Is there life after death - Facts and evidence

- Is there an afterlife?

- Is there an afterlife?
— Facts and evidence
— Real stories of 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 - no pulse, no 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 placing animals in 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 are lowered in body temperature to slow bleeding long enough to receive 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

Beautiful fields and forests, rivers and lakes filled with wonderful fish, gardens with wonderful fruits, there are no problems, only happiness and beauty - one of the ideas about life that continues after death on Earth. Many believers describe heaven in this way, into which a person goes without having done much evil during his earthly life. But is there life after death on our planet? Is there proof of life after death? These are quite interesting and deep questions for philosophical reasoning.

Scientific concepts

As is the case with other mystical and religious phenomena, scientists have been able to explain this issue. Many researchers also consider scientific evidence life after death, but they have no material basis. Only that later.

Life after death (the concept of “afterlife” is also often found) is people’s ideas from a religious and philosophical point of view about life that occurs after a person’s actual existence on Earth. Almost all of these ideas are related to what is in the human body during his life.

Possible afterlife options:

• Life close to God. This is one of the forms of existence of the human soul. Many believers believe that God will resurrect the soul.
• Hell or heaven. The most common concept. This idea exists both in many religions of the world and among most people. After death, a person's soul will go to hell or heaven. The first place is intended for people who sinned during earthly life.

• A new image in a new body. Reincarnation - scientific definition human life in new incarnations on the planet. Bird, animal, plant and other forms into which the human soul can move after the death of the material body. Also, some religions provide for life in the human body.

Some religions present evidence of the existence of life after death in other forms, but the most common ones were given above.

Afterlife in Ancient Egypt

The tallest graceful pyramids took decades to build. The ancient Egyptians used technologies that have not yet been fully studied. Exists a large number of assumptions about construction technologies Egyptian pyramids, but, unfortunately, not a single scientific point of view has complete evidence.

The ancient Egyptians had no evidence of the existence of the soul and life after death. They only believed in this possibility. Therefore, people built pyramids and provided the pharaoh with a wonderful existence in another world. By the way, the Egyptians believed that the afterlife reality was almost identical to the real world.

It should also be noted that, according to the Egyptians, a person in another world cannot move down or up the social ladder. For example, a pharaoh cannot become a simple person, and a simple worker will not become a king in the kingdom of the dead.

The inhabitants of Egypt mummified the bodies of the dead, and the pharaohs, as mentioned earlier, were placed in huge pyramids. In a special room, subjects and relatives of the deceased ruler placed items that would be necessary for life and rule in

Life after death in Christianity

Ancient Egypt and the creation of the pyramids go back a long time, so proof of life after death is ancient people refers only to Egyptian hieroglyphs, which were found on ancient buildings and pyramids as well. Only Christian ideas about this concept existed before and still exist today.

The Last Judgment is a judgment when a person’s soul appears on trial before God. It is God who can determine the future fate of the soul of the deceased - whether he will experience terrible torment and punishment on his deathbed or walk next to God in a beautiful paradise.

What factors influence God's decision?

Throughout his entire earthly life, every person commits actions - good and bad. It is worth saying right away that this is an opinion from a religious and philosophical point of view. It is these earthly actions that the judge looks at during the Last Judgment. We also must not forget about a person’s vital faith in God and in the power of prayers and the church.

As you can see, in Christianity there is also life after death. Proof of this fact exists in the Bible, the church and the opinions of many people who have dedicated their lives to serving the church and, of course, God.

Death in Islam

Islam is no exception in its adherence to the postulate of the existence of an afterlife. As in other religions, a person commits certain actions throughout his life, and how he dies and what kind of life awaits him will depend on them.

If a person committed bad deeds during his existence on Earth, then, of course, a certain punishment awaits him. The beginning of punishment for sins is painful death. Muslims believe that a sinful person will die in agony. Although a person with a pure and bright soul will leave this world with ease and without any problems.

The main proof of life after death is found in the Koran (the holy book of Muslims) and in the teachings of religious people. It is worth immediately noting that Allah (God in Islam) teaches not to be afraid of death, because a believer who does righteous deeds will be rewarded with eternal life.

