Is there evidence of the existence of life after death. Life after death: real facts and incidents in history. Polka dot dress and broken cup

This type of information interests most people. Previously, humanity only speculated whether there was life after death, scientific evidence was provided by modern scientists, using the latest technologies and research methods. The belief that life will continue in some other form, perhaps in another dimension, allows people to achieve their goals. If there is no such confidence, then there is no motivation for further development and improvement.

No one can draw final conclusions. Research continues, new evidence of various theories is emerging. When irrefutable proof of the existence of life after death is provided, then the philosophy of human life will change completely.

Scientific theories and evidence

According to Tsiolkovsky's scientific explanation, physical death does not mean the end of life. In his theory, souls are presented in the form of indivisible atoms, therefore, saying goodbye to corruptible bodies, they do not disappear, but continue to wander in the Universe. Consciousness persists even after death. This was the first attempt to scientifically substantiate the assumption of whether there is life after death, although no evidence was presented.

English researchers working at the London Institute of Psychiatry managed to draw similar conclusions. Their patients' hearts stopped completely and clinical death occurred. At this time, the medical staff discussed various nuances. Some patients recounted the topics of these conversations very accurately.

According to Sam Parnia, the brain is normal human organ, and its cells are in no way capable of generating thoughts. All thinking process organized by consciousness. The brain works as a receiver, receiving and processing ready-made information. If we turn off the receiver, the radio station will not stop broadcasting. The same can be said about the physical body after death, when consciousness does not die.

Feelings of people who have experienced clinical death

The best proof of whether there is life after death is the testimony of people. Eyewitnesses own death there are quite a few. Scientists are trying to systematize their memories, find a scientific basis, and explain what is happening as an ordinary physical process.

Stories from people who survived clinical death, differ sharply from each other. Not all patients had different visions. Many people don't remember anything at all. But some people shared their impressions after the unusual condition. These cases have their own characteristics.

During complex operation One patient experienced clinical death. He describes in detail the situation in the operating room, although he was taken to the hospital at unconscious. The hero saw all his saviors from the outside, as well as his body. Later, in the hospital, he recognized the doctors by sight, causing them to be surprised. After all, they left the operating room before the patient regained consciousness.

The woman had other visions. She felt a rapid movement in space, during which there were several stops. The heroine communicated with figures that did not have clear shapes, but she was still able to remember the essence of the conversation. There was a clear awareness that she was outside the body. I couldn’t call this state a dream or a vision, because everything looked too realistic.

It also remains inexplicable that some people who have experienced clinical death acquire new abilities, talents, and psychic abilities. Many potential dead people had a repeated vision in the form of a long light tunnel, bright flashes. There are a variety of states: from blissful peace to panic fear, shackling horror. This can only mean one thing: not all people are destined for the same fate. People's evidence of such phenomena can more accurately tell whether there is life after death.

Major religions about life after death

The question of life and death interested people in different times. This could not but be reflected in religious beliefs. Different religions have their own explanations for the possibility of continuing life after physical death.

Attitude to earthly life Christianity very dismissive. The real, true existence begins in another world, for which you need to prepare. The soul departs a few days after death, staying next to the body. In this case, there is no doubt about whether there is an afterlife after death. When moving to another state, thoughts remain the same. In another world, angels, demons and other souls await people. The degree of spirituality and sin determines the future fate of a particular soul. All this will be decided at the Last Judgment. Unrepentant and great sinners have no chance of going to heaven - they are destined for a place in hell.

IN Islam People who do not believe in the afterlife are considered malicious apostates. Here they also consider earthly life as a transitional stage before akhiret. Allah makes decisions regarding a person's lifespan. Having great faith and few sins, believers of Islam die with with a light heart. Infidels and atheists do not have the opportunity to escape from hell, while believers of Islam can count on this.

Do not attach much importance to the issue of life or death in Buddhism. The Buddha identified several other issues that are undesirable for consideration. Buddhists do not think about the soul because it does not exist. Although representatives of this religion believe in reincarnation and nirvana. Rebirth into different forms continues until a person reaches nirvana. All believers in Buddhism strive for this state, because this is how an unhappy carnal existence ends.

