Life after life Raymond. Raymond moody - life after life - read the book for free. The ability to hear what is happening

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Raymond Moody

Life after life

Study of the phenomenon of continuation of life after the death of the body.

FOREWORD

I had the privilege of reading Dr. Moody's Life After Life before it was published. I admire that this young scientist had the courage to take this direction for his work and at the same time make this area of research accessible to the general public.

Since I began my work with terminally ill patients, which has been going on for 20 years, I have become more and more interested in the problem of the phenomenon of death. We know quite a lot about the processes associated with dying, but there is still a lot of uncertainty about the moment of death and the experiences of our patients at a time when they are considered clinically dead.

Studies such as those described in Dr. Moody's book give us the opportunity to learn a lot and confirm what we have been taught for two millennia - that there is life after death. Despite the fact that the author himself does not claim to study death itself, it is clear from his materials that dying patients continue to be clearly aware of what is happening around them even after they are considered clinically dead. All of this is very much in line with my own research on the reports of patients who have died and then been brought back to life. These reports were completely unexpected and often led to the astonishment of sophisticated, well-known and certainly competent doctors.

All of these patients experienced an exit from their physical body, accompanied by a feeling of extraordinary peace and completeness. Many of them testify to communication with other persons who helped them in the transition to another plane of existence. Most were met by people who had once loved them and died earlier, or by religious figures to whom they attached serious importance in life and who naturally corresponded to their religious beliefs. It was a great pleasure to read Dr. Moody's book just at a time when I myself am ready to publish my own findings.

Dr. Moody must be prepared for a large number critical statements, mainly from two sides. First, on the part of the clergy, who will of course be concerned that someone dares to conduct research in a field that is considered taboo. Some representatives of a number of religious groups have already expressed their critical attitude towards this kind of research. One priest, for example, described them as "chasing cheap fame." Many believe that the question of life after death should remain a matter of blind faith and should not be tested by anyone. Another group of people from whom Dr. Moody might expect a reaction to his book are scientists and medical professionals, who will find this kind of research unscientific.

I think we have reached some kind of transitional era. We must have the courage to open new doors and not rule out the possibility that modern scientific methods out of touch with new lines of research. I think this book will open such new doors for open minded people and give them the confidence and courage to tackle new problems. They will see that this publication by Dr. Moody is quite reliable, as it is written by a sincere and honest researcher. The findings are supported by my own research and that of other highly respected scientists, researchers, and clergy who have the courage to explore this new field in the hope of helping those who want to know, not just believe.

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, MD. Flossmoor, Illinois.

This book, essentially written about human existence, naturally reflects the main views and beliefs of its author. Although I have tried to be as objective and honest as possible, some facts about me seem to be of some use in evaluating some of the unusual claims that occur in this book.

First of all, I myself have never been near death, so I cannot testify to the corresponding experiences from my own experience, first-hand, so to speak. At the same time, I cannot defend my complete objectivity on this basis, since my own emotions are undoubtedly included in the overall structure of the book. As I listened to so many people who were fascinated by the experiences in this book, I felt like I was living their life myself. I can only hope that such an attitude will not compromise the rationality and balance of my approach.

Secondly, I am writing as a person who has not thoroughly studied the huge literature on parapsychology and all kinds of occult phenomena. I do not say this to discredit this literature; on the contrary, I am even sure that a more thorough acquaintance with it could deepen the understanding of the phenomena that I observed.

Thirdly, my religious affiliation deserves mention. My family belonged to the Presbyterian Church, however, my parents never tried to impose their religious beliefs and views on children. Basically, they tried, as I developed, to encourage my own interests and create conditions for the favorable development of my inclinations. Thus, I grew up with religion not as a set of fixed doctrines, but rather as a field of spiritual and religious teachings, attitudes, questions.

I believe that all the great religions of mankind have turned to us to tell a lot of truth, and I am sure that not one of us is able to realize the full depth of truth contained in each of them. Technically, I belong to the Methodist Church.

Fourth, my academic and professional education quite diverse, so that others might even call it scattered. I studied philosophy at the University of Virginia and received my PhD in this subject in 1969. My area of interest in philosophy is ethics, logic and the philosophy of language. After three years of teaching philosophy at the University of California, I decided to enter the medical school, after which I intended to become a psychiatrist and teach the philosophy of medicine at the medical school. All these interests and acquired knowledge in one form or another helped me in carrying out this research.

It is my hope that this book will draw attention to a phenomenon that is both widespread and at the same time very little known, and help overcome public prejudice in this regard. For I firmly believe that this phenomenon is of great importance not only for the theoretical and practical fields of research, especially for psychology, psychiatry, medicine, philosophy, theology and pastoral work, but also for our daily way of life.

I will allow myself at the beginning to say something for which detailed reasons will be given much later, namely, I do not seek to "show" that there is life after death. And I don't think such a "proof" is really possible at all. This is partly why I have avoided identifying details in the cited stories, while at the same time leaving their content unchanged. This was necessary both to avoid publicity regarding individuals and to obtain permission to publish the account of the experience.

