Death - what is it? What is death and how not to be afraid of it? What happens after death? Step-by-Step Instructions Human Death from a Scientific Point of View

In the culture of Western civilizations there are three main concepts about what happens to people after death. posthumous existence in Heaven or Hell in religions, the concept of materialists and reincarnation (the concept of the cycle of rebirth).

The most common version of what happens to people after death is the concept of Hell and Heaven. But this is typical only for Western religions. According to this concept, the Supreme Being judges human souls after their death. What is curious is that in some they are punished for certain specific actions, but in others - for completely different ones. As a result, it turns out that most souls end up in Hell, where they are doomed to eternal torment and incredible suffering. Only a small percentage of righteous people who observe strict rules have a chance of entering Heaven.

In science Western civilization The concept of materialism became the most widespread. What happens to people after death according to materialists? Consciousness - as a product of brain activity - completely ceases its activity after the death of the brain itself. On the other hand, a lot of different studies, which were conducted mainly in American and English clinics, show that most people during clinical death consciousness is not interrupted even in the absolute absence of brain activity. The flow of sensations is also uninterrupted.

During these studies, the purpose of which was to explain what happens to people after death, scientists were interested not in the nature of individual experiences (most people claimed that they saw their body from the outside, heard some voices), but the very facts of these experiences specifically in moment of death. The absence of electrical impulses from the brain has baffled science. When decent statistics were accumulated, scientists came to the conclusion that the very presence of experiences does not depend at all on whether brain activity and electrical nerve impulses stop during or continue. If we accept the theory that consciousness is a product of the brain, then a person will not be able to experience anything when the brain is not active. That is, he will not be able to comprehend the fact that he has died. However, research contradicts the theory.

Finally, there is another concept that attempts to answer the question: “What happens to people after they die?” This is a theory about rebirth (about reincarnation). According to this view, our consciousness does not disappear after the death of the physical body. It, like everything that surrounds us, simply transforms into other forms and states. After the death of mother, father, son, daughter or other loved one many people choose to believe this theory. The Celts, for example, had a custom according to which a person who borrowed a sum wrote a will. After his death, he promised to return this money, but in a different body. And this practice was considered normal. Reincarnation occurs not only among the peoples of the East. Pythagoras became one of the first philosophers who began to openly express ideas about the rebirth of souls. The scientist himself often said that he remembered his past incarnations.

To paraphrase a famous expression from a wonderful Soviet film, we can say with confidence: “Is there life after death, is there life after death - this is unknown to science.” The essence of all scientific research in this area can so far be reduced only to the statement that there is no actual evidence of the presence or absence of posthumous existence. But this does not mean at all that such studies have not been carried out, are not being carried out, and that they are not planned.

Scientific point of view

From the point of view of fundamental science, life after death is not considered as a subject of research, since the very possibility of the existence of the soul as an immortal immaterial entity and its presence in some metaphysical dimension goes beyond scientific knowledge. However, many scientists have made the subject of study those testimonies of people that can be interpreted as evidence of being in this spiritual world. Typically, such experiences accompany a state of clinical death, when a person’s life hangs by a thread, and his soul, according to a certain opinion, temporarily leaves the body and only after some kind of spiritual contact returns.

Academic science interprets all the signs of this “vision of the other world” for very practical reasons: disruption of the vestibular apparatus, ischemia (that is, disruption of the blood supply) of the frontal cortex of the brain and hallucinations caused by these circumstances.

At the same time, a number of scientists who are less skeptical about evidence of special spiritual experiences during clinical death have compiled a list of common experiences that characterize these states. First of all, it is noted that it is difficult to describe the general state in which people lived who, according to them, visited the other world . What is common to almost all such cases is the inexpressibility of the experience, since something can only be described based on personal experience similar experiences, which is absent in such a situation.

In addition, the ability of a person in such a state to hear everything that happens next to the body, what others say, and even in some situations to see his body and the environment and people from the outside, from the outside, is emphasized. Attention is also drawn to the presence of some background noise, which can, however, be very diverse - from annoying and intrusive to similar to beautiful melodic music. Finally, almost all people who describe this state talk about the visual image of a tunnel at the end of which there is a bright light, as well as a general state of peace and tranquility.

What else will scientists come up with?

The difficulty of considering the very possibility of scientifically studying the question of whether there is life after death , lies on the surface - science operates with facts and material evidence, while the other world is initially presented as a spiritual dimension, which, if not completely devoid physical characteristics, then is in no way limited by them. In such a situation, it is not possible to establish whether there is life after death either with the help of any sensors or with the help of recording devices.

The only option is to study precisely those cases when people are declared to have contact with the other world, and some scientists will interpret the data already obtained during the study of these episodes in favor of proving the existence of a posthumous reality, while others will look for new logical explanations from the point of view of dry facts .

A clear example of this dual perception is provided by research led by British scientist Sam Parnia from Southampton. Parnia over a period of time studied more than sixty patients who experienced clinical death. and remained in a coma for a long time. Only seven of them were able to remember any of their own sensations, and only four spoke of clear pictures in their minds.

