and randomness of death, life seems to lose all meaning. If death is the natural end of all life, then perhaps it is precisely this that constitutes the most deep meaning existence, making absurd any human claims to oppose it with something higher and more absolute. Man is the only being who "knows about death." The whole logic of the human attitude to death in the history of culture and philosophy followed the path of its peculiar overcoming. This idea was expressed most radically in philosophy by Epicurus, declaring that there is nothing to be afraid of what is not, because as long as we exist, then there is no death, and when it is, then we are no longer there.

For the whole of classical culture, death appears as transition to some other state of life, that death is an essential but short-lived episode in the eternal dynamics of life. AT non-classical philosophy death loses the meaning of "transition", but begins to be perceived as a real "departure", the end and completion of life. The classical scheme is reversed exactly the opposite: if earlier the projection of human existence unfolded in sequence from life through death to a new life, then here the path flows from death (non-existence) through life to death.


It is significant that despite a certain rehabilitation of death in modern philosophy, at the level of general cultural realities today, in a new perspective, is reproduced death repression practice. In fact, the main pathos of the development of personality and culture is subject to the unthinkable task of conquering death through labor, love, power, etc., to expand the boundaries of life, human dignity and freedom.”

A person's awareness of his mortality forces him to think about how to build his earthly life and what awaits us after death. And this is the problem the meaning of life person.

There is no single answer to the question of the meaning of life. These answers depend on spirituality or lack of spirituality. The spirituality of a person is his diligence, commitment to kindness, love, mercy, conscience, beauty, freedom, honor, the desire for knowledge, for truth. Lack of spirituality is ignorance, malice, base motives, cynicism, aggressiveness, cruelty, savagery, reducing oneself to the level of an animal state. Accordingly, one of the answers to the question is as follows. Human life ends with death, death is a transition into non-existence, into nothingness. But a person can provide immortality. Biological immortality - in children, grandchildren, procreation, and as long as a person is remembered, he is alive in the memory of his descendants. They say that life is not lived in vain if you gave birth to a son. Social immortality is the contribution that a person has made to the development of spiritual or material culture, and every person can make such a contribution: who grows bread, who creates machines, who develops science, art, teaches children, etc. The abilities of people are not the same, so their contribution will not be equal. Some prominent people their work immortalized their name for centuries. But they say that life is not lived in vain if you plant a tree or build a house. Thus, the meaning of life, the value of life is found in life itself. Such an understanding of the meaning of life requires high spirituality.

The content of another answer to our question can be stated as follows. A person's life ends with death, but death is not a departure into oblivion, it is the beginning of a new life, because a person consists of a mortal body and immortal soul, mind. After the death of a person, his soul moves to the supernatural world, the mind unites with the "absolute mind". Earth life man is preparing for eternal life, man is immortal as a person. But in order to achieve such immortality, a person in earthly life must also strive for high spirituality and, above all, be virtuous, do good to himself, people, and society.

But there is also such an understanding of the meaning of life: it consists in getting as much pleasure as possible in this life at any cost, because there will be no other life; in this case, the distinctions between good and evil, truth and falsehood, justice and injustice lose their meaning; whatever you want is allowed. There is also such an opinion: since death is ahead, then life has no meaning. We hear such answers from unspiritual people.

Human progress requires humane understanding of the meaning of life. It is contained in the first two answers to this question. In general, this is the conviction that life should be devoted to creating conditions for the normal reproduction of generations, serving people, enjoying communication with them, enjoying nature, health, friendship, love, reason, creativity.

Literature:

Kalmykov V.N. Fundamentals of Philosophy: Textbook. Benefit. -Mn: Vysh. school, 2000. Sec. 5.

The problem of man in philosophy and science // Philosophy. - Mn., RIVSH. 2005, pp. 91-124.

Deep reading:

Bueva L.P. Man, culture and education in a crisis society // Philosophy of education. -M., 1996. S. 76-89.

Krapivensky S.E. social philosophy. -M.: Vlados. 1998. Ch. 2, 12, 14.

Demidov A.B. phenomena human being. - Mn., 1997.

Culturology. XX century. Dictionary. - St. Petersburg, 1997.

Markov B.V. Philosophical Anthropology: Essays on History and Theory. - St. Petersburg: Lan, 1997.

Multidimensional image of a person. M., 2001.

Philosophy: Textbook. -M.:TON, 1997. S.284-306, 362-406.

Philosophy: A textbook for universities. - Rostov-on-Don, "Phoenix", 1995. Ch.5.

Reale J., Antiseri D. Western philosophy from its origins to the present day. T.4.-SPb., 1996.

Philosophical ideas of our time // Philosophy: Textbook \ Under the editorship of Gubin V.D.-M., 2004

Ersh J. Philasophical thought. -Mn., 1996.

Gaidenko P.P. The problem of rationality at the end of the twentieth century // VF, 1991, No. 6.

Gurina M. Philosophy: Proc. allowance. -M., 1998. S. 358-389.

Zhukov N.I. The problem of consciousness. -Mn.: Universitetskoe, 1987.

Zinchenko V.P. Worlds of Consciousness and the Structure of Consciousness // Psychology of Consciousness. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2001. S. 149-161.

Zolotukhin-Abolin. Philosophy country. - Rostov-on-Don .: "Phoenix". 1995. S. 26-45, 508-528.

Fundamentals of modern philosophy. St. Petersburg: Lan, 1999, part 4, pp. 188-260.

The problem of consciousness in modern Western philosophy. M., 1989. S.5-14.

Rachkov V.L. General theory consciousness. -M., 2000.

Consciousness in the socio-cultural dimension. -M, 1990.

Stereotypes and dynamics of thinking. -Mn.: Science and technology, 1993.

Is there life after death?

Albert Camus said: "Life is the sum of all your choices." After all, nothing is erased and does not pass without a trace, but everything, even every thought, has consequences. This is what shapes our lives. Many, in case of failure, are accustomed to shifting the blame on fate. But what does it have to do with it, when we ourselves made our choice? One day, turning the wrong way, choosing the wrong one, we led our lives into a void. But what if our decisions have consequences not only here, but also after death? What if, after death, what awaits us is not emptiness, as many believe, but eternal life? What if we have to answer for everything we have done?

How many times, at a funeral, have you heard the phrase: "This person has suffered enough, he is now better," or: "This person is now resting quietly and will never suffer ... Eternal memory to him." But is it? What awaits us after death? Eternal life or emptiness? Freedom or eternal imprisonment in an empty coffin?

What is death like? And why do we all avoid this topic so much? When faced with death in any form, we inevitably face the prospect of our own. We understand that this is not something abstract, but a very real thing that can overtake us at any moment. The thought that haunts in such a case is: "This will happen to me." Therefore, in order to save ourselves from such experiences, we decide to simply avoid such conversations as much as possible. Another reason is that people prefer to talk about things that they are familiar with, in which they understand. While death is something that lies beyond our experience, because most of us have never experienced it.

Perhaps that is why we try to compare death with things that we are familiar with from our daily experience and that seem very acceptable to us. For example, many people think that it is like a dreamless sleep. He closed his eyes, fell asleep, and nothing more. Dark. So Plato said: "And if death is the absence of any sensation, something like sleep, when the sleeper sees no further dreams, then it would be surprisingly beneficial." Only the dream will end in the morning, and death is forever. After all, that's why we love it so much, that there will be an awakening behind it: a new day, new opportunities, a new life. If there was no awakening, all the benefits of sleep simply would not exist. Thus, on closer examination, such a comparison is not so adequate as to give us real comfort or hope in the face of death.

