Is there life after death proof. Is there life after death? Research by scientists, facts, guesses

Is there life after death - Facts and evidence

- Is there an afterlife?

- Is there an afterlife?
— Facts and evidence
— Real stories clinical death
— A scientific view of death

Life after death, or afterlife, is a religious and philosophical idea of ​​the continuation of a person’s conscious life after death. In most cases, such ideas are due to the belief in the immortality of the soul, which is characteristic of most religious and religious-philosophical worldviews.

Among the main views:

1) resurrection of the dead - people will be resurrected by God after death;
2) reincarnation - the human soul returns to the material world in new incarnations;
3) posthumous reward - after death, a person’s soul goes to hell or heaven, depending on the person’s earthly life. (Also read about.)

Doctors in the intensive care unit of a Canadian hospital registered an unusual case. They removed life support from four terminal patients. For three of them, the brain behaved normally - it stopped working shortly after the shutdown. In the fourth patient, the brain emitted waves for another 10 minutes and 38 seconds, despite the fact that doctors declared his death using the same set of measures as in the cases of his “colleagues”.

The fourth patient's brain seemed to be in deep sleep, although his body showed no signs of life - neither pulse nor blood pressure, no reaction to light. Previously, brain waves had been recorded in rats after decapitation, but in those situations there was only one wave.

- Is there life after death?! Facts and evidence

— A scientific view of death

In Seattle, biologist Mark Roth is experimenting with putting animals into artificial suspended animation using chemical compounds that slow their heart rate and metabolism to levels similar to those observed during hibernation. His goal is to make people who have suffered a heart attack “a little immortal” until they overcome the consequences of the crisis that brought them to the brink of life and death.

In Baltimore and Pittsburgh, trauma teams led by surgeon Sam Tisherman are conducting clinical trials in which patients with gunshot and stab wounds lower body temperature to slow bleeding for the period necessary to apply stitches. These doctors use cold for the same purpose as the mouth - chemical compounds: It allows you to temporarily "kill" patients in order to ultimately save their life.

In Arizona, cryopreservation specialists keep the bodies of more than 130 of their clients frozen - also a form of "border zone." They hope that sometime in the distant future, perhaps a few centuries from now, these people can be thawed and revived, and by then medicine will be able to cure the diseases from which they died.

In India, neuroscientist Richard Davidson studies Buddhist monks who have entered a state known as thukdam, in which biological signs of life disappear but the body appears to remain intact for a week or longer. Davidson is trying to record some activity in the brains of these monks, hoping to find out what happens after the blood circulation stops.

And in New York, Sam Parnia talks excitedly about the possibilities of “delayed resuscitation.” He says cardiopulmonary resuscitation works better than is commonly believed, and under certain conditions—when body temperature is lowered, chest compressions are properly regulated in depth and rhythm, and oxygen is administered slowly to avoid tissue damage—some patients can be brought back to life even after their heart had not been beating for several hours, and often without long-term negative consequences. Now a doctor is exploring one of the most mysterious aspects of returning from the dead: why do so many people who have experienced clinical death describe how their consciousness was separated from their body? What can these sensations tell us about the nature of the “border zone” and about death itself?

The material was prepared by Dilyara specifically for the site

What is Consciousness?
Is there life after death, and is there death after life - questions that have always worried humanity. In the 21st century, there has been a certain shift in the study of this issue. It is not yet possible to say with one hundred percent certainty that the death of the body does not end the life of the spirit. But numerous facts accumulated by science over the years long years and the latest scientific developments in this field say that death is not the final station. Research and experimental materials published in scientific publications by P. Fenwick (London Institute of Psychiatry) and S. Parin (Southampton Central Hospital) prove that human Consciousness does not depend on brain activity and continues to live when all processes in the brain have ceased. Brain cells, according to scientists, are no different from other cells in the body. They produce various chemical substances, protein, but do not create either thoughts or images that we take for consciousness. The brain performs the functions of a “living TV”, which simply receives waves and converts them into image and sound, which creates a complete picture. And if so, scientists conclude, then consciousness continues to exist even after the death of the body.

At the end of the article VIDEO: One hundred percent, there is no death...

What is Consciousness?

Simply put, turning off the TV does not mean all TV channels disappear. If you turn off the body, consciousness will not disappear either.

But first, we need to understand what consciousness is.

A person spends most of his life in an unconscious state. This does not mean that he does not control his actions, cannot think logically, carry on a conversation, or do other things.

No. It’s just that at this time he is not aware of himself as a person. For the last two days, for example, I have been moving to another apartment. I packed my things, went to the store, ordered transport.

At some point, while sealing the box with tape, I suddenly realized that for several hours now a twenty-year-old song had been playing in my head, and I was humming it to myself.

Why the hell did she fly into my head, because I definitely didn’t hear her in the last hours, I spent them unconsciously, doing routine work, not realizing that it was me, it was I who was doing it.

What kind of translator launched the hit song of yesteryear into my brain? One can, of course, assume that it was generated by the brain, but then one must admit that it performs stupid and unnecessary work, which consumes a lot of energy.