In 2008, Parnia published these data, emphasizing that this may indicate the independent functioning of consciousness without the help of the physical body, because in people who were in a coma, the devices did not record the brain activity that should have been in the case of hallucinations. However, skeptics were not satisfied with these findings, and a long-term, more than three years, study was organized in almost thirty English and American hospitals. On the ceilings of intensive care and postoperative wards, certain pictures were placed that were supposed to be remembered by those people who, in a state of clinical death, could separate their soul from their body and still retain consciousness. But at the end of the experiment, out of more than one and a half thousand people who were in clinical death in these wards, no one remembered any pictures upon returning to life. Skeptics immediately stated that this is proof that there are no separations of the soul from the body, and the visual images seen are nothing more than hallucinations.

Alexander Babitsky

Answering the question “What happens to a person after death?”, biologists clarify: when multicellular organism dies, some cells still function for several days. Scientists conducted studies based on the results of which they determined the functioning of genes in animal corpses.

After the death of a person, all vital activity of the body does not immediately cease. Biological processes take place in the body of the deceased for some time, because not all tissues have received the “signal” that they are now useless. The shutdown of systems occurs gradually, and after some time they stop working. Hair and nail cells no longer reproduce.

Scientific point of view, what happens to a person after death

Peter Noble, Alexander Pozhitkov and a group of other biologists from the University of Washington carried out scientific work to study the activity of genes and the functioning of organs in zebrafish and mice when they died.

The first step was to count transcripts - RNA molecules formed during transcription (reading DCNs), and which are either carriers of information encoded in genes to the sites of protein synthesis, or regulators of the activity of other genes. When the number of specific transcripts increases, it means that the activity of that gene has increased.

As part of the study, geneticists determined the concentration of different mRNA molecules in 43 fish, as well as the brain and liver of 20 mice. The indicators were taken several times at equal intervals over 4 days after the death of the experimental subjects. The data obtained were compared with those observed at the time of death. Over time, there was still a decrease in mRNA concentrations, but transcripts associated with 548 genes in fish and 515 in mice reached peak levels after the death of the experimental subjects. Therefore, the conclusion is this: in the body of the deceased there is a reserve of energy so that some genes continue to be active for some time, although all biological system and died.

Peter Noble said: the researchers made it clear that after death some cycles of activity of specific genes appear that do not stop working. In parallel, another part of DNA is a victim of decay and chaos. After death, genes with different functions are activated: embryonic development, the formation of cancerous tumors, for example. The study found that they were most active 24 hours after death. Similar processes occur in a person after death. In 2013, scientists at the University of Granada stated that many genes remain active for as long as 12 hours after a person’s death.

Scientists have tried to scientifically explain why some genes are activated after death. According to some conclusions, their activity is caused by participation in the processes of wound healing and restoration of the body after injuries.

The results of scientists' research can help in conducting forensic examinations. When experts know how much gene activity increases and decreases after a person’s death, they will be able to more accurately determine the time of death. The work of experts will be significantly improved, but more research is needed to ensure that the knowledge gained becomes the basis for new methods.

What, from a scientific point of view, happens to the human body after death:

- the person died, but this does not mean that all the cells died. Some of them remain active, which is probably why people in clinical death see light at the end of the tunnel;
- after 12-18 hours, cadaveric spots appear on the body of the deceased. For criminologists, they are a source of some information - what damage was done to the person, whether the body was moved from place to place;
- even if a day has passed since death, immune cells are still alive, they fight toxins and unwanted substances;
- after 36 hours, the heart valves will remain suitable for transplantation;
- after 72 hours, the cornea of the eye is still alive and can be transplanted within 3 days;
- after 96 hours, gases are released. They accumulate inside, put pressure on the organs, as a result of which the position of the tissues changes. An unpleasant moment is when sounds come from the corpse.

Next, the body begins to decompose, an unpleasant odor appears, tissues soften, and liquid is released. If the room or place where the corpse is located is hot, it decomposes faster, and insects begin to lay larvae in it.

Many people are interested in the question of the rebirth of souls or, in other words, whether there is life after death. People have been interested in this problem, probably since the emergence of civilization. With the advent of various beliefs and religions, the question of human life after death moved into the plane of dogmas and postulates, faith in which was mandatory. However, with the development of scientific thought, since the Renaissance, this topic was raised again. And until now, people have not come to a common opinion about whether there is life after death. We will consider this issue from the point of view of science, various religions and some respected sages - practically our contemporaries.

Scientific point of view

I think everyone today has heard that people who experienced clinical death experienced similar visions. Most people talk about a dark tunnel, at the end of which there is light. Someone flies up towards this spot of light, while others fall down, but also towards the light. It would seem that this is the proof - this very light and similarity of sensations. However, scientists are not inclined to see this as evidence that life after death exists. Science explains this phenomenon by the processes occurring in the brain during clinical death. For example, scientists explain flying or falling by disturbances in the function of the so-called vestibular analyzer, that is, the part of the brain responsible for the perception of space. The analyzer stops processing signals coming to it from the outside and, as a result, a person stops receiving objective data about the position of his body in space. Thus, if life after death is described from a scientific point of view, the facts do not confirm the existence of such. However, it can be argued that clinical death is not physical death, and no one knows what is actually beyond this line.

What does the church say about this?