There is another point of view, which claims that death is not the end, but rather the opposite, the beginning of something new. According to this thought, the soul continues to live even after the physical body ceases to exist. That is, death is life after life. Different religions Christianity, for example, imagines this life in different ways as the life of the soul without a body, but they all agree that a person has not only this life, but also that other world. Death, on the other hand, is a transition from this life to that one, i.e. again, the moment when one life ends and another begins.

Many people think: “And what is it then preparing for? We don’t know for sure, which means that nothing depends on us. The time will come - we will die. And while we are still living, we need to take everything from life: eat, drink, love, seek power, go on the heads, etc. You should not think about what will happen next. Unfortunately, many do just that.

But still, each of us sometimes comes up with the thought: "What if death is not the end? What if after death I can see, hear, feel, think?". And most importantly: "What if my life there depends on my actions here?"

Do I believe in life after death? Of course I do, but how else? I don’t know, maybe my opinion was formed by faith, but I can’t imagine how you can think that there is no afterlife. How to live and know that after death - just emptiness? Then what is the point of our existence? It seems to me that death is not what many imagine it to be. And all of us, at the hour of death, will have to see and experience a lot for which we are not prepared.

Probably everyone has heard about the facts of clinical death and the experiences that a person experiences. If we make up all the stories, then in most cases, we will get a general picture of what a person experiences when separated from the body. They hear the doctor declare them dead. Then, they see themselves - a lifeless body lying below, without a single sign of life. First comes the shock, and then the realization that they, as before, can hear, see, feel, think - nothing has changed, only something like freedom, relief and even peace appears.

In most cases, in this state, the soul returns to its body. But sometimes the journey of the soul continues. Many say they felt like they were moving through a dark tunnel. After that, some fell into a world of indescribable beauty, and were in a state of perfect joy, where they met relatives who had died earlier. Others saw a very bright light and met with a bright being, arguing later that it was either Jesus Christ or his angel, from whom love, kindness and peace emanated. But both of them claim that they have never experienced such feelings on earth. Their possibilities were limitless and supernatural. There they experienced neither hunger, nor thirst, nor any pain.

Here is one of the descriptions of this state: “I knew that I was dying,” said another person, “but I could not do anything to report it, since no one heard me. I was outside my body - this is undoubtedly because I I saw my body there on the table in the operating room. My soul went out of the body. So I felt lost, but then this special light shone. At first it was somewhat dim, and then shone with a very bright beam. I felt warm from it. The light covered everything, but it did not prevent me from seeing the operating room, and the doctors and nurses and everything. At first I did not understand what was happening, but then a voice from the light asked me if I was ready to die. He spoke like a man, but there was no one "It was the Light who asked. Now I understand that He knew that I was not yet ready for death, but as if he was testing me. From the moment the Light began to speak, I felt very good; I felt that I was safe, and that He loves me. The love that came from the Light was unimaginable, indescribable"

Many, while still in the tunnel, saw their whole life, starting from childhood, remembering their past and giving an assessment to all their actions.

Here is how one person described such a view of his life: “I felt myself out of my body and hovering above the building, and I saw my body lying below. Then light surrounded me on all sides, and in it I saw, as it were, a moving vision, in which showed my whole life. I felt incredibly ashamed, because much of this I had previously considered normal and justified, but now I understood that it was bad. Everything was extremely real. I felt that judgment was taking place on me and some kind of higher the mind guides me and helps me see.What struck me most was that he showed me not only what I did, but also how my deeds affected other people.Then I realized that nothing is erased and does not pass without a trace but everything, even every thought, has consequences"

But there are other stories in which people describe gloomy places in which they see disgusting and terrible creatures. They constantly heard terrible screams, groans and cries there. The air there was filled with stench. Many describe this state as a place of terrible suffering, unbearable pain and eternal sorrow.

"Once, Thomas Welch told how, while working, he slipped, fell into the river and was crushed by huge logs. It took the workers more than an hour to find his body and get it out from under the logs. Seeing no signs of life in him, they considered him dead "Thomas himself, in a state of his temporary death, found himself on the shores of an immense fiery ocean. From the sight of the rushing waves of burning sulfur, he was stunned with horror. It was hellfire, which cannot be described human words. Right there, on the bank of hellfire, he recognized several familiar faces who had died before him. They all stood in a daze of horror, looking at the rolling fire shafts. Thomas understood that there was no way to leave here. He began to regret that earlier he cared little about his salvation. Oh, if he knew what was waiting for him, he would live very differently.

At this time, he noticed someone walking in the distance. The stranger's face displayed great strength and kindness. Thomas immediately realized that it was the Lord and that only He could save his soul, doomed to hell. Thomas began to hope that the Lord would notice him. But the Lord walked by, looking somewhere into the distance. "He's about to hide, and then it's all over," Thomas thought. Suddenly the Lord turned His face and looked at Thomas. This is all that was needed - just one look from the Lord! In an instant, Thomas was in his body and came to life. Even before he had time to open his eyes, he clearly heard the prayers of the workers standing around. Many years later, Thomas remembered everything that he saw "there" in all the smallest details. This incident was impossible to forget."

Separate feelings are experienced by suicides. Indeed, it is not in vain to say that of all crimes, perhaps the most terrible and difficult is suicide. They occur for various reasons: the death of a loved one, the loss of a large amount of money, the intolerance of ridicule, loneliness, and so on. Many, in this case, write that "they are tired of life", that "there is no more sense" and the like. They lay hands on themselves to end the suffering, but it turns out, there, everything is just beginning. After all, one of the main rules in any faith is "Thou shalt not kill." And suicide is the deprivation of oneself of life, the life that God gave.

One suicide described what was happening to him this way: “When I got there, I realized that two things are absolutely forbidden: to kill myself and kill another person. the life of another person would mean violating God's plan for him"

Not all people who have experienced temporary death experience something similar. Most people just don't remember anything. Some psychologists explain this fact as follows: "Some visions are so terrible that the subconscious of people who see them automatically erases these pictures from memory." In addition, people will be much more willing to talk about bright visions than about nightmares. After all, what a person sees there is the result of his actions during his lifetime. And who wants to admit that he is so terrible that he deserves hell?

Whatever it was, but more than 90% of survivors of clinical death decide to change their lives. When they return, they try to live better. They begin to believe in God, change their lifestyle, set other priorities, become more serious. Some give up everything they used to live, what they considered important and go to help those in need. After all, they already know what awaits them there.

"I didn't tell anyone about what I experienced at the moment of my death, but when I came back to life, I was disturbed by one burning and all-consuming desire to do something good for others. I was so ashamed of myself." When I returned, I decided that I needed to change. I felt remorse, and my past life did not satisfy me at all. I decided to start a completely different lifestyle."

Many people think that it simply does not concern them. That they are still too young, that they did not have time to build a family, have children, earn their first million, and so on. But death knows no difference in age, race or social status. Death is an integral part of life, it is something that happens to each of us. You can walk down the street, make plans for the future - but a car suddenly drove around the corner, or a heart attack - destroys everything. And there, it will not matter where you work, how many children you have, what you were going to do, but did not have time. Only your actions, your words, your thoughts will be important. Only they will make sense.

