Stories from patients who have experienced clinical death evoke mixed reactions in people. Some such cases inspire optimism and belief in the immortality of the soul. Others try to explain mystical visions rationally, reducing them to hallucinations. What actually happens to the human consciousness during the five minutes when resuscitators work magic on the body?

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Eyewitness stories

Not all scientists are convinced that after the death of the physical body our existence completely ceases. Increasingly, there are researchers who want to prove (perhaps primarily to themselves) that after bodily death, a person’s consciousness continues to live. The first serious research on this topic was carried out in the 70s of the 20th century by Raymond Moody, author of the book “Life after Death”. But even now the area of ​​near-death experiences is of considerable interest to scientists and physicians.

Renowned cardiologist Moritz Rawlings

The professor in his book “Beyond the Threshold of Death” raised questions about the work of consciousness at the moment of clinical death. As a renowned specialist in the field of cardiology, Rawlings has cataloged many stories from patients who have experienced temporary cardiac arrest.

Afterword by Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose)

One day, Moritz Rawlings, bringing a patient back to life, massaged his chest. The man regained consciousness for a moment and asked not to stop. The doctor was surprised, since cardiac massage is a rather painful procedure. It was clear that the patient was experiencing genuine fear. "I'm in hell!" - the man shouted and begged to continue the massage, fearing that his heart would stop and he would have to return to that terrible place.

The resuscitation ended in success, and the man told what horrors he had to see during cardiac arrest. The torment he experienced completely changed his worldview, and he decided to turn to religion. The patient never wanted to go to hell again and was ready to radically change his lifestyle.

This episode prompted the professor to start recording the stories of patients whom he had rescued from the clutches of death. According to Rawlings' observations, about 50% of the patients surveyed experienced clinical death in a beautiful corner of paradise, from where they did not want to return to the real world.

The experience of the other half is completely opposite. Their near-death images were associated with torment and pain. The space where the souls found themselves was inhabited by terrible creatures. These cruel creatures literally tormented sinners, forcing them to experience incredible suffering. After returning to life, such patients had one desire - to do everything possible to never go to hell again.

Stories from the Russian press

Newspapers have repeatedly addressed the topic of out-of-body experiences of people who have experienced clinical death. Among the many stories, one can note the case of Galina Lagoda, who was the victim of a car accident.

It was a miracle that the woman did not die on the spot. Doctors diagnosed numerous fractures and tissue rupture in the kidneys and lungs. The brain was injured, the heart stopped and the pressure dropped to zero.

According to Galina’s recollections, the emptiness of endless space first appeared before her eyes. After some time, she found herself standing on a platform filled with unearthly light. The woman saw a man in white robes that emitted a glow. Apparently, due to the bright light, the face of this creature was impossible to see.

The man asked what brought her here. To this Galina said that she was very tired and would like to rest. The man listened to the answer with understanding and allowed her to stay here for a while, and then told her to go back, since there was a lot of work awaiting her in the world of the living.

When Galina Lagoda returned to consciousness, she had an amazing gift. While examining her fractures, she suddenly asked the orthopedic doctor about his stomach. The doctor was taken aback by the question because he was really bothered by stomach pain.

Now Galina is a healer of people, because she can see diseases and bring healing. After returning from the other world, she calmly regards death and believes in the eternal existence of the soul.

Another incident occurred with reserve major Yuri Burkov. He himself does not like these memories, and journalists learned the story from his wife Lyudmila. Having fallen from a great height, Yuri seriously damaged his spine. He was taken to the hospital unconscious with a traumatic brain injury. In addition, Yuri's heart stopped and his body went into a coma.

The wife was acutely worried about these events. After getting stressed, she lost her keys. And when Yuri came to his senses, he asked Lyudmila if she had found them, after which he advised them to look under the stairs.

Yuri admitted to his wife that during the coma he flew in the form of a small cloud and could be next to her. He also talked about another world, where he met his deceased parents and brother. There he realized that people do not die, but simply live in a different form.

Born again. Documentary about Galina Lagoda and others famous people who survived clinical death:

Skeptics' opinion

There will always be people who do not accept such stories as an argument for the existence of an afterlife. All these pictures of heaven and hell, according to skeptics, are produced by a fading brain. And the specific content depends on the information given during life by religion, parents, and the media.

Utilitarian explanation

Consider the point of view of a person who does not believe in an afterlife. This is Russian resuscitator Nikolai Gubin. As a practicing doctor, Nikolai is firmly convinced that the patient’s visions during clinical death are nothing more than the consequences of toxic psychosis. Images associated with leaving the body, the view of a tunnel, are a kind of dream, a hallucination, which is caused by oxygen starvation of the visual part of the brain. The field of view narrows sharply, creating the impression of a limited space in the form of a tunnel.

Russian doctor Nikolai Gubin believes that all visions of people at the moment of clinical death are hallucinations of a fading brain.

Gubin also tried to explain why at the moment of dying a person’s whole life passes before his eyes. The resuscitator believes that memory of different periods is stored in different parts of the brain. Cells with fresh memories fail first, and cells with memories fail at the very end. early childhood. The process of restoring memory cells takes place in reverse order: Early memory returns first, and then later memory. This creates the illusion of a chronological film.

Another explanation

Psychologist Pyell Watson has his own theory about what people see when their body dies. He firmly believes that the end and beginning of life are interconnected. In a sense, death closes the circle of life, connecting with birth.

Watson means that a person's birth is an experience of which he has little memory. However, this memory is stored in his subconscious and is activated at the moment of death. The tunnel that the dying person sees is the birth canal through which the fetus emerged from the mother's womb. The psychologist believes that this is a rather difficult experience for the baby’s psyche. Essentially, this is our first encounter with death.

The psychologist says that no one knows exactly how a newborn perceives the birth process. Perhaps these experiences are similar to different phases of dying. The tunnel, the light are just echoes. These impressions are simply resurrected in the consciousness of the dying person, of course, colored by personal experience and beliefs.

Interesting cases and evidence of eternal life

There are many stories that baffle modern scientists. Perhaps they cannot be considered unconditional evidence of an afterlife. However, it cannot be ignored either, because these cases are documented and require serious research.

Imperishable Buddhist monks

Doctors confirm the fact of death based on the cessation of respiratory function and heart function. They call this condition clinical death. It is believed that if the body is not resuscitated within five minutes, then irreversible changes occur in the brain and here medicine is powerless.

However, in the Buddhist tradition there is such a phenomenon. A highly spiritual monk can, entering a state of deep meditation, stop breathing and the work of the heart. Such monks retired to caves and there entered a special state in the lotus position. Legends claim that they can come back to life, but such cases are unknown to official science.

The body of Dasha-Dorzho Itigelov remained incorrupt after 75 years.

Nevertheless, in the East there are such incorruptible monks, whose withered bodies exist for decades without undergoing destruction processes. At the same time, their nails and hair grow, and their biofield power is higher than that of an ordinary living person. Such monks were found on the island of Koh Samui in Thailand, China, and Tibet.