From point of view Orthodox Church life after death is viewed completely differently. Any priest will tell you that neither the soul nor the body dies, but they are not reborn either. After physical death, the soul flies out of the body and soars in spheres accessible only to it alone. As for the body, it must be buried, because the soul, according to all believers, will definitely return to this body at the appointed time. The appointed time is the second coming of the Savior, when the souls of all the dead will return to the bodies that belonged to them before the moment of physical death. Let us add that, according to the views of Orthodox believers, people were previously immortal, but after breaking the commandments, God punished them in this way. Well, we can neither confirm nor refute this theory, because it is based on a belief that cannot be rationally interpreted. Therefore, when we consider life after death from an Orthodox point of view, the evidence here is entirely based on faith, and not on fate.

Life of the soul after death in other religions

Among other religious teachings, the problem of life after death is solved in different ways. Some religions (Islam, Christianity) say that after death the soul goes to either heaven or hell (reward according to deserts), followed by resurrection in the body (as in Orthodoxy) or without it. In others (Buddhism, many movements of Hinduism) we are talking about reincarnation or, more simply, the transmigration of souls. At the same time, note that nowhere is there a denial of the very spiritual essence of man. Many Buddhists and Hindus believe that after the death of any living being, the soul leaves its body and enters another. Depending on how a person or another being lived (this is called karma), the soul ends up in the body of either a higher-developed being or a lower one. In this way, a whole cycle of rebirths is observed, known as the wheel of samsara. Each Living being According to the beliefs of Buddhists, Hare Krishnas, Shaivites and representatives of many other religious teachings, one must strive to break out of this wheel in order to achieve liberation.

The opinion of the sages

If we turn to some highly revered spiritual teachers, they view the problem of life after death from a slightly different angle. Many of you have probably heard about Ramana Maharshi, an Indian sage who lived in southern India near Mount Aru in the early to mid-20th century. He spoke quite little, preferring to spend most of his time in silence, which is what he taught to those who approached him with questions. To the question of whether there is rebirth of souls, the Maharshi answered: “Why think about other births? The truth is that there is neither birth nor death...” These words can be interpreted in different ways, I understood them in such a way that life is here - in front of us, it was, is and will always be, manifesting itself in billions of creatures living on earth at the same time. And there is no point in worrying about issues such as reincarnation, since everything that a person needs, he already knows.

Why do people believe in reincarnation

Another great Indian sage, who lived somewhat later than the Maharshi, whose name was Nisargadatta Maharaj, spoke much more definitely about reincarnation. He said that the only thing that stays with us all our lives is the feeling that we are alive, that we exist, that we are present in this world. The body changes, thoughts too, and only “I am” remains. After death, the body dies, and with it the mind and vital force will gradually dissolve in the outer world and mix with it so that no being can be reborn in the same body. And since there is nothing to be reborn, then there is simply no such thing as reincarnation. There is only consciousness, the “I am,” which manifests itself in billions and trillions of beings on the planet at every moment of time. And theories about rebirth and rebirth are caused only by people’s fear of losing their own ego.

Alexey Svetlov, head of the Scientific Research Laboratory for the Study of Psychic Energy (NILIPE), member of RAIT (Morshansk)

It is the specter of death that closes the gates of knowledge. It is useful to teach about immortality in schools. A religion that teaches death will die, just as everyone who wants to die will die, for the future state lies in our consciousness (Teaching of Living Ethics)

The twentieth century showed us terrible examples of lack of spirituality and immorality. One man said: “You only live once…” and betrayed his friend. Another declared: “Even after me there will be a flood” and ransacked the state treasury. This psychology of ignorance finds its quintessence in the following quatrain:

Take everything you can from life:
Take both women and wine,
After all, you can’t multiply life by two,
But you are not destined to live twice!

Materialism and the denial of the spiritual principle have led to the gravest crisis of our civilization, depriving people of hope and causing wars, an increase in crime, and the collapse of states. Elena Ivanovna Roerich wrote:

“The thought of death hangs over the human consciousness like a heavy fate. The ghost of death stands like an inevitable cup, and, having gone through the whole life path, the spirit comes to the conclusion that the phenomenon of life must end here. Such is the walk of the spirit, disconnected from the Cosmos. Not knowing the beginning and seeing only the end, the spirit, disconnected from the Cosmos, goes through life aimlessly. But everyone can earn immortality by accepting Infinity into consciousness. Fearlessness before the end and aspiration towards Infinity will give the spirit that direction towards the spheres of cosmic unlimitedness..." .

“Once upon a time, scientists stopped life, isn’t it their job now to continue life into infinity?... The alternation of incarnations is attested to by both ancient and modern teachings. References to incarnations and karma have become commonplace in our literature. Nevertheless, this reality enters little into consciousness, otherwise it would transform the whole life.”. .

It is the job of scientists to bring knowledge that would restore the disturbed balance of material and spiritual principles in the public consciousness. After all, it is not possible to eliminate the cause of evil - the sting of death - by any other means. Brown Ducasse, a professor from the USA, recently stated:

“It can be argued that the conscious life of an individual continues in some form even after death. This assumption can be considered truly established both from a natural scientific and philosophical point of view. There is empirical evidence that the individual mind survives death."(p.119).

We join this statement and assert that scientists working in various fields of knowledge today already have indisputable evidence of its truth.

Our post will review some scientific works, articles and publications of modern scientists who dispel the specter of death that closed the gates of knowledge. Five main directions can be identified scientific research, confirming the existence of the Subtle World and the continuation of the life of consciousness after the so-called death.