Do you believe in eternal life? I don't know about you, but I believe. I believe in heaven and I believe in hell. I believe that after death everyone will get what they deserve. I believe that everyone will serve eternal life where he should be. And in general, I believe that every person on earth believes in this. It's just that someone doesn't have the courage to admit it to themselves. After all, it is much more convenient and pleasant to think that hell does not exist. Than to admit that you are leading your life into the abyss, by leaps and bounds. Not? Hmm, well then why are people so afraid of death, why do they cling to life so much? Yes, because everyone, at least a few times, asked themselves the question: "But what if heaven and hell exist, where will I go in this case?"

life death clinical death

Literature

  • 1. Plato in the dialogue "Apology"
  • 2. Raymond Moody. Life after life
  • 3. Raymond Moody. Life after life
  • 4. Bishop Alexander. Life after death
  • 5. Melvin Morse. Closer to the light
  • 6. Raymond Moody. Reflections on life after life

… The emptiness of the world is the beginning of the touch of its core. On the surface air ends and the surface itself ends. The subtle sweetness of the core, and the core is a shift into the Infinite. To see from the void, having reached the end of thought. There is "that" which is beyond thought. Thought is always a boundary, always a struggle and a contradiction. Thought is movement equal to zero. The visible world is an illusion of form. Why an illusion, because the form at every moment is not equal to itself. It is always a covering, but not even as a consequence. Dogmas, stencils and stereotypes are the nourishment of the form.

To keep the consciousness within the limits of the form is to extinguish it. Thought can only outline, but, how not to think over the reality. From the point of lack of connection with anyone, anything, the Presence is born as the freedom to create.

Freedom is based where the alternation ends, the change of being and non-being. And, of course, freedom is the end of a thought bound by reason.

In the beginning, there was unbearable fatigue arising from “quantum jumps” of consciousness, immobility with the insinuating exultation of the Transition, with its smell and sound… beyond the threshold of soundlessness.

Was it worth getting involved in this world, overgrowing it, in order to break out of it, in order to come to only one thing - a break with it, an exit from it.
That which changes ceases to be itself - is not life!
But life is not immutability. It does not open in the space-time categories. I stopped worrying about everything that was on my lips.

Pain and joy cease to excite me, because the inner “I” does not suffer and does not experience opposites, it is OUTSIDE of this, not above this, but OUTSIDE. Likewise, the opinions of narrow-minded fans from the movements of "light", the warm-water mob of "collective squalor that does not break off from the roofs", no longer plow the surface of my perception. It has long been said about such people: “If you are not cold and not hot, then I will vomit you out of My mouth.”

Strangely, our existence is limited to only one planet, enclosed within the evolution of thought, and does not reach the Whole in any way.
It has long been said that our material form does not fully correspond to the tasks of evolution, the spirit cannot be fully realized in it. But all isolation is disintegration and denial. We got into the whirlpool of monsters of our own thought forms. We are fatally dependent on matter. And fatigue from this life is a foreshadowing of awakening.
We are “victims” of the influence of the worlds on us only because we passively register the fact of their influence and do not know how to consciously interact with them.

The secret of life is only in the relations between the Worlds. And the development of our astronomy, astrology and parapsychology is only the fact of our turning our backs on the Universe. But our true, inner Self is created from the composition of the Whole - the Metagalactic interdimensional structure. The mistake is that we cognize the Universe only in relation to the form, but not from the authenticity of its own quality, contained in ourselves. The immeasurable Unity of the Universe is the Lord.

Get rid of the visible - touch the irresistible breath of life. And when you begin to feel it in everything unknown, interlimiting, bordering on the death of form, quality, then all the usual actions are incredibly difficult. Then the pillars of physical light will be incredible pounds of screening veil.

We are incomparably poor in relation to the Universe. We are constantly looking for new possibilities of matter, while we only need to learn to get rid of it, to move from physical existence to psycho-spiritual.

Live disidentified with your own physical body. Live like cosmic fires.

But all spiritual appearances on the physical plane are a dream, a complete opposite or reverse reflection of the manifestations of the Spirit.

Most of those who are active on this plane are no longer on that plane!
Their inversely proportional activity here blocked their paths of evolution there. They have broken the fluid connection with the Soul - the inner Image-design of the Spirit and live, sometimes very "successfully" (in the material sense, of course) as a biological substance, form or clot, a patch of matter. But everything that does not have the conductivity or transparency of the Unity is dirt or slag, and must be removed from the system of the Whole.
Well, what can you do if I'm not interested in the relationship of wives and husbands, fathers and children, people and animals, but interesting, that is. relations are real only with one's inner self, with its darkness, more transparent than dense light. These relations are the only ones NOT conditioned by anything, because they are unconditional, and are not limited by the thought-reason of the form. And these Relationships are the irresistible ESSENCE of life.

Yes, my Soul is no longer responsible for the personality, because it is impossible to be responsible for what is already NOT!

This world is still mechanically revolving around the Sun, but has already decayed in the captivity of form. The lot has become scarce. The world is moving towards Pralaya. But the inertia of form also ends. Radical changes in consciousness are not yet action. Only the unconscious is connected or one with the Superconscient.

The outer world ends for those who have become the Soul.

This phase of human evolution - as the lowest point of "diving" - meets with pre-life. The plasticity and harmony of internal spaces shuns everything external. Responding to the “reality” of the day is NOT to be! Because it's turned inside out. I want Existence, BEING, but not the POISON of fluidity!

The only Reality on Earth is Shambhala! (Because it is neutral with respect to us: the lunatic asylum of the end of the Kali Yuga, which dragged on, however.) And the invulnerable authenticity of the liberated intuition, standing on the paradoxes of Novelty.

No, God has never been here yet, for He is the manifested humanity, about which we still know nothing, because we are not, for to be him is not to be external. But all the time, external shadow people….

Something within us is likened to the cosmic Fire, which invariably destroys us for the purposes of the second Birth.

There is only one will - the will of the inner Self - the true one, it is illogical, it looks at us from the mirror, everything else is temporary. This will is realized as self-knowledge, which is not consciousness or knowledge. This is the non-verbal sweetness of the Source, accessible to the one unity of the Soul. It is not measurable and fundamentally consistent, because irreplaceable by anything.

Self-knowledge equals not-knowing. Self-consciousness, unequal to awareness.

But only indecomposable, impersonal quality, not endowed with attributes, free from polarities. Only non-movement, non-action brings closer to it - the reality of the Essence. The essence of "I" is reality, everything else is decay.

What an unbearable pity that we understand only the familiar and only what is contained within the boundaries of thinking. But we think only in terms of boundaries. Stencil thinking in its essence is monotony, uniformity of its very, thinking, mechanism. The whole mental process of Homo sapiens is only a repeatedly mediated semi-analogy of reality, the sum of our mechanical ideas about the world. But the world is not what we think of it.

So, I tend to listen only to the inner "I" - and this is true communication, everything else is foam on the water. And this is not isolation, but opening into the only real, true and ONE world. There are no concepts in it: “I” - “not-I”, because this is the end of thought. The eternally existing does not include the concept of "one" and "all", concrete and universal, individual and conciliar, temporal and a priori, it is GIVEN, a GIVEN. And givenness is higher than any unity, because it does not know diversity. Everything and nothing are one and the same. The given knows no effort. Effort leads to addiction. In relation to it, we are the opposite reflection. The path to it is the path of paradoxes. After Zen, only J. Krishnamurti adequately expressed it; expressed it in words. And this GIVEN is spontaneous. When Krishnamurti declared that "life is transcendental spontaneity," he revealed the very basis and law of life.

Something is generated with the help of something, but it is not equal to the impulse from which it was repelled.

All physical actions are equal to ZERO, but peace is only equal to MOVEMENT, because, starting from it, we reach the inner Self, free from polarities: movement-non-movement. "Reality is the Void, but it is not empty."

