Conference on ethics in psychological counseling. I International Conference on Ethics in Psychological Counseling and Psychotherapy. Main topics of the conference
Each of us will die. Every day, like shell explosions on the battlefield, to the left and right of us, death grabs friends, acquaintances, and even the most beloved relatives.
“So many of them have fallen into this abyss opened in the distance.
The day will come when I will disappear from the surface of the earth.
These lines of Marina Tsvetaeva are close and understandable to everyone. It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, healthy or wandering from the clinic to the hospital and back. Tears of relatives are waiting for all of us, beautiful, often undeserved words (about the deceased, or good, or nothing) and, ultimately, a grave. The most brave and courageous personalities, declaring that the fear of death is unknown to them, as soon as the prospect of this very death looms on the horizon, suddenly change their rhetoric, immediately recalling the phrase of the colorful Serk from the movie “Chasing Two Hares”: “... we all die, only let her earlier, and I - later.
Not so long ago, most citizens who received a Soviet atheistic upbringing were firmly convinced that death is the final stage of any living organism (including humans), and the position of the Church, which teaches that death does not exist for a person, is absolutely anti-scientific, backward and retrograde. And in general, as Ostap Bender taught, "religion is the opium of the people." Materialism was promoted everywhere: in schools and universities, in newspapers and on television.
After the death of the USSR, when it became unfashionable to be an atheist, new problems arose for an ordinary citizen trying to figure out what awaits him “tomorrow”: because of the rusted “Iron Curtain”, not the purest wave of religious, quasi-religious and mystical information gushed. All sorts of sects with exalted pastors, Hare Krishnas dancing in the streets, polite couples ringing your doorbell with suggestions to “talk about God” – A. Tolstoy’s phrase “… the devil himself will break his leg” was quite suitable for all this whirlwind.
In order for an ordinary person to believe that life after death continues, in today's realities, it is necessary for him to be clearly and distinctly told about this by an authoritative source for him. And who or what is now presented as the greatest authority? The science!
And although initially this very science was the banner of atheists and was always used by them to propagate their ideas, it was she who stabbed her adherents in the back. Medical research has clearly shown that after the death of the body, our personality, our "I" will not die, but will continue to exist, albeit in completely new conditions.
Peter Kalinovsky in his work "Transition" writes: " New methods of resuscitation, that is, the return to life of recently deceased people, have allowed medical scientists to lift the veil over the mystery of death and see more than they have seen so far. It turned out that the death of the body is not yet the end of the existence of the personality. The researchers were amazed at the results and at first greeted them with bewilderment, almost disbelief. However, the new data were not the fruits of fantasy, but indisputable facts obtained by science. Christian teaching could be believed or not believed, the Christian way of life could be accepted or rejected and lived as it was more convenient. You can't do that with facts. You can turn away from them, but they will remain».
By the beginning of the 21st century, authoritative researchers had collected more than 25,000 documented and confirmed testimonies of people who had experienced clinical death and claimed that they saw and visited another reality at a time when their heart was not beating. The number of these cases (at present there are many times more of them), the similarity, often the identity of the information provided by witnesses, allows us to quite reasonably assert that a person’s life is not limited to the death of the physical body.
Back in the 70s of the XX century, a number of books appeared in the West, the purpose of which was to describe the "post-mortem" experience. They are written either by famous scientists and doctors, or have received their full approval. One of the authors, the world-famous physician and "expert" on the problems of death and dying, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, believes that these studies of post-mortem experiences "enlighten many and confirm what we have been taught for two thousand years: that there is life after death." Discoveries Kobler-Ross are confirmed and scientific works Doctors Osis and Haraldson.
One of the pioneers in this new field of medicine was Dr. Raymond Moody. In November 1975, his book Life After Life was published with the subtitle An Investigation into the Phenomenon of the Continuation of Life after the Death of the Body, and in 1977 his second book, Reflections on Life After Life, was published. In these works, the author cites many cases of people talking about their experiences at a time when they were in a state of clinical death:
« It was uncomfortable for her to lie on her back, she turned and suddenly stopped breathing and feeling the beats of her heart. She heard the anxious screams of the nurses and at that time she felt that she was leaving her body and falling down to the floor, passing through the protective railing of the bed, and then slowly rising up. She hovered under the ceiling and looked down. “I saw how they tried to revive me. My body lay down, sprawled on the bed. He was clearly visible, and they all crowded around him. I heard the voice of one sister: "God, she's dead!" Another sister leaned over and began to give me artificial respiration - mouth to mouth.
I looked at the back of her head. I remember her short hair well. Then I saw an electroshock apparatus rolled into the room and electrodes placed against my chest. The device was turned on, my body jumped up, and I heard bones crack. It was terrible. When I watched from above how they beat me in the chest and rubbed my arms and legs, I thought: “Why are they so worried? I feel great».
A young man who had an accident said that another car crashed into them at the intersection: “ I heard the rumble of a car and immediately found myself moving in the dark, in an enclosed space. It lasted for a moment, and then I sort of floated about two meters above the street, four meters from the car, and heard the echo from the roar of the collision fade away».
Then he saw people running to the car and crowding around it, his friend who got out in a state of shock, his own body covered in blood, with mangled legs. People tried to pull him out of the cabin. He was brought back to life and later told about everything he saw.
Sometimes a soul hovering over its body can instantly be transported to another place. A soldier badly wounded in Vietnam came out of his body during an operation and watched as doctors tried to bring him back to life. " I tried to stop them, because where I was, I felt good. I was there, and he (the doctor) was, but as if he was not there. I touched him, but he was gone. I just went through it... And then suddenly I was on the battlefield, where I got hurt. The paramedics picked up the wounded. I wanted to help them, but I ended up in the operating room again ... First you materialize there, and then, in the blink of an eye, here ...»
