A resident of St. Petersburg once heard a "beckoning voice" while standing on the balcony of his apartment. His wife and children miraculously dragged him off the railing as he was about to step down from the eighth floor.
The pensioner from Kazan was "hypnotized" by the shine of the razor blade: her fingers "as if by themselves" took it and tried to open the veins …
Statistics show that cases of voluntary death have indeed become more frequent in Russia. Explaining this social phenomenon, experts traditionally blame stress, the unstable political and economic situation in the country. But the real reasons are likely much more complex. Scientists have come to the conclusion that there is a "self-destruction program" in every living being. Indeed, in the animal kingdom in recent years, suicides have been increasingly observed. Meanwhile, it is obvious that whales or, say, dolphins, taking their own lives with whole herds, are not harassed by either political or economic problems …
The phenomenon of mass suicide among lemmings is known for a certain regularity. When the number of these mice living in the North reaches a certain critical value, they begin mass migrations. At the same time, most of them die: whole hordes of lemmings rush from the banks into rivers and lakes. What for? Why is this happening?
The main idea of the theory of programmed death is approximately the following: in order to balance life on the planet, two opposing programs are laid in each living being: a desire for life and a program of self-destruction. The latter is turned on during, say, population explosions, when a sharp increase in the population of one species threatens the general equilibrium of the biosphere.
There are other possible causes of animal suicide. The persistent "call of death" overtakes the sick, those born with defects or simply weak. If they are not killed by predators, they "leave" on their own so that their species remains more resilient. All this fully applies to you and me.
The key to starting a self-destruction program can be climate change, ecology, food shortages, social and other stresses, which various experts talk about a lot. But the essence of the problem is not in the stresses themselves, but in the threshold of sensitivity to them. After all, the "death program", of course, must have and has protective "fuses" from accidental activation.
Our problem is that lately the system of self-destruction can be triggered by weaker and weaker "blows". And "fuses" do not hold up where 10 years ago they could be relied on. The threshold of modern man's sensitivity has dropped significantly. Through it, into the zone of uncomfortableness, and behind it, into the zone of depression, in which the "call of death" sounds for many, people who previously simply could not have thoughts of suicide easily step over.
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The "call of death" does not necessarily lead to demonstrative suicide. People most often die quietly: the aging process is accelerating, the immune defense is rapidly deteriorating, so that even a runny nose becomes fatal.
It is known that during natural disasters in half of the cases (!) People die not from injuries, but from cardiac arrest. They are also victims of the "call of death" - their body simply did not want to fight for itself and voluntarily passed away. Meanwhile, the human body has truly fantastic reserves of strength. Here are just a few examples.
What scares us: cold and cold? It is believed that seven minutes spent in icy water will inevitably lead to death. Five-year-old baby Vegard Sletem-nen (Lilestrom, Norway), probably, did not know about this, having fallen under the ice of the river. He stayed there for 40 minutes. When the lifeless body of the child was carried ashore and began to do artificial respiration and heart massage, the boy began to show signs of life. In the hospital, two days later, he completely came to his senses and asked: "Where are my glasses?"
In 1992, the international association "Marathon Winter Swimming" held a swim on Lake Issyk-Kul. For almost three days the athletes were in icy water, having covered 185 kilometers. When one of the swimmers after the swim measured the body temperature, it did not exceed 32 degrees, which in the language of doctors means a lethal outcome. But the athlete smiled, joked, and soon completely warmed up to a normal state.
What else is considered fatal to humans? A bullet in the heart? Grigory Olkhovsky received a through bullet wound to the heart during the Great Patriotic War, but remained to live contrary to the forecasts of doctors …
Private Vasily Bryukhanov was also seemingly mortally wounded, but, contrary to all the law, he not only survived, but also carried a stuck bullet into his heart for 50 years …
Are there limits to the capabilities of our body?
Are we suffocating in a minute in the absence of air? Filipino fisherman L. Pakino from the island of Luzon, in spite of this opinion, can be under water for almost an hour without special devices.
And Slavko Vukolovich from Titovgrad did not breathe at all for a week, covered with earth. He decided to clean the well at his summer cottage. Descending 75 meters along a rope ladder, Slavko began to remove debris from the bottom. Suddenly there was a collapse. Only six days later, when a neighbor noticed a bucket and clothes near the well log, he became worried and raised the alarm. When the rubble was dug up, Vukolovich was in a deep swoon, but alive. And literally a day later I got back on my feet …
And believe me, such resilience is not exceptional. After all, the physical capabilities of the body are approximately the same for everyone. The main thing at a critical moment is not to succumb to the “call of death”.
An excellent example of the will that conquered death was shown by the hero of "The Tale of a Real Man" B. Field fighter pilot Hero of the Soviet Union Alexei Maresyev. In the Soviet epic, the power that coped with the "call of death" was love for the Motherland. Indeed, a high feeling, such as love, is able to overcome not only the "call", but death itself. But, alas, not every person carries the feeling of such an all-encompassing power.
How can ordinary people get rid of the "call of death"?
One of the possible ways is suggested by a tate called “the phenomenon of Swedish lumberjacks”.
The Swedes (and also the Hungarians) are an ethnic group that, according to long-term observations of experts, is most prone to suicide. So, against the generally unfavorable background of the country, there were practically no cases of suicide among Swedish lumberjacks. Having become interested in this phenomenon, scientists came to the conclusion: hard work, as well as the constant risk of being under a fallen tree, were salvation in this case. All this contributes to the release of morphine-like substances that smooth out the effects of stressful situations.
From this we can conclude that opioids, endorphins and other internal drugs released directly by our body during physical exertion reduce the sensitivity of the "self-destruction mechanism" ticking in each of us. And it becomes clear that many people “burn out” very quickly after retirement. The level of physical and mental stress decreases, which means that the chain of “drug feeding” of the body is interrupted, which leads to the inclusion of the “internal bomb”. The conclusion from this is obvious (and this secret was well known to our ancestors) - do not be lazy to load yourself with work, this is our natural defense against the "call of death."
And nevertheless, people die prematurely, having lost the baton with the force that is measuring out our century.
Why is this happening? It is possible that this process is far from accidental. Humanity has long been a threat to the surrounding nature. Perhaps the biosphere is trying to limit the expansion of Homo sapiens in this way?