In 1927, the Buryat lama Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov passed away. He gathered his disciples, assumed the lotus position and told them to recite a prayer for the dead. Going into nirvana, he promised that his body would remain intact after 75 years. All life processes stopped, after which the llama was buried in a cedar cube without changing its position.

After 75 years, the sarcophagus was brought to the surface and placed in the Ivolginsky datsan. As Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov predicted, his body remained incorrupt.

Forgotten tennis shoe

In one of the US hospitals there was a case with a young emigrant from South America named Maria.

During her exit from her body, Maria noticed someone had forgotten a tennis shoe.

During clinical death, the woman experienced leaving her physical body and flew a little along the hospital corridors. During her out-of-body journey, she noticed a tennis shoe lying on the stairs.

Upon returning to the real world, Maria asked the nurse to check if there was a lost shoe on those stairs. And it turned out that Maria’s story turned out to be true, although the patient had never been to that place.

Polka dot dress and broken cup

Another fantastic incident happened with Russian woman, who suffered cardiac arrest during surgery. Doctors managed to bring the patient back to life.

Later, the woman told the doctor what she experienced during clinical death. Coming out of her body, the woman saw herself on the operating table. The thought came into her head that she might die here, but she didn’t even have time to say goodbye to her family. This thought mobilized the patient to rush to her home.

There was her little daughter, her mother and a neighbor who came to visit and brought her daughter a polka dot dress. They sat and drank tea. Someone dropped and broke the cup. To this, the neighbor remarked that it was good luck.

Later, the doctor spoke with the patient's mother. And in fact, on the day of the operation, a neighbor came to visit, and she brought a polka dot dress. And then the cup also broke. As it turned out, fortunately, because the patient was on the mend.

Napoleon's signature

This story may be a legend. It seems too fantastic. This happened in France in 1821. Napoleon died in exile on the island of Saint Helena. The French throne was occupied by Louis XVIII.

The news of Bonaparte's death made the king think. That night he could not sleep. The candles dimly lit the bedroom. On the table lay the marriage contract of Marshal Auguste Marmont. Napoleon was supposed to sign the document, but the former emperor did not have time to do this due to military turmoil.

At exactly midnight the city clock struck and the bedroom door opened. Bonaparte himself stood on the threshold. He walked proudly across the room, sat down at the table and took the pen in his hand. From surprise, the new king fainted. And when he came to his senses in the morning, he was surprised to find Napoleon’s signature on the document. Experts confirmed the authenticity of the handwriting.

Return from another world

Based on the stories of returning patients, we can get an idea of ​​what happens at the moment of dying.

Researcher Raymond Moody systematized the experiences of people in the stage of clinical death. He was able to identify the following general points:

1. Stopping the physiological functions of the body. In this case, the patient even hears the doctor stating the fact that the heart and breathing are turned off.
2. Review your entire life.
3. Humming sounds that increase in volume.
4. Leaving the body, traveling through a long tunnel, at the end of which there is light.
5. Arriving at a place filled with radiant light.
6. Peace, extraordinary spiritual comfort.
7. Meeting with people who have passed away. As a rule, these are relatives or close friends.
8. Meeting with a being from whom light and love emanate. Perhaps this is a person's guardian angel.
9. A pronounced reluctance to return to your physical body.

In this video, Sergei Sklyar talks about returning from the other world:

The mystery of the dark and light worlds

Those who happened to visit the zone of Light returned to the real world in a state of goodness and peace. They are no longer bothered by the fear of death. Those who saw the Dark Worlds were amazed by the terrible pictures and for a long time could not forget the horror and pain they had to experience.

These cases suggest that religious beliefs about the afterlife coincide with the experiences of patients who have been beyond death. Above is paradise, or the Kingdom of Heaven. Hell, or the Underworld, awaits the soul below.

What is heaven like?

The famous American actress Sharon Stone was convinced from personal experience of the existence of heaven. She shared her experiences during the Oprah Winfrey TV show on May 27, 2004. After the magnetic resonance imaging procedure, Stone lost consciousness for several minutes. According to her, this condition resembled fainting.

During this period, she found herself in a space with soft white light. There she was met by people who were no longer alive: deceased relatives, friends, good acquaintances. The actress realized that these were kindred spirits who were glad to see her in that world.

Sharon Stone is absolutely sure that a short time I managed to visit paradise, the feeling of love, happiness, grace and pure joy was so great.

An interesting experience is that of Betty Maltz, who, based on her experiences, wrote the book “I Saw Eternity.” The place where she ended up during her clinical death had fabulous beauty. There were magnificent green hills and wonderful trees and flowers growing there.

Betty found herself in an amazingly beautiful place.

The sun was not visible in the sky in that world, but the entire surrounding area was filled with shining divine light. Walking next to Betty was a tall young man dressed in a loose robe. white clothes. Betty realized that this was an angel. Then they came to the silver tall building, from which beautiful melodic voices were heard. They repeated the word “Jesus.”

When the angel opened the gate, a bright light poured onto Betty, which is difficult to describe in words. And then the woman realized that this light, bringing love, is Jesus. Then Betty remembered her father, who prayed for her return. She turned back and walked down the hill, and soon woke up in her human body.

Journey to Hell - facts, stories, real cases

It is not always that leaving the body takes a person’s soul into the space of Divine light and love. Some describe their experiences quite negatively.

The abyss behind the white wall

Jennifer Perez was 15 years old when she visited hell. There was an endless wall of sterile white. The wall was very high and there was a door in it. Jennifer tried to open it, but was unsuccessful. Soon the girl saw another door, it was black, and the lock was open. But even the sight of this door caused inexplicable horror.

The angel Gabriel appeared nearby. He grabbed her wrist tightly and led her to the back door. Jennifer begged to let her go, tried to break free, but to no avail. Darkness awaited them outside the door. The girl began to fall rapidly.

Having survived the horror of the fall, she barely came to her senses. There was an unbearable heat here, which made me painfully thirsty. All around the devils were mocking human souls in every possible way. Jennifer turned to Gabriel with a prayer to give her water. The angel looked at her intently and suddenly announced that she was being given another chance. After these words, the girl’s soul returned to her body.

Hellish heat

Bill Wyss also describes hell as a real inferno, where the disembodied soul suffers from the heat. There is a feeling of wild weakness and complete powerlessness. According to Bill, it didn’t immediately dawn on him where his soul ended up. But when four terrible demons approached, everything became clear to the man. The air smelled of gray and burnt leather.

Many describe hell as a realm of burning fire.

The demons began to torment the man with their claws. It’s strange that no blood flowed from the wounds, but the pain was monstrous. Bill somehow understood how these monsters felt. They exuded hatred towards God and all God's creatures.