Another patient said that he could look both near him and into the distance, as if through a telephoto lens.
The fact that such experiences are not hallucinations and not a figment of the imagination of a sick brain is evidenced by cases when witnesses described events that they could not physically see. While in the operating room, they talked about what was happening in the neighboring rooms. Examples have been recorded when naturally blind people, after their clinical death, described the room where they were, as well as the appearance of the people who were then next to them.
What is extremely important, almost all the evidence suggests that the very moment of death, or rather the transition to another existence, is not associated with torment and pain. So many people are afraid of death for this very reason - they do not think about what will happen to them after, but they are afraid of mortal suffering. Moreover, if a person is seriously ill before death, then with the advent of death he feels a sudden relief. That is, the phrase “death delivered him from suffering” is often said at the funeral, is absolutely true.
Pyotr Kalinovsky writes: Sometimes the transition is so imperceptible that the deceased may not understand what is happening for some time. He still continues to consider himself alive. The deceased, having crossed the threshold of death, sees people, hears them, may try to help them or say something, but is convinced that they do not notice him».
What can we expect on the other side, what should we prepare for?
The well-known Orthodox theologian Seraphim Rose, in his work The Soul After Death, believes that the soul goes through several successive stages after death.
1. Out-of-body experience
According to stories, the first thing that happens to the deceased is that he leaves the body and exists completely separate from it, without losing consciousness. He is often able to see everything around him, including his own dead body and attempts to revive it; he feels that he is in a state of painless warmth and lightness, as if he were swimming; he is completely unable to influence his environment by speech or touch, and therefore often feels loneliness acutely; his thought processes usually become much faster than when he was in the body. Here are a few short excerpts from the description of such experiments:
« The day was piercingly cold, but while I was in this blackness, I felt only warmth and the utmost calm that I have ever experienced ... I remember thinking: "I must have died».
"I had the most wonderful feeling. I felt nothing but peace, calmness, lightness - just peace".
"I saw myself being revived, it was really weird. I was not very high, as if on some kind of elevation, a little higher than them; just maybe looking over them. I tried to talk to them but no one could hear me, no one would have heard me".
2. Meeting with others
After death, the soul remains in its original state of loneliness for a very short time. Dr. Moody cites several cases where, even before death, people suddenly saw dead relatives and friends.
« The doctor lost hope of saving me and told my family that I was dying ... I realized that all these people were there, almost hovering in droves near the ceiling of the room. These were all people I knew in past life but who died earlier. I recognized my grandmother and the girl I knew as a schoolboy, and many other relatives and friends».
However, Seraphim Rose writes: When thinking about the experience of people who have experienced clinical death, we must remember the great difference between the general experience of the dying, which now arouses so much interest, and the grace-filled experience of death of righteous Orthodox Christians. Do relatives and friends really come from the realm of the dead to appear to the dying?»?
Blessed Augustine in his treatise "On the care of the dead" writes that cases of apparent appearances of the dead to the living usually turn out to be "evil visions" induced by demons, for example, in order to create a false idea in people about the afterlife.
The holy fathers of the recent past, such as the elder Ambrose of Optina, teach that the beings with whom they communicate at spiritualistic sessions are demons, and not the souls of the dead; and those who have deeply studied spiritualistic phenomena, if they had at least some Christian standards for their judgments, came to the same conclusions.
Saints may indeed appear to the righteous at the time of death, but most of us sinners should hardly trust those beings who can visit us at this moment.
« The encounter with others usually takes place just before death, but this should not be confused with the other encounter we now wish to describe, the encounter with the "luminous being».
3. "Luminous creature"
Most people describe this experience as the appearance of a light that rapidly increases in brightness; and everyone recognizes him as a kind of personality, filled with warmth and love, to which the deceased is attracted by a kind of magnetic attraction. The identification of this creature, apparently, depends on the religious beliefs of the individual, it itself does not have a recognizable form. Here are some of the stories about this experience:
"I heard that the doctors said that I was dead, and then I felt as if I had failed, even as if I was floating ... Everything was black, except that in the distance I could see this light. It was a very, very bright light, but not too big at first. As I got closer to him, he became more and more".
Another person after death felt that he " floats into this pure, crystal clear light... There is no such light on earth. I haven't really seen anyone in this light, but still it has a special identity, definitely has. It is the light of perfect understanding and perfect love.».
Many call these beings Angels and point to their positive qualities: they are bright, full of love and understanding, and inspire the idea of responsibility for their lives. But are they really angels? After all, the Angels known to Orthodox Christian experience are much more definite both in appearance and in function.
4. Angels
From the Gospel we know in what form the Angels appear: “ The angel of the Lord ... his appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow"(Mt. 28, 2-3); " young man dressed in white"(Mk. 16, 5); " two men in shining clothes"(Luke 24:4); " two angels in white"(John 20, 12). Throughout Christian history, the apparitions of angels have always taken the form of shining youths clothed in white.
Not many credible evidence of a posthumous meeting with the Angels has come down to us, since not many people “survived” to such contacts. Most of them returned to their body earlier.
Usually in these cases, the deceased is met by two Angels. Here is what K. Ikskul, the author of the book “Unbelievable for many, but a true incident”, written at the beginning of the 20th century, writes about this meeting: “And as soon as she (the old nurse) uttered these words (“ The kingdom of heaven to him, eternal rest ..."), how two Angels appeared near me, in one of which I for some reason recognized my Guardian Angel, and the other was unknown to me.
St. Theodore, whose path after death through air ordeals is described in the life of St. Basil the New (X century, March 26), says: “ When I was completely exhausted, I saw two Angels of God approaching me in the form of beautiful youths; their faces were bright, their eyes looked with love, their hair on their heads was white as snow».