Silence shortens the distance. There is one freedom - freedom from the role. The role is again generated by thinking.

God is the negation of God. For each subsequent is not already the previous one.

Any society or organization is already a crystallization of life or ideas - isolation from life and violence against the life principle. And every teaching is a distance from the Truth. For the Truth cannot be TEACHED! All stories are NOT about Her!

Stop talking about what you're becoming.

Only internally “I” is co-naturally with Her. Truth is his habitat. But only in this case, on the inner planes, the environment and "I" are merged and mutually dissolved by their own impulse. It turns out that real life- this is life from the opposite, it does NOT come from consciousness, it is not conditioned by reason and consciousness, it does not know even the shadow of violence. Does not tolerate conventions and literalness. But there is a jump into the Abyss and it requires courage from us.

But there is no choice: "If you want to know God, know yourself." And then the words of the Prince of Denmark will be fulfilled: “and he turned his eyes with pupils into the soul, and there it is dark”, or - shallowly, because “there is a soul - a dessert plate: everything is empty, smooth, clean and small.” And most importantly, such souls, or little souls, always know what is good and what is bad, what is right and what is not right, what is possible and what is not, for they are warm, gray - “in a world where the blackest is SER”!

…or maybe abandon the path of incarnations altogether, then the Givenness will come… .

FEDERAL AGENCY FOR EDUCATION

STAVROPOL STATE UNIVERSITY

Life after life. Scientific and mythological aspects

Completed by a 2nd year student

MBHF dep. "Chemistry"

Bogatko Maya Alexandrovna

Stavropol 2010

Introduction

1. Mythological ideas about "life after life"

1.1 General representations of cultures

1.2 Celtic mythology

1.3 Shamanic and Roman myths

1.4 Egyptian mythology

1.5 Myths of the Russian people

2. Scientific aspect of "life after life":

2.1 Eight proofs for the existence of the soul and its immortality

2.2 Prof. A.V. Gnezdilov that death is not the end of life

2.3 General information collected through scientific research

2.4 Michael Newton's research into hypnotherapy

Bibliography


Introduction

Life after death is of the greatest interest to all, and not so much because each of us must inevitably die in his own time, but because all of us, with the exception of perhaps the youngest, have had to bury people dear to us. In view of this, all information concerning the afterlife should undoubtedly be of interest to every person. The first thought should be reduced to the question: can there be true information about the afterlife existence at all?

There are many theories developed by various religious systems, and meanwhile, even the most orthodox followers of these religions hardly believe in them, because most of them still speak of death as something "terrible" and see in it some kind of that terrible secret.

What is death like? Humanity has been asking this question since its inception. With some caution, I can say that this topic is perhaps the most serious attitude in all people, regardless of their emotional type or belonging to one or another social group.

However, despite this interest, there is no doubt that it is very difficult for most of us to talk about death. This is due to at least two reasons. One of them is mainly psychological or cultural in nature. The very topic of death is taboo. We feel, at least subconsciously, that when confronted with death in any form, even indirectly, we inevitably face the prospect of our own death, the picture of our death, as it were, approaches us and becomes more real and conceivable.

Talking about death from a psychological point of view can be seen as an indirect approach to death, only on a different level. Undoubtedly, many people perceive any talk of death as something that causes in their minds an image of death so real that they begin to feel closeness. own demise. To save themselves from such psychological trauma, they decide to simply avoid such conversations as much as possible.

Another reason why it is difficult to talk about death is somewhat more complicated, because it is rooted in the very nature of our language. Basically, the words that make up human language refer to things that we know about through our physical sensations, while death is something that lies beyond our conscious experience, because most of us have never experienced it.

Based on this fear, a person tries to explain death as a transitional form of the soul from one state to another. The very theme of immortality always arouses interest, the search for the Philosopher's Stone and the Nectar of immortality overshadowed the minds of many scientists and thinkers throughout history. So, is it possible to give a reasonable answer to the question: "Is there life after death?".


1. MYTHOLOGICAL REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT "LIFE AFTER LIFE"

1.1 General representations of cultures

THE UPPER AND LOWER WORLDS. In the mythological model of the world, one of the main oppositions (along with right and left, male and female, day and night, good and evil, etc.), which correlates with the main elements (elements) of the universe.

The lower earthly world of people is opposed to the heavenly world of gods and spirits and, already as the upper world, to the underworld, the afterlife, as well as the water element, the primary ocean, on which the earth rests: thus, in the myths of the Ainu, deities are called pamui (“one who covers”), the earth is Kanna mosiri (“upper world”), under it is the netherworld Teine, connected with the water element, the mosiri bow. Cosmogonic myths are characterized by motifs of raising the sky above the earth (or the earth from the bottom of the primary ocean. Movements from the upper world to the lower one and vice versa form the basis of numerous mythological motifs: gods (cultural heroes) descend to earth along the world tree).

The inversion of the properties of the upper, heavenly or earthly world marks belonging to the lower, hostile to people and gods, the average common idea of ​​the afterlife, in which the dead walk upside down (sorcerers also move in African beliefs).

According to biblical tradition, demons led by Satan were cast down from heaven to the underworld (this is the origin of evil spirits on earth). Accordingly, in eschatological myths, the demons and the dead of the underworld rise up against heaven and the world of people, on the day of the death of the world, the top and bottom change places. The reversal of the relationship between top and bottom, associated with mythologized characters such as carnival or carnival, ritual modeling of chaos, carnival (mummers) images of death, evil spirits, etc., were called upon during calendar holidays to contribute to the strengthening of cosmic order.

The central figure of Shamanic myths is a shaman who mediates between people and spirits. He has special helper spirits at his disposal, often in the form of birds, fish or land animals, symbols of various spheres of the universe. Shamanic cosmologies are characterized by a three-term division of the universe into the upper, middle and lower worlds, each of which is divided into several tiers. These worlds are connected by a world tree or a cosmic river: its source corresponds to the upper world, and its mouth corresponds to the lower one, located in the north.

The positive, light beginning is identified with the top, the sky and the south, and the negative, dark one is identified with the bottom, the world of the dead and the north. The upper world is inhabited by good spirits and deities (often led by the supreme deity), the underworld - by harmful ones, as well as the souls of the dead, the middle world - by people and master spirits.

ROMANS: The Romans in ancient times did not have such well-defined ideas about the afterlife, which the Greeks had. Ideas about the kingdom of Dis (Dis pater), or Pluto (Hades), and his wife Proserpina (Persephone) were brought to Rome from Greece. In ancient times, the Roman believed that the goddess of death Mors takes away the life of a dying person, the god Tsekul closes his eyes, and the god Viduus wrests the soul from the body. The gods of Anna (di manes) receive the deceased in the grave. These gods were sacrificed during burial at the grave. The Roman honored his dead ancestors as the gods (di parentum), keeping his house together with the penates and lares, and celebrated festivities in their honor in the month of February. Thanatos (Tanat) is the god of death. Unlike his brother Hypnos, he brought mortals a cruel and eternal sleep - death. Depicted with huge black wings, with a sword in his hands and in a black cloak. Tanat flew to the bed of the dying man and cut off a strand of hair from his head with a sword in order to tear out his soul.

1.4 Egyptian mythology

That (Jhuti) is one of the oldest Egyptian gods. He began to be depicted in the guise of a man with the head of an ibis, his sacred bird; less often - in the form of a baboon. He compiled a code of laws of Upper and Lower Egypt; he is an indispensable participant in any court. In the Underworld at the Judgment of Osiris, Thoth writes down the verdicts of the Court. The silver boat of Thoth - the Moon - transports the souls of the dead through the night sky to the other world - beyond the horizon.