I don't think evolution hasn't cut off this useless function. One will inevitably agree with the hypothesis that the brain picks up signals and thoughts from the outside, and does not generate them.

But academician Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov wrote that he cannot imagine human life and the Universe without a source of spiritual “warmth”, without a meaningful beginning that lies outside matter.

Life of the soul after the death of the body

Renowned physicist and professor at the Institute of Regenerative Medicine Robert Lanza states that death simply does not exist. Death is not the end of life, but the transition of our “I”, our Consciousness into a parallel world.

He is also confident that the world around us depends on our Consciousness and everything that we see, hear and feel does not exist without it.

An interesting idea was put forward by the American scientist anesthesiologist S. Hameroff. He believes that our soul and Consciousness have always existed in the Universe, since the times big bang that the soul consists of the fabric of the Universe itself, and has a different, more fundamental structure than neurons.

In conclusion, let's remember the views of Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Professor Natalya Petrovna Bekhtereva, about whom we have already written. For a long time, Natalya Petrovna headed the Institute of the Human Brain and was convinced of the afterlife of the soul. In addition, she herself personally witnessed posthumous phenomena.

Life after death. Proof

15 proofs of the existence of life after death

Napoleon's signature

Fact from history. After Napoleon, King Louis XVIII ascended the French throne. One night he languished without sleep. On the table lay the marriage contract of Marshal Marmont, which Napoleon had to sign. Suddenly, Louis heard footsteps, the door opened, and Napoleon himself entered the bedroom. He put on the crown, walked up to the table and held a feather in his hands. Louis didn’t remember anything else; his consciousness left him. He woke up only in the morning. The door to the bedroom was closed, and on the table lay a contract signed by the emperor. This document for a long time was kept in the archives, and the handwriting was recognized as real.

Love for mother

And again about Napoleon. Apparently, his spirit could not come to terms with such a fate, so he rushed about in unknown spaces, trying to somehow come to terms, realize his bodily life and say goodbye to dear people. On May 5, 1821, when the emperor died in captivity, his ghost appeared before his mother and said: “Today, the fifth of May, eight hundred and twenty-one.” And only two months later she found out that her son ended his earthly existence on that very day.

Girl Maria

In a state of unconsciousness, a girl named Maria left her room. She rose above the bed, saw and heard everything.

At some point I found myself in the corridor, where I noticed a tennis shoe thrown by someone. When she was brought back to consciousness, she told the nurse on duty. She was distrustful, but still went into the corridor, to the floor that Maria indicated. The tennis shoe was right there.

Broken cup

A similar case was reported by a famous professor. During the operation, his patient suffered cardiac arrest. She was dead for some time. The heart was able to start, the operation was successful, and the professor came to examine her in the intensive care ward. The woman had already recovered from anesthesia, was conscious and told a very strange story.

Opinion:

S. Hameroff believes that our soul and Consciousness have existed in the Universe since the Big Bang

During cardiac arrest, the patient saw herself lying on the operating table. Almost immediately I thought that I would die without saying goodbye to my daughter and mother, after which I found myself at home. I saw my daughter, I saw a neighbor who came to them and brought her daughter a dress with polka dots. They sat down to drink tea, and while drinking tea, the cup broke. The neighbor said it was for luck. The patient described her visions so confidently that the professor went to the patient’s family. . During the operation, their neighbor actually came to the apartment, there was a polka dot dress and for good luck broken cup. If the professor was an atheist, I don’t think he remained one after this incident.

Mystery of the Mummy

Incredible, but true, sometimes after death, individual fragments of the human body remain unchanged and continue to live. IN South-East Asia Monks were found whose bodies were preserved in excellent condition.

In addition, their energy field even exceeds that of living people. They grow hair and nails and, probably, there is still something alive in them that cannot be measured by any modern instruments.

Return from Hell

Moritz Rowling, professor and cardiologist, has brought his patients out of clinical death hundreds of times during his practice. In 1977, he performed chest compressions young man. Consciousness returned to the guy several times, but then he lost it again. Each time, returning to reality, the patient begged Rowling to continue, not to stop, while it was clear that he was experiencing panic.

The guy was eventually brought back to life, and the doctor asked what scared him so much. The patient's response was unexpected. The patient stated that... Moritz began to study this issue, and it turned out that international practice is full of such cases.

Handwriting samples

At the age of two, when children still cannot really speak, the Indian boy Taranjit declared that, in fact, he had a different name and lived in a different village. He could not have known about the existence of this village, but he pronounced its name correctly. At the age of six, he remembered the circumstances of his death - he was hit by a motorcyclist. Taranjit was in the 9th grade at that moment and was going to school. Incredibly, after checking, this story was confirmed by Lenten, and the handwriting samples of Taranjit and the deceased teenager matched.

Birthmarks on the body

In some Asian countries, there is a tradition of marking a person's body after death. Relatives believe that in this way the soul of the deceased will be born again in the same family, and marks, in the form of birthmarks, will appear on the bodies of the children.

This is exactly what happened to a little boy from Myanmar. The birthmarks on his body exactly matched the marks on the body of his deceased grandfather.