The examples given allow us to say that Angels always have a human or human-like appearance. The “luminous creature” described above from modern cases, which has no visible form, does not see the soul anywhere, but only draws it into a conversation, showing “back shots” of the life lived, can hardly be called an Angel.
5. Air trials
The patristic literature describes many cases that allow us to say that the soul taken by the Angels passes through the cordons of demons, bearing the responsibility for each of their sins and unseemly deeds. The ordeal of Blessed Theodora is a fairly popular story in Orthodox iconography; these images are found in many churches of the Orthodox Church. But this example is far from the only one.
St. Boniface, the Anglo-Saxon "Apostle of the Germans" (8th century), relates in one of his letters a story heard at Wenlock from the lips of a monk who died and returned to life a few hours later. " When he left the body, he was taken up by Angels of such pure beauty that he could not look at them ... And he said that evil spirits and holy Angels were arguing fiercely for the souls that had left their bodies: the demons accused them and aggravated the burden their sins, and the angels lightened this burden and brought extenuating circumstances».
In the already mentioned book “Incredible for many, but a true incident”, you can get acquainted with the reaction of a typical “educated” person of our time to a meeting with ordeals during his 36-hour clinical death.
« Taking me by the arms, the Angels carried me straight through the wall from the ward to the street. It was already getting dark, there was a large, quiet snow ... We began to quickly climb up. And as we climbed, more and more space opened up to my gaze, and finally it took on such terrifying dimensions that I was seized with fear from the consciousness of my insignificance in front of this endless desert ...
The idea of time faded in my mind, and I don’t know how much more we climbed, when suddenly some indistinct noise was heard at first, and then, floating out from somewhere, a crowd of some ugly creatures.
"Demons!" - I realized with extraordinary speed and was numb from some special, hitherto unknown to me horror. Demons! Oh, how much irony, how much the most sincere laughter would have aroused in me just a few days ago someone's report, not only that he saw demons with his own eyes,
but that he admits their existence as creatures of a certain kind»!
Seraphim Rose writes: “In Orthodox theology, the passage through the ordeals of the air is a stage of a private judgment, through which the fate of the soul is decided before the Last Judgment. As a private judgment, so the Last Judgment is performed by Angels, who are the instruments of God's justice: So it will be at the end of the age: Angels will come out and separate the wicked from among the righteous and cast them into the fiery furnace.(Matthew 13:49-50)."
Listen and don't say you haven't heard
Human experience and knowledge, recorded in the handwritten and printed word, were the property of very few a few centuries ago and therefore were extremely valued. And then really important and necessary information was recorded. Nowadays, any knowledge is freely available, everyone can use it. But what occupies the minds of most people leads to sad thoughts.
Despite the efforts of science and medicine to prolong earthly life, none of us will escape death. Therefore, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the theme of death, or, as they say in Orthodoxy, “the memory of death”, for each person should be immeasurably higher than the most important everyday issues. Information about what awaits us after death, and most importantly - how to live life on earth, so that later "it would not be excruciatingly painful for the aimlessly lived years", should excite us in the very first place. Here are just such life priorities we can observe in very few.
We all know the gospel parable of the rich man and Lazarus: ... Then he said: so I ask you, father, send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers; let him testify to them that they also do not come to this place of torment. Abraham said to him: They have Moses and the prophets; let them listen. He said: No, Father Abraham, but if anyone from the dead comes to them, they will repent. Then [Abraham] said to him: if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, then if someone rises from the dead, they will not believe».
Each of us either read or had the opportunity to read these words. Today, any of the thousands of cases of resurrection after near-death experience can be called resurrection from the dead to some extent. We listen to what these people tell us. But do we hear?
Non-existence - that's the worst thing about death. Comes bony, grabs by the throat and ... that's it. What's next? Emptiness, the unknown. In this sense, ancient people were more secure than us. Even the average Greek knew clearly: after death, his soul would stand trial, then pass through the corridor of the underworld Erebus. And, if it is recognized as unworthy, it will go straight to Tartarus. And if he proves himself heroically, he will gain immortality on the Champs Elysees of joy and bliss. Therefore, the Hellene lived - he did not grieve, not knowing the pangs of fear and uncertainty. And what awaits us beyond the last line?
Grounds for Immortality
Differing in many issues and provisions, the sacred scriptures and religions of all times and peoples of the Earth show amazing unanimity in everything related to the continuation of the posthumous existence of people. The immortality of the soul was believed in ancient Egypt, Babylon, India and Greece. So this is the collective experience of all mankind. But could it have happened by chance? And not to have any other basis, except for the fear of death and the desire for eternal life? And from what do the current fathers of the Church, who do not doubt the immortality of the soul, start? Well, everything is simple with them, the reader will say. They are like the average Hellenes: they are clad in the armor of their faith and therefore they are not afraid of anything. And indeed, for Christians, the main source of faith in eternal life is the Holy Scriptures: the Old and New Testaments, the Epistles of the Apostles, the Revelations of John the Theologian. They are not afraid of death, because for them it is only the entrance to another life, life with Christ. A Muslim is also sure - after physical death, his soul will move to another world, where he will wait for the Day of Judgment.
Buddhists stand on the fact that the soul is constantly reborn: leaving one mortal body, it receives another.
Judaism probably says the least about life after death. Extraterrestrial life is rarely mentioned in the books of Moses: Jews generally believe that both heaven and hell exist on earth. But they, too, are convinced that eternal life continues in children and grandchildren. No wonder they say: a Jew is one whose grandchildren are Jews.
And only Hare Krishnas, who also do not doubt the immortality of the soul, rely on logical and empirical arguments. To help them - numerous data on experienced clinical deaths, when people rise above their bodies and soar through the tunnel to an unknown light, and Vedic philosophy. Here it is, the famous Vedic argument in favor of the eternity of the soul: “I observe the changes taking place in my body, which is changing from the body of a baby to the body of an old man, but the very fact that I can contemplate these changes means that I am outside the changes of the body. , because the observer must always be on the sidelines. Does this argument convince you? Well, then you are one of the large army of those who are not enough just to believe: they need to know for sure.
