The Unknown and the Unexplained: Reincarnation in Human History. Many people believe that the soul is immortal, and after death it is reborn in another person.
Rebirth of the soul after death - in the cultures of different nations there are several basic concepts of what actually happens to the human soul after physical death: the concept of Paradise and Hell, the concept of rebirth or reincarnation, and the materialistic concept.
In Western religions, the concept of Heaven and Hell is very popular. According to her, a certain Supreme Being, who is depicted as a man with thick facial hair, judges and chooses punishment for human souls. At the same time, in different religions, punishment is imposed for some offenses, in others - for completely different ones. But in all religions one thing is the same: most souls go to Hell, where they are forced to endure incredible torments forever. And only a small number of the righteous who follow all the strict rules (which, by the way, also differ in different cultures and religions), get a chance after death to find eternal bliss in Paradise. For all people who believe in this concept, the most important thing is the correct choice of religion, since it is impossible to go to the heaven of one religion and not to end up in the hell of all other religions.
The materialistic concept has become widespread in Western science and culture, which says that consciousness is a product of the activity of the brain, therefore it completely disappears after physical death of the brain. However, on the other hand, a large number of studies that were carried out in American and British clinics have demonstrated that at the time of clinical death in people, the flow of experiences was not interrupted even in the complete absence of brain activity.
In the course of these studies, scientists were not interested in the nature of the experience, since this had already been said many times, and people later recalled that they saw a white light at the time of clinical death, observed themselves from the side and heard different voices. Scientists were primarily interested in the very fact of these experiences at the time of clinical death and the presence of brain activity at that moment. And only after enough statistics were collected, scientists came to the conclusion that the presence or absence of experiences does not depend on whether the brain is active during the period of clinical death or its work completely stops. Thus, if consciousness is a product of brain activity, then a person simply cannot experience anything in the absence of brain activity. It is like watching TV with the power cord unplugged.
According to the third concept - the theory of rebirth or reincarnation, consciousness does not disappear after the physical death of the body, but passes into another state - takes on other forms, but always retains its essence.
In Russian culture, for some reason, it is customary to trust generally accepted dogmas and axioms, ignoring their own feelings. Therefore, many people believe in the concept of Heaven and Hell only because it is prescribed by religion. Some people believe that consciousness is a product of the brain, because they were told a lot about this during their school and student years. And still others simply believe in the theory of reincarnation just because they read about it in some book of "secret knowledge" that are freely available in every bookstore.
However, it makes no sense to trust such approaches, because you can believe in anything. And a completely different matter - if a person knows for sure, because he himself was in a state of clinical death and felt everything for himself.
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It should be noted that in different historical epochs, the attitude towards reincarnation was significantly different. So, for example, in the era of antiquity, philosophy was closely associated with reincarnation. Pythagoras, who became the first philosopher in history (since there were only sages before him), not only introduced the term "philosophy", but also constantly talked about his past existence, assuring that he remembers well all his previous lives.
In addition, it should be noted that in the period of early Christianity the concept of Heaven and Hell had not yet been developed, therefore, the attitude towards the possibility of the soul's rebirth was more than calm. Most of the fathers of the Christian Church, including Justinian the Martyr, Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Clement of Alexandria, Saint Jerome, were convinced that the idea of the soul's rebirth in no way contradicts the basic ideas of Christianity.
The idea of rebirth or reincarnation was most accurately and clearly described in the writings of Origen, who is considered one of the fathers of the Church. However, in 553, rebirth as an idea was banned by decree of the emperor Justinian.
Justinian himself was a good diplomat and politician, which gave him the opportunity to make a remarkable career - he was the son of a poor peasant from Macedonia, and became the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. However, at the same time, he was a cunning and indecisive person who knew how to skillfully pretend, lie, was ironic, two-faced and secretive. Thanks to his attention to detail and his own energy, Justinian was able to combine many individual laws of the empire into a single "Code of Justinian", and also significantly expanded the boundaries of his state. But the emperor decided to go even further, and put things in order not only in worldly affairs, but also in spiritual ones.
At that time, Christianity was a collection of separate movements, most of which accepted the idea of reincarnation. Justinian concluded that this state of affairs is harmful, but not from a religious, but from a political point of view. If the citizens of the empire are sure that they have a couple more lives in reserve, then they will not be especially zealous in public affairs.
And since Justinian knew how to achieve his goal, he first sent a letter to the Patriarch of Constantinople Mina, in which he claimed that Origen was a malicious heretic. Later, in 543, by order of the emperor, a council was assembled in Constantinople, at which an edict was passed listing all the mistakes that Origen allegedly committed. It is noteworthy that at all councils held during the years of Justinian's reign, the emperor himself always took the final decision.
Pope Vegilius, after the council, disapproved of the emperor's interference in church affairs, and did not recognize the edict adopted at the council. Threats from Justinian rained down in his direction, as a result of which the Pope was forced to issue a decree on the tradition of Origen's teaching anathema. However, this decree caused such great discontent on the part of the bishops of North Africa, Gaul and many other provinces that in 550 it had to be canceled.
In 553, a new council was convened in Constantinople, at which most of the representatives of the Eastern Church were present, since the Western bishops refused to participate in it. The Pope, who was at that time in Constantinople, refused to take part in the final verdict in protest, for which he was exiled to one of the islands of the Sea of Marmara.
At the council, a decree was adopted, which determined the attitude of the church to rebirth - they refused to recognize reincarnation.
After the prohibition of rebirth, any mention of reincarnation was tantamount to a death sentence - there are many cases in history when authors of statements of this kind were simply burned at the stake. One of the most striking examples of this is Giordano Bruno, who said that to burn does not mean to refute, and in his concluding speech before execution he said that the soul is not part of one body, therefore it can be either in one body or in a different.
Gradually, the times of the Inquisition receded into the past, and people were able to more freely express their opinions. Often these were just inner feelings, denounced in a word, but sometimes people sincerely believed that rebirth exists, because it simply cannot be otherwise.
In the East, the idea of reincarnation is very naturally intertwined with religion, culture and science, and here over 90 percent of people believe that reincarnation is a matter of course. In the West, it is more customary to believe in slightly different things, but even there the situation is gradually changing. According to opinion polls, about half of the population of the United States of America and democratic European countries recognize reincarnation and do not recognize the very idea of rebirth as strange.
Moreover, some people try to learn more about their previous lives. Of course, such knowledge is absolutely useless if it is not within the person himself. The idea of rebirth will not suit those people who are used to shifting responsibility for their fate into the hands of fate or God. If a person does not understand that it was his past actions that caused his present, and that in this life he determines his future with every word and action, then he can neither take responsibility for his life, nor change it.
In fact, it doesn't really matter if a person believes in the idea of reincarnation or denies it. It is much more important what changes can occur if a person accepts the idea of reincarnation, believes in it. If everything around a person does not disappear, but passes into another state, then why should a person and his soul be an exception?