I think that many readers will find the statements that are made in this book incredible, and the first reaction of such people will be to put it all out of their heads. I have no intention of blaming anyone for this. A few years ago, I must have had exactly the same reaction. I am not asking anyone to believe everything that is written in this book and accept my point of view out of simple trust in me as an author. Indeed, as an impossibility or inability to object to an authoritative opinion, I especially ask you not to do so. The only thing I ask of those who will not believe what they read here is just to look around a little. I have repeatedly addressed my opponents with this appeal. And among those who accepted it, there were many people who, being skeptics at first, eventually began to think seriously with me about such events.

On the other hand, I have no doubt that there will be many among my readers who, after reading this book, will be greatly relieved to find that they are not alone in what they have had to endure. For such people - especially for those who, as is the case in most cases, did not tell anyone about their experience except for a few confidants - I can say one thing: I hope that my book will give you the courage to talk about it a little more freely. because it will shed more light to the most mysterious side of the life of the human soul.

DEATH PHENOMENON

What is death like? Humanity has been asking this question since its inception. Over the past few years, I have had the opportunity to pose this question to a significant number of listeners. Among them were students of psychological, philosophical and sociological faculties, believers, TV viewers, members of civil clubs and medical professionals. As a result, with some caution, I can say that this topic causes perhaps the most serious attitude of all people, regardless of their emotional type or belonging to a particular social group.

However, despite this interest, there is no doubt that it is very difficult for most of us to talk about death. This is due to at least two reasons. One of them is mainly psychological or cultural in nature. The very topic of death is taboo. We feel, at least subconsciously, that when confronted with death in any form, even indirectly, we inevitably face the prospect of our own death, the picture of our death, as it were, approaches us and becomes more real and conceivable. For example, many medical students, including myself, remember that even such an encounter with death, which is experienced by everyone who crosses the threshold of the anatomy laboratory of the medical faculty for the first time, causes a very unsettling feeling. The reason for my own unpleasant experiences now seems to me quite obvious. As I now recall, my experiences were almost not related to those people whose remains I saw there, although, of course, to some extent I thought about them too. But what I saw on the table was to me mainly a symbol of my own death. Somehow, perhaps semiconsciously, I must have thought, "This is going to happen to me."

Thus, talking about death from a psychological point of view can be considered as an indirect approach to death, only on a different level. Undoubtedly, many people perceive any talk about death as something that causes such a real image of death in their minds that they begin to feel the proximity of their own death. To save themselves from such psychological trauma, they decide to simply avoid such conversations as much as possible.

Another reason why it is difficult to talk about death is somewhat more complicated, because it is rooted in the very nature of our language. Basically, the words that make up human language refer to things that we know about through our physical senses, while death is something that lies beyond our conscious experience, because most of us have never experienced it.

Thus, if we are talking about death in general, we must avoid both the social taboo and the linguistic dilemma that has its basis in our subconscious experience. In the end we come to euphemistic analogies. We compare death or dying with things that we are familiar with from our daily experience and that seem very acceptable to us.

Probably one of the analogies of this type is the comparison of death with sleep. Dying, we tell ourselves, is like falling asleep. Expressions of this kind also occur in our everyday language and thinking, as well as in the literature of many centuries and cultures. Obviously, such expressions were common in Ancient Greece. For example, in the Iliad, Homer calls sleep “the brother of death,” and Plato, in his dialogue “Apology,” puts the following words into the mouth of his teacher Socrates, who was sentenced to death by the Athenian court: “And if death is the absence of any sensation, something like a dream when the sleeper sees no further dreams, then it would be surprisingly beneficial. In fact, I think that if someone had to choose a night on which he slept so much that he did not even dream, and, comparing all the other nights and days of his life with this night, would figure out how many days and nights he lived better and more pleasant in comparison with all other nights and days is easy to count.

So, if death is like that, then at least I consider it beneficial, because all the subsequent time (from the moment of death) turns out to be nothing more than one night. (The translation is taken from the "Collection of Plato's Creations". Petersburg, Academy" 1823, vol. 1, p. 81).

The same analogy is used in our modern language. I mean the expression "to put to sleep". When you bring a dog to the vet asking to be put down, you usually mean something very different than when you ask the anesthetist to put your wife or husband to put down. Other people prefer a different but similar analogy. Dying, they say, is like forgetting. When a person dies, he forgets all his sorrows, all painful and unpleasant memories disappear.

However old and widespread these analogies may be, both with "falling asleep" and with "forgetting", they still cannot be considered completely satisfactory. Each of them gives the same statement in its own way. Although they say it in a slightly more pleasant way, nevertheless they both claim that death is in fact simply the disappearance of our consciousness forever. If so, then death does not really have any of the appeal of falling asleep or forgetting. Sleep is pleasant and desirable for us because it is followed by awakening. A night's restful sleep makes the waking hours that follow more pleasant and productive. If there was no awakening, all the benefits of sleep simply would not exist. Similarly, the annihilation of our conscious experience implies the disappearance not only of painful memories, but also of all pleasant ones. Thus, on closer examination, none of the analogies is so adequate as to give us real comfort or hope in the face of death.