Knowledge of foreign language

A middle-aged American woman, who was born and raised in the USA, under the influence of hypnosis suddenly began speaking in the purest Swedish. When asked who she was, the woman replied that she was a Swedish peasant.

Features of consciousness

Professor Sam Parnia, who has studied clinical death for a long time, came to the conclusion that a person’s Consciousness persists even after brain death, when there is no electrical activity and no blood flows into the brain. Over the years he has collected a large number of evidence of the experiences and visions of patients when their brain was no more active than a stone.

Out of body experience

American singer Pam Reynolds was put into an induced coma during brain surgery. The brain was deprived of blood supply, and the body was cooled to fifteen degrees Celsius. Special headphones were inserted into the ears, which do not allow sounds to pass through, and the eyes were covered with a mask. During the operation, Pam recalls, she was able to watch own body and what happened in the operating room.

Personality changes

Pim van Lommel, a Dutch scientist, analyzed the memories of patients who experienced clinical death. According to his observations, many of them began to look at the future more optimistically, got rid of the fear of death, and became happier, more sociable, and more positive. Almost everyone noted that it was a positive experience that made their lives different.

A happy opportunity, so to speak, presented itself to a man who himself was dealing with the problem of the existence of life after death. American neurosurgeon Alexander Eben spent seven days in a coma. Upon emerging from this state, Eben, in his own words, became a different person, because in his forced sleep he observed something that is difficult to even imagine.

He plunged into another, filled with light and beautiful music, although his brain was turned off at that time, and according to all medical indicators, he could not observe anything like that.

Visions of the Blind

It turns out that during clinical death the blind regain their sight. These observations were described by the authors S. Cooper and K. Ring. They specifically interviewed a focus group of 31 blind people who had experienced clinical death.

Without exception, even those who were blind from birth, stated that they observed visual images.

Past life

Dr. Ian Stevenson did a tremendous job and interviewed more than three thousand children who could remember something from their past life. For example, a little girl from Sri Lanka clearly remembered the name of the city where she used to live, and also described in detail the house and her past family. Before, none of her current family or even her acquaintances had any connection with this city. Later, 27 of her 30 memories were confirmed.

Opinion:

After the death of the physical body, Consciousness remains and continues to live

Video: Life after death? Yes, one hundred percent, there is no death...

The human soul and its life after the death of the body...
Is there life after death? Whether there is a new life after earthly life?
To get closer to answering these questions, we need to turn to the question of what consciousness is. By answering this question, science leads us to the realization that there is a human soul.
But what is the other world like, is there really heaven and hell? What determines the fate of the soul after death?

Khasminsky Mikhail Igorevich, crisis psychologist.

Every person who has faced the death of a loved one asks the question: is there life after life? Nowadays, this issue is of 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 simply believe hundreds of generations of our ancestors, who, through personal experience, century after century, were convinced of the presence of a human immortal soul. We want to have facts. Moreover, the facts are scientific.

A unique experiment is currently taking place in England: doctors are recording testimonies of patients who have experienced clinical death. Our interlocutor is the head of the research team, Dr. Sam Parnia.

Gnezdilov Andrey Vladimirovich, Doctor of Medical Sciences.

Death is not the end. This is just a change in states of consciousness. I have been working with dying people for 20 years. 10 years in an oncology clinic, then in a hospice. And many times I had the opportunity to verify that consciousness does not disappear after death. That the difference between body and spirit is very clear. That there is a completely different world that operates according to other laws, superphysical, beyond the limits of our understanding.

The evidence of common sense undoubtedly assures us that human existence does not end with earthly existence, and that in addition real life there is an afterlife. We will consider the evidence with which science affirms the immortality of the soul and convinces us that the soul, being a being completely distinct from matter, cannot be destroyed by what destroys a material being.

Efremov Vladimir Grigorievich, scientist.

On March 12, at the house of my sister, Natalya Grigorievna, I had a coughing attack. I felt like I was suffocating. My lungs didn’t listen to me, I tried to take a breath - but couldn’t! The body became weak, the heart stopped. The last air left the lungs with wheezing and foam. The thought flashed through my mind that this was the last second of my life.

Osipov Alexey Ilyich, professor of theology.

There is something in common that unites the searches of people of all times and views. It is an insurmountable psychological difficulty to believe that there is no life after death. Man is not an animal! There is life after death! And this is not just an assumption or an unfounded belief. There are a huge number of facts that indicate that, it turns out, the life of an individual continues beyond the threshold of earthly existence. We find amazing evidence wherever literary sources remain. And for all of them at least one fact was undeniable: the soul lives on after death. Personality is indestructible!

Korotkov Konstantin Georgievich, Doctor of Technical Sciences.

About the immortality of the soul, about its emergence from the immobilized dead body treatises of ancient civilizations have been written, myths and canonical religious teachings have been compiled, but we would like to receive evidence using methods exact sciences. It seems that St. Petersburg scientist Konstantin Korotkov managed to achieve this. If his experimental data and the hypothesis built on their basis about the exit of the subtle body from the deceased physical body are confirmed by the research of other scientists, religion and science will finally agree that human life does not end with the last exhalation.