A light in the end of a tunnel
Common sense tells us: we have no chance of knowing what happens to a person after an old woman with a scythe comes to him. It is all the more surprising that many scientists hold a completely different opinion. First of all, they are doctors. And all because their medical practice refutes the well-known axiom: no one returned from the next world. Already someone who, and doctors are familiar with hundreds of such "returnees" firsthand. Yes, and you yourself - at least out of the corner of your ear - heard about the phenomenon of "clinical death".
Usually everything goes according to the same scenario. The patient - most often during surgery, under anesthesia - stops the heart. Doctors ascertain "clinical death" and proceed to resuscitation, trying with all their might to start the "motor". Time passes by seconds - because after 5-6 minutes the brain and other vital organs begin to suffer from hypoxia (lack of oxygen), and this is fraught with the most unpleasant consequences.
Meanwhile, the patient “leaves” his body, observes himself and the actions of doctors from above for some time, and then floats along a long corridor towards the light. And there, if you believe the statistics collected by the British Aesculapius over the past 20 years, 72% of the "dead" go to heaven. Grace descends on them, they see angels or their dead relatives and friends. Everyone is cheering and laughing. What can not be said about the other 28%: they are sent by direct fire to hell. So when some divine essence, most often in the form of a clot of light, tells them: “Your time has not yet come,” they are very happy. And they return to their body. This means that the doctors managed to pump out the patient - and his heart starts beating again. Death receded. But those who looked beyond her threshold will never forget it.
And those who are more daring will definitely share the received revelation with the attending physicians and close relatives.
Evidence of death
Research into "near-death experiences" began in the 1970s. Surprisingly, they continue to this day, although a lot of copies have been broken in this regard. Someone saw in the phenomenon an undoubted evidence of eternal life, and someone, on the contrary, is now trying to prove that both heaven and hell, and in general the whole notorious “other world”, are inside a person. They say that these are not real places at all. But only hallucinations, a process characteristic of the fading consciousness. Yes, but then why are they all the same? There is an answer to this question: “The brain is deprived of blood enriched with oxygen. Parts of the visual cortex are switched off very quickly. And the poles of the occipital lobes of the brain, which have a dual blood supply system, still continue to function. And the field of view is sharply narrowed. Only a narrow band remains, providing central, “tube” vision. Here is the tunnel you are looking for,” explains Sergei Levitsky, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences.
They object to him: those who resurrected tell in detail about the actions of the medical team that “conjured” over the body, about their relatives grieving in the corridors. One patient, for example, having fully regained consciousness seven days after clinical death, demanded from doctors that they return his denture, which was taken out during the operation. The same could not remember where they put it in the confusion. And then the patient showed them exactly the place where the prosthesis lies: he remembered it during his “journey”.
proof of life
So it turns out that at the moment medicine lacks unconditional evidence that the afterlife does not exist. And I really want to get them. That is why the AWARE study started in 2010: scientists from 25 medical centers England and the United States teamed up to thoroughly study the experience of 1500 patients who survived cardiac arrest and clinical death. Their goal is to experimentally test some data related to the near-death state of a person. The study is led by Dr. Sam Parnia from the British University of Southampton and this is what he thinks of him: “Whether the other world exists or not, this is not a matter of my competence. You will be surprised, but only 10-20% of patients who have experienced clinical death retain memories of the experience. We just want to understand what is happening with the brain at this moment.”
Three years are allotted for the experiment. Scientists decided that this period would be enough to “recruit” and interview 1,500 patients. It will be very easy to check them: in the intensive care units of all 25 hospitals, pictures will be laid out on shelves and ceiling lamps in such a way that not a single patient who enters the ward will be able to see them. But if during the operation his heart stops and he leaves the body, then it will not be difficult for him to see the hidden pictures. Of course, having returned to the body and resurrected, he will be able to describe them. And this will be a weighty argument in favor of the fact that consciousness is able to exist separately from the physical shell.
The results of the study should be summed up at the end of 2012. For now, the doctors remain silent: they are ready for any development of events. And yet they hope: “As we try to break through the boundaries of conventional science, we are waiting for the most amazing discoveries. At the end of the 19th century, physicists worked with Newton's laws and had no doubt that they explained everything. However, when it came to studying the atom, it turned out that other laws work there. It's the same with the brain. In 99% of cases, we cannot separate the mind from the body, they work together. But in extreme conditions, things can be different. Therefore, we are interested in death as the most extreme of possible states. And if we demonstrate that consciousness continues to exist after the brain is turned off, this will give us the opportunity to assume that consciousness exists by itself. That's it, no more, no less.
Solaris effect
But what if we look at the problem from the other side and remember, firstly, the law of conservation of energy, and secondly, the fact that the basis of all types of matter is the energy principle? It is also in man. And, of course, it does not disappear anywhere after the death of the physical shell and goes directly into the energy-informational field of the Earth. However, there are exceptions. Natalya Bekhtereva recalled that after the death of her husband, "the human brain became a mystery to her, which, in principle, cannot be solved." The ghost of her husband began to appear to her even during the day: he shared his thoughts, gave advice, suggested where to find something. And Bekhtereva, a world-famous scientist, never doubted the reality of what was happening: “I don’t know what it was - a product of my mind that was in a state of stress, or something else. One thing I know for sure - he was not imagining, but was in fact.
Scientists call the appearance of "ghosts" of deceased relatives and friends the "Solaris effect" - or materialization "according to the method" of Stanislav Lemm. But this happens extremely rarely: apparently only in those cases when the mourners have sufficient energy power to “pull” the phantom of a dear loved one from the field of the earth.
