Have you ever wondered what happens after death to what we call a person? Everything is clear with the body - it is buried or burned. But it is not only this that determines personality. There is also consciousness. Does it really go out when the body stops functioning? What happens after a person dies? The best minds on our planet discussed this. Yes and ordinary people We also tried to get to the bottom of the problem. Let's think about this topic together.

Let's look into the past

There is an assumption that humanity has been interested in issues of transmigration of souls since ancient times. These thoughts gave rise to the prototype of religion. Of course, all incomprehensible phenomena were endowed with divine powers. But we also thought about what happens to a person after death. Hence all kinds of ideas about the transmigration of souls, which are now the basis of esoteric teachings. Religion decided to explain the issue. This was done in a unique way. Adherents of the faith are prohibited from actually speculating about what happens after death. This information is given in teachings of various kinds.

People are supposed to accept it as a postulate. Surely such pressure was justified in those days when death was commonplace. Even before the twentieth century, it was treated quite tolerantly. Look at the available statistics: a lot of people died from epidemics and wars. The attitude towards the topic has changed with the development of technology and its introduction into society social ideas. Life proclaimed highest value. That’s why people are increasingly thinking about what awaits everyone after death?

Society is constantly changing

It is important to understand that issues of death and life have never disappeared from the main agenda. The very transition from breathing and activity to complete non-existence was fascinating. But the approach to what will happen after a person’s death has changed along with development public consciousness. Judge for yourself. In the Middle Ages, people thought about this taking into account the fear instilled by priests. They were also told that the soul of a sinner goes to hell. These religious legends were invented for political, so to speak, purposes. They are an instrument for the subjugation of large masses of people. Every resident of the country was afraid that after death they would fry him in a large frying pan. You need to obey those in power, then nothing like this will happen to the poor thing.

However, humanity is developing

And not just technically, despite constant statements to the contrary. Culture, science, and accessibility to education form the universal human consciousness. That is, a set of ideas that people operate in their activities. The issue under consideration also applies to them. Religious leaders are increasingly being asked about what happens to the human soul after death. And now you can’t get rid of curious people with legends. People became aware of such concepts as aura, the subtle world, and so on. They don't allow stories about big frying pans and devils to be believed. This last remark is not a criticism of religions. This is a fact from which the clergy have to move away from physical plane question.

What is a person?

Let's approach from the other side. Anyone who wants to understand what happens after death must first understand how we should view someone who dies? Is it just a body endowed with the ability to interact with the surrounding space? Maybe something more? You know, there are many theories. The truth is what each individual believes. If yours excludes the presence of a soul, then there is no point in talking about what will happen after death. The body has ceased to function, therefore, has lost the ability to respond to external factors. Final! There is nothing further.

The approach is controversial, but has its fans. However, it does not explain many facts recognized even by conservative science. If a person is sure that his essence is not limited to the body and brain, then he has to dig further. After all, nothing ends with the destruction of the body, the complete stop of its functioning. A certain part of the personality does not lose awareness, and perhaps the ability to interact with the world. We will start from this concept. There is something called the soul that does not die with the body. What's happening to her?

Scientific views

It must be said right away that this is the most difficult moment to date. Science is very conservative. And what should it be called? A set of generally accepted ideas about the world. This is roughly how dictionaries interpret science. There is subtlety in general recognition. The right to approve or reject theories and ideas is acquired only by a person who has received an education and has written some works. That is, in order to draw universally accepted conclusions on any scientific topic, one must oneself be recognized in this circle. And who will talk to a marginalized person who preaches revolutionary ideas? Try, break through the barriers of conservatism of scientific views.

Innovative approach

But there were people who decided to take this desperate step. Thus, the experiment of American specialists is widely known. They weighed a person at the time of death. It has been empirically proven that the mass decreases by a small amount. From this the conclusion was drawn about the existence of the soul. Then, unfortunately, there are continuous theories that have no evidence. Science today cannot answer what happens to a person after death. Photos distributed online are unlikely to be real evidence. For a fact to become recognized, it must be confirmed by scientific men with unquestionable authority. So far none have been found.