There is, however, another point of view that does not accept the assertion that death is the disappearance of consciousness. According to this second, perhaps even older concept, a certain part of the human being continues to live even after the physical body ceases to function and is completely destroyed. This constantly existing part has received many names - the psyche, soul, mind, "I", essence, consciousness. But whatever it is called, the idea that a person passes into some other world after physical death is one of the most ancient human beliefs. In Turkey, for example, Neanderthal burials dating back about 100,000 years have been discovered. The fossilized prints found there allowed archaeologists to establish that these ancient people buried their dead on a bed of flowers. This suggests that they regarded death as a celebration of the transition of the deceased from this world to another. Indeed, from the most ancient times, burials in all countries of the world testify to the belief in the continued existence of a person after the death of his body.

Thus we are dealing with conflicting answers to our original question about the nature of death. Both of them are of very ancient origin, and yet both are widespread to this day. Some say that death is the disappearance of consciousness, while others argue, with the same certainty, that death is the transition of the soul or mind to another dimension of reality. In the narrative that follows, I do not in any way seek to dismiss any of these answers. I just want to give an account of a study that I personally did.

Over the past few years, I have met a large number people who have undergone what I will call "near-death experiences." I found them in different ways. At first it happened by accident. In 1965, when I was a graduate student in philosophy at the University of Virginia, I met a man who was a professor of psychiatry at the Medical School. From the very beginning I was struck by his kindness, warmth and humor. I was very surprised when I later learned interesting details about him, namely that he was dead, and not once, but twice, with an interval of 10 minutes, and that he told absolutely fantastic things about what happened to him in this time. Later I heard him tell his story to a small group of students. This made a great impression on me at the time, but since I did not yet have sufficient experience to evaluate such cases, I "put it aside" both in my memory and in the form of a reprinted summary of his story.

A few years later, after I received my Ph.D., I taught at the University of North Carolina. During one of the courses, my students had to read Plato's Phaedo, a work that discusses, among other things, the problem of immortality. In my lecture, I focused on other provisions of Plato presented in this work and did not dwell on the discussion of the issue of life after death. One day after class, a student approached me and asked if he could discuss the issue of immortality with me. He was interested in this problem because his grandmother "died" during the operation and then told about very interesting impressions. I asked him to tell me about it and, to my great amazement, he described the same events that I had heard from our professor of psychiatry a few years earlier.

From that time on, my search for such cases became more active and I began to lecture in my philosophy courses on the problem of human life after death. However, I have been careful and careful not to mention these two death experiences in my lectures. I decided to wait and see. If such stories were not mere coincidence, I suggested, then perhaps I would learn more if I simply raised the question of immortality in a general way in philosophical seminars, showing a sympathetic attitude towards this topic. To my amazement, I found that in almost every group of about thirty people, at least one student usually came up to me after class and told me about his own near-death experience that he had heard about from loved ones or had himself experienced.

From the moment I began to be interested in this question, I was struck by this great similarity of sensations, despite the fact that they were received from people very different in their religious views, social status and education. By the time I entered medical school, I had collected a considerable number of such cases. I began to mention the informal research I was doing in conversations with some of my medical acquaintances. Once one of my friends persuaded me to give a report to a medical audience. Other proposals followed. public speaking. Once again, I found that after each performance someone would come up to me to tell me about an experience of this kind that he himself knew.

As more and more people became aware of my interests, doctors began to tell me about patients they had resuscitated and who told me about their unusual sensations. After newspaper articles appeared about my research, many people began to send me letters with detailed stories about such cases.

At the present time I know of about 150 cases in which these phenomena have taken place. The cases I have studied can be divided into three distinct categories:

1. The experience of people who were considered or declared clinically dead by doctors and who were resuscitated, 2. The experience of people who, as a result of an accident or a dangerous injury or illness, were very close to the state of physical death, 3. The sensations of people who were near death and told about them to other people who were nearby. From the large amount of factual material presented by these 150 cases, a selection was naturally made. On the one hand, it was deliberate. So, for example, although the stories belonging to the third category complement and agree well with the stories of the first two categories, I generally did not consider them for two reasons. Firstly, it could reduce the number of cases to a level more suitable for comprehensive analysis and, secondly, it would allow me to stick to firsthand reports as much as possible. Thus, I interviewed in great detail 50 people whose experience I can use. Of these, cases of the first type (those in which clinical death occurred) are significantly more eventful than cases of the second type (in which there was only an approach to death).

Indeed, during my public lectures on the subject, cases of "death" have always aroused considerably more interest. Some of the reports that appeared in the press were written in such a way that one might think that I dealt only with cases of this kind.

However, in selecting the cases that were to be presented in this book, I avoided the temptation to dwell only on those cases in which "death" took place, because, as will be seen further, cases of the second type do not differ; but rather form a single whole with cases of the first type. In addition, although the near-death experience itself is similar, at the same time, both the circumstances surrounding it and the people who describe it are very different. In this regard, I have tried to give a sample of cases adequately reflecting this variability. With these premises in mind, let us now turn to a consideration of the events which, as far as I have been able to ascertain, can take place when a person dies.

Chapter 1. WHAT IS DEATH AND THE FEAR OF DEATH

What is the essence of the process of dying - is it the cessation of existence or the transition to a new level of being? What is death? Does human life end completely at the moment of death? Does an immortal soul remain after death? Mankind has never ceased to ponder over these questions throughout its existence: all thinking people have asked similar questions.

Philosophers tried to answer them in different time and in different countries. Entire philosophical schools have sought to find an acceptable answer to this question. Scientists at all times "fought" over the mysteries of life. Theologians approached these questions from a slightly different position and also gave their own version of the answer. But why do these questions do not cease to interest a person to this day?