The first is the conceptual approach and justification for the very possibility of the existence of the Subtle World. The following authors worked on this issue: Dubrov, Pushkin, Shipov, Akimov, Volchenko, Baurov, Leskov, Pakhomov and others. Let us briefly dwell on only one work - the article “The Inevitability, Reality and Comprehensibility of the Subtle World” by Vladimir Nikitovich Volchenko, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor of MSTU. Bauman, President of the International Social Scientific Committee “Human Ecology and Energy Informatics”. This work provides a scientific and philosophical justification for the existence of the Subtle World on the basis of spiritual tradition and various phenomena of information and energy exchange at the levels of man, Earth and Space. Human consciousness is viewed from a broader rather than narrowly materialistic perspective. Consciousness is interpreted as an energy-informational structure and, in its highest aspects, a natural part of the Cosmos. The author introduces numerical characteristics of possible boundaries of worlds in the “information content – energy content” coordinate system. Based on the observed trend towards increasing the information efficiency of systems, the possibility of intelligibility of the Subtle World is proven. The properties of the so-called entropy-free information fields and the fifth fundamental interaction are discussed. Possible models of information fields are considered (torsion, buon, psychon, semantic, relic neutrino, axion, longitudinal electromagnetic fields, etc.). The author argues that metaphysics must become a science. The technocratic path of development of human civilization is condemned and a synthetic approach is proposed. The importance of the moral side in evolution is emphasized.

The second direction is the most extensive. It can be described as a substantiation and proof of the objective existence of the so-called “soul” or energy-informational (field, electromagnetic) essence of a person (consciousness). Among the authors who spoke on this topic are Gurvich, Inyushin, Adamenko, Kobozev, Kaznacheev, Mikhailova, Barr, Gulyaev, Godik, Nalimov, Leskov, Kravchenko, Kalashchenko, Pogorelsky, Krippner, Jiang, Gariaev, Dzhan, Krokhalev, McDougall, Korotkov, Choudhary , Presman, Zaporozhets, Serobabin and many others. Let us give a brief overview of the most important, in our opinion, works. One of the first scientists to hypothesize about the field nature of human consciousness was the Soviet researcher Gurvich. In the “Selected Works” of this scientist, published in 1977, it is noted that all information about the structure of a potential organism is contained in the total embryonic photon field emitted by each chromosome of the embryo. The author claims that such an integral field creates a wave biofield framework, a plan according to which the construction or self-organization of cells into the body takes place. In essence, a scientific concept of the biofield of living beings has been proposed. The author talks about the manifestations of mitogenetic radiation in experiments with the killing of shrimp, when sensitive photographic paper was illuminated as a result of radiation generated by dying shrimp when they were scalded with boiling water. Gurvich's assumption was confirmed by the work of Dr. Barr (Yale University, USA). He designed a device that made it possible to record weak electrical voltages near a living object. After such experimental confirmation of the presence of a certain energy field, Dr. Barr put forward a hypothesis according to which this field is like a matrix, the initial drawing that forms the structure of the body.

“The molecules and cells of the human body,” he writes, “are constantly rearranged, destroyed and replenished with fresh material coming from food. But thanks to field control, new molecules and cells reproduce according to the same patterns as old ones... When we meet a friend whom we have not seen for six months, not a single molecule remains on his face that was there at the time you saw his last time. However, thanks to field control, new molecules are arranged in old, familiar patterns, and we recognize his face.".

The electromagnetic nature of the subtle bodies of living beings was proved by the Soviet scientist Presman. He refutes the materialistic point of view of a living organism as a system of biological matter. Based on the results of his numerous experiments, Presman demonstrated the influence of weak (including natural) electromagnetic fields on biological objects. The effect of exposure to electromagnetic fields was determined not by their intensity (strength), but by other factors, among which are the modulation mode and the direction of the induction vector. The author puts forward a hypothesis about the fundamental role of the electromagnetic field as a carrier of information in living nature. At the same time, the biological effects of field exposure depend not so much on the magnitude of their energy as on the information richness of the influence.

In the mid-1970s, Soviet scientists Inyushin and Adamenko reported certain phantom effects observed in damaged plant leaves when photographing them using the Kirlian method. The method of gas-discharge visualization in high-frequency high-voltage electric fields (Kirlian method) has been known for quite a long time (since the 50s of the twentieth century), but by coincidence it has not attracted much attention from scientific researchers. However, from that moment on, things began to develop differently. Scientists who received amazing photographs in which the cut leaves of plants looked whole, suggested the existence of an invisible energy structure of biological objects, according to which the latter build their form. It was called biofield or bioplasma.

A heated debate has erupted around the question of what the images that appear after removing part of a plant leaf actually are. Only in 1979, a group of Indian researchers led by Choudhary provided not only convincing results, but also a detailed diagram of the generator, with the help of which phantoms of remote parts of the leaf were identified. And although there is still no unity on this issue among scientists involved in kirlionography, researchers Garyaev and Yunin have achieved great success in substantiating the nature of this phenomenon. In the article “Fact or Phantom?” They say that by improving the installation for obtaining photographic images using the gas-discharge imaging method, they have achieved stable production of various phantom effects, which can be recognized as an electrical or field plan for completing a part of a sheet into a whole. To prove their statement, the authors cite experiments in which they obtained phantom effects without using the gas-discharge visualization method using special highly sensitive photographic plates for nuclear research. The work states that the sources of phantoms can only be emissions from chromosomal DNA in the remaining undamaged part of the leaf. The same mechanism of holographic associative memory, according to the authors, explains phantom pain after amputation of human limbs, as well as the preservation of memory in people in cases where part of the brain is destroyed due to injury or surgery. An attempt is made to explain the mechanism for recording and reading holograms - codes from the chromosomes of the body. Attention is drawn to the “memory” effect of water.