Moving to the next level
Other inconsolable mourners come to the aid of mediums. This is exactly what happened to the geophysicist Vsevolod Zaporozhets.
An adherent of scientific materialism changed his views at the age of 70, when his wife died. He simply could not come to terms with the loss and sat down for literature about spirits, the other world and spiritualism. As a result, he conducted more than 460 sessions, wrote the book "Contours of the Universe", in which he described in detail the method of proving the reality of afterlife. And most importantly, he managed to get in touch with his beloved wife: she is young and beautiful, like everyone who lives in the next world. The explanation for this is very simple, according to Zaporozhets: “The world of the “departed” is a product of the materialization of their desires, therefore it is similar to the earthly one and even better than it. For the most part, they are young and beautiful in appearance. They feel as material as those living on earth, they are aware of their physicality and are able to enjoy life. Clothing is formed by the thought and desire of the departed, perhaps not consciously. Infatuation and love there remain or are regained, but are devoid of sexuality, although they are distinct from friendly feelings. There is no childbearing. To maintain life, food is not required, but for pleasure or to get rid of the earthly habit of tasty food, some eat, mainly fruits, which are abundant and beautiful, like flowers.
Not life is a fairy tale. True, there is a nuance: if the “other world” is really a product of the materialization of desires, then we urgently need to rebuild and stop being afraid of death. It's time to learn to perceive it as a qualitative transition to a new level. Only. And then dying is not scary at all. And even parting with family and friends is not so painful.
Some posthumous material:
My memories of the twilight world.
Fortunately, all world religions claim that death is not the end, but only the beginning. And the testimonies of people who survived the terminal state make us believe in the fact of the existence of the afterlife. About what happens to a person after leaving, each religion has its own explanation. But all religious teachings are united in one thing: the soul is immortal.
The inevitability, unpredictability, and sometimes insignificance of the causes of a lethal outcome brought the concept of physical death beyond the limits of human perception. Some religions presented sudden death as a punishment for sins. Others - like a divine gift, after which an eternal and happy life without suffering.
All major world religions have their own explanation of where the soul goes after death. Most teachings speak of the existence of an immaterial soul. After the death of the body, depending on the teaching, it will be reincarnated, eternal life or the achievement of nirvana.
The termination of the life of the body is divided into three main stages:
What happens after the death of a person with his soul - those people who managed to be brought back to life during the terminal state can tell. All those who have experienced such an experience claim that they saw their body and everything that happened to it from the outside. They continued to feel, see and hear. Some even tried to contact their relatives or doctors, but they realized with horror that no one could hear them.
As a result, the soul was fully aware of what had happened. After that, she began to pull up. Angels appeared to some of the dead, to others - beloved dead relatives. In such company the soul rose to the light. Sometimes the spirit would pass through a dark tunnel and emerge into the light all alone.
Many people who experienced such experiences claimed that they were very good, not afraid, but did not want to return. Some were asked by an invisible voice if they wanted to return. Others were literally forcibly sent back, saying that the time had not yet come.
All those returned say that they did not experience any fear. In the first minutes, they simply did not understand what was happening. But then they came complete indifference to earthly life and calm. Some people spoke of how they continued to feel intense love for their loved ones. However, even this feeling could not weaken the desire to go to the light, from which came warmth, kindness, compassion and love.
Unfortunately, no one can tell in detail about what happens in the future. There are no living eyewitnesses. All further journey of the soul occurs only under the condition of complete physical death of the body. And those who returned to this world did not stay in the afterlife long enough to find out what would happen next.
Scientists have been able to prove the existence of the soul. To do this, doctors weighed terminally ill people at the time of death and immediately after it. It turned out that all the deceased at the time of death lost the same weight - 21 grams.
Opponents of this scientific theory of the existence of the soul tried to explain the change in the weight of the deceased by some oxidative processes. But modern research has proven with a 100% guarantee that chemistry has nothing to do with it. And weight loss in all the deceased is strikingly the same. Only 21 grams.
Many scientists are looking for an answer to the question of whether there is life after death. The testimonies of people who have experienced clinical death claim that there is. But pundits are not accustomed to take a word. They need physical evidence.
One of the first who tried to photograph the human soul was the French doctor Hippolyte Baradyuk. He photographed patients at the moment of death. In most of the photographs, a small translucent cloud was clearly visible above the bodies.
Russian doctors used infrared vision devices for such purposes. They were capturing what appeared to be a nebulous object that was gradually dissolving into thin air.
Professor Pavel Guskov from Barnaul proved that the soul of each person is individual, like fingerprints. For this, he used ordinary water. Purified from any impurities, pure water was placed next to a person for 10 minutes. After that, its structure was carefully studied. The water changed significantly and was different in all cases. If the experiment was repeated with the same person, the structure of the water remained the same.
Whether there is life after death or not, one thing follows from all assurances, descriptions and discoveries: whatever is there, beyond, there is no need to be afraid of it.
What happens after death
Does consciousness disappear after death?
In 2010, one of the world's most respected scientists, Robert Lanza, released a book called Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe.
A specialist in regenerative medicine and scientific director of Advanced Mobile Technologies, Lanza is also very interested in quantum mechanics and astrophysics, which led him to develop his theory of biocentrism: the theory that life and consciousness are fundamental to understanding the nature of our reality, and this consciousness comes before the creation of the material universe.
His theory suggests that our consciousness does not die with us, and does not stand still, and this suggests that consciousness is not a product of the brain. It's something completely different and modern science just beginning to understand what it could be.
This theory is best illustrated by the quantum double-slit experiment. This is a perfect example that the factors associated with consciousness and our physical material world are connected in some way; that the observer creates reality.