The famous philosopher of the 19th century, S. Kierkegaard, wrote about the moment of death as follows: “Can you imagine anything more terrible than such a denouement, when a human being breaks up into thousands of separate parts like a crumbling legion of expelled demons, when it loses the most precious, most sacred for a person - the unifying force of the personality, its single, existing self?

A person is born, grows, matures. At every stage he knows himself and the world. Growing up, a person begins to realize himself as a person. Questions arise: “Who am I?”, “What am I in this world?”, “Why did I come to this world?” A person gradually realizes that his appearance (birth) in this world is aimed at the implementation of a task set by someone, the correct solution of which depends on the individual himself. At the same time, and inevitably, there is an understanding that once a person is born, then he will die someday. Anyone who first fully realized the inevitability of the coming end experiences an all-consuming horror that makes it difficult to comprehend that everything on earth is mortal and sooner or later ceases to exist, goes into oblivion.

Why is death so scary? The fact is that a person does not feel his birth: he cannot realize, feel this moment due to the fact that he simply does not remember it. Some scientists believe that a person only fully becomes a person, a full-fledged personality, when he begins to realize himself, that is, when he begins to “remember” himself. As soon as a person has memories to which he can return, then he can be considered a person.

The first memories of a person belong to 1-2 years of life, and awareness of oneself and the world around comes much later. Nevertheless, a person is already able to feel his growing up and be aware of the changes that occur in his body. At the same time, his attitude to the world around him, his assessment of reality, is also being transformed. Whereas he is unable to feel and realize the moment of death. A person cannot come to terms with the idea that sooner or later everything will end for him and he will cease to exist in this world. So many people who have experienced near-death experiences characterize their experience as something that is completely beyond description.

Many have called their experience "ineffable." At the same time, they emphasized that what happened to them cannot be described with ordinary earthly words.

People are so arranged that they are afraid of the unknown. Death is also frightening, because it is something unknown and, possibly, entailing certain hardships. What happens when a person dies? What will he feel and feel when he leaves the world of the living? For some, the very idea that they will no longer be in this world is simply unbearable, they will lose their familiar environment, the warmth of the hearth, the attention of relatives and friends and will go “travel” through unknown worlds.

It used to be argued that no one can understand and feel the moment of death. Epicurus wrote in one of his writings: “As long as we exist, there is no death. When there is death, we are not.”

“The fear of death turns a person into an animal. In order not to become like an animal, one must overcome the fear of death. This truth became fundamental for one of the sects of the 12th century, which preached a new Buddhism.

Ascetic monks tried to overcome the fear of death with the help of prayers and fasting. However ordinary person it's hard to get over that feeling. Each of us during his life accumulates a certain experience about life and death. We see how people are born and die around. But if birth is the appearance of a new person in the world, then death is his natural departure.

The moment of death is always shocking. For a person, the usual order of things is violated, since death first of all deprives us of communication with a certain person. A burial ceremony is performed and the human remains are lowered into the ground. And for everyone who is present at the same time, a picture involuntarily emerges: now the buried person is left alone in a cold closed box, covered with earth from above. From now on, the human body will remain underground in the grave, and worms will begin to eat it.

All these pictures that arise in the imagination of every person evoke horror of death and disgust, which are almost impossible to overcome. L. Tolstoy experienced the fear of death very painfully. But it was not his own death that worried him more, he was worried about his loved ones. Thus, he wrote, reflecting on the life and death of his children: “Why should I love them, raise them and watch over them? For the same despair that is in me, or for stupidity? Loving them, I cannot hide the truth from them - every step leads them to the knowledge of this truth. And the truth is death.

Very many people at the moment of death hear the voices of people who are next to them at that moment. And these voices are the last link that still holds a person in earthly life. But as soon as a person stops hearing this voice, he enters the realm of completely new impressions and feelings.

However, thinking about death, imagining what will happen to the human body when it is lowered into the grave, we do not stop thinking about death everyday, applying everyday standards to this phenomenon. But death is the cessation of the existence of only the corporeal essence. Every organic body that is born inevitably dies. The Russian philosopher N. Strakhov wrote: “Decrepitude and death are a necessary consequence of organic development. After all, if any organism could improve indefinitely, then it would never reach middle age; he would always be only a teenager, a creature that is constantly growing, but who is never destined to grow up. And if an organism in the epoch of its maturity suddenly became immutable, and consequently represented only recurring phenomena, then development would cease in it, nothing new would occur in it, and consequently, there could be no life. Death follows from the very concept of development. Death is remarkable for its speed. It quickly reduces the organism from a state of activity and strength to mere putrefaction. How slowly man grows and develops – and how quickly, for the most part, he disappears.”

According to Strakhov, the reason for this speed lies precisely in the high organization of man and in the superiority of his development. And a highly organized being does not tolerate any significant violation of its functions. And if we start from this point of view, then death is a blessing.

But no matter how good these arguments are, they are unlikely to be able to reconcile every person with the inevitability of death, it is unlikely that a person will like that after a short life, eternal non-existence will follow. And will a normal adult perceive death as a blessing? And no matter how instilled the idea that everyone is mortal and that death is inevitable, still a person wants to believe that there is something else besides death, non-existence.