Bill also remembered that in hell he was tormented by unbearable thirst. However, there was no one to ask for water. Bill lost all hope of deliverance, but the nightmare suddenly stopped, and Bill woke up in a hospital room. But his stay in the hellish heat was vividly remembered by him.

fiery hell

Thomas Welch from Oregon was among the people who managed to return to this world after clinical death. He was an assistant engineer at a sawmill. While carrying out construction work, Thomas stumbled and fell from the walkway into the river, hitting his head and losing consciousness. While they were looking for him, Welch experienced a strange vision.

A boundless ocean of fire stretched out before him. The spectacle was impressive, a power emanating from it that inspired horror and amazement. There was no one in this burning element; Thomas himself stood on the shore, where many people had gathered. Among them, Welch recognized his school friend, who died of childhood cancer.

The crowd was in a state of stupor. They seemed to not understand why they were in this frightening place. Then it dawned on Thomas that he, along with the others, was placed in a special prison, from which it was impossible to leave, because fire was spreading all around.

Out of despair, Thomas Welch thought about his past life, wrong actions and mistakes. Unwittingly he turned to God with a prayer for salvation. And then he saw Jesus Christ walking by. Welch was embarrassed to ask for help, but Jesus seemed to sense it and turned around. It was this look that made Thomas wake up in his physical body. Sawmill workers stood nearby and rescued him from the river.

When the heart stops

Pastor Kenneth Hagin from Texas became a priest thanks to the experience of clinical death, which overtook him on April 21, 1933. He was under 16 years old at the time and suffered from congenital heart disease.

On this day, Kenneth's heart stopped and his soul fluttered out of his body. But her path did not lie towards heaven, but in the opposite direction. Kenneth was plunging into the abyss. There was pitch darkness all around. As he moved down, Kenneth began to feel a heat that apparently came from hell. Then he found himself on the road. A shapeless mass consisting of flames was approaching him. It was as if she was drawing her soul inside herself.

The heat covered Kenneth completely, and he found himself in some kind of pit. At this time, the teenager clearly heard the voice of God. Yes, the voice of the Creator himself sounded in hell! It spread throughout the entire space, shaking it like the wind shaking leaves. Kenneth focused on this sound, and suddenly a certain force tore him out of the darkness and began to lift him upward. Soon he woke up in his bed and saw his grandmother, who was very happy, because she no longer hoped to see him alive. After this, Kenneth decided to devote his life to serving God.

Conclusion

So, according to eyewitness accounts, after the death of a person, both heaven and the abyss of hell can await. You can believe it or not believe it. One conclusion definitely suggests itself - a person will have to answer for his actions. Even if hell and heaven do not exist, human memories exist. And it is better if, after a person passes away, a good memory of him remains.

A little about the author:

Evgeniy Tukubaev The right words and your faith are the key to success in the perfect ritual. I will provide you with information, but its implementation directly depends on you. But don’t worry, a little practice and you will succeed!

Imagine that right now you were given evidence of life after death, how your reality could change... Read and think. There is enough information for thought.

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Religion's point of view on the afterlife

Life after death... It sounds like an oxymoron, death is the end of life. Humanity has been haunted by the idea that the biological death of the body is not the end of human existence. What remains after the death of the camp, different peoples in different periods of history had their own views, which also had common features.

Representations of tribal peoples

We cannot say for sure what views our prehistoric ancestors, anthropologists have collected a sufficient number of observations of current tribes, whose way of life has changed since Neolithic times. It is worth drawing some conclusions. During the period of physical death, the soul of the deceased leaves the body and replenishes the host of ancestral spirits.

There were also spirits of animals, trees, and stones. Man was not fundamentally separated from the surrounding universe. There was no place for the eternal rest of the spirits - they continued to live in that harmony, observing the living, assisting them in their affairs and helping them with advice through shaman intermediaries.

The deceased ancestors provided assistance disinterestedly: the aborigines, ignorant of commodity-money relations, did not tolerate them in communicating with the world of spirits - the latter were content with respect.

Christianity

Thanks to the missionary activities of its adherents, it swept the universe. The denominations agreed that after death a person goes either to Hell, where a loving God will punish him forever, or to Heaven, where there is constant happiness and grace. Christianity is a separate topic; you can learn more about the afterlife.

Judaism

Judaism, from which Christianity “grew,” has no considerations about life after death, the facts are not presented, because no one returned back.

The Old Testament was interpreted by the Pharisees as afterlife and retribution exists, and the Sadducees are confident that everything ends with death. Quote from the Bible “...a living dog is better than a dead lion” Ek. 9.4. The book of Ecclesiastes was written by a Sadducee who did not believe in an afterlife.

Islam

Judaism is one of the Abrahamic religions. Whether there is life after death has been clearly defined - yes. Muslims go to Heaven, the rest go to Hell together. No appeals.

Hinduism

World religion on earth, it tells a lot about the afterlife. According to beliefs, after physical death, people go either to heavenly realms, where life is better and longer than on Earth, or to hellish planets, where everything is worse.

One thing is good: unlike Christianity, you can return to Earth from the hellish realms for exemplary behavior, and from the heavenly realms you can fall again if something goes wrong for you. There is no eternal sentence to hell.

Buddhism

Religion - from Hinduism. Buddhists believe that until you receive enlightenment on earth and merge with the Absolute, the series of births and deaths is endless and is called “”.

Life on earth is sheer suffering, man is overwhelmed by his endless desires, and failure to fulfill them makes him unhappy. Give up thirst and you are free. It's right.

Mummies of Eastern monks

“Living” 200-year-old mummy of a Tibetan monk from Ulaanbaatar

The phenomenon was discovered by scientists in southeast Asia, and today it is one of the proofs, indirectly, that a person still lives after turning off all functions of the camp.

The bodies of eastern monks were not buried, but mummified. Not like the pharaohs in Egypt, but in natural conditions, are created thanks to humid air with positive temperature. They still have hair and nails growing for some time. If in the corpse of an ordinary person this phenomenon is explained by the drying out of the shell and the visual lengthening of the nail plates, then in mummies they actually grow back.

The energy-information field, which is measured by a thermometer, thermal imager, UHF receiver and other modern devices, is three or four times greater in these mummies than in the average person. Scientists call this energy the noosphere, which allows mummies to remain intact and maintain contact with the earth's information field.

Scientific evidence of life after death

If religious fanatics or simply believers do not question what is written in the doctrine, modern people with critical thinking they doubt the truth of theories. When the hour of death approaches, a person is seized by a trembling fear of the unknown, and this stimulates curiosity and a desire to find out what awaits us beyond the boundaries of the material world.

Scientists have found that death is a phenomenon characterized by a number of obvious factors:

• lack of heartbeat;
• cessation of any mental processes in the brain;
• stopping bleeding and blood clotting;
• some time after death, the body begins to numb and decompose, and what remains of it is a light, empty and dry shell.