Witness testimony

This is where the fun begins. In reality, there are people who managed to return to life after death. Medicine is developing quite well. Now clinical death is not a reason to prepare a funeral. A lot of people are being taken out of it. And sometimes they say things that make religious figures get hard. Many people describe a corridor or tunnel along which an unknown force carries them towards the light. Others claim that they saw everything that was happening to their body as if from the outside. Can this be explained from a conservative point of view? Moreover, it is difficult to call this evidence fiction. People told subtleties that they could not learn from others. It turns out that stopping the functioning of the body does not destroy another part of the personality. It exists! Maybe not for long? Let's understand further.

Folk traditions

Don't be surprised. The rituals with which humanity has surrounded the fact of death also have a lot of meaning. In Orthodoxy, it is customary to arrange memorial days on the third, ninth, fortieth days, on the first and third anniversaries. Why did this happen? There is a theory that the soul remains in earthly space for some time after the destruction of the body. She doesn't want to leave this world. For three days she hovers next to the body. Then he gradually looks for ways to another world. However, another forty days may return. Maybe nostalgia is tormenting her. Nobody knows about this.

And only a year later she completely leaves our world. Religion does not reject this theory. How are things going next? What happens one year after a person dies? Where does the soul disappear and how does it feel there? In Orthodoxy it is believed that the immortal essence of a person goes to the Lord. He judges her and sends her either to heaven or to hell. But this does not happen instantly. Another whole year is given to relatives and lovers to help the soul cleanse itself of sin. They should pray earnestly for the deceased. Then he will definitely go to heaven. This is exactly how religion answers the question of what happens a year after death. She finds her refuge in the world where she finds herself.

Edgar Cayce and his theory

The predictions of this seer are now familiar to everyone. The world is shaking, I want to find support. So people study the activities of individuals who had greater abilities than themselves. Edgar Cayce's words about death and life, however, are not so widely known. And the seer claimed back in 1932 that the time would come when this secret would be revealed. Cayce spoke of true immortality. However, not in the physical body. Death is just a transition of the individual to another state. This is not a tragedy, as they now believe. This is a stage in the development of every person. But because there is an impenetrable barrier between the periods of life and “death,” people do not realize this. Maybe only subconsciously. Cayce also argued that you can communicate with the soul after death. The great Vanga also had such a gift.

Esoteric theory

The idea arose a long time ago. Esotericists claim that a person lives in several worlds at once. But we are clearly aware only of ours, the physical. They introduced the concept of subtle bodies. In their opinion, emotions, thoughts, feelings create their own realities. Each person has his own space, which is multidimensional. It doesn't collapse. Vice versa. How more people is born, the more expansive the energy universe becomes. This can be imagined as a set of transparent spheres located in infinite space.

They intersect, overlap, push, create separate clusters and constantly interact with others at incredible speed. Let's return to physical death. While a person lives, he fills his worlds with what he does on the planet. Thoughts, actions, intentions, words, emotions, decisions, and so on go there. And when the body stops working, the soul enters the space created during life. What you earn is what you get. Agree, it intersects ideologically with the religious concept of sin. A person prays, cleanses his worlds, fills them with light. And when he gets angry, offended, hates, he prepares himself for torment.

Alternative point of view

Let's return to what happens after the year of death. And we will rely not on but on popular observations. You've heard stories about how much offspring resemble their ancestors. There are many of these stories in people's families. After many generations, a copy of a previously living person appears. It may be incomplete, but demonstrates similarity in appearance or character. This is both surprising and thought-provoking. You know, no matter what they tell us from different sides, we come to the planet with one main overarching goal - to continue life. People start families and have children. This is the most important thing. And creativity, exploits, works are just a pleasant addition. Therefore, the question of what will happen after death has a completely different answer. It is obvious and simple. After death there is new life. We do not disappear anywhere, but continue in our children and grandchildren. This process is endless. And its essence is the development of a multidimensional world. All of humanity is constantly creating. We don’t pay attention to it, but every second everyone fills the subtle planes with thoughts, feelings, images, and the like. After death, we continue to exist in this space separated from the usual planet.

In the Christian tradition, the concept of the ordeal of the soul after death is a test of strength, something that tests the soul after it leaves the body and before it goes to the other world, to the Underworld or to Heaven.

