From the very birth, a person sets goals for himself. Rather, first, his goals are set for him, and then he sets them for himself. Although here too, how to say. We insist that man is a conscious being. But if this is not so? If goals, real goals may be unconscious and inconsistent with our post-rationalization. Then in general it can turn out funny: a person really sets goals for himself from birth, and adults only teach him the algorithms of behavior necessary to achieve. Or nature teaches at some stage. But let's not go into this jungle. In the end, the discussion below will not be about goal setting.
memento Mori
It will be about the fact that at some stage (for someone earlier and very emotionally, for someone later and not so tragically), everyone faces an irresistible fact in all its magnitude: life is finite. And death is in principle unknowable. For no one knows for certain what is beyond that final threshold. All sorts of mental throwing begins, sometimes depression. And although the majority find solace in hiding from the fact of their own finiteness in the sometimes exhausting, and sometimes quite relaxed everyday life, some find other forms of coexistence with death. Let's just remember how many people the memory of death brought to religion. And there are their games and hide and seek.
Forewarned, therefore forearmed
It must be admitted that in the old, as they would say now, anti-scientific times, people had a great knowledge of death. Yes, this knowledge was quite specific, considering its religious aspect. But, on the other hand, the very religious aspect of knowledge about death has always been subdivided into "knowledge for all" and "knowledge for initiates" - exoteric and esoteric. In the first case, we see vivid pictures of heaven and hell, afterlife travels and ships, designed to influence the moral aspects of the life of the flock in this world, and often have social (sometimes even political) tasks. In the second case, everything is much less colorful, but much more interesting and meaningful. At the same time, of course, it is unverifiable during life. Fully, that's for sure.
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Traveler shamans and other Greeks
Death, of course, interested a person from a very, very old time. The shamans of the Indian tribes and our northern peoples have firmly entered the mass consciousness as an example of people who "professionally" research the issue. "Shamanic illness" and healing, initiation into shamans, shamanic practice itself - all this is closely intertwined with life and death, with "travel" between the worlds of the living and the dead. This is a pretty tough practice with nightmarish experiences. The same applies to all kinds of initiation rites, say, in Indian tribes. But even at a sufficiently developed level of civilization, we see similar rituals. For example, the ancient Greek mysteries. And someone, very keen on all sorts of conspiracy theories, will even remember some early Freemasons. But no matter how varied the grounds for such rituals of "dying-resurrection", the goal, by and large,there was one - to meet face to face with death and … return back alive. Moreover, while gaining some mysterious inner strength, literally transforming from the inside.
Therapeutic effect
By the way, some researchers confirm: yes, for all the cruelty of shamanic rituals, initiation rites and ancient Greek mysteries, their participants actually receive a certain therapeutic effect at the exit. An inner transformation happens to them. Moreover, the transformation is precisely positive, allowing one to rely on certain acquired convictions, even knowledge, and, in general, to communicate much more effectively with society and the world.
LSD and Holotropic Breathwork
Here we can just remember one of the founders of transpersonal psychology, Stanislav Grof, an American psychologist of Czech origin. Surely many have heard about him, for sure many have read his books, so we will not dwell on his work in detail. Let's just remember that his experiments with LSD, and then, after the prohibition of LSD, with the so-called holotropic breathing, gave the same therapeutic effect as the shamanic and other practices mentioned above. Moreover, the visions of Grof's volunteer assistants at times exactly coincided with the visions of some visionaries of the past. People sometimes made amazing "journeys" to the moment of their birth, and even beyond it. Far behind him. And this miraculously removed their inner tension, cleansed them and enriched their inner world and simply improved the quality of life.
Lights and tunnels
Some digression. We have all, of course, read many stories about people who have experienced clinical death, and what they experienced during this. Remember: the alluring light, the tunnels through which you fly to this light, someone who seems to be talking to you … Many different details. But here's what's interesting: when you meet people who are on the verge of death, but survived, and you ask about all these tunnels, it turns out that no one has seen anything like it. But this does not mean that others are lying. Simply, apparently, everyone has their own path. For example, one person who was in a coma said that he “fought” there quite realistically, which was not too much fun, but he liked how he “lived” on the seashore for two days and rode a scooter over the waves. And nothing mystical. True, when suddenly the visions left, and he fell where,a certain woman appeared and, as it were, pushed him up. These are, if I may say so, adventures.