Duncan McDougall

An American researcher named Duncan McDougall carried out an experiment at the beginning of the 20th century where he found that the weight of the human body after death decreases by 21 grams. Calculations allowed him to conclude that the difference in mass - the weight of the soul leaves the body after death. The theory has been criticized, this is one of the works to find evidence for it.

Researchers have found that the soul has physical weight!

The idea of ​​what awaits us is surrounded by many myths and hoaxes that are created by charlatans posing as scientists. It is difficult to figure out what is fact or fiction; confident theories can be questioned due to lack of evidence.

Scientists continue their search and introduce people to new research and experiments.

Ian Stevenson

Canadian-American biochemist and psychiatrist, author of the work “Twenty Cases of Alleged Reincarnation,” Ian Stevenson conducted an experiment: he analyzed the stories of more than 2 thousand people who claimed to store memories from past lives.

The biochemist expressed the theory that a person simultaneously exists on two levels of existence - gross or physical, earthly, and subtle, that is, spiritual, immaterial. Leaving a body that is worn out and unsuitable for further existence, the soul goes in search of a new one. The end result of this journey is the birth of a person on Earth.

Ian Stevenson

Researchers have found that every life lived leaves imprints in the form of moles, scars discovered after the birth of a child, physical and mental deformations. The theory is reminiscent of the Buddhist one: when dying, the soul is reincarnated in another body, with already accumulated experience.

The psychiatrist worked with the subconscious of people: in the group they studied there were children who were born with defects. Putting his charges into a trance state, he tried to get any information proving that the soul living in this body had found refuge before. One of the boys, in a state of hypnosis, told Stevenson that he had been hacked to death with an ax and dictated the approximate address of his past family. Arriving at the indicated place, the scientist found people, one of the members of whose house was actually killed with an ax to the head. The wound was reflected on the new body in the form of a growth on the back of the head.

Materials from the work of Professor Stevenson give many reasons to believe that the fact of reincarnation is indeed scientifically proven, that the feeling of “déjà vu” is a memory from past life, thrown to us by the subconscious.

Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky

K. E. Tsiolkovsky

The first attempt by Russian researchers to determine such a component human life, like the soul, were the studies of the famous scientist K. E. Tsiolkovsky.

According to the theory, there cannot be absolute death in the universe by definition, and clots of energy called the soul consist of indivisible atoms endlessly wandering throughout the vast Universe.

Clinical death

Contemporary evidence life after death, many consider the fact of clinical death - a condition experienced by people, often on the operating table. This topic was popularized in the 70s of the 20th century by Dr. Raymond Moody, who published a book called “Life after Death.”

The descriptions of most of the respondents agree:

• about 31% felt flying through the tunnel;
• 29% - saw a starry landscape;
• 24% observed their own body in an unconscious state, lying on the couch, described the real actions of doctors at this moment;
• 23% of patients were attracted by the alluring bright light;
• 13% of people during clinical death watched episodes from life like a movie;
• another 8% saw the border between two worlds - the dead and the living, and some - their own deceased relatives.

Among the respondents were people who were blind from birth. And the testimony is similar to the stories of sighted people. Skeptics explain the visions as oxygen deprivation of the brain and fantasy.

Thanks to the progress of medicine, resuscitation of the dead has become almost standard procedure in many modern hospitals. Previously, it was almost never used.

In this article we will not provide real cases from the practice of resuscitation doctors and stories of those who themselves experienced clinical death, since a lot of such descriptions can be found in books such as:

• "Closer to the Light" (
• Life after life (
• "Memories of Death" (
• "Life Near Death" (
• "Beyond the threshold of death" (

The purpose of this material is to classify what people who visited the afterlife saw and present what they told in an understandable form as evidence of the existence of life after death.

What happens after a person dies

“He’s dying” is often the first thing a person hears at the moment of clinical death. What happens after a person dies? First, the patient feels that he is leaving the body and a second later he looks down at himself floating under the ceiling.

At this moment, a person sees himself from the outside for the first time and experiences a huge shock. In a panic, he tries to attract attention to himself, scream, touch the doctor, move objects, but as a rule, all his attempts are in vain. No one sees or hears him.

After some time, the person realizes that all his senses remain functional, despite the fact that his physical body is dead. Moreover, the patient experiences an indescribable lightness that he has never experienced before. This feeling is so wonderful that the dying person no longer wants to return back to the body.

Some, after the above, return to the body, and this is where their excursion into the afterlife ends; on the contrary, someone manages to get into a certain tunnel, at the end of which light is visible. Having passed through a kind of gate, they see a world of great beauty.

Some are met by family and friends, some meet with a bright being from whom great love and understanding. Some are sure that this is Jesus Christ, others claim that this is a guardian angel. But everyone agrees that he is full of kindness and compassion.

Of course, not everyone manages to admire the beauty and enjoy the bliss afterlife. Some people say that they found themselves in dark places and, upon returning, describe the disgusting and cruel creatures they saw.

ordeals

Those who returned from the “other world” often say that at some point they saw their whole life in full view. Their every action, seemingly random phrase, and even thoughts flashed before them as if in reality. At this moment, the man reconsidered his entire life.

At that moment there were no such concepts as social status, hypocrisy, pride. All the masks of the mortal world were dropped and the person was presented to the court as if naked. He couldn't hide anything. Each of his bad deeds was depicted in great detail and shown how he affected those around him and those who were caused pain and suffering by such behavior.

At this time, all the advantages achieved in life - social and economic situation, diplomas, titles, etc. - lose their meaning. The only thing that can be assessed is the moral side of actions. At this moment, a person realizes that nothing is erased or passes without a trace, but everything, even every thought, has consequences.

For evil and cruel people, this will truly be the beginning of unbearable internal torment, so-called, from which it is impossible to escape. The consciousness of the evil done, the crippled souls of oneself and others, becomes for such people like an “unquenchable fire” from which there is no way out. It is this kind of trial of actions that is called ordeal in the Christian religion.

Afterworld

Having crossed the line, a person, despite the fact that all senses remain the same, begins to feel everything around him in a completely new way. It’s as if his sensations are starting to work one hundred percent. The range of feelings and experiences is so wide that those who returned simply cannot explain in words everything that they felt there.

From the more earthly and familiar to us in perception, this is time and distance, which, according to those who have visited the afterlife, flows there completely differently.

People who have experienced clinical death often find it difficult to answer how long their post-mortem state lasted. A few minutes, or a few thousand years, it made no difference to them.

As for the distance, it was completely absent. A person could be transported to any point, to any distance just by thinking about it, that is, by the power of thought!

Another surprising thing is that not all of those reanimated describe places similar to heaven and hell. The descriptions of the places of individual individuals are simply amazing. They are sure that they have been on other planets or in other dimensions and this seems to be true.

Judge for yourself word forms like hilly meadows; bright greenery of a color that does not exist on earth; fields bathed in a wonderful golden light; cities beyond words; animals that you will not find anywhere else - all this does not apply to the descriptions of hell and heaven. People who visited there did not find the right words to clearly convey their impressions.