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The ordeal of the soul after death

As various revelations say, after death, each spirit passes twenty "ordeals", which means testing or torment by some sin. Through ordeals, the soul is either purified or cast into Gehenna. Having overcome one of the tests, the spirit moves on to another, higher in rank - to serious sins. Having passed the test, the soul of the deceased has the opportunity to continue on the path without constant demonic temptations.

According to Christianity, ordeals after death are terrible. You can overcome them with prayers, fasting and strong, unshakable faith. There is evidence of how terrible demons and trials are after death - the Virgin Mary herself begged her son Jesus to protect her from the torment of ordeal. The Lord responded to the prayers and took the pure soul of Mary in order to turn the Virgin Mary to Heaven with his divine hand. The Icon of the Assumption, revered by Orthodox Christians, depicts salvation Mother of God from many days of torment and ascension to Heaven.

Tests of the holy fathers and hagiographic texts about the ordeals of the soul describe these tests in a similar way. Each person's individual experience influences his own torture and perception of it. The severity of each test increases, from the most common sins to serious ones. After death, a person’s spirit is under a small (private) court, where life is reviewed and all the deeds committed by the living are summed up. Depending on whether the person being judged fought against fallen spirits or succumbed to passions, a sentence is passed.

The first ordeal is idle talk - words spoken in vain, love of chatter. The second is lying, spreading rumors, deceiving others for one’s own benefit. The third are slander and disapproval, slandering someone else's reputation or condemning the actions of others from one's own place. The fourth is gluttony, indulging the base passions of the body, hunger.

20 ordeals of the soul of blessed Fedora, painting before the descent into the cave in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.

Fifth - laziness, idleness. The sixth is theft, the appropriation of someone else's property that does not belong to a person as a result of a fair exchange. Seventh - love of money and stinginess as a symbol of excessive attachment to things of the material, temporary world. Eighth - covetousness, that is, the desire for unjust gains obtained through dishonest means. Ninth - deception, lies in business, unfair trial without fair judgment. Tenth - envy, the scourge of God, the desire to have what one has near and far. Eleventh - pride, excessive conceit, inflated Ego, self-esteem.

Twelfth - anger and rage, symbols of intemperance and lack of meekness befitting a Christian. Thirteenth - vindictiveness, storing in the memory of other people's bad deeds towards oneself, the desire to take revenge. The fourteenth ordeal is murder, the taking of the life of another person. Fifteenth - sorcery, charm, calling on demons, demons and spirits, using magic for one's own and other people's needs as a path to the death of the soul. Sixteenth - fornication, promiscuous intercourse with a change of many partners in life, infidelity before the face of the Lord.

Seventeenth is adultery, betrayal of a spouse. The eighteenth is the crime of Sodomy, when a man lies with a man, and a lady with a woman. For this sin, God turned Sodom and Gomorrah into dust. Nineteenth - heresy, falling into doubt, rejection of God-given faith. The twentieth and last is recognized as torture - unmercifulness and cruelty, keeping a hard heart and lack of compassion for people.

The path of the soul that has left the physical body lies through these trials. Every sin to which a person was prone during earthly life will return after death, and demons, called tax collectors, will begin to torment the sinner. Sincere prayer coming from the very depths of the repentant soul will help you save yourself from your own sins and ease your torment.

Where does a person go after death?

This question has tormented the minds of people since ancient times. Where do the dead go, where does a person end up after death? Where does the soul fly after the death of the physical shell? The traditional answer is given by all religions, speaking of another kingdom, the afterlife, where every dead person will go. This name is no coincidence: otherworldly - "on the other side", and the afterlife - "beyond the grave".

In the Christian tradition, ordeals take place for each person, lasting as long as the sins are strong. The passing soul bows to God, and in the next thirty-seven earthly days after death, the path of the soul passes through the palaces of Heaven and the abyss of Hell. The spirit does not yet know where it will have to stay until the Last Judgment comes. Hell or Paradise is announced on the fortieth day, and it is impossible to appeal the verdict of the Heavenly Court.

Close people and relatives of the deceased should pay for the next forty days after death dear person ask for help for his soul. Prayers are the feasible help that a Christian provides to another on the long posthumous journey. This eases the lot of the sinner and helps the righteous; it turns out to be that spiritual gold that does not burden the spirit and allows one to atone for sins. Where the soul goes after death, prayer is more valuable than gold, sincere, pure, honest, which is heard by God.