If in the Christian religion the Lord himself is present at the Last Judgment, then in Islam the decision is made by two angels - Nakir and Munkar. They are interrogating someone who has passed away from earthly life. If a person did not believe and committed sins that he did not atone for during his earthly existence, then he will be punished. A believer is given heaven. If a believer has unexpiated sins behind him, then he will be punished, after which he will be able to go to a beautiful place called heaven. Atheists face terrible torment.

Buddhist and Hindu beliefs about death

In Hinduism, there is no creator who created life on Earth and to whom we need to pray and bow down. Vedas - sacred texts that replace God. Translated into Russian, “Veda” means “wisdom” and “knowledge”.

The Vedas can also be seen as providing proof of life after death. In this case, the person (to be more precise, the soul) will die and move into new flesh. The spiritual lessons that a person must learn are the reason for constant reincarnation.

In Buddhism, heaven exists, but it does not have one level, as in other religions, but several. At each stage, so to speak, the soul receives the necessary knowledge, wisdom and other positive sides and moves on.

In both of these religions, hell also exists, but compared to other religious ideas, it is not an eternal punishment for the human soul. There are a large number of myths about how the souls of the dead passed from hell to heaven and began their journey through certain levels.

Views from other world religions

In fact, every religion has its own ideas about the afterlife. At the moment, it is simply impossible to name the exact number of religions, so only the largest and most basic ones were considered above, but interesting evidence of life after death can also be found in them.

It is also worth paying attention to the fact that almost all religions have common features of death and life in heaven and hell.

Nothing disappears without a trace

Death, death, disappearance are not the end. This, if these words are appropriate, is rather the beginning of something, but not the end. As an example, we can take a plum pit, which was spat out by a person who ate the actual fruit (plum).

This bone falls, and it seems that its end has come. Only in reality can it grow, and a beautiful bush will be born, a beautiful plant that will bear fruit and delight others with its beauty and its existence. When this bush dies, for example, it will simply move from one state to another.

What is this example for? Moreover, the death of a person is also not his immediate end. This example can also be seen as evidence of life after death. Expectation and reality, however, can be very different.

Does the soul exist?

Throughout the entire time, we are talking about the existence of the human soul after death, but there was no question about the existence of the soul itself. Maybe she doesn't exist? Therefore, it is worth paying attention to this concept.

In this case, it is worth moving from religious reasoning to the whole world - earth, water, trees, space and everything else - consists of atoms, molecules. Only none of the elements has the ability to feel, reason and develop. If we talk about whether there is life after death, evidence can be taken based on this reasoning.

Of course, we can say that in the human body there are organs that are the causes of all feelings. We must also not forget about the human brain, because it is responsible for the mind and intelligence. In this case, a comparison can be made between a person and a computer. The latter is much smarter, but it is programmed for certain processes. Today, robots have begun to be actively created, but they do not have feelings, although they are made in human likeness. Based on the reasoning, we can talk about the existence of the human soul.

You can also cite the origin of thought as another proof of the above words. This part of human life has no scientific origin. You can study all kinds of sciences for years, decades and centuries and “sculpt” thoughts from all material means, but nothing will come of it. Thought has no material basis.

Scientists have proven that life after death exists

Speaking about the afterlife of a person, you should not pay attention only to reasoning in religion and philosophy, because, in addition to this, there are scientific research and, of course, the necessary results. Many scientists have puzzled and are puzzled to find out what happens to a person after his death.

The Vedas were mentioned above. These scriptures talk about from one body to another. This is exactly the question asked by Ian Stevenson, a famous psychiatrist. It is worth saying right away that his research in the field of reincarnation made a great contribution to the scientific understanding of life after death.

The scientist began to consider life after death, real evidence of which he could find throughout the planet. The psychiatrist was able to review more than 2,000 cases of reincarnation, after which certain conclusions were drawn. When a person is reborn in a different image, all physical defects also remain. If the deceased had certain scars, then they will also be present in the new body. There is necessary evidence for this fact.

During the study, the scientist used hypnosis. And during one session, the boy remembers his death - he was killed with an ax. This feature could be reflected in the new body - the boy who was examined by the scientist had a rough growth on the back of his head. After receiving necessary information A psychiatrist begins searching for a family where a person may have been murdered with an ax. And the result did not take long to arrive. Ian managed to find people in whose family, in the recent past, a man was hacked to death with an ax. The nature of the wound was similar to a child's growth.

This is not one example that may indicate that evidence of life after death has been found. Therefore, it is worth considering a few more cases during the research of a psychiatrist.