Leo Tolstoy, writer.

Death is a superstition that affects people who have never thought about it. in true sense life. Man is immortal. But in order to believe in immortality and understand what it is, you need to find in your life what is immortal in it. Reflections of the great Russian writer Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy on life after life.

Moody Raymond, psychologist, philosopher.

Even inveterate skeptics and atheists will not be able to say about this book that everything said here is fiction, because this is a book written by a scientist, doctor, researcher. About thirty years ago, Life After Life fundamentally changed our understanding of what death is. Dr. Moody's research has spread all over the world and has greatly helped shape modern ideas about what a person experiences after death.

Leo Tolstoy, writer.

The fear of death is only the consciousness of the unresolved contradiction of life. Life does not end after the destruction of the physical body. Carnal demise is just another change in our existence, which has always been, is and will be. There is no death!

Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko.

The most important argument against materialism is this. We see that physiology provides many facts indicating that there is a constant connection between physical phenomena and between mental phenomena; we can say that there is not a single mental act that is not accompanied by some physiological ones; from here the materialists drew the conclusion that mental phenomena depend on physical ones. But such an interpretation could only be given if mental phenomena were consequences physical processes, i.e. if between one and the other there existed the same causal relationship as between two phenomena physical nature, of which one is a consequence of the other. In fact, this is completely false...

Voino-Yasenetsky Valentin Feliksovich, professor of medicine.

The very structure of the brain proves that its function is to transform someone else's irritation into a well-chosen reaction. Afferent nerve fibers that bring sensory stimulation end in the cells of the sensory zone of the cerebral cortex, and they are connected by other fibers to the cells of the motor zone, to which the stimulation is transmitted. With countless such connections, the brain has the ability to endlessly modify reactions in response to external stimulation, and acts as a kind of switchboard.

Rogozin Pavel.

None of the representatives of genuine science ever doubted the presence of a “soul”. The dispute among scientists arose not about whether man has a soul, but about what should be meant by this term. The question is, is there spirituality in man, what is our consciousness, our spirit, soul, what are the relationships between matter, consciousness and spirit - has always been the main question of every worldview. Different approaches to this issue have led people to different conclusions and conclusions...

Unknown author.

The atom proves the eternity of life. Strictly speaking, human body dies every ten years. Each cell of the body after birth is repeatedly restored, disappears and is replaced by a new one in a strict sequence, depending on what type of cell it is (muscle, connective tissue, organs, nervous, etc.). But although the cells that originally made up our face, bones or blood deteriorate over a period of hours, days or years, our ever-renewing body retains the presence of consciousness.

Based on the book "Evidence of the Existence of Life After Death", comp. Fomin A.V..

Every person sooner or later asks himself the question: what will happen after physical death? Will everything end with the last breath or will the soul exist beyond the threshold of life? And after the abolition of party supervision over the process of cognition, scientific information, proving that man has immortal consciousness. Thus, our contemporaries, obsessed with the “fundamental question of philosophy,” seem to have a real chance to complete their earthly journey without the fear of non-existence.

Kalinovsky Peter, doctor.

This book is devoted to the most important question for a person - the question of death. It's about about the facts of the continued existence of the personality, the human “I” after the death of our physical body. These facts include, first of all, testimonies of people who experienced clinical death, visited the “other world” and returned “back” either spontaneously or, in most cases, after resuscitation.

All living things obey the laws of nature: they are born, reproduce, wither and die. But the fear of death is inherent only in man, and only he thinks about what will happen after physical death. It is much easier in this regard for fanatical believers: they are absolutely sure of the immortality of the soul and the meeting with the Creator. But today scientists have scientific evidence of whether there is life after death, and evidence real people who have experienced clinical death, showing the continuation of the existence of the soul after the death of the body.

Facing an inexorable death that takes away the prime of life loved one, it's hard not to fall into despair. It is impossible to come to terms with the loss in this case, and the soul requires at least a tiny hope of meeting in another life or in another world. Wherein human consciousness It is structured in such a way that it believes facts and evidence, therefore one can only talk about the possible rebirth of the soul based on eyewitness testimony.

Scientific researchers from almost all countries of the world have scientific facts about the soul after death, since today even the exact weight of the soul is known - 21 grams, obtained experimentally. It can also be said with confidence that death is not the end of life, it is a transition to another form of existence with the subsequent rebirth of the soul after death. Facts inexorably speak of constantly repeating earthly incarnations of the same soul in different bodies.

Scientists - psychologists and psychotherapists believe that many mental illnesses have their roots in past lives and carry their nature from there. It is great that no one (with rare exceptions) remembers their past lives and past mistakes, otherwise real life would be spent correcting and correcting past experiences, but there would be no real spiritual growth, the purpose of which is reincarnation.

The first mention of this phenomenon is in the ancient Indian Vedas, written five thousand years ago. This philosophical and ethical teaching considers two possible miracles that occur with the physical shell of a person: the miracle of dying, that is, the transition into another substance, and the miracle of birth, that is, the appearance of a new body to replace the worn-out one.