Venerable Macarius of Alexandria

Having overcome ordeals and finished earthly affairs, discarding them, the soul becomes acquainted with the true world on the other side of existence, one of the parts of which will become its eternal home. If you listen to the revelation of St. Macarius of Alexandria, prayers for the departed, the commemoration customary to be performed (three times three, a sacred divine number, similar to the nine angelic ranks), is connected with the fact that after this day the soul leaves Paradise, all the abysses and nightmares of the Underworld are shown to it . This continues until the fortieth day.

Forty days - total number, an approximate model that is oriented towards in the earthly world. Each case is individual, examples of posthumous travel will vary endlessly.

There is an exception to every rule: some deceased people complete their journeys earlier or later than the fortieth day. The tradition itself important date came from a description of the posthumous journey of Saint Theodora, in which her path in the depths of Hell was completed after forty earthly days.

Where do people's souls live after death?

Christian books promise that the physical universe, subject to decay and dying, will disappear and the Kingdom of God, eternal and indestructible, will ascend the throne. In this kingdom, the souls of the righteous and those whose sins have been atoned for will be reunited with their former bodies, immortal and incorruptible, to shine forever in the glory of Christ and lead a renewed, holy life. Before that, they are in Paradise, where they know joy and glory, but partial, and not that which will come at the end of time, when a new creation is accomplished. The world will appear renewed and washed, like a young man bursting with health after a decrepit old man.

Where the souls of dead people who led a righteous life live, there is no need, grief or envy. Neither cold nor scorching heat, but happiness to be near Him. This is the purpose that God gave for people when he created them on the sixth day of creation. Few can follow him, but everyone has a chance for the atonement of sins and the salvation of the soul, for Jesus is merciful, and every person is dear and close to him, even a lost sinner.

Anyone who has not accepted divine blessing and has not been saved will remain in Hell forever. Hell - Gehenna Fire, Tartarus, Underworld, a place where souls are subjected to great suffering. Before the start of the Apocalypse and the onset of the Last Judgment, sinners suffer in a spiritual form, and after the event they will begin to suffer, reunited with their earthly bodies.

Where does the soul go after death before it happens? Last Judgment? First he goes through the ordeal, then, until the nine days, he travels through Paradise, where he eats its fruits. On the ninth day and until the fortieth, she is taken through Hell, showing the torment of sinners.

Where do the souls of dead people go after this? To Heaven, Hell or Purgatory. Purgatory is the habitat of those who have not fully sinned, but who have not observed righteousness either. These are atheists, doubters, representatives of other religions who defected there from the Christian faith. In Purgatory, where the soul resides after death, there is neither bliss nor torment. The spirit dwells between Heaven and Earth, waiting for a chance

Answered by Rabbi Yakov Shub

The Kabbalistic book of Zohar (chapter Vayehi) says that before death a person gets the opportunity to see what awaits him in the World of Souls. When a man lies on his deathbed and the Measure of Judgment hovers over him, intending to take him from this world, his soul rises to new level, where she was not during her life and from where things are visible that are usually hidden from people. For example, in his book “So that you remain a Jew” (2nd ed., Jerusalem, 5768, p. 95), Rav Yitzchak Zilber, of blessed memory of the righteous, says that before his death, his father saw the image of his father (grandfather Rav Yitzchak) .

Then the Angel of Death appears. He stands at full height with a sharp sword in his hand. The man looks up and sees the walls of the house blazing with fire. This image makes a person's whole body and spirit tremble, and his heart does not find peace. The man trembles with fear and wants to hide from the terrible sight, but cannot. Then his spirit “bypasses” all the organs and says goodbye to them, like a person who says goodbye to his loved ones, parting with them. And finally, the spirit leaves the body (Zohar, chapter Naso, Avodah Zara, 20 b).

When the soul of a righteous person ascends, it is accompanied by angels, the souls of deceased relatives and friends, as well as the souls of other righteous people who greet it: “He (the tzaddik) departs to the world, resting on his bed, having walked in his justice” (Yeshayahu 57:2 ). They show her a place of peace and pleasure and a place of punishment. The soul of the righteous immediately takes its assigned place and begins to enjoy the Divine Light, while the soul of the sinner remains in this world until the body is buried in the ground (Zohar, chapter Vayehi, Ketubot 104a).