Religion helps to overcome the fear of death to some extent. After all, any religion puts forward the idea of the immortality of the human soul. And let the body of a person be mortal, but his soul is immortal and at the moment of death leaves the material essence. We feel ourselves not only physically, but also spiritually. The death of the body is not so frightening if it is not accompanied by physical suffering. It seems that the human body falls asleep (not without reason they say, “eternal sleep”), but the soul remains, and this suggests that the perception of life with the help of consciousness, the mind does not stop, but only moves to a different level.

Saints are all the apostles, associates of Jesus Christ, as well as 70 of his disciples who preached the teachings of Christ in different parts of the earth. Faith in Jesus helped them perform miracles, heal people, and even raise the dead.

In religious ideas, the human soul goes to heaven or reaches nirvana, dissolves in eternal bliss. But what does science say about this? Professor V. M. Bekhterev tried to answer this question in his article "The Immortality of the Human Personality as a Scientific Problem".

It is an indisputable fact that when a person dies, his body begins to decompose. All atoms and molecules, which until then constituted an integral organism, gradually enter into new compounds and pass into a new state. The matter that forms the human body is thus almost completely transformed. But man is not only matter. In addition to matter, there is also energy: in nature there is a law of conservation of energy and this law knows no exceptions. Energy cannot suddenly arise and also suddenly disappear, it is able to move from one form to another. This law also applies to all manifestations of human neuropsychic activity.

“Not a single human action, not a single step, not a single thought expressed in words or even a simple glance, gesture, facial expressions in general, disappears without a trace,” Bekhterev wrote. And since a person lives among his own kind, he in one way or another influences those around him with his psychic energy, and, consequently, he himself, in turn, experiences such an influence. And all neuro-psychic energy is formed in the form of a generalized social "superpersonality". But she lives and exists long before the birth of a certain person, but also does not stop her life after his death.

A person, as it were, “poureds” his neuropsychic energy into the general neuropsychic energy of people. V. Bekhterev also clarifies that he is not talking about the immortality of some individual person, but about social immortality, since it is impossible to destroy the neuropsychic energy that forms the basis of the human personality.

V. Bekhterev in his article indicates that it is about the immortality of the spirit. “This immortal spirit during the entire individual life, through mutual influence, passes, as it were, into thousands of surrounding human personalities. Therefore, the concept of afterlife in the scientific sense, it should be reduced, in essence, to the concept of the continuation of the human personality outside of its individual life in the form of participation in the improvement of man in general and the creation of a spiritual universal personality, in which a particle of each individual personality lives without fail, even if it has already left the present world, and lives, not dying, but only transforming itself, in the spiritual life of mankind.

Often, in the dying state, people experience a sensation of movement. It seems to them that they are moving at a very high speed through some kind of dark space. They describe this space in different ways: a chimney, a well, a valley, a cylinder, a tunnel, a vacuum, a cave, a long corridor, an open door, a road, a path.

But these ideas of V. Bekhterev are not absolute truth: they are just an attempt to explain scientifically what is life, what is death and what happens to a person after death.

Each person overcomes the fear of death in his own way. Some live without thinking much about death. They live because they live. Others seek sensual pleasures and pursue material goods. For them, death is the end of everything. Still others try to bring the understanding of death under some scientific or philosophical concepts that explain this phenomenon. Death can be interpreted as an ordinary and inevitable natural process, or it can be presented as a transition to eternity and a harmonious merging with the life of the entire universe, with the universal mind. The fourth helps to overcome the fear of death by faith in the immortality of the soul and religious images.

And it is not at all necessary to look for the best option among them. As M. A. Bulgakov wrote in his famous work: "Everyone has that life and death, that immortality that he deserves."

In our age, when scientists make amazing discoveries and the secret is given less and less space in the life of modern homo sapiens, interest in the problem of life and death does not weaken. And still one asks the question: “What is death?” Striking research was conducted by California scientist Dr. R. Moody. He collected a variety of information about what a person experienced and felt during the time when he was on the verge of life and death. The researches of the scientist and the conclusions were striking and attracted a lot of attention.

His respondents expressed the same thought, which boiled down to the following: they are no longer afraid of death, they are not afraid of the fear of death. In his book Life After Death, Moody wrote: “Many come to a new understanding of the essence of the other world. According to this new view, that world is not a one-sided judgment, but rather a maximum of self-disclosure and development. The development of the soul, the perfection of love and knowledge do not stop with the death of the body. On the contrary, they continue on the other side of being, perhaps forever, or, in any case, for some period, and with such depth that we can only guess. And the scientist comes to the conclusion that he can no longer believe that after the death of a person absorbs non-existence. "Life after death exists - and all the phenomena that I have become aware of are manifestations of this life."

However, not all scientists unconditionally agree with these conclusions: research in this area continues. The information that was given to Dr. Moody different people, echo in many respects the evidence that the Swedish mystic Emmanuel Swedenborg had. The renowned scientist, who left behind works on mathematics, mechanics, astronomy, at the age of 55 turned to religious and mystical topics and, possessing powerful energy, brought himself to the state when the soul leaves the body.

Crescent. This symbol is very revered by Muslims. As Christians place a cross on the dome of a church, so a crescent moon is always placed on the spire of a mosque. This is a reminder of the day when the Prophet Muhammad left Mecca and went to Medina.