Swedish scientist Jan Stevenson, who has been studying the phenomenon of reincarnation for many years, has come to a stunning conclusion: people who move from one earthly shell to another have the same physical characteristics and defects in all cases of rebirth. That is, having received some kind of flaw on his body in one of his earthly rebirths, he transfers it to subsequent incarnations.

One of the first scientists to talk about the immortality of the soul was Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, who argued that the soul is an atom of the Universe that cannot die, since its existence is due to the existence of the Cosmos.

But to modern man Just statements are not enough; he needs facts and evidence about the possibilities of being born again and again going through the entire earthly path from birth to death.

Scientific evidence

Duration human life is steadily increasing as the efforts of scientists around the world are aimed at improving the quality of life. But at the same time, along with an understanding of the inevitability of death, the inquisitive mind of a person requires new knowledge about the afterlife, the existence of God and the immortality of the soul. And this new thing in the science of life after death appears to convince humanity: there is no death, there is only a change, the transition of the “subtle” body from the “rough physical” shell into the Universe. The evidence for this statement is:

It cannot be said that all these scientific evidence they prove with one hundred percent certainty the continuation of life even after the end of the earthly path, but everyone tries to answer such a sensitive question on their own.

Existence outside of your body

Many hundreds and thousands of people who have experienced coma or clinical death recall an amazing phenomenon: their etheric body leaves the physical and seems to hover above its shell, watching everything that happens.

Today we can definitely say that there is life after death. Eyewitness evidence equally answers: yes, it exists. Every year the number of people confidently talking about their amazing travels outside the physical shell and amazing doctors with the details noticed during their adventures.

For example, Washington-based singer Pam Reynolds spoke about her visions during a unique brain surgery that she underwent several years ago. She clearly saw her body on the operating table, I saw the doctors’ manipulations and heard their conversations, which after waking up I was able to convey. It is difficult to convey the state of the doctors who were shocked by her story.

Memory of past births

IN philosophical teachings Many ancient civilizations put forward the postulate that each person has his own destiny and is born for his job. He cannot die until he has fulfilled his destiny. And today it is believed that man returns to active life after a serious illness, because he has not realized himself and is obliged to fulfill his obligations to the Universe or God.

• Some psychoanalysts believe that only people who do not believe in God or in reincarnation, and who constantly feel the fear of death, do not realize that they are dying and, after finishing their earthly journey, find themselves in a “gray space” in which the soul is in constant fear and misunderstanding.
• If you remember ancient Greek philosopher Plato and his teaching about subjective idealism, then according to his teaching the soul passes from body to body and remembers only some especially memorable, vivid cases from past births. But this is precisely how Plato explains the emergence of brilliant works of art and scientific achievements.
• Nowadays, almost everyone knows what the phenomenon of “déjà vu” is, in which a person physically, psychologically, and emotionally remembers something that did not actually happen to him in the first place. real life. Many psychologists believe that in this case, vivid memories of a past life emerge.

In addition, the series of programs “Confession of a Dead Man about Life after Death” was successfully shown on television screens; several popular science films were filmed documentaries and many articles have been written on a given topic.

This burning question still worries and worries humanity. Probably only true believers can confidently answer this question positively. For everyone else, it remains open.

One of the most disturbing questions in people’s minds is “is there something there after death or not?” Many religions have been created, each revealing its own secret. the afterlife. Libraries of books have been written on the topic of life after death.. And, in the end, billions of souls who were once inhabitants of the mortal earth have already gone there, into an unknown reality and distant oblivion. And they are aware of all the secrets, but they won’t tell us. There is a huge gap between the world of the dead and the living . But this is provided that world of the dead exists.

Various religious teachings, each of which interprets in its own way the further path of a person after leaving the body, generally support the version that there is a soul and it is immortal. Exceptions are the religious movements of Seventh Day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses; they adhere to the version of the perishability of the soul. And the afterlife, Hell and Heaven, the quintessence of variations of after-life existence, according to most religions, for true worshipers of God will be presented in significantly at its best than that, that is, on earth. Belief in something superior after death, in the highest justice, in the eternal continuation of life is the basis of many religious worldviews.

And although scientists and atheists claim that a person hopes, because it is inherent in his nature at the genetic level, they say, “ he just needs to believe in something, and preferably global, with a saving mission ”, - this does not become an “antidote” to craving for religions. Even if we take into account the genetic craving for God, where did it come from in pure consciousness?

The soul and where it is located

Soul- This is an immortal substance, not tangible and not measured using material standards. Something connecting spirit and body, individual, identifying a person as a person. There are many people who are similar in appearance, twin brothers and sisters are simply copies of each other, and there are also plenty of “doubles” who are not related by blood. But these people will always differ in their inner spiritual filling, and this concerns not the level, quality and scale of thoughts and desires, but above all the abilities, facets, characteristics, and potential of the individual. The soul is something that accompanies us on earth, reviving the mortal shell.