The most detailed information about the Underworld and the underground journey of Ra in the Boat of Eternity is contained - along with the "Book of Day and Night" and "The Book of Gates. Here Ra is represented as floating in the Boat.

Resurrection and journey through the Duat

An amulet depicting a scarab was placed on the heart of the deceased - this ensured the resurrection. Numerous amulets were wrapped in mummies, laid out in a coffin and installed in the tomb, in the burial chamber. To prevent the deceased from suffocating in the Duat, where there is no air, wooden figures of Shu were also placed in the coffin.

All the earthly gods associated with childbearing took part in the resurrection of the deceased: Isis, Hathor, Renenut, Bes, Taurt, Meshent, Heket and others; in addition, the amulets of the Eye of Wadjet contributed to the second birth.

Having resurrected, the Egyptian found himself in front of the first gate of the "House of Osiris-Heptiamenti", which was guarded by a guard named "He who watches the fire." There was also a gatekeeper - "The Goth, who bows his face to the earth, [having] many forms", as well as the herald - "The voicing".

Having passed the first gate, the deceased met two winding paths separated by a lake of fire.

In order to facilitate the journey of the deceased, the gods created arits in the Duat - havens where one could rest and gain strength. But not everyone could enter such an arit, but only those who knew the magic words and the names of the demons that stand guard at the entrance. Having passed all the gates and leaving fourteen hills behind, the deceased reached the Great Hall of the Two Truths.

Before crossing the threshold of the Great Hall, the deceased turned to the gods, pronouncing the “Confession of Denial”. The goddess of good fortune, Renenut, and the soul of Ba of the deceased Egyptian. They testified to the character of the deceased and told the gods what good and bad deeds he had done in life. Isis, Nephthys, Selket and Nut defended the deceased before the judges. After that, the gods began to weigh the heart on the Scales of Truth: they put the heart on one bowl, and the feather of the goddess Maat on the other. If the arrow of the scales deviated, the deceased was considered a sinner, but if the scales remained in balance, the deceased was recognized as justified.

The deceased kissed the threshold, called it (the threshold) by name, pronounced the names of the guards aloud, and finally entered the Great Hall, where Osiris, the lord of the dead, sat on the path.

This was the end of the Judgment, and the Egyptian went to the place of eternal bliss - to the Fields of Ialu.

In the Fields of Ialu, "Fields of Reeds", the same life awaited the deceased, which he led on earth, only she was happier and better. The deceased did not know a lack of anything. Seven Hathor, Neperi, Nepit, Selket and other deities provided him with food, made his afterlife arable land fertile, bringing a rich harvest, and his livestock fat and prolific. So that the deceased could enjoy the rest and he would not have to work the fields and graze cattle himself, ushabti - wooden or clay figurines of people - were placed in the tomb.

The surviving texts and tomb inscriptions speak exclusively of the acquittals of the Afterlife Court: the Egyptian built and finished the tomb during his lifetime and, of course, depicted himself justified and blissful in the Fields of Ialu. In all texts, the main attention is paid to the external action of the Court - the enumeration of the names of demons and guardians, magic spells. It now seems that for the justification of the deceased, it was enough to know all these names and spells and correctly observe the prescribed rites. The idea of ​​afterlife retribution for sins in the religion of Egypt arose late and was not particularly popular. "The description of various punishments as a result of the Afterlife Judgment is contained in three texts from the time of the New Kingdom: the book "Amduat", in a composition about the Afterlife, which does not have Egyptian name, known in science as the "Book of Gates", and, finally, in the "Book of Caves".

There are various punishments for sins. First of all, this is the deprivation of the deceased burial. Already in the book "Amduat" (XVI century BC) it is said that the drowned, who found a grave in the waters of the Nile, are pulled by deities to the bank of the underground Nile, where they are buried, thus gaining everything necessary for eternal life, but they are not sinners. Similar views can be traced in later compositions. The same book "Amduat" speaks of sinners from whom the eight gods rip off the burial shrouds and expose "enemies sentenced to punishment in the Duat."

Condemned sinners are deprived of everything that is necessary for eternal life, deprived of the warmth and light that the god Ra radiates every night, appearing in the Underworld - light and warmth are intended for the righteous. For sinners, only dark chaos awaits. They are deprived of any possibility of communication with the gods.

A very common punishment for sinners in the Underworld is binding and imprisonment. So, in the "Book of Gates" it is said that the villains are bound from behind in order to be beheaded and cease to exist. "In the Book of Caves, the underworld is described as a prison from which sinners cannot leave. The most terrible punishment for a sinner in the other world was considered the final destruction of everything his beings are not only bodies, but also souls and shadows.The souls of sinners, in the view of the Egyptians, existed independently of the body in an inverted position - upside down; they could not reunite with the body in order to live a full afterlife righteous dead man, and therefore they were faced with complete and final destruction. One of the methods of such destruction was the decapitation of the deceased, as well as burning.


1.5 Myths of the Russian people

SOUL: The Slavs, like all other nations, already in pagan times had the concept of the soul - a certain substance that is inside a person and provides him with life. The souls of unborn people are kept by God, but where exactly is not known. God puts the soul into a person even in the womb, and immediately after that the child begins to move in the mother's body. The ancient Slavs represented the soul as independently creature, which, according to different views, is located in a person in the heart, in the chest, in the abdomen, in the liver, in the blood, in the throat, under the right arm. During life, the soul is fed by steam from the food that a person eats. When the soul leaves the body forever, the person dies. The body decays in the earth, and the soul, being immortal, moves to the afterlife. Death itself is perceived as the separation of the soul from the body, as the Russian spiritual verse tells:

As the soul parted with the body,

Parted, did not stretch,

It did not stretch, it turned back:

“Forgive me, farewell, the body is white.

How do you, the earth, go to the earth,

And how do you, bones, lie in a coffin,

And how can I, my soul, answer me?

The path of the soul to the "other" world

The death of a person is the transition of the soul from this world, where it was "a guest", to another world - "home", "for eternal life". Many customs are associated with the concept of a coffin as a permanent home for a person: cut a small window on the side of the head of the deceased or put an icon in the corner of the coffin. Unfinished work during life was also placed in the coffin - unwoven bast shoes or untied socks - so that the deceased could finish it behind the coffin. According to ancient ideas, a person continued to lead his ordinary life even after the grave, retained his habits. The period between the death of a person and the hour when his soul finds a new home in the "other" world lasts forty days and is called the transition. For all forty days, she does not belong to either “that” or this world.

According to ancient beliefs that existed among other peoples, the afterlife is separated from the human by a water barrier - a river or sea. Later, under the influence of the book tradition, the ancient pagan ideas about water turned into the idea of ​​a fiery river. It flows around the earth from all sides, so there is no way to avoid it for the righteous or the sinners. In many East Slavic beliefs, Saint Nicholas transports souls across the river to the afterlife. This is told in the Ukrainian legend.

The Lord God sits with the saints at the dinner table, and St. Nicholas is not. Finally, he appears.

Why are you late for dinner? the Lord asks.

I was on the seas, on a ferry - I transported seven hundred souls, - Nikolai answers.

If, according to some ideas, the fiery river separates the world of the dead from the world of the living, then according to others, later, it separates heaven and hell. In a Russian spiritual verse describing the coming of the end of the world, it says:

Then the sinners will be separated from the righteous:

Righteous souls will be taken to the east side

And sinful souls will be taken to the western side.