According to the scientist, he managed to feel himself out of the body: "A person does not die, he is simply freed from the physical body that he needs when he is in this world." Swedenborg argued that at the time of death a person passes from one state to another. However, the deceased person does not immediately realize, does not understand that he has died, because at this moment he is in some kind of “body”, which to some extent resembles his former physical body. And the spirit of a person is his soul, which after death lives in a real human form. At the same time, the spiritual state is much less limited than its former bodily existence. When a person ceases to be alive and enters a new level of being, perception, thought and memory become sharper, and all spiritual gifts become more perfect.

It is very convenient to believe in these statements. Moreover, many provisions are confirmed in various religions. But why not find the best answer to this question once and for all? (After all, even in ancient times, philosophers proved with equal persuasiveness both the mortality of a person and the immortality of his soul) Nevertheless, a single conclusion was never made: everyone independently finds an acceptable answer to the question "What awaits a person after death."

Of course, a person is completely free to disregard any arguments of science and all modern research. Any of us can generally ignore the scientific concept of life and death and stick to the point of view that suits him best.

Only one thing is certain: earthly life will certainly come to an end for every person. Sooner or later it will happen - it is not known, but in the end there will definitely be death. At the time of death, the unity of the spiritual and physical shell will be broken. Soul and body will no longer be one. The body will change, disintegrate into its component parts. But what happens to the soul after death is not given to any mortal to know. We can only believe, guess or fantasize, but these are just our earthly thoughts about eternity. It is possible that a brilliant writer will be right and everyone will be rewarded according to his faith. And if you believe in the law of Divine justice, then everyone will be rewarded for his deeds. Some await heaven and eternal bliss, others hell and eternal torment. And the third, perhaps, will be granted eternal rest. But death, just like birth, everyone experiences individually and will never be able to tell either about his birth or about his death. This will remain the eternal mystery of life.

Chapter 2. LIFE AFTER DEATH IN HELL – UTOPIA OR REALITY?

Mankind has always tried to find answers to the basic questions of life. Scientists, philosophers, theologians gave different answers. Times have changed, people's attitudes to certain things have changed, and the answers to questions that concern everyone have changed. According to an ancient aphorism, "everything flows, everything changes." However, interest in the problems of life and death remains unchanged.

It has always been believed that soothsayers and magicians are connected with the other world, and such people expect the torment of hell. But the famous soothsayer Sibyl was punished by the god Apollo with a long life. When God offered her any gift, she chose longevity. She lived so long that life turned into an endless torment for her. Her only wish was to die.

Throughout the existence of mankind, there have been beliefs designed to help a person overcome the fear of death. Therefore, in any religion there is information about the afterlife. Each religion claims that the soul is immortal and after the death of the righteous, bliss awaits, which they will taste in paradise, and hell awaits the sinners, where they will have to bear the punishment for their sins.

Ancient ideas about the afterlife did not have a clear division into heaven and hell. Each person, dying, left this world and went to another world. The afterlife could be an exact likeness of the real world. And the souls of the people who lived in this world continued to do their usual work. Such are the beliefs of the peoples of the North, the natives of Australia and New Zealand, and some tribes of the Indians of South America.

In this afterlife, a person is not judged for the sins that he committed in his earthly life. According to the ancient Greeks, the afterlife is already a sufficient punishment: getting there, the human soul is deprived of all the joys of life. Mournful shadows wander along the banks of underground rivers, crying and complaining that they are not destined to see the clear sun anymore. Now they are forced to be in the cold and gloomy kingdom of Hades.

Gradually, in the beliefs about the afterlife, ideas appear that the human soul must keep an account of all its deeds committed during life. In the other world, he is met by a judge who weighs or counts all the good and bad deeds committed by a person throughout his life.

The Egyptians already have ideas about good and bad deeds, for which they will certainly receive a reward or will be punished in the afterlife. Before the soul is admitted into the realm of the dead, it must endure the judgment of the gods. This is evidenced by the inscriptions contained in the Egyptian Book of the Dead. So, having appeared in the hall of two truths before the goddess Maat, the deceased gives an account of all his deeds.

The most ancient religion, in which there is a teaching that any person will receive a well-deserved reward or punishment for his good or evil deeds, is Zoroastrianism. The Prophet Zarathushtra (Zoroaster) taught that everything is fair in this world. And if a person has committed an evil deed that remains unknown, then after death he will still have to bear the punishment for his sins. In Zoroastrianism, there are heaven and hell, as well as a bridge over which the soul must pass in order to get to heaven or hell.

* * *

The prophet Jeremiah became famous for predicting the consequences of current events. It was he who foretold the king of Israel, Zedekiah, that the Egyptians could not be trusted and counted on their help in the fight against Babylon. But the prophet was put in jail. All his predictions came true, and Jeremiah witnessed the defeat of Judah.

The one who fulfills all the requirements, that is, leads a righteous life and does good deeds, after death ends up in paradise - this is his reward for a righteous life. He is rewarded for the good that he did among people and for people. The same person who did not comply with these moral prescriptions (sinned), after death, ends up in hell, where he is subjected to various torments: this is a retribution for the evil that he did.