Almost all souls undergo a gradual, not particularly pleasant process of transition from this world to the Upper World (hibut ha-kever). The Talmud says in several places that a worm is much more terrible for the dead than a needle for living flesh. Since a dead body does not feel, we can understand that we are talking about the torment of the soul at the sight of what is happening to the body. The elevation of the soul occurs in several stages: 3 days, 7 days, 30 days and 12 months.

Three days: The heaviest mourning is observed for the first three days after a person's death. The body has not yet changed, and the soul hovers above it, intending to return. When after three days she sees that the person’s face is changing, she begins to leave (Bereishit Rabbah, ch. 100). The Book of Zohar invites a person to think about his behavior in this world while he still has the opportunity, describing what can happen in the first three days after death: “And Jonah was in the belly of the fish... three days and three nights” (Jonah 2:1). This is an allusion to the first three days a person is in the grave - before his womb opens. At the end of three days, the contents of his entrails spill onto his face and tell him: “Take what you put in me. You ate and drank all day long and did not care about the poor, you did not let them eat with you, and they suffered from hunger...” (Zohar, Vayakal).

Seven days: all seven days the soul rushes from house to grave and from grave to house and mourns the body, as it is said: “His flesh suffers with pain, and his soul mourns for him” (Job 14:22). The Arizal explains that at that level of the soul, which is called nefesh, the soul is divided into two parts: external (makif) and internal (pnimi). Each of them is divided into seven more parts. The inner part remains with the body in the grave, and the outer remains in the house of the deceased. Each of the seven days, one of the seven parts of the outer level leaves the house of mourning and moves to the grave, and on the seventh day all these parts rise. Therefore, according to Arizal, it is necessary to install the tombstone on the seventh day. However, a more common custom is to place the tombstone on the thirtieth day.

Thirty days and twelve months: Three days after death, a person is judged for the actions of his hands, feet and eyes. This continues until the thirtieth day. During these thirty days, the nefesh and the body are punished together. Therefore, the soul remains below and does not rise to its place, like a woman who moves away from her husband during a period of ritual impurity (Zohar, Vaiyakel). During the first twelve months after death, the body has not yet completely decomposed and the soul can sometimes descend to the body and ascend back. After this period, the soul finally rises upward, and the body rests in the ground and awaits the resurrection from the dead (Shabbat 152 b). The Tosafot add: However, even after 12 months the soul can sometimes descend into this world.

The soul goes through a process of judgment and purification in the spiritual realm. This may include purification in Geinom, where there are upper and lower "sections", each of which in turn consists of seven chambers. Ultimately, most souls are awarded their place in Gan-Eden, where there are also lower and upper "sections", each of which consists of seven chambers. Our sages say about this that every righteous person receives a place in the world to come according to his merits, like a king who enters a city with his retinue. They all enter through the same gate, but when night comes, each is given a place to stay for the night according to his rank (Shabbat 152a). The Almighty prepares a separate crown for each righteous person (Megillah 15 b).

Probably, among the adult population of the entire planet, you cannot find even one person who has not thought about death in one way or another.

We are not now interested in the opinions of skeptics who question everything that they have not touched with their own hands and have not seen with their own eyes. We are interested in the question, what is death?

Quite often, surveys cited by sociologists show that up to 60 percent of respondents are sure that the afterlife exists.

Just over 30 percent of respondents take a neutral position regarding the Kingdom of the Dead, believing that most likely they will experience reincarnation and rebirth in a new body after death. The remaining ten do not believe in either the first or the second, believing that death is the final result of everything. If you are interested in what happens after death to those who sold their soul to the devil and gained wealth, fame and honor on earth, we recommend that you refer to the article about. Such people gain prosperity and respect not only during life, but also after death: those who sell their souls become powerful demons. Leave a request to sell your soul so that demonologists will perform a ritual for you: [email protected]

In fact, these are not absolute numbers; in some countries, people are more willing to believe in the other world, relying on the books they have read from psychiatrists who have studied issues of clinical death.

In other places, they believe that they need to live to the fullest here and now, and what awaits them is of little concern to them. Probably, the diversity of opinions lies in the field of sociology and living environment, but this is a completely different problem.