Between them will flow the fiery river Zion.

In pagan times, they believed in one more way, besides crossing the river, the way to the "other" world - a tree. The tree was considered a temporary refuge for the soul - until the burial of the body. A bird sitting on top of a tree was represented as a soul heading to heaven. In some places they even hung ropes on grave trees to help the soul ascend to heaven.

What happens after the funeral? Most often, they believed that after burial and until the fortieth day, the soul goes through ordeals (torments), after which it comes to God for judgment, where they decide where to place it - in heaven or hell. At this time, the soul is led along various deep ravines, abysses, mountains. Torturing her and showing her her sins and bad deeds. Often the ordeals of the soul are presented as climbing a ladder of nine, twelve or forty steps. On the ninth day after death, the soul is led to God for prostration and shown to her paradise, through which she walks until the twentieth day. On the twentieth day, she again comes to bow to God, and they lead her to show hell, through which she wanders until the fortieth day - the day of God's judgment on the soul, on which He decides where to send her - to heaven or hell. A new soul in the “other” world is met by previously deceased relatives and neighbors. Sometimes dead relatives and friends come right to the bed of the dying person, and he sees them next to him. Here is how it is said in the Polissya bylichka:

I had an aunt across the river. Many of her brothers were buried, but her nephew was also buried. We came to her. She didn’t get up for a long time, but then she got up, drank a cup of tea: “It’s not good,” she says, “the brothers are standing around me, they say: “Dunyushka, get dressed, come with us.” In the morning and died.

Where the soul of a deceased person resides: in the afterlife or in his grave, they imagined differently. In some places, it was believed that the soul flies to the "other" world, and only the perishable body remains in the grave; in others, the souls of the dead dwell in the graves.

HOW AN OTHER WORLD WORKS: the world of the dead and the world of the living in the minds of the people have their permanent features. It's not just two around the world- they are opposite to each other, just as life and death, light and darkness, day and night, space and chaos, white and black, right and left are opposite. The world of the living is a world of order. It has time and calendar. In the other world there is no time, no calendar, no light, no life. Complete silence reigns there - no barking of dogs, cock crows, human voices, ringing of bells are heard. Popular beliefs retained two types of ideas about the "device" underworld: ancient, pagan and later, Christian. According to the first, the world is divided into two parts - the world of the living and the world of the dead, not divided into heaven and hell, that is, the abode of the souls of both the righteous and sinners.

The Christian Church strictly condemns suicides and deprives them of proper burial, since they voluntarily deprived themselves of God-given life. But the church rightly does not consider the one who died as a result of an accident to be guilty. From the point of view of a pagan, death as a result of suicide and death as a result of an accident is equally “wrong” death, because in both cases a person has not lived his life span, which means that he cannot go to another world and becomes a "mortgage" dead man, dangerous to the living.

The oldest Slavic ideas about the other world have been preserved in beliefs about Iria - a mythical underground or overseas country where the souls of the dead fly away. The way there lies through the water, in particular, through the whirlpool, whirlpool. In the fall, birds, insects fly to the iriya, and snakes crawl away, and in the spring they return from there. The keys to the iria are kept by the cuckoo, so she is the first to fly there and the last of the birds returns in the spring, she also carries tired birds on her wings. Ukrainians distinguished bird and snake iry. The bird's iry is located somewhere on warm waters, and the serpentine one is "in the Russian land." Snake Iriy is a large pit located in the forest, where they hibernate, intertwining into one large ball. It was believed that in autumn the cranes carry away sinful souls to Iriy, and in the spring they bring the souls of children from there, who will be born in spring and summer.

There are also different ideas about where “that” light is. According to some beliefs, it is located on the ground (most often not on its edge) and is separated from the world of living people by some natural barriers - impenetrable mountains, deep ravines or rivers. According to others, probably later, paradise is in heaven or on a high mountain, and hell is on earth. Paradise surrounded by a fence, which has a gate. According to some beliefs, you need to climb a steep and impregnable glass (or crystal) mountain as smooth as an egg to the "other" world. It can be easier to do this for someone who, during his lifetime, did not throw away cut nails, but put them in a special bag - after death, the saved nails will grow back, and a person will overcome the mountain without much difficulty.

The entrance to the underworld is guarded by the Serpent. According to the Old Believers, at the end of the world, the apostles Peter and Paul will stand at the gates of paradise and let sinless people go there, and a snake will lie down at the gates of hell, and sinners will go down to hell at its sting .. What torment the soul will undergo depends on the sin for which she is condemned: the one who during his lifetime was sneaky is hung up in hell by his tongue; those who sold diluted milk are forced to separate the milk from the water; for those who played cards, the devils drive needles into their palms; before the one who stole the meat, there are pieces of wormy meat; the devil drags the drunkard over the nails. Special torments are intended for murderers, suicides, women who kill their children, and witches who take milk from other people's cows.


2. SCIENTIFIC ASPECT OF "AFTER LIFE"

2.1 Eight proofs for the existence of the soul and its immortality

1st proof. The body is subject to constant change in all its parts. In the body of a person who has reached the age of twenty, there is no longer any of those particles that made up it 20 years ago. But despite this, the soul retains its personality, that is, it knows that it is the same as it was twenty years ago. But if the soul remains the same at the time when the body changes completely, then it follows that the soul is a being different from the body, that it is not material, and continues to exist, despite the perfect change that has taken place in the body with which it is united. . After death, the decomposition of the body is more rapid, before death it is slower, more gradual, less noticeable; but for the soul it is one and the same, that is, the soul exists without the body with which it was previously united.

2nd proof. If matter were endowed with the ability to think, then every particle of matter would have to think, and we would feel that there are as many thinking beings in us as there are particles of matter in our body. We, however, feel quite the opposite; we feel that the thinking principle in us is always the same. With age and increase in the body, a person does not acquire more thinking abilities.

3rd proof. Thought cannot be produced by any human art. Let them arrange, prepare, put substances into thousands of different forms - not a single spark of thought will ever flare up, will not flare up, even if we have exhausted all possible mixtures of matter and subjected it to all the laws of chemistry, physics and mechanics.

4th proof. All matter occupies space; but we feel that the principle that thinks in us has no space; The unity and variety of thoughts that strike the soul testify that it has no extension, and therefore is not matter. If the soul were matter, then every sensation would either affect the whole soul or only one part of this soul. If it struck the whole soul, then there would be something in the nature of unity, but the unity is not clear, and there would be no diversity. If every sensation affected one known part of the soul, there would be diversity, but not unity.

5th proof. If the soul were material, then it would be possible to act upon it and make it desire what it does not desire, just as one can force a human hand to make a certain movement. Meanwhile, no tyrant can triumph over the will good man and force him to commit a crime through the most terrible torments. If the soul were material, like the body, then the despot would subdue and exhaust the soul, just as one subdues and exhausts the body. Will cannot be broken like matter.

6th proof. However, the proof of everyday experience may serve to affirm that the soul is immaterial; it is the struggle of the soul against the body, sensuality, passions. When strong passions agitate us, when strong movements of sensuality and the flesh attract us to evil, the soul moderates them, wins. Therefore, it has a completely different nature. Imagine a man whose inclinations lead to all excesses and who, however, with the help of divine grace, is a model of prudence, and you will agree that external objects of matter do not have an irresistible power over him - and this would be inevitable if the soul did not different from matter.

7th proof. If everything were material in us, then the feelings would be almost the same in all people, because of their bodily similarity. At the sight of a picture, at the hearing of a song, at the news of misfortune, people would experience the same feelings of delight or pleasure or sadness, as they experience the same physical sensations when a fire burns them, when a stone falls and hurts them.