Another child had a defect on his fingers, as if they had been chopped off. Of course, the scientist became interested in this fact, and for good reason. The boy was able to tell Stevenson that he had lost his fingers during field work. After talking with the child, the search began for eyewitnesses who could explain this phenomenon. After some time, people were found who spoke about the death of a man during field work. This man died as a result of loss of blood. The fingers were chopped off with a thresher.

Considering these circumstances, we can talk about after death. Ian Stevenson was able to provide evidence. After the scientist’s published works, many people began to think about the real existence of the afterlife, which was described by a psychiatrist.

Clinical and real death

Everyone knows that severe injuries can lead to clinical death. In this case, the person’s heart stops, all life processes stop, but oxygen starvation of the organs does not yet cause irreversible consequences. During this process, the body is in a transitional stage between life and death. Clinical death lasts no more than 3-4 minutes (very rarely 5-6 minutes).

People who were able to survive such moments talk about the “tunnel”, about the “white light”. Based on these facts, scientists were able to discover new evidence of life after death. Scientists who studied this phenomenon made the necessary report. In their opinion, consciousness has always existed in the Universe; the death of the material body is not the end for the soul (consciousness).

Cryonics

This word means freezing the body of a person or animal so that in the future it will be possible to revive the deceased. In some cases, not the entire body is subjected to deep cooling, but only the head or brain.

Interesting fact: experiments on freezing animals were carried out back in the 17th century. Only about 300 years later did humanity think more seriously about this method obtaining immortality.

It is possible that this process will be the answer to the question: “Does life exist after death?” Evidence may be presented in the future, because science does not stand still. But for now, cryonics remains a mystery with hope for development.

Life after death: the latest evidence

One of the latest evidence in this regard was the study of the American theoretical physicist Robert Lantz. Why one of the last? Because this discovery was made in the fall of 2013. What conclusion did the scientist make?

It is worth immediately noting that the scientist is a physicist, so these proofs are based on quantum physics.

From the very beginning, the scientist paid attention to color perception. He cited the blue sky as an example. We are all used to seeing the sky in this color, but in reality everything is different. Why does a person see red as red, green as green, and so on? According to Lantz, it’s all about the brain receptors that are responsible for color perception. If these receptors are affected, the sky can suddenly turn red or green.

Every person is accustomed, as the researcher says, to seeing a mixture of molecules and carbonates. The reason for this perception is our consciousness, but the reality may differ from the general understanding.

Robert Lantz believes that there are parallel universes where all events are synchronous, but at the same time different. Based on this, the death of a person is only a transition from one world to another. As proof, the researcher conducted Jung's experiment. For scientists, this method is proof that light is nothing more than a wave that can be measured.

The essence of the experiment: Lanz passed light through two holes. When the beam passed through an obstacle, it was divided into two parts, but as soon as it was outside the holes, it merged again and became even brighter. In those places where the waves of light did not combine into one beam, they became dimmer.

As a result, Robert Lantz came to the conclusion that it is not the Universe that creates life, but quite the opposite. If life ends on Earth, then, as in the case of light, it continues to exist in another place.

Conclusion

It probably cannot be denied that there is life after death. Facts and evidence, of course, are not one hundred percent, but they exist. As can be seen from the above information, the afterlife exists not only in religion and philosophy, but also in scientific circles.

Living this time, each person can only imagine and think about what will happen to him after death, after the disappearance of his body on this planet. There are a large number of questions about this, many doubts, but no one living at the moment can find the answer he needs. Now we can only enjoy what we have, because life is the happiness of every person, every animal, we need to live it beautifully.

It is best not to think about the afterlife, because the question of the meaning of life is much more interesting and useful. Almost every person can answer this, but this is a completely different topic.

At some point in life, often from a certain age, when relatives and friends pass away, a person tends to ask questions about death and about possible life after death. We have already written materials on this topic, and you can read the answers to some questions.

But it seems that the number of questions is only growing and we want to explore this topic a little deeper.

Life is eternal

In this article we will not give arguments for and against the existence of life after death. We will proceed from the fact that life exists after the death of the body.

Over the past 50–70 years, medicine and psychology have accumulated tens of thousands of written evidence and research results that make it possible to lift the veil from this mystery.