Garyaev, developing Gurvich’s ideas, in his work “Revising the Model genetic code" proves that protein synthesis is the result of genetic coding at the wave level. Genetic memory is interpreted by Garyaev and Leonova as soliton-holographic. It is argued that chromosomes emit light and sound, that genes are split into substance and field. Using photon correlation spectroscopy in 1985, the authors managed to detect unusual, abnormally long-damping sound vibrations of DNA. It was found that DNA has the ability to synthesize “a continuous, complex melody with repeated musical phrases.” The genome of higher organisms is considered by the authors as a soliton bioholographic computer that forms the spatiotemporal structure of biosystems according to the wave image - the predecessor. Thus, the genome works not only at the material level, but also at the wave (subtle material) level. Attention is drawn to the unity of the fractal structure of DNA and human speech. Based on this connection, it becomes possible to influence DNA through special generators that convert speech algorithms into soliton modulated fields.

Another Soviet scientist Gennady Pavlovich Krokhalev used an unusual approach in his research. In his work “On the influence of psychic energy on material phenomena,” he proves the reality of psychic energy as the energy of human consciousness, draws attention to psychotronics as a field of knowledge that studies the manifestations of the energies of human mental acts. The article describes experiments in photographing visual hallucinations, confirming their objective nature. From 1974 to 1996, Krokhalev photographed visual hallucinations in 290 mental patients (mainly in patients with alcoholic psychosis), in 117 of them the author was able to photograph visual hallucinations, which amounts to 40.3% repeatability of experiments. The author claims that he has experimentally established that during visual hallucinations there is a reverse transmission of visual information from the center of the visual analyzer to the periphery with electromagnetic radiation from the retina into the space of visual images in the form of planar or volumetric (holographic) images. The area of auditory hallucinations was also tested, which were recorded using a special technique on the magnetic tape of a conventional tape recorder. Krokhalev recorded auditory hallucinations in 30 mental patients. Of these, in 6 patients weak “voices” were heard on magnetic tape in the place where the auditory hallucinations were recorded. The author claims that he has experimentally established that during auditory hallucinations there is a reverse transmission of auditory information from the center of the auditory analyzer to the periphery with sound emission from the organ of Corti.

Similar work was carried out by Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Anatoly Serobabin. He was engaged in photographing people's thoughts as a holographic image projected from the eyes of psychics. In 1996, the scientist submitted an application for the discovery “On the experimental detection of physical fields caused by concentration of thought.”

But the greatest success in the field of recording the energetic impact of thought was achieved by Robert Jahn, head of the laboratory for the study of anomalous phenomena at Princeton University (USA). He conducted a large number of experiments on the influence of operators on random number generators that controlled the movement of a mechanical robot. It was experimentally proven that under the influence of operators, the movement of the robot from random became more ordered and went in one of certain directions.

In Russia, similar experiments are carried out under the leadership of Yuri Popov, a professor at the Moscow Engineering University. Institute of Physics. The center of student initiatives has its own sensitive instrument, registering mental influence. At the same time, according to Popov, to influence the device it is not necessary to be in close proximity to it. It is enough just to mentally imagine it.

Finally, an American doctor from Massachusetts, Mr. McDougall, conducted a large number of experiments weighing dying people on scales with a sensitivity of plus or minus 3 grams. His research became widely known precisely because of these experiments. The readings of the McDougall scales were recorded automatically. Scientists have discovered that against the background of a gradual decrease in the weight of the dying person (about 20 grams per hour), at the very moment of death there is a rapid, spasmodic weight loss of 15-30 grams (that is, approximately one ten-thousandth of total mass body). Sometimes the weight loss even reached 70 grams!

McDougall's experiments were repeated on mice by Russian researcher Mstislav Romanovich Miroshnikov, Doctor of Technical Sciences. In his experiments, the mouse was placed on the pan of an analytical balance in a sealed glass vessel. The animal was dying of suffocation, and at this time the scales recorded an abrupt weight loss of approximately one thousandth of its initial weight. In addition, it was discovered that immediately after this, the weight of the corpse begins to increase and approximately 1.5-2 hours after the moment of death it reaches its original value, and soon even exceeds the original body weight by one ten-thousandth of it. However, the experiments of McDougall and Miroshnikov in themselves do not yet prove the existence of a “soul”. We can talk about the fact that at the moment of death, a powerful energy process occurs in the body of the dying person, affecting changes in body weight.

The third direction will be the proof of the continued existence of consciousness after the death of the physical body. Here foreign scientists occupy leading positions. Let's name just a few names: Moody, Kubler-Ross, Sabom, Stevenson, Paricha, Benerjee, Korotkov, Osis, Ivanova and others.