8th proof. From the materiality of the soul it would also follow that judgment, reflection, conscience, conception would not serve anything in man; sensation would be everything. And we know, however, that reflection has often destroyed the dangerous action of sensibility, that conscience often condemns the work to which sensuality leads a person, that for the sake of duty and virtue, he restrains himself from this feeling. This would not be possible if the soul were material, like the body.

2.2 Prof. A.V. Gnezdilov that death is not the end of life

A.V. Gnezdilov, Professor of the Research Psychoneurological Institute named after A.I. V.M. Bekhtereva, Head of the Department of Geriatric Psychiatry, Doctor of Medical Sciences:

Death is not the end. It's just a change in states of consciousness. And many times I had the opportunity to make sure that consciousness does not disappear after death. That there is a completely different world that operates according to other laws, superphysical, beyond the limits of our understanding. In it, time and space are surmountable. I have enough experience as a psychiatrist to be responsible for my words and to distinguish hallucinations from reality

I was asked to see a young woman. She went into cardiac arrest during surgery. She shared with me strange experiences.

At first, after the introduction of anesthesia, she was not aware of anything, then she felt some kind of push. And suddenly she found herself in a dimly lit operating room. Through the fog I saw my body and the surgeons who were bending over it. Someone shouted, “Her heart stopped! Get started immediately!" And then she was terribly frightened, because she realized that this is HER body and HER heart! And she did not even warn her mother and daughter that she would have an operation! Anxiety about loved ones immediately brought her home. Daughter Masha played with a doll. Mom knitted. There was a knock on the door, a neighbor came in, in her hands was a dress with polka dots. The neighbor said: "This is for Mashenka." The girl rushed forward. Got the table. Dropped a cup, old. Grandma threw up her hands. The neighbor said it was lucky. The broken cup was picked up. They searched for a spoon for a long time - it turned out to be under the carpet. Seeing this peaceful picture, the woman calmed down, immediately transferred back to the operating room. And I heard that my heart started up, they say, we continue the operation, let's hurry, otherwise there may be a second stop! ..

Naturally, I became interested, went to her house, asked relatives. Everything came together down to the smallest detail: both with the dress and with the spoon... Everything matched one to one!

*** - Once I saw in a dream my patient - as if he came to me after death. He thanked me for my care and support ... And then he says: “How strange - this world is as real as my world. I'm not scared. I am surprised. I didn't expect that." I wake up, I think: “No, we saw each other yesterday - everything was in order!” And when he came to work, he found out that he had died that night. Although nothing foreshadowed his imminent departure.

2.3 General information collected through scientific research

One of the pioneers in this field was Emmanuel Swedenborg, who was born in 1688. One of the leading scientists of his time, he wrote 150 essays in seventeen scientific fields.

In his 490-page book A History of the Supernatural ( History of the Paranormal, 1977) writer Brian Inglis refers to Immanuel Kant, the great rationalist philosopher who studied Swedenborg's work. Despite the fact that Kant was an objective skeptic, he understood that the evidence for the existence of life after death, given by Swedenborg, was on the whole indisputable and numerous. Inglis quotes Kant: “... Doubting each of them individually, I firmly believe in their totality” (Inglis 1977: 132).

The world-famous psychiatrist who had a huge impact on science, Carl Gustav Jung, recognized that metapsychic phenomena can be explained much better with the hypothesis of the existence of the soul than with any other hypothesis.

The phenomenon of electronic voices. Colin Smith published a book, Voices from the Tapes, which contains four-page photographs of participants in Bender's later experiments. They were carried out under strictly controlled conditions. In one case, the PEG experiments were carried out in a soundproof studio in order to exclude the appearance of random radio signals. Within 27 minutes, about 200 votes were recorded. Ronald Maxwell, The Sunday Mirror correspondent who oversaw the test, wrote a sensational three-page article with photographs that clearly confirmed the reality of what was happening. He was delighted that the electronic engineers invited by the newspaper as experts confirmed that the votes were genuine and that there was no fraud or deception during the experiment.

The Scholes experiments prove the existence of life after death. Schole is a small village in Norfolk, in the north of England. Using it as a base, several experimenters of the Scholes group obtained brilliant proof of the existence of life after death as a result of experiments carried out in England, the USA, Ireland and Spain. One of the most amazing phenomena observed during the Scholes experiments was the materialized lights that swirled around the room, making bizarre pirouettes. Sometimes they emitted rays and passed through solid objects. When the light touched people, they clearly felt it, and, entering into human body He healed this body.

In the process of contact with the other world, one of its representatives introduced himself as Kingsley Fairbridge. According to information from the spiritual group, Kingsley Fairbridge was born in South Africa, studied at Oxford in England and then moved to Australia. There he founded the Fairbridge farmer's schools, where poor children were taught the trade. Unfortunately, he was not physically strong and died quite early. The Scholes Group published the information received in its latest bulletin. As a result, the researchers were contacted by Kingsley's daughter, who lives in Australia. When the Scholes group sent her a copy of the photograph materialized from the other world, she confirmed the accuracy of the information and that it was her father, Kingsley Fairbridge, who was depicted very clearly in the photograph.

Quantum physics and life after death The British scientist Ron Pearson in his article "The Physics of Survival After Death" shows that survival after death is a natural part of the physical picture of the world.

Since the survival of consciousness after death is a natural and fundamental part of physics, one can hope that attempts to discredit all evidence for survival will soon come to an end.

Oliver Lodge, one of the greatest physicists of all time, recognized the existence of life after death and used his scientific gifts to prove it. He was one of the founders of the Society for Psychical Research. Dr. Amit Goswami describes an experiment conducted by Aspect, Delibard and Roger which, he argues, experimentally disproved the notion of matter as the only reality. In this experiment, an atom emits two photons moving in opposite directions. It turns out that somehow the behavior of one of the photons affects the other at large distances without any signal exchange. That is, they act on each other instantly.

Life after death: Let us imagine, first of all, an indistinguishable colorless person, neither particularly good nor particularly bad. Since a person does not change after death, colorlessness will remain his hallmark; neither special suffering nor special joy awaits him, and it is very possible that his whole astral life will flow gray and boring. If during his earthly life he did not develop any reasonable interests in himself, if he had no ideas other than gossip or what is called sports, nothing but his business ventures or his own gain, it is very likely that time will stretch for him. very tedious, since all these things are no longer available to him. If we take a person who has strong desires of a lower material nature, such as can be satisfied only on the physical plane - the afterlife of such a person will be even more painful. Now consider the case of a higher type man who had more reasonable interests on earth. Imagine the state of a person when all the need for compulsory labor ends, when there is no longer any need to earn money, since the astral body does not need food, or clothing, or an apartment. For the first time since childhood, such a person becomes free and has the opportunity to do just what he likes, can devote all his time to his favorite pastime, if it is such that it can be realized without physical matter. Let us suppose that the greatest pleasure of such a man was music; on the astral plane he can listen to the greatest musical compositions possible on earth, and under these new conditions he will hear much more in them than he heard on earth. Before a person who loved art, the beauty of shapes and colors, all the charm spreads higher world; he only has to choose. If he knew how to enjoy the beauties of nature, this pleasure will increase immeasurably, since he can freely move from place to place, admiring the wonders of nature. If he had an attraction to science or history, all the libraries and laboratories of the world are at his service; in addition, in all the above cases there is another positive side - this is the absence of any fatigue.