IN Judaism there are no clear accents regarding the issue of interest. Exist different variants which sometimes contradict each other. This confusion is explained by the fact that other religious movements became the source.

Any religion has a mystical element, although many facts are taken from real life. Afterlife cannot be denied, otherwise the meaning of faith is lost. The use of human fears and experiences is quite normal phenomenon for any religious movement. The sacred books clearly confirm the possibility of continuing one’s existence after earthly life. If you consider the number of believers on Earth, it becomes clear that most people believe in an afterlife.

Communication of mediums with the afterlife

The most compelling evidence of the continuation of life after death is the activity of mediums. This category of people has special abilities that allow them to establish contacts with deceased people. When there is nothing left of a person, it is impossible to communicate with him. Based on the opposite, it is easy to understand that another world exists. However, there are many charlatans among mediums.

No one will now doubt the abilities of the famous Bulgarian seer Vanga. She was visited a large number of famous people. The prophecies of the clairvoyant and the real medium are still relevant and important. Many were amazed by what Vanga said about life after death. This woman told her guests in great detail about their deceased relatives.

Vanga argued that death occurs only for the body. For the soul, everything continues. In another world a person looks the same. The seer even told us what clothes the deceased was wearing. Based on the description, relatives recognized the deceased’s favorite clothes. Souls glow. They have the same character as in life. Communication with the dead is not interrupted. People from the other world try to influence the course of events in the lives of friends and relatives, but this is not always possible. They experience the same feelings when trying to help. In another world, the existence of the soul continues with all the previous memories.

As soon as visitors came to Vanga, their deceased relatives immediately appeared in the room. The interest of living people in them is very great. People like Vanga can see ghosts and fully communicate with them. She had conversations with souls, learning future events from them. The woman served as a kind of bridge between the two worlds, with the help of which their representatives could communicate. The fear of death, according to Vanga, is too common among people. In fact, this is just another stage of existence when a person gets rid of the outer shell, although he experiences discomfort.

American Arthur Ford never tired of surprising people with his abilities for several decades. He communicated with people who had not been in this world for a long time. Some sessions could be seen by millions of television viewers. Various mediums spoke about life after death, based on their own experiences. Ford's psychic abilities first appeared during the war. From somewhere he received information about his colleagues who died in the coming days. Since that time, Arthur began studying parapsychology and developed his abilities.

There were many skeptics who explained Ford's phenomenon with his telepathic gift. That is, the information was provided to the medium by the people themselves. But too many facts refuted such a theory.

The example of the Englishman Leslie Flint became another confirmation of the existence the afterlife. He began communicating with ghosts as a child. Leslie at a certain time agreed to collaborate with scientists. Research by psychologists, psychiatrists, and parapsychologists confirmed the extraordinary abilities of this person. More than once they tried to convict him of fraud, but such attempts were unsuccessful.

Sound recordings of voices appeared famous personalities different eras through a medium. They reported themselves Interesting Facts. Many continued to work at what they loved. Leslie was able to prove that people who have moved to another world receive information about what is now happening in real life.

Psychics were able to use practical actions to prove the existence of the soul and the afterlife. Although the immaterial world is still shrouded in mystery. It is not entirely clear under what conditions the soul exists. Mediums work like receiving and transmitting devices without affecting the process itself.

Summarizing all the above facts, it can be argued that the human body is nothing more than a shell. The nature of the soul has not yet been studied, and it is unknown whether this is possible in principle. Perhaps there is a certain limit to human capabilities and knowledge that people will never cross. The existence of the soul inspires optimism in people, because they can realize themselves after death in a different capacity, and not just turn into ordinary fertilizer. After the above material, everyone must decide for themselves whether there is life after death; scientific evidence, however, is not yet very convincing.

One of the main questions for everyone remains the question of what awaits us after death. For thousands of years, unsuccessful attempts have been made to unravel this mystery. Apart from guesswork, there is real facts, confirming that death is not the end of the human journey.

There are a large number of paranormal videos that have taken the internet by storm. But even in this case, there are a lot of skeptics who say that the videos can be faked. It is difficult to disagree with them, because a person is not inclined to believe in what he cannot see with his own eyes.