It is worth noting that, on the one hand, all recorded cases of post-death experiences or travel differ from each other. But, on the other hand, they all coincide in key points.

Such as

• death is simply a transition from one form of life to another;
• when consciousness leaves the body, it simply goes to other worlds and universes;
• the soul, freed from physical experiences, experiences extraordinary lightness, bliss and heightened all senses;
• feeling of flight;
• spiritual worlds are saturated with light and love;
• in the posthumous world, time and space familiar to humans do not exist;
• consciousness works differently than when living in the body, everything is perceived and grasped almost instantly;
• the eternity of life is realized.

Life after death: recorded real cases and recorded facts

The number of recorded accounts of eyewitnesses who have experienced out-of-body experiences is so great today that they could form a large encyclopedia. And perhaps a small library.

Perhaps the largest number of described cases about life after death can be read in the books of Michael Newton, Ian Stevenson, Raymond Moody, Robert Monroe and Edgar Cayce.

Several thousand transcribed audio recordings of regressive hypnosis sessions about the life of the soul between incarnations can only be found in the books of Michael Newton.

Michael Newton began using regression hypnosis to treat his patients, especially those for whom traditional medicine and psychology could no longer help.

At first, he was surprised to discover that many serious problems in life, including patients’ health, had their causes in past lives.

After several decades of research, Newton not only developed a mechanism for treating complex physical and psychological injuries that began in past incarnations, but also collected the largest amount of evidence to date for the existence of life after death.

Michael Newton's first book, Journeys of the Soul, was released in 1994, followed by several more books dealing with life in the spirit worlds.

These books describe not only the mechanism of the soul’s transition from one life to another, but also how we choose our birth, our parents, loved ones, friends, trials and circumstances of life.

In one of the forewords to his book, Michael Newton wrote: “We are all about to return home. Where only pure, unconditional love, compassion and harmony exist side by side. You need to understand that you are currently in school, the Earth school, and when the training is over, this loving harmony is waiting for you. It is important to remember that every experience you have during your current life contributes to your personal, spiritual growth. No matter when or how your training ends, you will return home to the unconditional love that is always available and waiting for us all.”

But the main thing is that Newton not only collected the largest amount of detailed evidence, he also developed a tool that allows anyone to gain their own experience.

Today, regressive hypnosis is also represented in Russia, and if you want to resolve your doubts about the existence of an immortal soul, now you have the opportunity to check it for yourself.

To do this, just find the contacts of a specialist in regressive hypnosis on the Internet. However, take the time to read the reviews to avoid unpleasant disappointment.

Today, books are not the only source of information about life after death. Films and TV series are being made on this topic.

One of the most famous films on this topic, based on real events“Heaven is for Real” 2014. The film was based on the book “Heaven is for Real” by Todd Burpo.

Still from the film “Heaven is for Real”

A book about the story of a 4-year-old boy who experienced clinical death during surgery, went to heaven and returned back, written by his father.

This story is amazing in its details. While out of body, 4-year-old baby Kilton clearly saw what the doctors and his parents were doing. Which exactly corresponded to what was actually happening.

Kilton describes the heavens and their inhabitants in great detail, although his heart only stopped for a few minutes. During his stay in heaven, the boy learns such details about the life of the family that, according to his father’s assurances, he could not have known, if only because of his age.

The child, during his out-of-body journey, saw dead relatives, angels, Jesus and even the Virgin Mary, apparently due to his Catholic upbringing. The boy observed the past and the near future.

The events described in the book forced Father Kilton to completely reconsider his views on life, death and what awaits us after death.

Interesting cases and evidence of eternal life

An interesting incident happened several years ago with our compatriot Vladimir Efremov.

Vladimir Grigorievich had a spontaneous exit from the body due to cardiac arrest. In a word, Vladimir Grigorievich experienced clinical death in February 2014, which he told his relatives and colleagues about in every detail.

And it seemed like there was one more case confirming the presence of an otherworldly life. But the fact is that Vladimir Efremov is not just an ordinary person, not a psychic, but a scientist with an impeccable reputation in his circles.

And according to Vladimir Grigorievich himself, before he experienced clinical death, he considered himself an atheist and perceived stories about the afterlife as the dope of religion. Most of it professional life He devoted himself to the development of rocket systems and space engines.

Therefore, for Efremov himself, the experience of contact with the afterlife was very unexpected, but it largely changed his views on the nature of reality.