Most people are sure that the soul is in the heart, or somewhere in the solar plexus; there are opinions that it is in the head, the brain. Scientists, in the course of a series of experiments, have established that when animals are electrocuted at a meat processing plant, a certain ethereal substance comes out at the moment of death from the upper part of the head (skull). The soul was measured: in the course of experiments carried out at the beginning of the 20th century by the American physician Duncan McDougall, it was established soul weight - 21 grams . Six patients lost approximately this much weight at the time of death, which the doctor was able to record using ultra-sensitive bed scales on which the dying people lay. However, later experiments carried out by other doctors established that a person loses similar body weight when falling into sleep.

Is death just a long (eternal) sleep?

The Bible says the soul is in the blood. During the Old Testament, and even to this day, Christians were forbidden to drink or eat processed animal blood.

“For the life of every body is its blood, it is the soul of it; Therefore I said to the children of Israel, “You shall not eat the blood of any body, for the life of every body is its blood; whoever eats it will be cut off.” (Old Testament, Leviticus 17:14)

“...and to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to every thing that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food. And it became so" (Genesis 1:30)

That is, living creatures have a soul, but they are deprived of the ability to think, make decisions, and they lack highly organized mental activity. If any soul is immortal, then animals will also be in spiritual embodiment in the afterlife. However, in the same Old Testament it is said that previously all animals simply ceased to exist after physical death, without any other continuation. The main goal of their life was stated: to be eaten; born to be “captured and exterminated.” The immortality of the human soul was also questioned.

“I spoke in my heart about the sons of men, so that God would test them, and so that they would see that they are animals in themselves; because the fate of the sons of men and the fate of animals is the same fate: as they die, so these die, and everyone has the same breath, and man has no advantage over cattle, because everything is vanity! Everything goes to one place: everything came from dust and everything will return to dust. Who knows whether the spirit of the sons of men ascends upward, and whether the spirit of animals descends down to the earth?” (Ecclesiastes 3:18-21)

But the hope for Christians is that animals in one of their incorruptible forms remain incorruptible, because in the New Testament, in particular in the Revelation of John the Theologian, there are lines that there will be many animals in the Kingdom of Heaven.

The New Testament says that accepting Christ's sacrifice gives life to all people who desire salvation. Those who do not accept this, according to the Bible, do not have Eternal Life. Whether this means that they will go to Hell or that they will hang somewhere in a state of “spiritually disabled” is unknown. In Buddhist teachings, reincarnation implies that the soul that previously belonged to a person, accompanying him, can next life inhabit an animal. And man himself in Buddhism takes a dual position, that is, he does not seem to be “pressed” as in Christianity, but he is not the Crown of Creation, the lord over all living things.

And it is located somewhere between the lower entities, “demons” and other evil spirits and the highest, enlightened Buddhas. His path and subsequent reincarnation depend on the degree of enlightenment in today's life. Astrologers talk about the existence of seven human bodies, not just the soul, spirit and body. Etheric, astral, mental, causal, budhial, atmanic and, of course, physical. According to esotericists, six bodies are part of the soul, while according to some esotericists, they accompany the soul on earthly paths.

There are many teachings, treatises and doctrines that in their own way interpret the essence of being, life and death. And, of course, not all are true; truth, as they say, is one. It’s easy to get lost in the wilds of someone else’s worldview; it’s important to stick to the position you’ve once chosen. Because if everything was simple and we knew the answer that there, at the other end of life, there would not be so many guesses, and as a result, global, radically different versions.

Christianity distinguishes the spirit, soul and body of man:

“In His hand is the soul of every living thing and the spirit of all human flesh.” (Job 12:10)

Moreover, there is no doubt that spirit and soul are different phenomena, but what is their difference? Does the spirit (its presence is also mentioned in animals) go after death to another world or the soul? And if the spirit leaves, what happens to the soul?

Termination of life and clinical death

Doctors distinguish biological, clinical and final death. Biological death implies cessation of cardiac activity, respiration, blood circulation, depression with subsequent cessation of central reflexes nervous system. Final - all of the listed signs of biological death, including brain death. Clinical death precedes biological death and is a reversible transitional state from life to death.

After stopping breathing and heartbeat, during resuscitation measures, bringing a person back to life without serious damage to health is possible only in the first few minutes: up to a maximum of 5 minutes, more often within 2-3 minutes after the pulse stops.

Cases of safe return even after 10 minutes of clinical death have been described. Resuscitation is carried out within 30 minutes after cardiac arrest, respiratory arrest or loss of consciousness in the absence of circumstances that make resuming life impossible. Sometimes 3 minutes are enough for the development of irreversible changes in the brain. In cases of death of a person in conditions low temperature When metabolism is slow, the interval for a successful “return” to life increases, and can reach 2 hours after cardiac arrest. Despite the strong opinion, based on medical practice, that after 8 minutes without heartbeat and breathing, the patient is unlikely to be brought back to life without serious consequences for his health in the future, hearts begin to beat, people come to life. And they meet their future life without serious violations of the functions and systems of the body. Sometimes the 31st minute of resuscitation is decisive. However, most people who have experienced prolonged clinical death rarely return to their previous fullness of existence, some go into a vegetative state.