A similar idea of the justice of punishment, as well as the concept of heaven and hell, was adopted by other religions. In this respect, Zoroastrianism had a tremendous influence on them. It is believed that the prophet Zarathushtra received the doctrine of supreme justice from the hands of God himself. Many ideas of Zoroastrianism as one of the local religions (it was widespread among the Persians) are reflected in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. After the followers of Zoroaster settled in India, his teachings influenced the beliefs of various branches of Hinduism. In addition, the fire worshipers also influenced the development of the northern version of Buddhism.

LIFE AFTER LIFE

Study of the phenomenon of life continuation

after the death of the body

FOREWORD

I was privileged to read Dr. Moody's Life After Life before it was published. I admire that this young scientist had the courage to take this direction for his work and at the same time make this area of research accessible to the general public.

Studies such as those described in Dr. Moody's book give us the opportunity to learn a lot and confirm what we have been taught for two millennia about life after death. Despite the fact that the author himself does not claim to study death itself, it is clear from his materials that dying patients continue to be clearly aware of what is happening around them even after they are considered clinically dead. All of this is very much in line with my own research on the reports of patients who have died and then been brought back to life. These reports were completely unexpected and often led to the astonishment of sophisticated, well-known and certainly competent doctors.

All of these patients experienced an exit from their physical body, accompanied by a feeling of extraordinary peace and completeness. Many of them testify to communication with other persons who helped them in the transition to another plane of existence. Most were met by people who once loved them and died earlier, or by religious characters to whom they attached serious importance in life and who, Naturally, they corresponded to their religious beliefs. It was a great pleasure to read Dr. Moody's book just at a time when I myself am ready to publish my own findings.

Dr. Moody has to be prepared for a lot of criticism, mostly from two sides. First, on the part of the clergy, who will of course be concerned that someone dares to conduct research in a field that is considered taboo. Some representatives of a number of religious groups have already expressed their critical attitude towards this kind of research. One priest, for example, described them as "chasing cheap fame." Many believe that the question of life after death should remain a matter of blind faith and should not be tested by anyone. Another group of people from whom Dr. Moody might expect a reaction to his book are scientists and medical professionals who will find this kind of research unscientific.

I think we have reached some kind of transitional era. We must have the courage to open new doors and not rule out the possibility that modern scientific methods are no longer appropriate for new lines of research. I think this book will open such new doors for open minded people and give them the confidence and courage to tackle new problems. They will see that this publication by Dr. Moody is quite reliable, as it is written by a sincere and honest researcher. The findings are supported by my own research and that of other highly respected scientists, researchers, and clergy who have the courage to explore this new field in the hope of helping those who want to know, not just believe.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, MD. Flossmoor, Illinois.

Fourthly, my academic and professional background is quite diverse, so that others might even call it fragmented. I studied philosophy at the University of Virginia and received my PhD in this subject in 1969. My area of interest in philosophy is ethics, logic and the philosophy of language. After three years of teaching philosophy at the University of California, I decided to enter the medical school, after which I intended to become a psychiatrist and teach the philosophy of medicine at the medical school. All these interests and acquired knowledge in one form or another helped me in carrying out this research.

Raymond Moody, also Raymond or Raymond Moody (Raymond Moody, June 30, 1944, Porterdale, Georgia) is an American psychologist and physician.

He is best known for his books on life after death and near-death experiences, a term he coined in 1975. His most popular book is Life After Life.

He studied philosophy at the University of Virginia, where he received successive bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D. degrees in philosophy. He also received a PhD in psychology from Georgia Western College, where he later became a professor on the subject. He received his Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree from the Medical College of Georgia in 1976. In 1998, Moody did research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and then worked as a forensic psychiatrist at the Georgia Maximum Security Prison Hospital.

He was one of the first researchers of near-death experiences and described the experiences of approximately 150 people who experienced near-death experiences.

Currently resides in Alabama.

Books (6)

Glimpses of eternity

Brand new evidence of life after life.

Glimpses of Eternity is a book for skeptics. She will dispel their doubts about the accuracy of the statements made by Moody in Life After Life.

This book is for everyone who wants to finally believe that there is no death! This is a very light and persuasive book. Discover brand new, never-before-published evidence for life after life!

Reader Comments

Natalia/ 07/23/2018 Who will sit at the gates of paradise after death, wait until the doors are opened, but you won’t see this, because you are not saints, and your thoughts and actions are far from April, so to get to heaven you need to work on yourself, to help people, to love them, to sympathize, to improve. It’s rare for anyone to have time in this life, so you have to be born again.

Natalia/ 07/23/2018 Religions are right in principle, they are the path to perfection and in general we were created by the absolute with the help of several types of alien races and there is reincarnation, and we will be born until we become perfect. Here is Michael Newton's book which has no analogues tells about it. The doctor introduced patients into a hypnotic state, taking them through past lives in order to cure some diseases that have projections from past lives. And one woman accidentally said where she was between lives, that's the whole secret, why we are, and then we are not. The book Journey of the Soul Between Lives provides a definitive answer.

Basil/ 03/31/2017 All these books are for beginners... Those who want to deepen their knowledge, read the works of H. P. Blavatsky and H. I. Roerich.