It is noteworthy that in his experience there is also light, serenity, extraordinary clarity of perception, a pipe (tunnel) and no sense of time and space.

But, since Vladimir Efremov is a scientist, designer of aircraft and spacecraft, he gives very interesting description the world in which his consciousness found itself. He explains it in physical and mathematical concepts, which are unusually far from religious ideas.

He notes that a person in the afterlife sees what he wants to see, which is why there are so many differences in the descriptions. Despite his previous atheism, Vladimir Grigorievich noted that the presence of God was felt everywhere.

There was no visible form of God, but his presence was undeniable. Later, Efremov even gave a presentation on this topic to his colleagues. Listen to the story of the eyewitness himself.

Dalai Lama

One of the greatest proofs of eternal life is known to many, but few have thought about it. Nobel Peace Prize laureate, spiritual leader of Tibet Dalai Lama XIV, is the 14th incarnation of the consciousness (soul) of the 1st Dalai Lama.

But they began the tradition of reincarnation of the main spiritual leader, to preserve the purity of knowledge even earlier. In the Tibetan Kagyu lineage, the highest reincarnated Lama is called Karmapa. And now the Karmapa is experiencing his 17th incarnation.

The famous film “Little Buddha” was made based on the story of the death of the 16th Karmapa and the search for the child into whom he would be reborn.

In the traditions of Buddhism and Hinduism, in general, the practice of repeated incarnations is very widespread. But it is especially widely known in Tibetan Buddhism.

It is not only the supreme Lamas, such as the Dalai Lama or the Karmapa, who are reborn. After death, almost without interruption, their closest disciples also come to a new human body, whose task is to recognize the soul of the Lama in the child.

There is a whole ritual of recognition, including recognition among many personal belongings from a previous incarnation. And everyone is free to decide for themselves whether they believe or not in these stories.

But in the political life of the world, some are inclined to take this seriously.

Thus, the new reincarnation of the Dalai Lama is always recognized by the Pancha Lama, who, in turn, is also reborn after each death. It is the Pancha Lama who finally confirms that the child is the embodiment of the consciousness of the Dalai Lama.

And it so happened that the current Pancha Lama is still a child and lives in China. Moreover, he cannot leave this country, because the Chinese government needs him so that without their participation it would not be possible to determine the new incarnation of the Dalai Lama.

Therefore, in the past few years, the spiritual leader of Tibet sometimes jokes and says that he may no longer incarnate or incarnate in a female body. You can, of course, argue that these are Buddhists and they have such beliefs and this is not evidence. But it seems that some heads of state perceive this differently.

Bali - “Island of the Gods”

Another interesting fact takes place in Indonesia, on the Hindu island of Bali. In Hinduism, the theory of reincarnation is key and the islanders deeply believe in it. They believe so strongly that during the cremation of the body, the relatives of the deceased ask the gods to allow the soul, if it wants to be born again on earth, to be born again in Bali.

Which is quite understandable, the island lives up to its name “Island of the Gods”. Moreover, if the family of the deceased is wealthy, she is asked to return to the family.

When a child reaches 3 years of age, there is a tradition of taking him to a special clergyman who has the ability to determine which soul has come into this body. And sometimes it turns out to be the soul of a great-grandmother or uncle. And the existence of the entire island, practically a small state, is determined by these beliefs.

Modern science's view of life after death

Science's views on death and life have changed greatly over the past 50–70 years, largely due to the development of quantum physics and biology. In recent decades, scientists have come closer than ever before to understanding what happens to consciousness after life leaves the body.

If 100 years ago science denied the existence of consciousness or soul, today this is already a generally accepted fact, as is the fact that the consciousness of the experimenter influences the results of the experiment.

So does the soul exist, and is Consciousness immortal from a scientific point of view? - Yes

Neuroscientist Christoph Koch in April 2016, at a meeting of scientists with the 14th Dalai Lama, said that the latest theories in brain science consider consciousness as a property that is inherent in everything that exists.

Consciousness is inherent in everything and is present everywhere, just as gravity acts on all objects without exception.

The theory of “Panpsychism”, the theory of a single universal consciousness, has received a second life these days. This theory is present in Buddhism, Greek philosophy and pagan traditions. But for the first time, Panpsychism is supported by science.