From the point of view of researchers, the most important messages transmitted by the Higher Mind in different countries to us, the inhabitants of the Earth, over the past few decades, constantly contain the following information: At the time of death, we take with us all our mind with all its experience, our character and our ethereal(spiritual) body, which is a duplicate, a repetition of the earthly body. There is no "heaven above" or "hell below": the location of the other world does not differ from the earthly one: these spheres interpenetrate each other - from the highest vibrations to the lowest. Simple reasonable people their loved ones meet - kindred spirits unite. Higher intelligence informs us that in life after death a person's appearance can become what it was in his best years. Everyone can continue to improve spiritually in life after death in order to move to a higher level and enter the realms of even greater beauty.

2.4 Michael Newton's research into hypnotherapy

Dr. Michael Newton, a certified hypnotherapist of the highest category, began to regress his patients into the past in order to awaken their memories of previous lives, he unexpectedly made a discovery of tremendous importance: the spiritual world can be "looked at" through the mind of subjects who are immersed in hypnosis. state of superconsciousness; and in this altered state of consciousness, patients are able to talk about what their soul did between lives on Earth.

Death and abandonment: in the practice of a doctor, there were many patients who, under hypnosis, told him about their past lives. Some retained the influence of that life. Here is 1 case: the patient came with a complaint of pain in the throat throughout his life, it turned out that in past life he describes the circumstances of his death in the body of a young woman named Sally, who was killed by the Kiowa Indians during an attack on a settler's train in 1866. Dr. N: Do you experience pain from an arrow? SUBJECT: Yes... the tip ripped my throat... I'm dying. I'm choking... bleeding... Will (husband) is holding me... the pain is terrible... I'm leaving... anyway, it's over. Dr. N: Okay, Sally, you accepted the fact that you were killed by these Indians. Can you describe to me the feeling you experienced at the moment of death? SUBJECT: It's like... some... force... pushing me out of my body. Dr. N: Pushes you out? How? SUBJECT: I'm being pushed out the top of my head<…>Dr. N: Is it an unpleasant feeling? SUBJECT: Not! It's so wonderful to feel free and without any pain, but... I'm... disoriented... I didn't intend to die... and not on what happens on earth with his body).

Contrary to what some people believe, souls often show little interest in what happens to their bodies after they have physically died. This is not a manifestation of cruelty towards the situation and the people they left on Earth, but simply a sense of relief that these souls experience at the end of their terrible death. They want to quickly go to the beautiful spirit world.

However, there are many such souls who wish to linger in the place where death overtook them for a few earth days- usually before the funeral.

Gateway to the spirit world. This particular Subject, having passed through the experience of death and through the tunnel, continues to adapt quite calmly in his mind to his incorporeal state, while being carried further and further into the spiritual world. This patient's first impressions, after the initial sensation of uncertainty, speak of a sense of well-being present there. This is usually experienced by all Subjects.

Dr. N: You are now leaving your body. You see how you are moving further and further away from the place where you died, further and further from the surface of the Earth. Tell me what you are experiencing right now. SUBJECT: At first... it was very bright... close to Earth... now it's a little darker because I entered the tunnel. Dr. N: Describe this tunnel to me. SUBJECT: It's... an empty, dark passage... and at the other end is a small circle of light. Dr. N: Okay, what's next for you? SUBJECT: I feel a pull... a gentle pull... I think I should move through this tunnel... and I'm moving on. Now it is not dark here, but rather gloomy, because the bright circle of light grows and approaches. It's as if... (Patient trails off) Dr. N: Go on. SUBJECT: I'm called forward... Dr. N: Let the circle of light increase in front of you at the end of the tunnel, and you continue to explain what is happening to you. SUBJECT: The circle of light becomes very large, and... I left the tunnel. Here... subdued brightness... light mist. I seep through it. Dr. N: After you came out of the tunnel, what else did you experience in your mind - apart from the fact that there is no absolute visual clarity? SUBJECT:(lowers voice) It's so... peaceful... so calm... I'm in the soul world... Dr. N: Do you have any other impressions as a soul at the moment? SUBJECT: Thought! I feel... the power of thought around me. I... Dr. N: Relax completely and let your impressions come easily as you tell me exactly what is happening to you. Please continue. SUBJECT: Well, it's hard to put into words. I feel... thoughts of love... brotherhood... sympathy... and all this is combined with... premonition... as if others... are waiting for me. Dr. N: Do you feel safe or a little scared? SUBJECT: I'm not scared. When I was in the tunnel, I was more... disoriented. Yes, I feel safe... I am aware of thoughts... cares... support. It's strange, but around me there is also an understanding of who I am and why I am here now. Dr. N: Do you see any manifestations of this? SUBJECT:(in an undertone) No, I feel it - the harmony of thought is everywhere. Dr. N: You mentioned the appearance of a cloudy substance around you immediately after exiting the tunnel. Are you in the sky above the Earth? SUBJECT:(pause) No, not like that, but I seem to be floating in clouds that are different from Earth. Dr. N: Can you see the earth at all? Is it under you? SUBJECT: Maybe there is, but I haven't seen her since I entered the tunnel. Dr. N: Do you feel that you are still connected to the Earth - perhaps through another space? SUBJECT: There is a possibility - yes. In my mind, the Earth seems close... and I still feel connected to the Earth... but I know I'm in a different space. Dr. N: What else can you tell me about your current whereabouts? SUBJECT: It's a little still here... gloomy... but I'm moving on and away from here.

Intermediate zone. All souls, regardless of their experience, eventually arrive at the central "transit point" spiritual world, intermediate zone. The speed of movement of the soul after death depends on its spiritual maturity. After the soul leaves the place of attitudinal orientation and enters into this space of the spirit world, there seems to be no other route for the soul to take. It is obvious that a large number of returning souls are spiritually transported here in droves.

Sometimes souls are led to this area by their guides (creatures in charge of moving home). This is especially true for young souls. Others are guided here by an invisible force that draws them into this intermediate zone and on to the creatures that await them. Apparently, it is the Guide of a particular soul who decides whether other beings should accompany her or not. In most cases, the reason is not in a hurry, however, at this stage of their journey, the souls do not sit back. The feelings we experience during this period depend on our state of mind after each life.

The meeting and the passage of souls are actually two phases. The intermediate zone is not some kind of permanent camp. Souls come here, are collected and then sent to their final destinations. One of the patients described this transitional zone as something like "the central hub of a huge wheel, and we are transported from the center along the spokes in a certain direction to our assigned place."

The most remarkable feature of the spiritual world is the constant sense of the presence of a powerful mental force that brings everything into incredible, supernatural harmony. Subjects say it is a place of pure thought.

Thought takes many forms. At this moment of their return, the souls begin to feel, to anticipate the upcoming meeting with the brethren awaiting them. Suddenly, the person who is invoked appears in the mind of the soul. This telepathic communication of spiritual beings through energy is a form of invisible contact, although the energy forms that are actually nearby are of course more directly connected. My Subjects' reports agree on modes of travel, routes, and final destination, but what each individual sees as they follow their path is personal.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Moidi Raidon psychologist, philosopher "Life after life", Moscow, 2004.

2. Osipov Alexei Ilyich "Posthumous death of the soul."

3. E. Levkievskaya "Myths of the Russian people", Moscow 2000

4. Victor James Zammit "Life after death" Gatchina 2006

5. Rak Ivan Vladimirovich “Myths ancient egypt”, St. Petersburg 1993

7. Encyclopedia "Mythology of the Ancient World".

8. Charles Lethbeater "Life after death"

R - to dream