Physicists have been forced to admit that the universe may be a mental construct, or at least that consciousness plays a critical role in the creation of matter.
Lanz's theory means that if the body generates consciousness, then consciousness dies when the body dies. But if the organism receives consciousness to the same extent that the cable box receives satellite signals, then, of course, consciousness does not end after the death of the physical vehicle. This is an example that is commonly used to describe the riddle of consciousness.
The idea that we could live in a holographic universe is not so far-fetched, and if an observer is necessary for physical matter to manifest, then an observer must exist for the physical body.
The hypothesis that the brain creates consciousness dominates the largely materialistic world of science, despite ample evidence that shows that the brain (and all of our physical reality, for that matter) may be a product of consciousness.
Below is a long quotation to illustrate what is meant by "material" science.
– Manifesto for “Post-Materialistic Science”
The study of the neurochemical processes in the brain that occur when one is having a subjective experience is important, and offers certain conclusions. This tells us that when an "experience" happens, it happens in the brain. But this does not prove that neurochemical processes produce experience. What if the experience itself produces neurochemical processes?
Determining how consciousness causes matter is our next step. One thing is certain: it's time to push the boundaries of our basic knowledge.
The implications of this theory are enormous. Just imagine if life after death were confirmed within the scientific community - how much would this affect not only the understanding of science, but also philosophy, religion and many other areas of our life?
What do the world religions say?
About whether there is life after death, the main world religions answer in the affirmative. For them, death is just the death of the human body, but not the personality itself, which continues its further existence in the form of a spirit.
Different religious teachings have their own versions of where the soul goes after it leaves the earth:
The great ancient Greek philosopher Plato also thought a lot about the fate of the soul. He believed that the immortal spirit comes into the human body from the sacred upper world. And birth on earth is a dream and oblivion. The immortal essence, enclosed in the body, forgets the truth, as it passes from deep, higher knowledge to the lower, and death is an awakening.
Plato argued that separated from the body shell, the soul is able to reason more clearly. Her eyesight, hearing, senses are sharpened. A judge appears before the deceased, who shows him all the deeds of his lifetime - both good and bad.
Plato also warned that exact description of all the details of the other world is only a probability. Even a person who has experienced clinical death is unable to reliably describe everything that he managed to see. People are too limited by their physical experience. Our souls are unable to see reality clearly as long as they are connected with the physical senses.
And the human language is unable to formulate and correctly describe the true realities. There are no words that could qualitatively and reliably designate otherworldly reality.
Some lectures on the topic
Below is an excellent video from Dr. Gary Schwartz, a professor at the University of Arizona, on how consciousness is a product of the brain or its successor. This is a small overview on a topic that is full of peer-reviewed research that not many people have the time to go through.
– Dr. Gary Schwartz, Professor of Psychology, Medicine, Neurology, Psychiatry, and Surgery at Arizona State University
Understanding death in Christianity
In Christianity, it is believed that for 40 days after death, the soul is where the person lived. That is why relatives may feel that someone invisible is present at home. It is very important, as far as possible, to pull yourself together, not to cry and not to be killed by the deceased. Say goodbye with humility. The spirit hears and feels everything, and such behavior of loved ones will cause him even more pain.
The best thing relatives can do is pray. And also to read the Holy Scriptures, helping them to understand what the soul should do next. It is important to remember that until the ninth day, all mirrors in the house must be closed. Otherwise, the ghost will experience pain and shock, looking in the mirror and not seeing himself.
The soul must prepare for God's judgment within 40 days. Therefore, in Christianity, the third, ninth and fortieth days are considered the most important days after the death of a person. Those close to you these days should do everything possible to help the soul prepare for a meeting with God.
The priests say that it is impossible to bury the deceased before the third day. The soul at this time still remains attached to the body and is located next to the coffin. At this time it is impossible to break the connection of the spirit with his dead body. This process established by God is necessary for the final understanding and acceptance by the soul of its physical death.
On the third day the soul sees God for the first time. She ascends to his throne along with her guardian angel, after which she goes to watch Paradise. But it's not forever. Hell is to be seen later. Judgment will take place only on the 40th day. It is believed that any soul can be prayed for, which means that at this time, loving relatives should pray intensely for the deceased.
On the ninth day, the soul again appears before the Lord. Relatives at this time can help the deceased with humble prayers. You only need to remember his good deeds.
After the second visit to the Almighty, the angels take the spirit of the deceased to hell. There he will have the opportunity to observe the torment of unrepentant sinners. It is believed that in special cases, if the deceased led a righteous life and did many good deeds, his fate can be decided on the ninth day. Such a soul becomes a happy inhabitant of Paradise before the 40th day.
The fortieth day is a very important date. At this time, the fate of the deceased is decided. His soul for the third time comes to bow to the Creator, where the judgment is made, and now the final decision will follow as to where the spirit will be determined - to Paradise or Hell.
On the 40th day, the soul descends to earth for the last time. She can bypass all the most expensive places for her. Many people who have lost loved ones see the dead in their dreams. But it is after 40 days that they cease to physically feel their presence nearby.
There are people who are interested in what happens when an unbaptized person dies. The funeral is not performed. Such a person is outside the jurisdiction of the church. His future fate is only in the hands of God. Therefore, on the anniversary of the death of an unbaptized relative, relatives should pray for him as sincerely as possible and with the hope that this will ease his lot in court.
What about near death experience
Below is a video of Dr. Bruce Grayson speaking at a conference hosted by the United Nations. He is considered one of the fathers of near-death research and is Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Science at the University of Virginia.
In the video, he describes recorded cases of people who were clinically dead (absent on brain activity) but watching everything that happened to them at the same time. He describes cases where people are able to describe things that are actually impossible to describe.