Humanity hasn't gotten worse
It has already been said above that in the developed world religions the question of posthumous existence was worked out, of course, thoroughly. Somewhere more, somewhere less. And the fact that only a part of this information is known to the believing masses was also said. Why is that? It is believed that the masses were, for the most part, too ignorant to understand some higher or simply serious truth. But in an accessible form, they were nevertheless led to a certain common denominator in ideas about the state of dying or the posthumous state. But what prevents people from revealing all the secrets now? Are people ignorant even now? You will laugh, but basically it is. Most people are ignorant about some subtle religious truths. In addition, many are simply not interested in it, or rather - it once does not bring immediate benefit. And what will be there after death. Let specially trained people talk about it. They tell. And to some extent, these stories help someone, probably in the last minutes. But basically, such stories are still aimed at this life, in order to keep a person within the human. In one of the religious disputes, one person somehow concluded that Christianity had not fulfilled its mission, because for two millennia mankind did not get better. The answer was that it didn't get any worse.because for two millennia humanity has not improved. The answer was that it didn't get any worse.because for two millennia humanity has not improved. The answer was that it didn't get any worse.
Air ordeals
The most famous in the near-Orthodox environment about the posthumous state is, perhaps, the story of air ordeals, obstacles or outposts that the soul must go through on the way to the divine throne. There are no less than twenty such outposts. Demons rule over them. Each of the outposts is dedicated to some collection of sins: lies, adultery, fornication, etc. Demons at outposts have a list of human sins, angels accompanying the soul (there are two of them) provide a return list of good deeds. And here already that will outweigh. You can go to hell. True, what is interesting is the possibility of direct intervention of God. For example, with the equality of sins and virtues, the soul, thanks to such an intervention, can go further. The reaction of the church fathers to the stories of ordeals is interesting. Someone thinks that this is superstition. Someone believes them to be the true truth. And someone considers it an otherworldly reality, but presented in a metaphorical form. In any case, in the sacred tradition, one can find more advanced reasoning about posthumous states. This is especially true of the hesychast prayer books, who talk about very interesting states of consciousness, including the posthumous ones. By the way, researchers sometimes noted that advanced prayer books, who deeply investigated, in more familiar language, altered states of consciousness, not only calmly treated future death, but to some extent even expected it as the final deliverance from this world of sorrows and sorrows. Although this life was lived much fuller than simple, so to speak in this case, mortals. In any case, in the sacred tradition, one can find more advanced reasoning about posthumous states. This is especially true of the hesychast prayer books, who talk about very interesting states of consciousness, including the posthumous ones. By the way, researchers sometimes noted that advanced prayer books, who deeply investigated, in more familiar language, altered states of consciousness, not only calmly treated future death, but to some extent even expected it as the final deliverance from this world of sorrows and sorrows. Although this life was lived much fuller than simple, so to speak in this case, mortals. In any case, in the sacred tradition, one can find more advanced reasoning about posthumous states. This is especially true of the hesychast prayer books, who talk about very interesting states of consciousness, including the posthumous ones. By the way, researchers sometimes noted that advanced prayer books, who deeply investigated, in more familiar language, altered states of consciousness, not only calmly treated future death, but to some extent even expected it as the final deliverance from this world of sorrows and sorrows. Although this life was lived much fuller than simple, so to speak in this case, mortals. Researchers sometimes noted that advanced prayer books, who deeply investigated, in a more familiar language, altered states of consciousness, not only calmly treated the future death, but to some extent even expected it as a final deliverance from this world of sorrows and sorrows. Although this life was lived much fuller than simple, so to speak in this case, mortals. Researchers sometimes noted that advanced prayer books, who deeply investigated, in a more familiar language, altered states of consciousness, not only calmly treated the future death, but to some extent even expected it as a final deliverance from this world of sorrows and sorrows. Although this life was lived much fuller than simple, so to speak in this case, mortals.