There are many stories about how people returned from the other world when they were near death. How to perceive such cases is a matter of faith. However, often even the most inveterate skeptics changed themselves and their lives when faced with situations that cannot be explained using logic.

Religion about death

The vast majority of the world's religions have teachings about what awaits us after death. The most common is the doctrine of Heaven and Hell. Sometimes it is supplemented by an intermediate link: “walking” through the world of the living after death. Some peoples believe that such a fate awaits suicides and those who have not completed something important on this Earth.

A similar concept is seen in many religions. Despite all the differences, they have one thing in common: everything is tied to good and bad, and a person’s posthumous state depends on how he behaved during life. The religious description of the afterlife cannot be written off. Life after death exists - inexplicable facts confirm this.

One day something amazing happened to a priest who was the rector of the Baptist Church in the United States of America. A man was driving his car home from a meeting about construction. new church, but a truck flew towards him. The accident could not be avoided. The collision was so strong that the man fell into a coma for some time.

Arrived soon ambulance, but it was too late. The man's heart didn't beat. Doctors confirmed the cardiac arrest with a second test. They had no doubt that the man was dead. Around the same time, the police arrived at the scene of the accident. Among the officers there was a Christian who saw a cross in the priest’s pocket. He immediately noticed his clothes and realized who was in front of him. He could not send God's servant to last way without prayer. He said words of prayer as he climbed into the dilapidated car and took the hand of the man whose heart was not beating. While reading the lines, he heard a subtle groan, which shocked him. He checked his pulse again and realized that he could clearly feel the blood pulsing. Later, when the man miraculously recovered and began to live his old life, this story became popular. Perhaps the man really returned from the other world to complete important matters at the behest of God. One way or another, but scientific explanation They couldn’t give this, because the heart cannot start on its own.

The priest himself said more than once in his interviews that he saw only the white light and nothing else. He could have taken advantage of the situation and said that the Lord himself spoke to him or that he saw angels, but he did not do this. A couple of reporters claimed that when asked what the man saw in this afterlife dream, he smiled discreetly and his eyes filled with tears. Perhaps he really saw something hidden, but did not want to make it public.

When people are in a short coma, their brain does not have time to die during this time. That is why it is worth paying attention to the numerous stories that people, being between life and death, saw a light so bright that even through closed eyes it seeps out as if the eyelids were transparent. One hundred percent of people came back to life and reported that the light began to move away from them. Religion interprets this very simply - their time has not yet come. A similar light was seen by the wise men approaching the cave where Jesus Christ was born. This is the glow of heaven, the afterlife. No one saw angels or God, but felt the touch of higher powers.

Another thing is dreams. Scientists have proven that we can dream anything that our brain can imagine. In a word, dreams are not limited by anything. It happens that people see their dead relatives in dreams. If 40 days have not passed since death, this means that the person actually spoke to you from the afterlife. Unfortunately, dreams cannot be analyzed objectively from two points of view - scientific and religious-esoteric, because it’s all about sensations. You may dream about God, angels, heaven, hell, ghosts and whatever you want, but you don’t always feel that the meeting was real. It happens that in dreams we remember deceased grandparents or parents, but only occasionally does a real spirit come to someone in a dream. We all understand that it will be impossible to prove our feelings, so no one expands on their impressions further than beyond family circle. Those who believe in the afterlife, and even those who doubt it, wake up after such dreams with a completely different view of the world. Spirits can predict the future, which has happened more than once in history. They can show dissatisfaction, joy, sympathy.

There are quite famous story which occurred in Scotland in the early 70s of the 20th century with an ordinary builder. A residential building was being built in Edinburgh. Norman McTagert, who was 32 years old, worked at the construction site. He fell from quite a height, lost consciousness and fell into a coma for a day. Shortly before this, he dreamed of falling. After he woke up, he told what he saw in the coma. According to the man, it was a long journey because he wanted to wake up, but he couldn’t. First he saw that same blinding bright light, and then he met his mother, who said that she had always wanted to become a grandmother. The most interesting thing is that as soon as he regained consciousness, his wife told him about the most pleasant news that was possible - Norman was going to become a dad. The woman found out about her pregnancy on the day of the tragedy. The man had serious problems health problems, but he not only survived, but also continued to work and feed his family.