What does the soul look like?

In what form do the dead appear to others and how do they look in their own eyes? This question interests many, and fortunately, those who have been abroad gave us the answer.

Those who were aware of their exit from the body say that at first it was not easy for them to recognize themselves. First of all, the imprint of age disappears: children see themselves as adults, and old people see themselves as young.

The body is also transformed. If a person had any injuries or injuries during life, then after death they disappear. Amputated limbs appear, hearing and vision return if it was previously absent from the physical body.

Meetings after death

Those who have been on the other side of the “veil” often say that they met there with their deceased relatives, friends and acquaintances. Most often, people see those with whom they were close during life or were related.

Such visions cannot be considered the rule; rather, they are exceptions that do not occur very often. Usually such meetings act as an edification to those who are too early to die and who must return to earth and change their lives.

Sometimes people see what they expected to see. Christians see angels, the Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ, saints. Non-religious people see some temples, figures in white or young men, and sometimes they see nothing, but they feel a “presence”.

Communication of souls

Many reanimated people claim that something or someone communicated with them there. When they are asked to tell what the conversation was about, they find it difficult to answer. This happens due to a language unknown to them, or rather inarticulate speech.

For a long time, doctors could not explain why people did not remember or could not convey what they heard and considered it just hallucinations, but over time, some who returned were still able to explain the mechanism of communication.

It turned out that people communicate there mentally! Therefore, if in that world all thoughts are “audible,” then we need to learn here to control our thoughts so that there we are not ashamed of what we involuntarily thought.

Cross the line

Almost everyone who has experienced afterlife and remembers it, talks about a certain barrier that separates the world of the living and the dead. Having crossed to the other side, a person will never be able to return to life, and every soul knows this, even though no one told her about it.

This limit is different for everyone. Some see a fence or lattice on the border of a field, others see the shore of a lake or sea, and others see it as a gate, a stream or a cloud. The difference in descriptions stems, again, from the subjective perception of each.

Having read all of the above, only an inveterate skeptic and materialist can say that afterlife this is fiction. Many doctors and scientists for a long time They denied not only the existence of hell and heaven, but also completely excluded the possibility of the existence of an afterlife.

The testimony of eyewitnesses who experienced this condition themselves drove into a dead end all scientific theories that denied life after death. Of course, today there are a number of scientists who still consider all the testimony of those reanimated to be hallucinations, but no evidence will help such a person until he himself begins the journey to eternity.

The person is like this strange creature, for whom it is very difficult to come to terms with the fact that it is impossible to live forever. Moreover, it should be noted that for many immortality is an indisputable fact. More recently, scientists have presented scientific evidence that will satisfy those who are interested in whether there is life after death.

About life after death

Studies have been conducted that bring religion and science together: death is not the end of existence. Because only beyond the border does a person have the opportunity to discover a new form of life. It turns out that death is not the final line and somewhere out there, abroad, there is another life.

Is there life after death?

The first who was able to explain the existence of life after death was Tsiolkovsky. The scientist argued that human existence on earth does not cease as long as the Universe is alive. And the souls that left the “dead” bodies are indivisible atoms that wander throughout the Universe. This was the first one scientific theory concerning the immortality of the soul.

But in the modern world, belief in the existence of the immortality of the soul is not enough. Humanity to this day does not believe that death cannot be overcome, and continues to look for weapons against it.

American anesthesiologist, Stuart Hameroff claims that life after death is real. When he performed in the program “Through a Tunnel in Space,” he was told about immortality human soul, that it is made from the fabric of the Universe.

The professor is convinced that consciousness has existed since the Big Bang. It turns out that when a person dies, his soul continues to exist in space, taking on the form of some kind of quantum information that continues to “spread and flow in the Universe.”

It is with this hypothesis that the doctor explains the phenomenon when a patient experiences clinical death and sees “ White light at the end of the tunnel." Professor and mathematician Roger Penrose developed a theory of consciousness: inside neurons there are protein microtubules that accumulate and process information, thereby continuing their existence.

There are no scientifically based, 100% facts that there is life after death, but science is moving in this direction, conducting various experiments.

If the soul were material, then it would be possible to influence it and force it to desire what it does not want, in exactly the same way as one can force a person’s hand to make a movement familiar to it.

If everything in people was material, then all people would feel almost the same, since their bodily similarity would prevail. Seeing a picture, listening to music or learning about the death of a loved one, people would have the same feelings of pleasure or delight or sadness, just as when pain is caused they experience similar sensations. But people know that when they see the same spectacle, one remains cold, while the other worries and cries.

If matter had the ability to think, then every particle of it should be able to think, and people would realize that there are so many creatures in them who can think, How many particles of matter are there in the human body?

In 1907, an experiment was conducted by Dr. Duncan MacDougall and several of his assistants. They decided to weigh people dying of tuberculosis in the moments before and after death. Beds with dying people were placed on special ultra-precise industrial scales. It was noted that each of them lost weight after death. It was not possible to scientifically explain this phenomenon, but a version was put forward that this small difference is the weight of the human soul.

Whether there is life after death, and what it is like, can be debated endlessly. But still, if you think about the facts presented, you can find a certain logic in this.

Every person who has faced the death of a loved one asks the question: is there life after death? Now this question acquires particular relevance. If several centuries ago the answer to this question was obvious to everyone, now, after a period of atheism, its solution is more difficult. We cannot easily trust hundreds of generations of our ancestors, who, through personal experience, century after century, were convinced of the presence of an immortal soul in man. We want to have facts. Moreover, the facts are scientific.

From school they tried to convince us that there is no God, there is no immortal soul. At the same time, we were told that science says so. And we believed... Let us note that we believed that there is no immortal soul, we believed that science had allegedly proven this, we believed that there is no God. None of us has even tried to figure out what impartial science says about the soul. We easily trusted certain authorities, without particularly going into the details of their worldview, objectivity, and their interpretation of scientific facts.

We feel that the soul of the deceased is eternal, that it is alive, but on the other hand, the old stereotypes instilled in us that there is no soul pull us into the abyss of despair. This struggle within us is very difficult and very exhausting. We want the truth!

So let's look at the question of the existence of the soul through real, non-ideologized, objective science. Let's hear the opinions of real researchers on this issue and personally evaluate the logical calculations. It is not our belief in the existence or non-existence of the soul, but only knowledge that can extinguish this internal conflict, preserve our strength, give confidence, and look at the tragedy from a different, real point of view.