Giulio Tononi, author of the famous modern theory consciousness “Integrated Information Theory” states the following: “consciousness exists in physical systems in the form of diverse and multilaterally interconnected pieces of information.”

Christopher Koch and Giulio Tononi made a statement that is astonishing for modern science:

"Consciousness is the fundamental quality inherent in reality."

Based on this hypothesis, Koch and Tononi came up with a unit of measurement for consciousness and called it phi. Scientists have already developed a test that measures phi in the human brain.

A magnetic pulse is sent to the human brain and how the signal is measured in the brain's neurons is measured.

The longer and clearer the brain reverberation in response to a magnetic stimulus, the more conscious a person is.

Using this technique, it is possible to determine what state a person is in: awake, asleep or under anesthesia.

This method of measuring consciousness has found widespread use in medicine. The phi level helps to accurately determine whether actual death has occurred or the patient is in a vegetative state.

The test helps to find out at what time consciousness begins to develop in the fetus and how clearly a person is aware of himself in a state of dementia or dementia.

Several proofs of the existence of the soul and its immortality

Here we are again faced with what can be considered proof of the existence of the soul. In court cases, witness testimony is evidence in favor of the innocence and guilt of suspects.

And for most of us, the stories of people, especially loved ones, who have experienced a post-mortem experience or the separation of the soul from the body will be evidence of the presence of a soul. However, it is not a fact that scientists will accept this evidence as such.

Where is the point at which stories and myths become scientifically proven?

Moreover, today we already know that many of the inventions of the human mind that we use now were present exclusively in science fiction works 200–300 years ago.

The simplest example of this is an airplane.

Evidence from psychiatrist Jim Tucker

So let's look at several cases described by psychiatrist Jim B. Tucker as evidence for the existence of the soul. Moreover, what could be a greater proof of the immortality of the soul if not reincarnation or the memory of one’s past incarnations?

Like Ian Stevenson, Jim spent decades researching the issue of reincarnation based on children's memories of past lives.

In his book Life Before Life: A Scientific Study of Children's Memories of Past Lives, he reviewed more than 40 years of reincarnation research at the University of Virginia.

The studies were based on children's exact memories of their past incarnations.

The book, among other things, discusses birthmarks and birth defects that are present in children and correlate with the cause of death in a previous incarnation.

Jim began studying this issue after he encountered quite frequent requests from parents who claimed that their children told very consistent stories about their past lives.

Names, occupations, places of residence and circumstances of death are given. What a surprise it was when some of the stories were confirmed: houses were found in which the children lived in their previous incarnations and graves where they were buried.

There were too many such cases to consider it a coincidence or a hoax. Moreover, in some cases, young children as young as 2-4 years old already possessed skills that they claimed to have mastered in past lives. Here are a few such examples.

Baby Hunter incarnate

Hunter, a 2-year-old boy, told his parents that he was a multiple golf champion. He lived in the United States of America in the mid-30s and his name was Bobby Jones. At the same time, at only two years old, Hunter played golf well.

So good that he was allowed to study in the section, despite the existing age restrictions of 5 years. It is not surprising that the parents decided to have their son checked. They printed out photographs of several competitive golfers and asked the boy to identify himself.

Without hesitation, Hunter pointed to the photograph of Bobby Jones. By the age of seven, memories of his past life began to blur, but the boy still plays golf and has already won several competitions.

Incarnation of James

Another example about the boy James. He was about 2.5 years old when he started talking about his past life and how he died. First, the child began to have nightmares about the plane crash.

But one day James told his mother that he was a military pilot and died in a plane crash during the war with Japan. His plane was shot down near the island of Iota. The boy described in detail how the bomb hit the engine and the plane began to fall into the ocean.

He remembered that in a previous life his name was James Houston, he grew up in Pennsylvania, and his father suffered from alcoholism.

The boy's father turned to the military archives, where it turned out that a pilot named James Houston really existed. He took part in air operations off the islands of Japan during the Second World War. Houston died off the island of Iota, exactly as the child described.

Reincarnation researcher Ian Stevens

The books of another no less famous reincarnation researcher, Ian Stevens, contain about 3 thousand verified and confirmed childhood memories of past incarnations. Unfortunately, his books have not yet been translated into Russian, and are currently only available in English.