In our country, the phenomenon that will be discussed is called “near-death experience.” Abroad it is known as the NDE phenomenon. This is an abbreviation English words"Near Death Experience", which literally means "experience on the border of death." The phenomena of near-death experience include the memories of people who experienced clinical death and experienced unusual experiences and visions, as well as visions of the dying.

Very interesting and extremely important in terms of worldview research was carried out by the American psychologist Dr. Raymond Moody, who studied and compared the testimonies of people who experienced what Moody calls a “near-death experience,” although the whole logic of Moody’s work allows, it seems, to talk about this experience as a post-mortem experience. Thanks to the development of resuscitation technology, Moody was able to collect a very representative statistically material, the processing of which led him to amazing results. It turned out that, “Despite the wide variety of circumstances associated with a close encounter with death, as well as the types of people who experienced it, there is no doubt that there are striking similarities between the accounts of the events themselves at this moment”.

“I think we have reached something of a transitional era,” notes Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, MD, in the foreword to Moody’s book After Life. We must have the courage to open new doors and not exclude the possibility that modern scientific methods no longer correspond to new directions of research. I think this book will open such new doors for people with open minds and give them the confidence and courage to develop new problems. They will see that this publication by Dr. Moody is completely reliable, since it was written by a sincere and honest researcher. The findings are supported by my own research and the research of other reputable scientists, researchers and clergy who have the courage to study this new field in the hope of helping those who want to know and not just believe.".

The further development of events was interesting. US Doctor of Psychology Kenneth Ring equipped an entire expedition to clinics in the state of Connecticut. The results of thirteen months of research showed that the phenomenon exists and is not associated with any pathology. Neither intoxication, nor dreams, nor hallucinations have anything to do with it.

After analyzing 102 cases of clinical death, Dr. Ring stated:

60% of patients experience an indescribable feeling of peace;

37% – hovered above their own body;

26% – remember various panoramic visions;

23% - entered a tunnel, sluice, bag, well or cellar;

16% – still admire the enchanting light;

8% claim to have met deceased relatives.

The indications are always the same, whether patients are from the USA, European countries or even from Burundi. At the same time, both believers and atheists experienced similar experiences.

On the other side of the United States, young cardiologist Dr. Michael Sabom, a rational and pedantic person, having read Moody’s theses, burst out with caustic ridicule and, in order to leave no stone unturned, conducted a systematic survey among emergency service personnel in Florida. When the results of his research completely coincided with the data of Moody and Ring, Sabom decided to devote his life to studying this phenomenon. He even developed a ten-step model of clinical death, which now bears his name. This is how the International Association for the Study of the NDE Phenomenon arose, which today has branches in many countries around the world.

Dr. Karlis Osis's book Deathbed Visions by Doctors and Nurses describes so-called "deathbed visions" made by doctors and nurses. 1004 reliable cases of visions are analyzed and classified according to characteristic features experiences of dying people. The author concludes that the totality of these experiences cannot be fully explained by the effects of medical procedures or illness. It is noted that in 80% of cases dying people see the ghosts of deceased people, and in 75% of cases the latter call the dying person with them to the next world.

A large amount of scientific data proving the continued existence of consciousness after death relates to the phenomenon of reincarnation.

American Dr. Ian Stevenson, a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, has conducted a large amount of research in the field of studying multiple births or reincarnations. His examples are taken from both Eastern and Western countries. He cites more than 2000 cases proving that the phenomenon of reincarnation is very widespread in the world. Specialists from the Bangalore Institute of Mental Health and Neuropathology conducted, in particular, a study of 250 cases of reincarnation registered since 1975. For more than 10 years, Dr. Satwant Pasricha visited many villages and interviewed at least 20 eyewitnesses in each such case. As a result, the researchers came to the following conclusions: as a rule, the “reincarnation effect” is observed in children aged three to seven years. Over the years they completely forget about it. “Rebirth” into another person is usually caused by a random remark from one of the relatives. Studies have shown that in 82% of cases, children clearly remembered their name in a “past birth” and details of their “past” life. It is also noteworthy that in half of the cases in their “previous lives” people died a violent death. Their average age was 34 years old. “Rebirth” occurred on average after a year and a half. In 26% of cases, children experienced an inexplicable fear of things that were directly or indirectly related to the cause of their death in “previous existences.” As a rule, a person's gender does not change in the next birth. In 80% of cases, persons related by the “reincarnation effect” were not relatives, which excludes a genetic connection.

An original method for solving the problem was applied by Konstantin Georgievich Korotkov, Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (St. Petersburg). He is a proponent of using methods modern science to solve the most fundamental problems of existence. In his works, Korotkov talks about the need to create a new scientific paradigm. The researcher describes experiments using the Kirlian effect to study the dynamics of changes in the nature of the luminosity of the fingertips of people who died in various ways. The author especially points out the reproducibility of the experimental results using the proposed method. It is noted that for all the deceased there is a general decline in luminescence from the beginning of the experiment to the end, however, the nature of the gas discharge curves turned out to depend on the causes of death of people.

The fourth direction of scientific research confirming the existence of the Subtle World and the continuation of the life of consciousness after so-called death can be considered proof of the possibility of separating consciousness from the physical body. To the best of our knowledge, scientific research in in this direction carried out mainly by foreign scientists: Crookall, Fox, Tart, Osis, Carrington, Grof and others.