First of all, about what Consciousness is in general. People have thought about this question throughout the history of mankind, but still cannot come to a final decision. We know only some of the properties and possibilities of consciousness. Consciousness is awareness of oneself, one’s personality, it is a great analyzer of all our feelings, emotions, desires, plans. Consciousness is what sets us apart, what obliges us to feel ourselves not as objects, but as individuals. In other words, Consciousness miraculously reveals our fundamental existence. Consciousness is our awareness of our “I”, but at the same time Consciousness is a great mystery. Consciousness has no dimensions, no form, no color, no smell, no taste; it cannot be touched or turned in your hands. Despite the fact that we know very little about consciousness, we know with absolute certainty that we have it.

One of the main questions of humanity is the question of the nature of this very Consciousness (soul, “I”, ego). Materialism and idealism have diametrically opposed views on this issue. In the view of materialism, human Consciousness is the substrate of the brain, a product of matter, the product of biochemical processes, a special fusion of nerve cells. In the view of idealism, Consciousness is the ego, “I”, spirit, soul - an immaterial, invisible, eternally existing, non-dying energy that spiritualizes the body. The subject always takes part in acts of consciousness and is actually aware of everything.

If you are interested in purely religious ideas about the soul, then religion will not provide any evidence of the existence of the soul. The doctrine of the soul is a dogma and is not subject to scientific proof.

There are absolutely no explanations, and even more evidence from materialists who believe that they are impartial researchers (however, this is far from the case).

But how do most people, who are equally far from religion, from philosophy, and from science too, imagine this Consciousness, soul, “I”? Let's ask ourselves, what is “I”?

The first thing that comes to mind for most is: “I am a person”, “I am a woman (man)”, “I am a businessman (turner, baker)”, “I am Tanya (Katya, Alexey)”, “I am a wife ( husband, daughter)” and the like. These are, of course, funny answers. Your individual, unique “I” cannot be defined general concepts. There are countless people in the world with the same characteristics, but they are not your “I”. Half of them are women (men), but they are not “I” either, people with the same professions seem to have their own, and not your “I”, the same can be said about wives (husbands), people of various professions, social status, nationalities, religion, etc. No belonging to any group will explain to you what your individual “I” represents, because Consciousness is always personal. I am not qualities (qualities only belong to our “I”), because the qualities of the same person can change, but his “I” will remain unchanged.

Mental and physiological characteristics

Some say that their “I” is their reflexes, their behavior, their individual ideas and preferences, their psychological characteristics, etc.

Actually, this is not possible by the core of the personality, which is called “I.” For what reason? Because throughout life, behavior, ideas and preferences change, and even more so psychological characteristics. It cannot be said that if previously these features were different, then it was not my “I”. Realizing this, some people make the following argument: “I am my individual body.” This is already more interesting. Let's examine this assumption as well.

Everyone also knows from the school anatomy course that the cells of our body are gradually renewed throughout life. Old ones die and new ones are born. Some cells are completely renewed almost every day, but there are cells that go through their life cycle much longer. On average, every 5 years all the cells of the body are renewed. If we consider the “I” to be an ordinary collection of human cells, then the result will be absurd. It turns out that if a person lives, for example, 70 years. During this time, at least 10 times a person will change all the cells in his body (that is, 10 generations). Could this mean that not just one person, but 10 people lived their 70-year life? different people? Isn't that pretty stupid? We conclude that “I” cannot be a body, because the body is not continuous, but “I” is continuous.

This means that “I” cannot be either the qualities of cells or their totality.

Materialism is accustomed to decomposing the entire multidimensional world into mechanical components, “testing harmony with algebra” (A.S. Pushkin). The most naive misconception of militant materialism regarding personality is the idea that personality is a set of biological qualities. However, the combination of impersonal objects, be they at least atoms, at least neurons, cannot give rise to a personality and its core - the “I”.

How is it possible for this most complex “I”, feeling, capable of experiences, love, the sum of specific cells of the body along with the ongoing biochemical and bioelectric processes? How can these processes shape the “I”???

Provided that nerve cells constituted our “I”, then we would lose part of our “I” every day. With each dead cell, with each neuron, the “I” would become smaller and smaller. With cell restoration, it would increase in size.

Scientific studies conducted in various countries around the world prove that nerve cells, like all other cells of the human body, are capable of regeneration. Here is what the most serious biological international journal Nature writes: “Employees of the Californian Institute for Biological Research named after. Salk found that in the brain of adult mammals, perfectly functional young cells are born that function on a par with existing neurons. Professor Frederick Gage and his colleagues also came to the conclusion that brain tissue renews itself most quickly in physically active animals.”

This is confirmed by publication in one of the most authoritative, peer-reviewed biological journals - Science: “Within two recent years scientists have found that nerve and brain cells are renewed, like the rest in human body. The body is capable of repairing disorders related to the nervous tract itself, says scientist Helen M. Blon.”

Thus, even with a complete change of all (including nerve) cells of the body, the “I” of a person remains the same, therefore, it does not belong to the continuously changing material body.

For some reason, it is now so difficult to prove what was obvious and understandable to the ancients. The Roman Neoplatonist philosopher Plotinus, who lived back in the 3rd century, wrote: “It is absurd to assume that, since not one of the parts has life, then life can be created by their totality... moreover, it is absolutely impossible for life to be produced by a heap of parts, and that the mind was generated by that which is devoid of mind. If anyone objects that this is not so, but that in fact the soul is formed by atoms coming together, i.e. bodies indivisible into parts, then it will be refuted by the fact that the atoms themselves only lie one next to the other, not forming a living whole, for unity and joint feeling cannot be obtained from bodies that are insensitive and incapable of unification; but the soul feels itself”1.

The “I” is the unchanging core of personality, which includes many variables, but is not itself variable.

A skeptic can put forward a last desperate argument: “Is it possible that the “I” is the brain?”

Many people heard the fairy tale about the fact that our Consciousness is the activity of the brain in school. The idea that the brain is essentially a person with his “I” is extremely widespread. Most people think that it is the brain that perceives information from the world around us, processes it and decides how to act in each specific case; they think that it is the brain that makes us alive and gives us personality. And the body is nothing more than a spacesuit that ensures the activity of the central nervous system.

But this tale has nothing to do with science. The brain is now deeply studied. Long and well studied chemical composition, parts of the brain, connections of these parts with human functions. The brain organization of perception, attention, memory, and speech has been studied. Functional blocks of the brain have been studied. A countless number of clinics and research centers have been studying the human brain for more than a hundred years, for which expensive, effective equipment has been developed. But, opening any textbooks, monographs, scientific journals on neurophysiology or neuropsychology, you will not find scientific data about the connection of the brain with Consciousness.

For people far from this field of knowledge, this seems surprising. Actually, there is nothing surprising about this. No one has ever easily discovered the connection between the brain and the very center of our personality, our “I”. Of course, materialist researchers have always wanted this. Thousands of studies and millions of experiments have been conducted, many billions of dollars have been spent on this. The researchers' efforts were not for free. Thanks to these studies, the parts of the brain themselves were discovered and studied, their connection with physiological processes was established, a lot was done to understand neurophysiological processes and phenomena, but the most important thing was not achieved. It was not possible to find the place in the brain that is our “I”. It was not even possible, despite the extremely active work in this direction, to make a serious assumption about how the brain is possibly connected with our Consciousness.