His first book was published in 1997 and was entitled "Reincarnation and Stevenson's Biology: Contributions to the Etiology birthmarks and birth defects."

In researching this book, two hundred cases of birth defects or birthmarks in children that could not be explained medically or genetically were examined. At the same time, the children themselves explained their origins by events from past lives.

For example, there have been cases of children with irregular or missing fingers. Children with such defects often remembered the circumstances under which these injuries were received, where and at what age. Many of the stories were confirmed by death certificates found later and even stories from living relatives.

There was a boy with moles that were shaped very much like the entry and exit wounds of a bullet wound. The boy himself claimed that he died from a shot in the head. He remembered his name and the house in which he lived.

The deceased's sister was later found and confirmed her brother's name and the fact that he shot himself in the head.

All the thousands and thousands of similar cases recorded today are proof not only of the existence of the soul, but also of its immortality. Moreover, thanks to many years of research by Ian Stevenson, Jim B. Tucker, Michael Newton and others, we know that sometimes no more than 6 years can pass between soul incarnations.

In general, according to the research of Michael Newton, the soul itself chooses how soon and why it wants to incarnate again.

Further proof of the existence of the soul came from the discovery of the atom.

The discovery of the atom and its structure led to the fact that scientists, especially quantum physicists, were forced to admit that at the quantum level everything existing in the universe, absolutely everything, is one.

An atom is 90 percent composed of space (emptiness), which means that all living and nonliving bodies, including the human body, consist of the same space.

It is noteworthy that more and more quantum physicists are now practicing Eastern meditation practices, because, in their opinion, they allow them to experience this fact of unity.

John Hagelin, a famous quantum physicist and popularizer of science, said in one of his interviews that for all quantum physicists, our unity at the subatomic level is a proven fact.

But if you want not only to know this, but to experience it own experience– take up meditation, because it will help you find access to this space of peace and love, which is already present inside everyone, but is simply not realized.

You can call it God, soul or higher mind, the fact of its existence will not change in any way.

Isn’t it possible that mediums, psychics and many creative personalities can connect to this space?

Religious opinions on death

The opinion of all religions about death agrees on one thing - when you die in this world, you are born in another. But the descriptions of other worlds in the Bible, Koran, Kabbalah, Vedas and other religious books differ in accordance with the cultural characteristics of the countries where this or that religion was born.

But taking into account the hypothesis that after death the soul sees those worlds that it is inclined and wants to see, we can conclude that all differences in religious views on life after death are explained precisely by differences in faith and beliefs.

Spiritualism: communication with the departed

It seems that humans have always had a desire to communicate with the dead. Because throughout the existence of human culture, there have been people who have been able to communicate with the spirits of deceased ancestors.

In the Middle Ages, this was done by shamans, priests and sorcerers; in our time, people with such abilities are called mediums or psychics.

If you watch television at least occasionally, you may have come across a television show that shows sessions of communication with the spirits of the deceased.

One of the most famous shows in which communication with the departed is a key theme is “Battle of Psychics” on TNT.

It is difficult to say how real what the viewer sees on the screen is. But one thing is for sure - it is now not difficult to find someone who can help you contact your deceased loved one.

But when choosing a medium, you should take care to obtain proven recommendations. At the same time, you can try to set up this connection yourself.

Yes, not everyone has psychic abilities, but many can develop them. There are often cases when communication with the dead occurs spontaneously.

This usually happens up to 40 days after death, until the time has come for the soul to fly away from the earthly plane. During this period, communication can occur on its own, especially if the deceased has something to tell you and you are emotionally open to such communication.

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 “I”, not yours, 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 different people lived their 70-year life? 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 others in the 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 myriad of clinics and scientific centers They 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 the brightest representatives of the mechanistic movement. 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. Founder scientific school, Ludwig wrote that none of the existing theories of nervous activity, including the electrical theory of nerve currents of 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 sense 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 of a 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 between some physical processes and subjective events (which include Consciousness) 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 from the lips of 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 generate only the simplest thoughts, such as how to turn the pages of a book you are reading 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 puts it this way: “imagine that your TV is broken and you call a TV technician, who, after turning various knobs, tunes it up. 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 mental process taken outside of it. 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 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 cites his personal experience of encountering posthumous 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 saw 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 this, 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 means, 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, a researcher at the St. Petersburg State Electrotechnical University in his report on 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, differing 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 chemical, depends on its composition, the posthumous destination of a person 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 the future fate of a person. This provides a strong rationale for personal responsibility and ethical principles.