Another significant statement by Dr. Grayson states that this kind of research is discouraged due to our tendency to view science as purely materialistic. Seeing is believing, so they say in the scientific community. It is very unfortunate that just because we cannot explain something in terms of the material means that it must be immediately discredited.
The researchers followed a total of 344 patients, and 18% of them had some memory of when they were dead or unconscious and 12% had a very strong and "profound" experience. Keep in mind that this experience occurred when there was no electrical activity in the brain, following cardiac arrest.
According to collective-evolution.com
After death, what awaits us? Probably each of us asked this question. Death scares many people. Usually it is fear that makes us look for an answer to the question: "After death, what awaits us?" However, not only him. People often cannot come to terms with the loss of loved ones, and this forces them to look for evidence that there is life after death. Sometimes simple curiosity drives us in this matter. One way or another, life after death interests many.
Afterlife of the Hellenes
Perhaps non-existence is the most terrible thing in death. People are afraid of the unknown, the emptiness. In this respect, the ancient inhabitants of the Earth were more protected than us. Ellin, for example, knew for sure that he would be brought to trial, and then passed through the corridor of Erebus (the underworld). If she turns out to be unworthy, she will go to Tartarus. If she proves herself well, she will receive immortality and will be on the Champs Elysees in bliss and joy. Therefore, the Greek lived without fear of uncertainty. However, our contemporaries are not so simple. Many of those living today doubt what awaits us after death.
This is what all religions agree on
Religions and scriptures of all times and peoples of the world, differing in many provisions and issues, show unanimity that the existence of people after death continues. In ancient Egypt, Greece, India, Babylon, they believed in the immortality of the soul. Therefore, we can say that this is the collective experience of mankind. However, could he have appeared by chance? Is there any other basis in it, besides the desire for eternal life, and what is the starting point of the modern church fathers, who do not doubt that the soul is immortal?
You can say that, of course, everything is clear with them. Everyone knows the story of hell and heaven. The Church Fathers in this matter are like the Hellenes, who are clad in the armor of faith and are not afraid of anything. Indeed, the Holy Scriptures (New and Old Testaments) for Christians are the main source of their faith in life after death. It is reinforced by the Epistles of the Apostles and others. Believers are not afraid of physical death, since it seems to them just an entrance into another life, into existence together with Christ.
Life after death in terms of Christianity
According to the Bible, earthly existence is a preparation for the future life. After death, the soul remains with everything that she did, good and bad. Therefore, from the very death of the physical body (even before the Judgment), joys or sufferings begin for her. This is determined by how this or that soul lived on earth. The days of commemoration after death are 3, 9 and 40 days. Why exactly them? Let's figure it out.
Immediately after death, the soul leaves the body. In the first 2 days, she, freed from his shackles, enjoys freedom. At this time, the soul can visit those places on earth that were especially dear to her during her lifetime. However, on the 3rd day after death, she is already in other areas. Christianity knows the revelation given by St. Macarius of Alexandria (died 395) as an angel. He said that when an offering is made in the church on the 3rd day, the soul of the deceased receives from the angel guarding her, relief in grief due to separation from the body. She receives it because an offering and a doxology have been made in the church, which is why a good hope appears in her soul. The angel also said that for 2 days the deceased is allowed to walk the earth along with the angels who are with him. If the soul loves the body, then sometimes it wanders near the house in which it parted with it, or near the coffin where it is laid. And the virtuous soul goes to the places where it did the right thing. On the third day, she ascends to heaven to worship God. Then, after worshiping him, he shows her the beauty of paradise and the abode of the saints. The soul considers all this for 6 days, glorifying the Creator. Admiring all this beauty, she changes and ceases to mourn. However, if the soul is guilty of any sins, then it begins to reproach itself, seeing the pleasures of the saints. She realizes that in her earthly life she was engaged in the satisfaction of her lusts and did not serve God, therefore she has no right to be rewarded with his goodness.
After the soul has considered all the joys of the righteous for 6 days, that is, on the 9th day after death, it again ascends to the worship of God by angels. That is why the church on the 9th day makes services and offerings for the deceased. God, after the second worship, now commands to send the soul to hell and show the places of torment that are there. For 30 days, the soul rushes through these places, trembling. She doesn't want to be condemned to hell. What happens 40 days after death? The soul ascends again to worship God. After that, he determines the place that she deserves, according to her deeds. Thus, the 40th day is the boundary that finally separates earthly life from eternal life. From a religious point of view, this is an even more tragic date than the fact of physical death. 3, 9 and 40 days after death - this is the time when you should especially actively pray for the deceased. Prayers can help his soul in the afterlife.
The question arises about what happens to a person after a year of death. Why are commemorations held every year? It must be said that they are no longer needed for the deceased, but for us, so that we remember the deceased person. The anniversary has nothing to do with ordeals, which end on the 40th day. By the way, if the soul is sent to hell, this does not mean that it has finally died. During the Last Judgment, the fate of all people, including the dead, is decided.
Opinion of Muslims, Jews and Buddhists
The Muslim is also convinced that his soul after physical death moves to another world. Here she waits for judgment day. Buddhists believe that she is constantly reborn, changing her body. After death, she again incarnates in a different guise - reincarnation occurs. Judaism, perhaps, speaks least of all about the afterlife. Extraterrestrial existence in the books of Moses is mentioned very rarely. Most Jews believe that both hell and heaven exist on earth. However, they are convinced that life is eternal. It continues after death in children and grandchildren.
According to Hare Krishnas
And only Hare Krishnas, who are also convinced of turning to empirical and logical arguments. Numerous information about clinical deaths experienced by different people come to their aid. Many of them described that they rose above the bodies and soared through an unknown light to the tunnel. also comes to the aid of the Hare Krishnas. One well-known Vedic argument for the soul being immortal is that we, while living in the body, observe its changes. We turn through the years from a child into an old man. However, the very fact that we are able to contemplate these changes indicates that we exist outside the changes of the body, since the observer is always aloof.