Where did the assumption come from that Consciousness is located in the brain? One of the first to make such an assumption was the famous electrophysiologist Dubois-Reymond (1818-1896) in the mid-18th century. In his worldview, Dubois-Reymond was one of prominent representatives mechanistic direction. In one of his letters to a friend, he wrote that “exclusively physicochemical laws operate in the body; if not everything can be explained with their help, then it is necessary, using physical and mathematical methods, either to find a way of their action, or to accept that there are new forces of matter, equal in value to physical and chemical forces.”

But another outstanding physiologist, Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig, who lived at the same time as Raymon, did not agree with him, and in 1869-1895 he headed the new Physiological Institute in Leipzig, which became the largest world center in the field of experimental physiology. The founder of the scientific school, Ludwig wrote that none of the existing theories of nervous activity, including the electrical theory of nerve currents by Dubois-Reymond, can say anything about how, as a result of the activity of nerves, acts of sensation become possible. Note that here we're talking about not even about the most complex acts of consciousness, but about much more simple sensations. If there is no consciousness, then we cannot feel or perceive anything.

Another major physiologist of the 19th century, the outstanding English neurophysiologist Sir Charles Scott Sherrington, a Nobel Prize laureate, said that if it is not clear how the psyche emerges from the activity of the brain, then, naturally, it is equally unclear how it can have any effect on behavior of a living creature, controlled through the nervous system.

As a result, Dubois-Reymond himself came to the following conclusion: “As we are aware, we do not know and will never know. And no matter how much we delve into the jungle of intracerebral neurodynamics, we will not build a bridge to the kingdom of consciousness.” Raymon came to the conclusion, disappointing for determinism, that it is impossible to explain Consciousness by material causes. He admitted “that here the human mind encounters a ‘world riddle’ that it will never be able to solve.”

Professor at Moscow University, philosopher A.I. Vvedensky in 1914 formulated the law of “the absence of objective signs of animation.” The meaning of this law is that the role of the psyche in the system of material processes of behavior regulation is completely elusive and there is no conceivable bridge between the activity of the brain and the area of ​​mental or spiritual phenomena, including Consciousness.

The leading experts in neurophysiology, Nobel Prize laureates David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel recognized that in order to establish a connection between the brain and Consciousness, it is necessary to understand what reads and decodes the information that comes from the senses. The researchers acknowledged that this could not be done.

There is interesting and convincing evidence of the absence of a connection between Consciousness and the functioning of the brain, understandable even to people far from science. Here it is:

Let us assume that the "I" is the result of the work of the brain. As neurophysiologists probably know, a person can live with even one hemisphere of the brain. At the same time, he will have Consciousness. A person who lives only with the right hemisphere of the brain undoubtedly has an “I” (Consciousness). Accordingly, we can conclude that the “I” is not located in the left, absent, hemisphere. A person with only a functioning left hemisphere also has an “I”, therefore the “I” is not located in the right hemisphere, which is absent in this person. Consciousness remains regardless of which hemisphere is removed. This means that a person does not have the area of ​​the brain responsible for Consciousness, neither in the left nor in the right hemisphere of the brain. We have to conclude that the presence of consciousness in humans is not associated with certain areas of the brain.

Professor, Doctor of Medical Sciences Voino-Yasenetsky describes: “In a young wounded man, I opened a huge abscess (about 50 cubic cm of pus), which, of course, destroyed the entire left frontal lobe, and I did not observe any mental defects after this operation. I can say the same about another patient who was operated on for a huge cyst of the meninges. Upon wide opening of the skull, I was surprised to see that almost the entire right half of it was empty, and the entire left hemisphere of the brain was compressed, almost to the point of being impossible to distinguish.”

In 1940, Dr. Augustin Iturricha made a sensational statement at the Anthropological Society in Sucre (Bolivia). He and Dr. Ortiz spent a long time studying the medical history of a 14-year-old boy, a patient at Dr. Ortiz's clinic. The teenager was there with a diagnosis of a brain tumor. The young man retained Consciousness until his death, complaining only about headache. When, after his death, a pathological autopsy was performed, the doctors were amazed: the entire brain mass was completely separated from the internal cavity of the skull. A large abscess has taken over the cerebellum and part of the brain. It remains absolutely unclear how the sick boy’s thinking was preserved.

The fact that consciousness exists independently of the brain is also confirmed by studies conducted relatively recently by Dutch physiologists under the leadership of Pim van Lommel. The results of a large-scale experiment were published in the most authoritative English biological journal, The Lancet. “Consciousness exists even after the brain has ceased to function. In other words, Consciousness “lives” on its own, completely on its own. As for the brain, it is not thinking matter at all, but an organ, like any other, performing strictly defined functions. It is very possible that thinking matter does not exist, even in principle, said the leader of the study, the famous scientist Pim van Lommel.”

Another argument understandable to non-specialists is given by Professor V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky: “In the wars of ants who do not have a brain, intentionality is clearly revealed, and therefore rationality, no different from human”4. It's true amazing fact. Ants solve quite complex problems of survival, building housing, providing themselves with food, that is, they have a certain intelligence, but have no brain at all. Makes you think, doesn't it?

Neurophysiology does not stand still, but is one of the most dynamically developing sciences. The success of studying the brain is evidenced by the methods and scale of research. Functions and areas of the brain are being studied, and its composition is being clarified in more and more detail. Despite the titanic work on studying the brain, world science in our time is also far from understanding what creativity, thinking, memory are and what their connection is with the brain itself. Having come to the understanding that Consciousness does not exist inside the body, science draws natural conclusions about the immaterial nature of consciousness.

Academician P.K. Anokhin: “None of the “mental” operations that we attribute to the “mind” have so far been able to be directly associated with any part of the brain. If we, in principle, cannot understand how exactly the psyche appears as a result of the activity of the brain, then isn’t it more logical to think that the psyche is not, in its essence, a function of the brain, but represents the manifestation of some other - immaterial spiritual forces?

At the end of the 20th century, the creator of quantum mechanics, Nobel Prize laureate E. Schrödinger wrote that the nature of the connection of some physical processes with subjective events (to which Consciousness refers) lies “aside from science and beyond human understanding.”

The greatest modern neurophysiologist, Nobel Prize winner in medicine, J. Eccles, developed the idea that based on the analysis of brain activity it is impossible to find out the origin of mental phenomena, and this fact can simply be interpreted in the sense that the psyche is not a function of the brain at all. According to Eccles, neither physiology nor the theory of evolution can shed light on the origin and nature of consciousness, which is completely alien to all material processes in the Universe. The spiritual world of man and the world of physical realities, including brain activity, are absolutely independent independent worlds that only interact and to some extent influence each other. He is echoed by such powerful specialists as Karl Lashley (an American scientist, director of the laboratory of primate biology in Orange Park (Florida), who studied the mechanisms of brain function) and Harvard University doctor Edward Tolman.