There have been cases where doctors mistakenly recorded biological death, and the patient later came to, scaring morgue workers more than all the horror films they had ever watched. Lethargic dreams, decreased cardiovascular and respiratory systems when consciousness and reflexes are suppressed, but life is preserved, it is a reality, and it is possible to confuse an imaginary death with a true one.

And yet here is a paradox: if the soul is in the blood, as the Bible says, then where is it in a person who is in a vegetative state or in an “exorbitant coma”? Who is artificially kept alive with the help of machines, but doctors have long since established irreversible changes in the brain or brain death? At the same time, denying the fact that when blood circulation stops, life stops is absurd.

See God and not die

So what did they, people who experienced clinical death, see? There is plenty of evidence. Someone says that Hell and Heaven appeared before him in colors, someone saw angels, demons, dead relatives, and communicated with them. Someone traveled, flying like a bird, all over the earth, feeling neither hunger, nor pain, nor the same self. Another person sees his whole life flashing by in pictures in a moment; another sees himself and the doctors from the outside.

But in most descriptions there is the famous mysterious and deadly image of light at the end of the tunnel. Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel is explained by several theories. According to psychologist Pyell Watson, this is a prototype of the passage through the birth canal, a person at the time of death remembers his birth. According to Russian resuscitator Nikolai Gubin - manifestations of toxic psychosis.

In an experiment conducted by American scientists with laboratory mice, it was found that animals, when experiencing clinical death, see the same tunnel with light at the end. And the reason is much more banal than the approach of the afterlife illuminating the darkness. In the first minutes after the heartbeat and breathing stop, the brain produces powerful impulses, which are received by the dying as the image described above. Moreover, brain activity in these very moments is incredibly high, which contributes to the appearance of vivid visions and hallucinations.

The appearance of pictures from the past is due to the fact that new brain structures begin to fade first, then old ones; when brain activity resumes, the process occurs in reverse order: first the old, then the new areas of the cerebral cortex begin to function. What causes the most significant pictures of the past, then the present, to “emerge” in the emerging consciousness. I don’t want to believe that everything is so simple, right? I really want everything to be entangled in mysticism, implicated in the most bizarre assumptions, shown in bright colors, with feelings, spectacles, and tricks.

The consciousness of many people refuses to believe in an ordinary death without mystery, without continuation . And is it really possible to agree that one day you will no longer exist at all? And there will be no eternity, or at least any continuation... When you look inside yourself, sometimes the worst thing is to feel the hopelessness of the situation, the finitude of existence, the unknown, not knowing what’s next and walking into the abyss blindfolded.

“So many of them have fallen into this abyss, I'll open it up in the distance! The day will come when I too will disappear From the surface of the earth. Everything that sang and fought will freeze, It shone and burst. And the green of my eyes and my gentle voice, And gold hair. And there will be life with its daily bread, With the forgetfulness of the day. And everything will be as if under the sky And I wasn’t there!” M. Tsvetaeva “Monologue”

The lyrics can be endless, since death is the biggest mystery; everyone who, no matter how they avoid thinking about this topic, will have to experience everything firsthand. If the picture were unambiguous, obvious and transparent, we would long ago have been convinced by thousands of discoveries by scientists, stunning results obtained from experiments, versions of various teachings about the absolute mortality of the body and soul. But no one has been able to establish and prove with absolute accuracy what awaits us at the other end of life. Christians are waiting for Heaven, Buddhists are waiting for reincarnation, esotericists are waiting for flight to the astral plane, tourists are continuing their travels, etc.

But recognizing the existence of God is reasonable, since many who during their lifetime denied the highest justice in the Next World often repent of their ardor before death. They remember the One who was so often deprived of a place in their spiritual temple.

Have survivors of clinical death seen God? If you have ever heard or will hear that someone in a state of clinical death saw God, strongly doubt it.

First, God will not meet you at the “gate”, he is not a doorman... Everyone will appear before God's judgment during the Apocalypse, that is, for the majority - after the stage of rigor mortis. By that time, it’s unlikely that anyone will be able to return and talk about that Light. “Seeing God” is not an adventure for the faint of heart. In the Old Testament (in Deuteronomy) there are words that no one has yet seen God and remained alive. God spoke to Moses and the people at Horeb from the midst of the fire, without revealing an image, and even to God in a hidden form people were afraid to come close.

The Bible also states that God is spirit, and spirit is immaterial, therefore, we cannot see him as each other. Although the miracles performed by Christ during His stay on earth in the flesh spoke of the opposite: one can return to the world of the living already during or after the funeral. Let us remember the resurrected Lazarus, who was revived on the 4th day, when it had already begun to stink. And his testimony about another world. But Christianity is more than 2000 years old; during this time, have there been many people (not counting believers) who read the lines about Lazarus in the New Testament and believed in God based on this? Likewise, thousands of testimonies and miracles for those who are convinced in advance of the opposite may be meaningless and in vain.