At the end of the 90s, something very unusual happened in Canada.. The doctor on duty at one of the Vancouver hospitals was taking calls and filling out paperwork, but then she saw a little boy in white night pajamas. He shouted from the other end of the emergency room: “Tell my mom not to worry about me.” The girl was afraid that one of the patients had left the room, but then she saw the boy walk through the closed doors of the hospital. His house was a couple of minutes from the hospital. That's where he ran. The doctor was alarmed by the fact that it was three o'clock in the morning. She decided that she had to catch up with the boy at all costs, because even if he was not a patient, she needed to report him to the police. She ran after him for just a couple of minutes until the child ran into the house. The girl began to ring the doorbell, after which the mother of that same boy opened the door for her. She said that it was impossible for her son to leave the house, because he was very ill. She burst into tears and went into the room where the child lay in his crib. It turned out that the boy had died. The story received great resonance in society.

In the brutal Second World War one private Frenchman spent almost two hours firing back at the enemy during a battle in the city . Next to him was a man of about 40 years old, who covered him on the other side. It is impossible to imagine how great the surprise of an ordinary soldier in the French army was, who turned in that direction to say something to his partner, but realized that he had disappeared. A few minutes later, screams of approaching allies were heard, rushing to help. He and several other soldiers ran out to meet help, but the mysterious partner was not among them. He searched for him by name and rank, but never found the same fighter. Perhaps it was his guardian angel. Doctors say that in such stressful situations, mild hallucinations are possible, but talking with a man for an hour and a half cannot be called an ordinary mirage.

There are quite a lot of similar stories about life after death. Some of them are confirmed by eyewitnesses, but doubters still call it a fake and try to find scientific justification for people’s actions and their visions.

Real facts about the afterlife

Since ancient times, there have been cases where people saw ghosts. First they were photographed and then filmed. Some people think that this is an edit, but later they are personally convinced of the veracity of the pictures. Numerous stories cannot be considered proof of the existence of life after death, so people need evidence and scientific facts.

Fact one: Many have heard that after death a person becomes exactly 22 grams lighter. Scientists cannot explain this phenomenon in any way. Many believers tend to believe that 22 grams is the weight human soul. Many experiments were carried out that ended with the same result - the body became lighter by a certain amount. Why is the main question. People's skepticism cannot be eradicated, so many hope that an explanation will be found, but this is unlikely to happen. Ghosts can be seen by the human eye, therefore, their “body” has mass. Obviously, everything that has some kind of outline must be at least partly physical. Ghosts exist in greater dimensions than us. There are 4 of them: height, width, length and time. Ghosts have no control over time from the point of view from which we see it.

Fact two: The air temperature near ghosts decreases. This is typical, by the way, not only for the souls of dead people, but also for the so-called brownies. All this is the result of the action of the afterlife in reality. When a person dies, the temperature around him immediately drops sharply, literally for an instant. This indicates that the soul leaves the body. The temperature of the soul is approximately 5-7 degrees Celsius, as measurements show. During paranormal phenomena, the temperature also changes, so scientists have proven that this happens not only during immediate death, but also afterwards. The soul has a certain radius of influence around itself. Many horror films use this fact to bring the filming closer to reality. Many people confirm that when they felt the movement of a ghost or some entity near them, they felt very cold.

Here is an example of a paranormal video that features real ghosts.

The authors claim that this is not a joke, and experts who watched this collection say that approximately half of all such videos are the real truth. Special attention deserves that part of this video where the girl is pushed by a ghost in the bathroom. Experts report that physical contact is possible and absolutely real, and the video is not fake. Almost all pictures of furniture moving may be true. The problem is that it is very easy to fake such a video, but in the moment where the chair next to the sitting girl began to move by itself, there was no acting. There are very, very many such cases around the world, but there are no fewer of those who just want to promote their video and become famous. Distinguishing fake from truth is difficult, but possible.

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.

Moreover, there have been several cases where people have met dead relative on the other side, not knowing that this 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.”

Scientists have reached the afterlife.

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.

Although these conclusions are not definitive, you may begin to doubt that death is, in fact, the end of everything.

Is there life after death?

1. Consciousness continues after death

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.