With his colleague, the founder of modern neurosurgery Wilder Penfield, who performed over 10,000 brain operations, Eccles wrote the book “The Mystery of Man.” In it, the authors directly state that “there is no doubt that a person is controlled by SOMETHING located outside his body.” “I can confirm experimentally,” writes Eccles, “that the workings of consciousness cannot possibly be explained by the functioning of the brain. Consciousness exists independently of it from the outside.”

According to Eccles, consciousness is not possible with an object. scientific research. In his opinion, the emergence of consciousness, as well as the emergence of life, is the highest religious mystery. In his report, the Nobel laureate relied on the conclusions of the book “Personality and the Brain,” written together with the American philosopher and sociologist Karl Popper.

Wilder Penfield, as a result of many years of studying brain activity, also came to the conclusion that “the energy of the mind is different from the energy of brain neural impulses”6.

Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the Russian Federation, director of the Brain Research Institute (RAMS of the Russian Federation), world-renowned neurophysiologist, professor, doctor of medical sciences. Natalya Petrovna Bekhtereva: “I first heard the hypothesis that the human brain only perceives thoughts from somewhere outside Nobel laureate, Professor John Eccles. Of course, at the time it seemed absurd to me. But then research conducted at our St. Petersburg Brain Research Institute confirmed: we cannot explain the mechanics of the creative process. The brain can only generate very simple thoughts like how to turn pages book to read or stir sugar in a glass. And the creative process is a manifestation of the latest quality. As a believer, I allow the participation of the Almighty in controlling the thought process.”

Science is gradually coming to the conclusion that the brain is not a source of thought and consciousness, but at most a relay of them.

Professor S. Grof talks about it this way: “imagine that your TV is broken and you call a TV technician, who, after turning various knobs, tunes it. It doesn’t occur to you that all these stations are sitting in this box.”

Also in 1956, the outstanding leading scientist-surgeon, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky believed that our brain is not only not connected with Consciousness, but is not even capable of thinking on its own, since the mental process is taken outside its boundaries. In his book, Valentin Feliksovich argues that “the brain is not an organ of thought and feelings,” and that “The Spirit acts beyond the brain, determining its activity, and our entire existence, when the brain works as a transmitter, receiving signals and transmitting them to the organs of the body.” 7.

English scientists Peter Fenwick from the London Institute of Psychiatry and Sam Parnia from the Southampton Central Clinic came to the same conclusions. They examined patients who had come back to life after cardiac arrest and found that some of them were likely to retell the content of conversations that medical staff had while they were in a state of clinical death. Others gave an accurate description of the events that occurred in a given time period. Sam Parnia argues that the brain, like any other organ of the human body, consists of cells and is not capable of thinking. However, it can work as a device that detects thoughts, that is, as an antenna, with the help of which it becomes possible to receive a signal from the outside. Researchers have suggested that during clinical death, Consciousness operating independently of the brain uses it as a screen. Like a television receiver, which first receives the waves entering it, and then converts them into sound and image.

If we turn off the radio, this does not mean that the radio station stops broadcasting. Those. after the death of the physical body, Consciousness continues to live.

The fact of the continuation of the life of Consciousness after the death of the body is confirmed by Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Director of the Research Institute of the Human Brain, Professor N.P. Bekhterev in her book “The Magic of the Brain and the Labyrinths of Life.” In addition to discussing purely scientific issues, in this book the author also presents his personal experience encounters with post-mortem phenomena.

Natalya Bekhtereva, talking about her meeting with the Bulgarian clairvoyant Vanga Dimitrova, speaks very precisely about this in one of her interviews: “Vanga’s example absolutely convinced me that there is a phenomenon of contact with the dead,” and also a quote from her book: “I can’t help but believe what I heard and I saw it myself. A scientist does not have the right to reject facts just because they do not fit into dogma or worldview.”

The first consistent description of afterlife, based on scientific observations, was given by the Swedish scientist and naturalist Emmanuel Swedenborg. After that, this problem was seriously studied by the famous psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler Ross, the no less famous psychiatrist Raymond Moody, conscientious researchers academicians Oliver Lodge, William Crookes, Alfred Wallace, Alexander Butlerov, Professor Friedrich Myers, and the American pediatrician Melvin Morse. Among the serious and systematic scientists on the issue of dying, one should mention Dr. Michael Sabom, a professor of medicine at Emory University and a staff physician at the Veterans Hospital in Atlanta; the systematic study of the psychiatrist Kenneth Ring, who studied this problem, was also studied by the doctor of medicine and resuscitator Moritz Rawlings , our contemporary, thanatopsychologist A.A. Nalchadzhyan. The famous Soviet scientist, a leading specialist in the area of ​​thermodynamic processes, academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Belarus Albert Veinik, worked a lot to understand this problem from the point of view of physics. A significant contribution to the study of near-death experiences was made by a world-famous American psychologist of Czech origin, founder of the transpersonal school of psychology. Dr. Stanislav Grof.

The variety of facts accumulated by science indisputably proves that after physical death, each of those living today inherits a different reality, maintaining their Consciousness.

Despite the limitations of our ability to understand this reality using material resources, today there are a number of its characteristics obtained through experiments and observations of researchers studying this problem.

These characteristics were listed by A.V. Mikheev, research fellow St. Petersburg State Electrotechnical University in his report at the international symposium “Life after death: from faith to knowledge” which took place on April 8-9, 2005 in St. Petersburg:

1. There is a so-called “ thin body”, which is the carrier of self-awareness, memory, emotions and the “inner life” of a person. This body exists... after physical death, being, for the duration of the existence of the physical body, its “parallel component”, ensuring the above processes. The physical body is only an intermediary for their manifestation on the physical (earthly) level.

2. The life of an individual does not end with current earthly death. Survival after death is a natural law for humans.

3. The next reality is divided into a large number of levels that differ in the frequency characteristics of their components.

4. A person’s destination during the posthumous transition is determined by his attunement to a certain level, which is the total result of his thoughts, feelings and actions during life on Earth. Just as the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation emitted by a chemical substance depends on its composition, a person's posthumous destination is definitely determined by the "composite characteristic" of his inner life.

5. The concepts of “Heaven and Hell” reflect two polarities, possible post-mortem states.

6. In addition to similar polar states, there are a number of intermediate ones. The selection of an adequate state is automatically determined by the mental and emotional “pattern” formed by a person during earthly life. That is why bad emotions, violence, the desire for destruction and fanaticism, no matter how they are justified externally, in this regard are extremely destructive for future fate person. This provides a strong rationale for personal responsibility and ethical principles.

All of the above arguments are remarkably consistent with the religious knowledge of all traditional religions. This is a reason to cast aside doubts and make a decision. Is not it?