Sometimes you have to see it for yourself to believe it. But even personal experience tends to be forgotten. There is a moment of replacing the actual with the desired, of excessive impressionability - when people really want to see something, during life they often and a lot picture it in their minds, and during and after clinical death they complete their impressions based on sensations. According to statistics, the majority of people who saw something grandiose after cardiac arrest, Hell, Heaven, God, demons, etc. - were mentally unstable. Resuscitation doctors, who have observed clinical death situations more than once and saved people, say that in the overwhelming majority of cases the patients saw nothing.

It so happened that the author of these lines once visited the Other World. I was 18 years old. A relatively easy operation turned into almost real death due to an overdose of anesthesia by doctors. There is light at the end of the tunnel, a tunnel that looks like an endless hospital corridor. Just a couple of days before I ended up in the hospital, I was thinking about death. I thought that a person should have movement, have a goal of development, in the end, family, children, career, study, and all this should be loved by him. But somehow there was so much “depression” around at that moment that it seemed to me that everything was in vain, life was meaningless, and maybe it would be nice to leave before this “torment” had yet to fully begin. I don't mean suicidal thoughts, but rather fear of the unknown and the future. Difficult family circumstances, work and study.

And now the flight into oblivion. After this tunnel - and after the tunnel I just saw a girl, a doctor looking into whose face, covering her with a blanket, putting a tag on her toe - I heard a question. And this question is perhaps the only thing that I could not find an explanation for, where it came from, who asked it. “I wanted to leave. Will you go?” And it’s as if I’m listening, but I don’t hear anyone, neither the voice, nor what’s happening around me, I’m shocked that death exists. The entire period while she observed everything and then, after returning consciousness, repeated the same question, her own, “So, death is a reality? Can I die? I died? And now I will see God?”

At first I saw myself from the doctors’ side, but not in exact forms, but blurred and chaotic, mixed with other images. I didn’t understand at all that they were saving me. The more manipulations they performed, the more it seemed to me that they were saving someone else. I heard the names of medications, doctors talking, screams, and, as if yawning lazily, I decided to also cheer up the person being rescued and began to say in unison with the alarmists, “Breathe, open your eyes. Come to your senses, etc.” I was sincerely worried about him. I spun around the entire crowd, then it was as if I saw everything that would happen next: a tunnel, a morgue with a tag, some orderlies weighing my sins on Soviet scales...

I become some kind of small grain of rice (these are the associations that arise in my memories). There are no thoughts, only sensations, and my name was not at all the same as my mother and father’s name, the name was generally a temporary earthly number. And it seemed that I had been alive for only a thousandth of the eternity into which I was going. But I didn’t feel like a person, some small substance, I don’t know, a spirit or a soul, I understand everything, but I just can’t react. I don’t understand it like before, but I am aware of the new reality, but I can’t get used to it, I felt very uneasy. My life seemed like a spark that burned for a second, then went out quickly and imperceptibly.

There was a feeling that there was an exam ahead (not a trial, but some kind of selection), for which I had not prepared, but I would not be presented with anything serious, I had not done any evil or good to the extent that it was worth it. But it’s as if she’s frozen in the moment of death, and it’s impossible to change anything, to somehow influence fate. There was no pain, no regrets, but I was haunted by a feeling of discomfort and confusion about how I, so small, the size of a grain, would live. Without thoughts, there were none, everything was at the level of feelings. After being in a room (as I understand it, a morgue), where I stayed for a long time near a body with a tag on my finger and could not leave this place, I begin to look for a way out, because I want to fly further, it’s boring here and I’m not here anymore. I fly through the window and fly towards the light, with speed, suddenly there is a flash, akin to an explosion. Everything is very bright. Apparently at this moment the return begins.

A period of silence and emptiness, and again a room with doctors, manipulating me, but as if with someone else. The last thing I remember is incredible severe pain and the pain in the eyes from the fact that they shine a lantern. And the pain in my whole body is hellish, I again wet myself with earthly, and somehow wrongly, it seems that I stuffed my legs into my hands. I felt like I was a cow, square, made of plasticine, I really didn’t want to go back, but they pushed me in. I’ve almost come to terms with the fact that I left, but now I have to go back again. I got in. It still hurt for a long time, I began to go hysterical from what I saw, but I couldn’t speak or even explain the reason for the roar to anyone. During later life I underwent anesthesia again for several hours, everything was quite well, except for the chills after. There were no visions. A decade has passed since my “flight”, and a lot, of course, has happened in life since then. And I quite rarely told anyone about that long-ago event, but when I did share, most of those listening were very concerned about the answer to the question “did I see God or not?” And although I repeated a hundred times that I did not see God, they sometimes asked me again and with a twist: “What about Hell or Heaven?” Did not see… This does not mean that they are not there, it means that I have not seen them.

Let's return to the article, or rather finish it. By the way, the story “Sliver” by V. Zazubrin, which I read after my clinical death, left a serious imprint on my attitude towards life in general. Maybe the story is depressing, too realistic and bloody, but that’s exactly what it seemed to me: life is a sliver...

But through all the revolutions, executions, wars, deaths, illnesses, we saw something that is eternal: soul. And it’s not scary to end up in the other world, it’s scary to end up and not be able to change anything, while realizing that you failed the test. But life is definitely worth living, at least to pass exams...

What are you living for?..