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

Scientists have evidence of the existence of life after death. They discovered that consciousness can continue after death.

Although there is a lot of skepticism surrounding this topic, there are testimonies from people who have had this experience that will make you think about it.

Dr. Sam Parnia, a professor who has studied near-death experiences and cardiopulmonary resuscitation, believes that a person's consciousness can survive brain death when there is no blood flow to the brain and there is no electrical activity.

Since 2008, he has collected extensive evidence of near-death experiences that occurred when a person's brain was no more active than a loaf of bread.

Based on the visions, conscious awareness persisted for up to three minutes after the heart stopped, although the brain usually shuts down within 20 to 30 seconds after the heart stops.

You may have heard people talk about the feeling of separation from your own body, and they seemed like a fantasy to you. American singer Pam Reynolds spoke about her out-of-body experience during brain surgery, which she experienced at the age of 35.

She was placed in an induced coma, her body was cooled to 15 degrees Celsius, and her brain was virtually deprived of blood supply. In addition, her eyes were closed and headphones were inserted into her ears, drowning out sounds.

Hovering above her body, she was able to observe her own operation. The description was very clear. She heard someone say, “Her arteries are too small,” while the song “Hotel California” by The Eagles played in the background.

The doctors themselves were shocked by all the details that Pam told about her experience.

One of the classic examples of near-death experiences is meeting with deceased relatives on the other side.

Researcher Bruce Grayson believes that what we see when we are in a state of clinical death is not just vivid hallucinations. In 2013, he published a study in which he indicated that the number of patients who met deceased relatives far exceeded the number of those who met living people.

Moreover, there have been several cases where people have encountered a dead relative on the other side without knowing that the person had died.

Internationally recognized Belgian neurologist Steven Laureys does not believe in life after death. He believes that all near-death experiences can be explained through physical phenomena.

Laureys and his team expected that near-death experiences would be similar to dreams or hallucinations and would fade from memory over time.

However, he discovered that memories of near-death experiences remain fresh and vivid regardless of the passage of time and sometimes even outshine memories of actual events.

In one study, researchers asked 344 patients who had experienced cardiac arrest to describe their experiences in the week following resuscitation.

Of all the people surveyed, 18% could hardly remember their experience, and 8-12% gave the classic example of near-death experiences

Dutch researcher Pim van Lommel studied the memories of people who experienced clinical death.

According to the results, many people lost their fear of death and became happier, more positive and more sociable. Almost everyone spoke of near-death experiences as a positive experience that further impacted their lives over time.

American neurosurgeon Eben Alexander spent 7 days in a coma in 2008, which changed his opinion about near-death experiences. He stated that he saw something that was difficult to believe.

He said that he saw light and a melody emanating from there, he saw something similar to a portal into a magnificent reality, filled with waterfalls of indescribable colors and millions of butterflies flying across this scene. However, his brain was switched off during these visions to such an extent that he should not have had any glimpses of consciousness.

Many have questioned Dr. Eben's words, but if he is telling the truth, perhaps his experiences and those of others should not be ignored.

They interviewed 31 blind people who had experienced clinical death or out-of-body experiences. Moreover, 14 of them were blind from birth.

However, they all described visual images during their experiences, whether it was a tunnel of light, deceased relatives, or watching their bodies from above.

According to Professor Robert Lanza, all possibilities in the Universe happen simultaneously. But when the “observer” decides to look, all these possibilities come down to one, which happens in our world. Thus, time, space, matter and everything else exist only due to our perception.

If this is so, then things like “death” cease to be an incontrovertible fact and become just a part of perception. In reality, although it may seem that we are dying in this universe, according to Lanz's theory, our life becomes "an eternal flower that blooms again in the multiverse."

Dr. Ian Stevenson researched and recorded more than 3,000 cases of children under the age of 5 who could remember their past lives.

In one case, a girl from Sri Lanka remembered the name of the city she was in and described her family and home in detail. Later, 27 out of 30 of her statements were confirmed. However, none of her family and acquaintances were in any way connected with this city.

Stevenson also documented cases of children who had phobias associated with past life, children who had birth defects that reflected the manner in which they died, and even children who went berserk when they recognized their “killers.”