From the data obtained in the survey, the conclusion is clear that the majority of the planet’s inhabitants believe in an afterlife. This is a truly exciting question, what awaits us at the second of death - the last exhalation here, and a new breath in the Kingdom of the Dead?

It’s a pity, but no one has a complete answer to such a question, except perhaps God, but if we accept the existence of the Almighty in our equation as faithfulness, then of course there is only one answer - there is a World to Come!

Raymond Moody, there is life after death.

Many prominent scientists at different times wondered: is death a special transitional state between life here and moving to the other world? For example, such a famous scientist as the inventor even tried to establish contact with the inhabitants of the afterlife. And this is just one example of thousands of similar ones, when people sincerely believe in life after death.

But what if there is at least something that can give us confidence in life after death, at least some signs indicating the existence of an afterlife? Eat! There is such evidence, assure researchers of the issue and psychiatry specialists who have worked with people who have experienced clinical death.

As Raymond Moody, an American psychologist and doctor from Porterdale, Georgia, assures us, such a well-known expert on the issue of “life after death”, there is an afterlife beyond any doubt.

Moreover, the psychologist has many adherents from the scientific community. Well, let's see what kind of facts they give us as evidence of the fantastic idea of ​​​​the existence of an afterlife?

Let me make a reservation right away, we are not now touching on the issue of reincarnation, the transmigration of the soul or its rebirth in a new body, this is a completely different topic and God willing, and fate allows it, we will consider this later.

I will also note, alas, despite many years of research and travel around the world, neither Raymond Moody nor his followers were able to find at least one person who lived in the afterlife and returned from there with the facts in hand - this is not a joke , but a necessary note.

All evidence about the existence of life after death is based on the stories of people who have experienced clinical death. This is what has been called “near-death experience” for the last couple of decades and has gained popularity. Although there is already an error in the definition itself - what kind of near-death experience can we talk about if death did not actually occur? But well, let it be as R. Moody says about it.

Near-death experience, journey to the afterlife.

Clinical death, according to the conclusions of many researchers in this area, appears as an exploratory path to the afterlife. What does it look like? Resuscitation doctors save a person’s life, but at some point death turns out to be stronger. A person dies - omitting the physiological details, we note that the time of clinical death ranges from 3 to 6 minutes.

The first minute of clinical death, the resuscitator carries out the necessary procedures, and meanwhile the soul of the deceased leaves the body and looks at everything that is happening from the outside. As a rule, the souls of people who have crossed the border of two worlds for some time fly to the ceiling.

Further, those who have experienced clinical death see a different picture: some are gently but surely drawn into a tunnel, often a spiral funnel, where they pick up crazy speed.

At the same time, they feel wonderful and free, clearly realizing that a wonderful and wonderful life awaits them. Others, on the contrary, are frightened by the picture of what they saw, they are not drawn into the tunnel, they rush home, to their family, apparently looking there for protection and salvation from something bad.

Second minute of clinical death, physiological processes they freeze in the human body, but it is still impossible to say that this is a dead person. By the way, during a “near-death experience” or foray into the afterlife for reconnaissance, time undergoes noticeable transformations. No, there are no paradoxes, but the time that takes a few minutes here, in “there” stretches to half an hour or even more.

Here is what a young woman who had a near-death experience said: I had the feeling that my soul had left my body. I saw the doctors and myself lying on the table, but it didn’t seem scary or frightening to me. I felt a pleasant lightness, my spiritual body radiated joy and absorbed peace and tranquility.

Then, I went outside the operating room and found myself in a very dark corridor, at the end of which there was a bright white light. I don’t know how it happened, but I was flying along the corridor in the direction of the light at great speed.

It was a state of amazing lightness when I reached the end of the tunnel and fell into the arms of the world that surrounded me from all sides... a woman came out into the light, and it turned out that her long-dead mother was standing next to her.
The third minute of resuscitators, the patient was snatched from death...

“Daughter, it’s too early for you to die,” my mother told me... After these words, the woman fell into the darkness and remembers nothing more. She regained consciousness on the third day and learned that she had acquired a clinical death experience.

All the stories of people who experienced the borderline state between life and death are extremely similar. On the one hand, this gives us the right to believe in an afterlife. However, the skeptic sitting inside each of us whispers: how is it that “the woman felt her soul leaving her body,” but at the same time she saw everything? It’s interesting whether she felt it or did she look, you see, these are different things.