Gurka Lamov/ 01/10/2017 And think with your head? What do we read in Moody's? Here, people dying, suddenly, bang, the room will be filled with light and the soul flies off through the tunnel. And there everyone is already waiting for her, relatives who previously glued flippers and I. Khristos himself ... All of them stocked up on popcorn and are looking forward to viewing all, even the most intimate, details of the deceased's life. Watching porn with your own participation, together with relatives and the founder of the Christian religion ... Cool! The author of the books is either crazy himself or thinks the readers are complete fools.

Julia/ 11/14/2016 People, be kinder and more tolerant to each other. As for reincarnation therapy, I can say that I am currently studying it with my teachers and have reviewed my 4 lives and excerpts from 3 more! And it's all true. On the other hand, it’s very good and everyone loves you !! Therefore, they give chances again and again.

Peaceful/ 03/15/2016 Friends, why all these disputes? Everything has long been known thanks to the Primordial Knowledge, which is written in a simple and understandable form in the books of Anastasia Novykh.
and from the standpoint of the AllatRa book, which contains the keys for understanding, everything falls into place thanks to them. highly recommended reading)

Sofia/ 02/15/2016 I don’t know if it’s better, but it’s still possible and true ...//

marina/ 12/17/2015 Alex, The Bible is the ABC for the future life THERE. And at the expense of reincarnation, I think God gives a chance to correct what happened in a past life. Example: a man killed another drunk. Having sobered up, he sincerely repented, suffered a worldly punishment. Where does he go to Heaven or Hell after death?! Someone will say to Hell, because he repented, to Paradise, but what about the punishment from Above? God gives reincarnations for redemption and to understand what the truth is. Moreover, if anyone thinks that souls are sitting at the gates of heaven awaiting the Day of Judgment, and God sends new ones to earth, just remember the parable of the full bowl. You can read Pythagoras, he was a smart uncle.

Guest/ 10/13/2015 To Alexey, the “I” of a dead and a living frog is also significantly different! Don't you find? And if you are not able to distinguish a living biological being from a dead one, then this indicates a neglected problem of the development of your intellect.P.S. Your words about the "faith" given from birth were especially amused :))). "Faith" is not an instinct - it is an experience acquired in society! On average, in which society a person lives that "faith" he has: a Muslim lives in a Muslim society, a Christian - in a Christian one, a Jew - in a Jewish one, a cannibal - in a society of savages worshiping spirits. They all believe what they were taught to believe!

Alexei/ 10/13/2015 Eugene, let your scientists justify the existence of your Self. What is it made of, where did it come from, and where will it disappear. Just do not write about the brain. Put people's brains in morgues, you can't tell one from the other. Whereas inside of us, it clearly "sits", each has its own I. Explain this, from the point of view of the Big Bang, and the emergence of everything from nothing.

Alexei/ 13.10.2015 Read the Bible. Delve into. Don't listen to anyone. Including the fools who call it "obscurantism". They just don't get it. And whoever wants to, he will read it, and each time discover something new for himself. Previously read chapters of the Bible will be perceived in a new way, and supplemented with fresh admonition. I'm not talking about the grace that, to one degree or another, descends on the reader, who is ready to accept this scripture. Faith is a gift. I can compare faith with a musical gift, absolute pitch. This is when a person, having heard a sound, can name the note of this sound. And when you press the key of a properly tuned piano or piano, these notes will match. Some people are already born with this gift, they hear notes. Most people are born with an undeveloped ear for music. But if you do solfeggio, exercise, then gradually their hearing will develop almost to absolute, and they will also hear a note in sound, they will be able to determine its height relative to the staff. And there are people who do not want to develop an ear for music. And if people who have a bear stepped on their ear, and no matter how much they exercise, nothing will help them. There is no rumor at all. So it is with faith. Someone has faith from birth, someone acquires it through interest and reflection, and someone lives empty like a drum, believing that he does not need it. And someone is just dumb to fit it.

Nataliya/ 07/11/2015 Death is the door to eternal life, real life is only preparation. And how we live it will depend on our eternal account - in heaven with God or in hell. Reincarnation and all the experiences of seeing past lives are just a trick of evil spirits. a person is immersed during hypnosis, meditation, etc. into the realm of fallen spirits, the sky, they invade his consciousness and give him what he believes in... believe in reincarnation, get it... but they live a long time and know everything... therefore, be careful in your experiments. The American monk Seraphim Rose wrote about this very well in his books. You can argue about this question as much as you like, many can find the answer after death ... only then it may be too late for those who lived believing in rebirth .. and those who lived with the Lord, basing their lives on the Gospel and patristic teaching, invested and into this life and into eternal life. Follow the life of the saints in Russia, it's not easy beautiful words gurus, etc. teachers, but an experienced life with God, and after their death they help all people - Matrona of Moscow, John of Kronstadt, Seraphim of Sarov. I wish every seeking person to find the Truth... to know God by experience, and not only in words and books. Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you; For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. In the Gospel of Matthew (chapter 7, verses 7-8).

life is pain/ 06/14/2015 Usually reincarnation is associated with magic, esotericism = demonism. On contact with the other world, only evil, crafty spirits come out, they can only deceive.

Guest/ 06/14/2015 Moody stuffed Darwin's face and proved to everyone that we are not ordinary animals. But where is the truth: reincarnation or eternal torment is another question. It would be nice if reincarnation were true, it is more humane, I would not really want to burn forever in unbearable torment in hell.