No hope
Interesting statements about the postmortem conditions of some representatives of science from among neurophysiologists and neuropsychologists. They fully admit the posthumous states of consciousness described in various religious systems, but as a hallucination. Yes, vivid, yes, quite realistic, but still a hallucination of fading consciousness. This, in their opinion, is our final reality. True, it can last for a long time, almost forever, or maybe forever, since in such a state the dying consciousness has no time guidelines, everything is purely subjective. And hellish torments can be quite "eternal". As well as heavenly delights.
Hope from the East
Interestingly, the descriptions of Buddhist practitioners agree to some extent with the assumptions of scientists. But with the important difference that the latter do not consider the process of dying as an extreme, last state of consciousness. Although they note that in this process we find its subtlest levels, which happens extremely rarely during life. By the way, for those who like to speculate about improvement from life to life, about the "lessons" that are given to us from incarnation to incarnation, we can separately say that the highest Buddhist philosophy does not consider such vulgar ideas. Even about rebirth, which is not at all the same as the incarnation of the soul, Buddhism speaks with a great deal of assumption. Because no such separate independent soul exists in Buddhism. It is about a continuous stream of consciousness,which at every moment represents a completely new configuration, but, on the other hand, is always connected with the previous moment. Moreover, posthumous states are so subtle (or deep) that with a new life (if I can put it this way in this case), on a more coarse level, you still will not remember them. Yes, by and large, it will not be you. Your only karma will remain. So don't put off your life until later. Live now.
Like a candle in the wind
In some Buddhist schools, the process of dying is described, in general, in a very scientific way. For example, some Tibetan practices speak of several stages of the process associated with the destruction of various bases of consciousness. In this context, it is said about the dissolution of four internal elements: earth (in fact, the consciousness of the body), water (liquid), fire (respectively, heat) and wind or air (energy). Do not forget that we are talking about some internal elements, and not about gross matter. Gradually, as mentioned above, these foundation elements dissolve, and consciousness begins to rely on the next element. Accordingly, a person may have different visions. For example, when the first element dissolves into the second, a person can see a kind of desert mirage. Then smoke. Then there are sparks and, finally, a flickering candle light and a clean, even flame.
Clear light
And it's not over yet. This is followed by four stages in which consciousness rests on more and more subtle foundations. In fact, it already relies on itself, but it (how to put it more precisely?) - and not only consciousness. Different winds-energies correspond to its different levels. So, at first, consciousness becomes a kind of white space. Like moonlight. There is no conceptual thinking at all at this level. Then a red or rather orange space appears, like sunlight. And then … Then comes a moonless and starless night. Or very, very dark twilight. Black. We can recall again the Christian practitioners who said that darkness lies before the light. And the famous "and the light shines in the dark" is most likely about the same. And finally - yes, light. That very clear lightwhich is described in Tibetan Buddhism as the primordial state - the fundamental level. And, mind you, this light is not at all frightening and bright, it resembles the color of the sky at sunset, when there is no longer the sun, but there is still no moon. And again the intersection with Christianity, in particular with Orthodoxy, which speaks of "quiet light."
Endless journey
By the way, it should be noted that religious moral postulates are really not a joke. This is an effective tool that should prepare a person for the transition to the “other world”. It is believed that there, in that world, a person cannot rely on volitional effort and somehow arbitrarily change his fate. It is not for nothing that the same Buddhism speaks of the wind of karma, which picks up consciousness and carries it in accordance with what a person has "worked out" in this world. And this "worked out" is very important. Because in posthumous states, a person, as it were, really receives a kind of "reward" - appropriate experiences, "whether hellish torments, heavenly pleasures." But even here there is a chance: you need to realize this all as a play of your consciousness. Many practitioners say that this kind of awareness is the only thing that a person can do. But for this, a lifetime "training" is needed, which, among other things, consists in the observance of moral precepts and religious practice. In any case, it turns out that the process of consciousness is an endless process. Even if the materialists are right. It may simply turn out that consciousness is not entirely yours.
Mark Raven