2. Out-of-body experience

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

3. Meeting with the dead

One of the classic examples of near-death experiences is meeting 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.

4. Borderline Reality

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.

5. Similarity

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% had difficulty remembering their experience, and 8-12% gave the classic example of a near-death experience. This means that between 28 and 41 unrelated people from different hospitals recalled almost the same experience.

6. Personality changes

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

7. First-hand memories

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.

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.

8. Visions of the Blind

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.

9. Quantum physics

Every person who has faced the death of a loved one asks the question: is there life after death? Now this issue is of particular relevance. If several centuries ago the answer to this question was obvious to everyone, now, after a period of atheism, its solution is more difficult. We cannot 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, 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. According to materialism human Consciousness there is a substrate of the brain, a product of matter, the product of biochemical processes, a special fusion of nerve cells. In the view of idealism, Consciousness is the ego, “I”, spirit, soul - an immaterial, invisible, eternally existing, non-dying energy that spiritualizes the body. The subject always takes part in acts of consciousness and is actually aware of everything.

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

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

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

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

Mental and physiological characteristics

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Scientific studies conducted in various countries around the world prove that nerve cells, like all other cells of the human body, are capable of regeneration. This is what the most serious biological international journal Nature writes: “Employees of the Californian Institute biological research them. 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 a publication in one of the most authoritative, peer-reviewed biological journals - Science: “Over the past two years, scientists have found that nerve and brain cells are renewed, like the rest in human body. The body is capable of repairing disorders related to the nervous tract itself, says scientist Helen M. Blon.”

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

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

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

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

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

But this tale has nothing to do with science. The brain is now deeply studied. Long and well studied chemical composition, parts of the brain, connections of these parts with human functions. The brain organization of perception, attention, memory, and speech has been studied. Functional blocks of the brain have been studied. A countless number of clinics and research centers have been studying the human brain for more than a hundred years, for which expensive, effective equipment has been developed. But, opening any textbooks, monographs, scientific journals in 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, a lot has been done to understand neurophysiological processes and phenomena, but the most important thing has not been 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. The founder of the scientific school, Ludwig wrote that none of the existing theories nervous activity, including the electrical theory of nerve currents of Dubois-Reymond, cannot say anything about how acts of sensation become possible as a result of the activity of nerves. Let us note that here we are not even talking about the most complex acts of consciousness, but about much more simple sensations. If there is no consciousness, then we cannot feel or feel 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. meninges. Upon wide opening of the skull, I was surprised to see that almost the entire right half of it was empty, and all left hemisphere the brain is compressed, almost to the point of being impossible to discern.”

In 1940, Dr. Augustin Iturricha made a sensational statement at the Anthropological Society in Sucre (Bolivia). He and Dr. Ortiz spent a long time studying the medical history of a 14-year-old boy, a patient at Dr. Ortiz's clinic. The teenager was there with a diagnosis of a brain tumor. The young man retained Consciousness until his death, complaining only about headache. When, after his death, a pathological autopsy was performed, the doctors were amazed: the entire brain mass turned out to be completely separated from internal cavity cranium. 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. The ants decide pretty complex tasks for 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 laureate in medicine, J. Eccles, developed the idea that based on the analysis of brain activity it is impossible to determine the origin psychic phenomena, And this fact simply perhaps 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.”

Eccles is deeply convinced that consciousness is not a subject of 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 Scientific research institute Brain (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 only generate very simple thoughts like how to turn pages book to read or stir sugar in a glass. And the creative process is a manifestation the latest quality. As a believer, I allow the participation of the Almighty in controlling the thought process.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

Natalya Bekhtereva, talking about her meeting with the Bulgarian clairvoyant Vanga Dimitrova, speaks very precisely about this in one of her interviews: “Vanga’s example absolutely convinced me that there is a phenomenon of contact with the dead,” and also a quote from her book: “ I can’t help but believe what I heard and 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 at the international symposium “Life after death: from faith to knowledge”, which took place on April 8-9, 2005 in St. Petersburg:

1. There is a so-called “subtle 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. Similar to how the spectrum 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 are remarkably consistent with the religious knowledge of all traditional religions. This is a reason to cast aside doubts and make a decision. Is not it?