What do the doctor's say
According to common sense, we cannot know what happens to a person after death. It is all the more surprising that a number of scientists hold a different opinion. First of all, they are doctors. The medical practice of many of them refutes the axiom that no one managed to return from the next world. Doctors are familiar firsthand with hundreds of "returnees". Yes, and many of you probably at least heard something about clinical death.
The scenario of the exit of the soul from the body after clinical death
Everything usually happens according to one scenario. During the operation, the patient's heart stops. After that, doctors ascertain the onset of clinical death. They begin resuscitation, trying with all their might to start the heart. The count goes on for seconds, since the brain and other vital organs begin to suffer from a lack of oxygen (hypoxia) in 5-6 minutes, which is fraught with sad consequences.
Meanwhile, the patient "leaves" the body, observes himself and the actions of the doctors from above for some time, and then floats towards the light along a long corridor. And then, according to the statistics that British scientists have collected over the past 20 years, about 72% of the "dead" end up in paradise. Grace descends on them, they see angels or dead friends and relatives. Everyone laughs and cheers. However, the other 28% describe a far from happy picture. These are those who after "death" find themselves in hell. Therefore, when some divine entity, appearing most often as a clot of light, informs them that their time has not yet come, they are very happy, and then return to the body. Doctors pump out a patient whose heart starts beating again. Those who managed to look beyond the threshold of death remember this all their lives. And many of them share with close relatives and attending physicians the received revelation.
Arguments of skeptics
In the 1970s, research began on so-called near-death experiences. They continue to this day, although many copies have been broken on this score. Someone saw in the phenomenon of these experiences proof of eternal life, while others, on the contrary, even today strive to convince everyone that hell and paradise, and in general "the other world" are somewhere inside us. These are supposedly not real places, but hallucinations that occur when consciousness fades. One can agree with this assumption, but why then are these hallucinations so similar for everyone? And skeptics give their answer to this question. They say the brain is being deprived of oxygenated blood. Very quickly, parts of the visual lobe of the hemispheres are turned off, but the poles of the occipital lobes, which have a dual blood supply system, are still functioning. Because of this, the field of view is significantly narrowed. Only a narrow strip remains, which provides "tube", central vision. This is the desired tunnel. So, at least, says Sergei Levitsky, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences.
case of dentures
However, those who managed to return from the other world object to him. They describe in detail the actions of a team of doctors who, during a cardiac arrest, "conjured" over the body. Patients also talk about their relatives who grieved in the corridors. For example, one patient, having come to his senses 7 days after clinical death, asked the doctors to give him a denture that was removed during the operation. The doctors could not remember where they had placed it in the confusion. And then the waking up patient accurately named the place where the prosthesis was located, while saying that during the "journey" he remembered it. It turns out that medicine today does not have irrefutable evidence that there is no life after death.
Testimony of Natalia Bekhtereva
There is an opportunity to look at this problem from the other side. First, we can recall the law of conservation of energy. In addition, one can refer to the fact that the energy principle underlies any kind of substance. It also exists in man. Of course, after the death of the body, it does not disappear anywhere. This beginning remains in the energy-informational field of our planet. However, there are also exceptions.
In particular, Natalya Bekhtereva testified that her husband's human brain became a mystery to her. The fact is that the ghost of her husband began to appear to the woman even during the day. He gave her advice, shared his thoughts, suggested where to find something. Note that Bekhterev is a world-famous scientist. However, she did not doubt the reality of what was happening. Natalya says she doesn't know if this vision was a product of her own mind, which was in a state of stress, or something else. But the woman claims that she knows for sure - she did not imagine her husband, she actually saw him.
"The Solaris Effect"
Scientists call the appearance of "ghosts" of loved ones or relatives who have died, the "Solaris effect". Another name is materialization according to the Lemma method. However, this happens extremely rarely. Most likely, the "Solaris effect" is observed only in cases where the mourners have a fairly large energy force in order to "pull" the phantom of a dear person from the field of our planet.
Experience of Vsevolod Zaporozhets
If the forces are not enough, mediums come to the rescue. This is exactly what happened to Vsevolod Zaporozhets, a geophysicist. He was a supporter of scientific materialism for many years. However, at the age of 70, after the death of his wife, he changed his mind. The scientist could not come to terms with the loss and began to study the literature on spirits and spiritualism. In total, he performed about 460 sessions, and also created the book "Contours of the Universe", where he described a technique by which one can prove the reality of the existence of life after death. Most importantly, he managed to contact his wife. In the afterlife, she is young and beautiful, like all the others living there. According to Zaporozhets, the explanation for this is simple: the world of the dead is the product of the embodiment of their desires. In this it is similar to the earthly world and even better than it. Usually the souls that dwell in it are represented in a beautiful form and at a young age. They feel material, like the inhabitants of the Earth. Those who inhabit the afterlife are aware of their physicality and can enjoy life. Clothes are created by the desire and thought of the departed. Love in this world remains or is found again. However, the relationship between the sexes is devoid of sexuality, but still different from ordinary friendships. There is no procreation in this world. One does not need to eat to sustain life, but some eat for pleasure or earthly habit. They mainly eat fruits, which grow in abundance and are very beautiful. Such is interesting story. After death, perhaps this is what awaits us. If so, then apart from own desires, nothing to fear.
We examined the most popular answers to the question: "After death, what awaits us?". Of course, this is to some extent only guesswork that can be taken on faith. After all, science in this matter is still powerless. The methods she uses today are unlikely to help figure out what awaits us after death. Probably, this riddle will torment scientists and many of us for a long time to come. However, we can state that there is much more evidence that life after death is real than the arguments of skeptics.