Next, we will talk about the study of a phenomenon called “out-of-body experience” (OBE), or, as it is also called, out-of-body experience, astral exit, astral projection, bilocation (simultaneous viewing of two different places). Out-of-body experience can be defined as observing a phenomenon from a point that does not coincide with our physical body. At the same time, it is often felt that consciousness has moved from the physical body to some other body, called variously: the astral body, the etheric body, a double or a double.

Back in 1919, French researcher Charles Lancelin carried out experiments using hypnosis. Lancelin found subjects who were able to leave their body and appear to an observer in another room. Often the phantoms of these people made themselves felt by touching, tapping, and also causing various images on photographic plates and touching sulfide screens, as a result of which they began to glow. However, until research conducted by Celia Green and Robert Crookall in the early 1960s, Lansle's report continued to be the only report of the study of out-of-body experiences in laboratory conditions.

Celia Green, an English researcher of this phenomenon, founded the Institute of Psychical Research in Oxford in 1961, where regular experiments began on a strictly scientific basis. Another Englishman, Robert Crookall, devoted his entire life to collecting and analyzing WTO cases. Since the 60s of our century, he managed to collect more than 1000 episodes around the world, which he described in his works.

The extensive material collected by Green and Krukal convinced other researchers that a documented study of out-of-body experiences conducted under controlled laboratory conditions was a compelling proposition.

A pioneer in this area was Dr Charles Tart. In 1965, while on the faculty of the University of Virginia Medical College, Tart began a series of astonishing experiments involving Mr. X. This Mr. X was a certain Robert Monroe - an American businessman, a man with the ability to spontaneously isolate the subtle body, the author of the book “Travel Out of the Body,” published in 1971, in which he outlined his analysis of the OBE. Later he founded the Institute applied sciences Monroe" in Virginia. In 1982, the Monroe Institute, together with the University of Kansas Medical Center, were invited to present three papers on out-of-body experiences at a meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, which should be considered the beginning of scientific recognition of the phenomenon.

Tart equipped his first subject in such a way that during sleep (the subject left his body in a dream) it was possible to monitor fluctuations in brain biocurrents, eye movements, blood pressure and electrical resistance of the skin. He would then place a card with a random five-digit number on the shelf above his bed. The card was placed so that only an observer located near the ceiling could see it. The subject could not stand up and look at the shelf without disturbing the operation of the electroencephalograph. However, the difficult problem was the technique used by Tart during the experiments, since even if his subjects had correctly guessed 1000 check digits, this still did not prove that they “left the body” for this. According to some parapsychologists, such results could be obtained through extrasensory perception (for example, through clairvoyance or telepathy). A natural question then arises: how can one distinguish an out-of-body experience from clairvoyance?

Research more convincing in its unambiguousness than Tart's experiments was conducted by the Foundation for Psychical Research in Durham (North Carolina, USA). The studies were methodologically similar to Tart's experiments, but were somewhat more complicated. In addition to observing physiological changes and the location of the target material in another room, the researchers set out to determine whether any person, animal, or mechanical device could detect the presence of a “second body” in the vicinity of the target. The most significant results were obtained when using the subject's favorite kitten as a detector. The kitten was placed in an open container about a meter deep located in the target room, the bottom of which was marked with numbered squares. During the control experiment - without the out-of-body experience - the kitten was very active, meowing often, crossing a large number of squares and trying to get out of the container. However, during the subject's "out-of-body" visits to the target room, the kitten behaved surprisingly calmly. This effect was repeated over four experiments. Another experiment, in which a snake was used as a detector, also yielded amazing results. The snake, which had been lying completely calmly during the control period, during the first test of an out-of-body visit began to throw itself at the glass wall, as if trying to hit an invisible enemy.

In a report on research into the phenomenon of out-of-body experiences at the American Society for Psychical Research, Dr. Karlis Osis, director of research, wrote:

“For the past two years, the research department has been entirely occupied with studying the question: does the human personality continue to exist after death, physical death? We followed our central hypothesis - the human essence is an “exomatic system”, capable of acting independently and outside of its physical body. This “exomatic” side of a person is able to leave his body at the moment of death and continue to exist. Can a person, we ask, really leave his body temporarily or permanently (at the time of death)?

After a detailed review of ongoing experimental work Dr. Osis summed it up as follows:

“Research into out-of-body experiences has proven difficult, mainly because the phenomenon in its entirety is rarely produced at will. Our results obtained so far are consistent with our hypothesis. After exploiting the research opportunities described above, we can truly hope to obtain evidence for the exomatic existence of human personality." .

In addition to such purely physical experiments, a number of statistical research, aimed at establishing features common to numerous scattered testimonies of persons who have experienced out-of-body experiences.

Finally, the fifth direction of scientific research work will be the proof of the existence in the Subtle World of other creatures capable of influencing the physical world, people and animals. Boccone, Jurgenson, Raudiv, Vinokurov, Isakov, Kartashkin, Bacci, Fomenko, Pritzker and others devoted their time to this work.

It is no secret to anyone that spiritualists have always shown great interest in all kinds of contacts with the afterlife. Over time, this idle interest resulted in purposeful attempts by enthusiastic researchers to find objective approaches to the Subtle World using available hardware.