Attitude to the issue of near-death experience.

I am never a skeptic, and I believe in the other world, but when you read the full picture of a survey of clinical death from specialists who do not deny the possibility of the existence of life after death, but look at it without liberty, then the attitude towards the issue changes somewhat.

And the first thing that amazes is the “near-death experience” itself. In most cases of such an event, not those “cuts” for books that we love to quote, but a full survey of people who experienced clinical death, you see the following:

It turns out that the group surveyed includes all patients. All! It doesn’t matter what the person was sick with, epilepsy, fell into a deep coma, etc... it could generally be an overdose of sleeping pills or drugs that inhibit consciousness - in the overwhelming majority, for the survey it is enough to state that you experienced clinical death! Marvelous? And then, if doctors, when recording death, do this based on the lack of breathing, blood circulation and reflexes, then this does not seem to matter for participation in the survey.

And another strange thing that little attention is paid to when psychiatrists describe the borderline states of a person close to death, although this is not hidden. For example, the same Moody admits that in the review there are many cases where a person saw/experienced a flight through a tunnel to the light and other paraphernalia of the afterlife without any physiological damage.

This really comes from the realm of the paranormal, but the psychiatrist admits that in many cases when a person “flew into the afterlife,” nothing threatened his health. That is, a person acquired visions of flying into the Kingdom of the Dead, as well as a near-death experience, without being in a near-death state. Agree, this changes the attitude towards theory.

Scientists, a few words about near-death experiences.

According to experts, the above-described pictures of “flight to the next world” are acquired by a person before the onset of clinical death, but not after it. It was mentioned above that critical damage to the body and the inability of the heart to provide life cycle destroy the brain after 3-6 minutes (we will not discuss the consequences of the critical time).

This convinces us that after passing the mortal second, the deceased has no opportunity or way to feel anything. A person experiences all the previously described conditions not during clinical death, but during agony, when oxygen is still carried by the blood.

Why are the pictures experienced and told by people who have looked “on the other side” of life very similar? This is fully explained by the fact that during the death throes, the same factors influence the brain function of any person experiencing this state.

At such moments, the heart works with great interruptions, the brain begins to experience starvation, the picture is complemented by surges in intracranial pressure, and so on at the level of physiology, but without an admixture of the otherworldly.

The vision of a dark tunnel and flying to the other world at great speed also find scientific justification, and undermine our faith in life after death - although it seems to me that this only breaks the picture of the “near-death experience”. Because of the strongest oxygen starvation, so-called tunnel vision can manifest itself, when the brain cannot correctly process signals coming from the periphery of the retina, and only receives/processes signals received from the center.

The person at this moment observes the effects of “flying through the tunnel towards the light.” Hallucinations are enhanced quite well by a shadowless lamp and doctors standing on both sides of the table and in the head - those who have had similar experience know that vision begins to “float” even before anesthesia.

The feeling of the soul leaving the body, seeing doctors and oneself as if from the outside, finally getting relief from pain - in fact, this is the effect of medications and a malfunction of the vestibular apparatus. When clinical death occurs, then in these minutes a person sees and feels nothing.

So, by the way, a high percentage of people who took the same LSD admitted that at these moments they acquired “experience” and went to other worlds. But shouldn’t we consider this the opening of a portal to other worlds?

In conclusion, I would like to note that the survey figures given at the very beginning are only a reflection of our belief in life after death, and cannot serve as evidence of life in the Kingdom of the Dead. Statistics from official medical programs look completely different, and may even discourage optimists from believing in the afterlife.

In fact, we have very few cases where people who actually experienced clinical death could say anything at all about their visions and encounters. Moreover, this is not the 10-15 percent that they are talking about, it is only about 5%. Among whom are people who have suffered brain death - alas, even a psychiatrist who knows hypnosis cannot help them remember anything.

The other part looks much better, although of course there is no talk of complete restoration, and it is quite difficult to understand where they have their own memories and where they arose after conversations with a psychiatrist.