The greatest success in this field was achieved by the Latvian psychologist Dr. Konstantin Raudiv, who lived in Sweden. With its help, electronic engineers designed and assembled a special device - a goniometer, designed exclusively for recording “otherworldly” sounds. By 1968, the scientist managed to collect more than 70,000 sound artifacts on his films! Dr. Raudive's research gained wide publicity thanks to his book “How to Hear the Inaudible,” published in England and the United States under the title “Breakthrough.” After this, the phenomenon began to be called “the voices of Raudive.”

The efforts of scientists have always been aimed at obtaining objective evidence of the existence of fine-material structures. Such arguments are the only ones recognized as having the right to participate in scientific discussion. With the beginning of the development of photography, science for the first time in its long history had the opportunity to capture touches of the Subtle World. The Italian researcher Luciano Boccone received a large amount of photographic materials. At the top of a large secluded hill, Boccone set up a laboratory, equipping it with various recording equipment - photometers, thermometers, magnetometers, alpha, beta and gamma radiation recorders, photo and movie cameras. There were also living “indicators” – dogs. The principle of the research was defined extremely simply: anomalous and unexplained deviations in the readings of any device indicate the presence of invisible creatures. There was a lot of such evidence. Over three years of work, Boccone collected a huge amount of material. Moreover, the impression was created that the further the mysterious phenomena went, the more they rushed toward Boccone, almost “pushing each other with their elbows.” They were recorded with instruments, captured on film, and seen with the naked eye. Their properties were gradually revealed. What struck the researchers, so to speak, was the certain meaningfulness of their behavior. All these clouds, condensations of unknown fields, luminous balls in the visible, and more often invisible - infrared and ultraviolet - part of the spectrum seemed to demonstrate their capabilities to people - they rushed or floated over them, changed the speed and direction of flight, and transformed into different forms. Gradually Boccone came to the conclusion that he was dealing with ethereal life forms. And he gave them a name - kraters. Here is how he himself writes about these objects:

“These ethereal life forms,” Boccone wrote, “these objects are living beings, and the phenomena associated with them do not belong to our three-dimensional reality typical of the frequency band of our visible spectrum. These are manifestations of a life alien to us. These are, undoubtedly, living beings - light and dark, dense and transparent, plasmatic forms, energy transformations, melting clouds and fogs, invisible amorphous masses that have nothing to do with our physical reality.".

The materials obtained by Boccone are not the only ones of their kind. Interesting photographs were obtained by Okhatrin’s group, Pritzker and other researchers.

Another group of facts testifying to the work of invisible creatures can easily include the phenomena of poltergeists. Researchers from various laboratories and scientific institutes around the world have been studying the poltergeist problem for many years. The fact that, as a rule, these are people of various specialties is understandable: no one can say with accuracy what category of phenomena this phenomenon can be attributed to. The professional and regional dispersion of researchers seems to replicate the variety of forms in which the phenomenon manifests itself, and its ability to appear at the most unexpected point. For a poltergeist there are no distances, no city, no rural areas... It’s funny that representatives of each of the sciences, invited to study poltergeists, always find a complete explanation for it, each within the framework of their own branch of knowledge. Where does the science of studying any phenomenon begin? From attempts to systematize it. But on what basis could poltergeists be systematized? Although it is difficult, but within some limits, this is obviously still possible, and Soviet researchers are trying to do it. According to the calculations of researcher Vinokurov, most of the events associated with poltergeists occur in the evening hours, and among the days of the week - on Saturdays and Sundays (1.5-4 times more often than on other days). Moreover, the more intense the flash, the faster the attenuation follows. Another pattern is that the objects of poltergeist influence are often dielectrics - furniture, clothing, fabrics. Metal products are the object of its influence much less often. It is also possible to systematize events by the way they are grouped. Researcher of the phenomenon Fomenko notes that quite often, one after another, a refrigerator, a bed, a sideboard are overturned or overturned, i.e. heavy objects. The series also includes rocking and breaking chandeliers, and unscrewing the legs of couches and receivers.

In general, there is no shortage of versions and explanations of poltergeists. As for the multiplicity of hypotheses, one can see in this the persistence of thought, the desire to find a solution to the problem in one way or another. Perseverance is worthy of respect in itself. If it were necessary to isolate the essence of the proposed hypotheses, I would say that it consists in an attempt to reconcile the phenomenon with the familiar realities of the world in which we live, to make it fit, if not into physical laws, then at least into the logic of our world...

The head of the section for the study of anomalous phenomena (Gorky) Ermilov says:

“...The study of the phenomenon forced us to accept the existence of certain subtle structures. These are structures that have the property of intelligence and can react by obeying certain commands. Some psychics say that they see such structures and describe them. According to their descriptions, they look in a variety of ways: in cases associated with poltergeists, anthropomorphic forms are mentioned, in particular. This may also be related to the perception of ghosts of human figures that often accompany the phenomenon... Sometimes these can be forms that resemble animals, but in no way reproduce any of those known to us; rather, it is a certain combination that sometimes resembles scary characters from fairy tales or myths".

We told you only about some of the works of scientists proving the existence of the invisible Subtle World. To sum up our review, I would like to quote the words of the great French thinker Montaigne: “Gentlemen, I only made a bouquet of picked flowers and didn’t add anything of my own except the thread that ties them together.”.

“Tear the thread into pieces if you wish; – we add, – as for the bouquet of facts, it cannot be destroyed, it can only be ignored.”.

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