But the instigators of the idea of ​​“life after death” are right about one thing; clinical experience really does greatly change the lives of people who have experienced this event. As a rule, this is a long period of rehabilitation and restoration of health. Some stories say that people who have experienced a borderline state suddenly discover previously unseen talents. Allegedly, communication with angels who meet the dead in the next world radically changes a person’s worldview.

Others, on the contrary, indulge in such grave sins that you begin to suspect either those who wrote were distorting facts and kept silent about it, or...or some fell into the underworld and realized that nothing good awaits them in the afterlife, so that’s what we need here and now.” get high" before dying.

And yet it exists!

As the ideological inspirer of biocentrism, Professor Robert Lantz, from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, said, a person believes in death because he is taught so. The basis of this teaching lies on the foundations of the philosophy of life - if we know for sure that in the World to Come life is arranged happily, without pain and suffering, then why should we value this life? But this tells us that the other world exists, death here is birth in the Other World!

Even inveterate materialists want to know what happens to a close relative after death, how the soul of the deceased says goodbye to relatives, and whether the living should help it. All religions have beliefs associated with burial; funerals can be held according to different traditions, but the essence remains common - respect, veneration and care for the otherworldly path of a person. Many people wonder if our deceased relatives can see us. Science has no answer, but folk beliefs, traditions are replete with advice.

Where is the soul after death

For centuries, humanity has been trying to understand what happens after death, whether it is possible to contact the afterlife. Different traditions give different answers to the question of whether the soul of a deceased person sees his loved ones. Some religions talk about heaven, purgatory and hell, but medieval views, according to modern psychics and religious scholars, do not correspond to reality. There are no fires, cauldrons or devils - only ordeal if loved ones refuse to remember the deceased kind words, and if loved ones remember the deceased, they are in peace.

How many days after death is the soul at home?

Relatives of deceased loved ones wonder whether the soul of the deceased can come home, where it is after the funeral. It is believed that during the first seven to nine days the deceased comes to say goodbye to home, family, and earthly existence. The souls of deceased relatives come to the place that they consider truly theirs - even if an accident occurred, death was far from home.

What happens after 9 days

If we take the Christian tradition, then souls remain in this world until the ninth day. Prayers help to leave the earth easily, painlessly, and not get lost along the way. The feeling of the presence of the soul is especially felt during these nine days, after which the deceased is remembered, blessing him for the final forty-day journey to Heaven. Grief pushes loved ones to figure out how to communicate with a deceased relative, but during this period it is better not to interfere so that the spirit does not feel confused.

In 40 days

After this period, the spirit finally leaves the body, never to return - the flesh remains in the cemetery, and the spiritual component is cleansed. It is believed that on the 40th day the soul says goodbye to loved ones, but does not forget about them - heavenly stay does not prevent the deceased from monitoring what is happening in the lives of relatives and friends on earth. The fortieth day marks the second commemoration, which can already occur with a visit to the grave of the deceased. You should not come to the cemetery too often - this disturbs the buried person.

What does the soul see after death?

The near-death experience of many people provides comprehensive, detailed description what awaits each of us at the end of the road. Although scientists question the evidence of survivors of clinical death, drawing conclusions about brain hypoxia, hallucinations, and the release of hormones - the impressions are too similar for completely different people, dissimilar either in religion or cultural background (beliefs, customs, traditions). There are frequent references to the following phenomena:

1. Bright light, tunnel.
2. Feeling of warmth, comfort, safety.
3. Reluctance to return.
4. Visiting relatives who are far away - for example, from the hospital they “looked” into a house or apartment.
5. Your own body and doctors’ manipulations are seen from the outside.

When one wonders how the soul of the deceased says goodbye to relatives, one must keep in mind the degree of closeness. If the love between the deceased and the remaining mortals in the world was great, then even after the end life path the connection will remain, the deceased can become a guardian angel for the living. Hostility softens after the end of the worldly path, but only if you pray and ask for forgiveness from the one who is gone forever.

How the dead say goodbye to us

After death, loved ones do not stop loving us. During the first days they are very close by, they can appear in dreams, talk, give advice - parents especially often come to their children. The answer to the question of whether deceased relatives hear us is always affirmative - a special connection can last for many years. The deceased say goodbye to the earth, but do not say goodbye to their loved ones, because they continue to watch them from another world. The living should not forget about their relatives, remember them every year, and pray that they will be comfortable in the next world.