The fear of death is worse than death itself.
D. Bruno
Imagine twins growing up peacefully in a warm womb. Their life is calm. Their whole world is the interior of the womb. Is it possible to imagine something bigger, better, more convenient?
They feel movement and begin to reason: we are descending lower and lower. If this continues, we will have to leave all this someday. What then?
One of the babies is a believer, heir to a tradition that tells him that after this warm and humid existence, a "new life" will begin in the womb. A strange belief, seemingly devoid of foundation. She comforts. The second baby is a complete skeptic.
No stories convince him. What is not in experience has no place in imagination.
A believer from the brothers says: “After our 'death', here we will move to a new, huge world of incredible beauty, where amazing impressions await us. We'll eat with our mouths! We will see what is far away, we will be able to hear music and voices through our ears."
The skeptic replies: “Nonsense. You want to find something that can drown out your fear of death. Only this world exists. There is no other world where we could find ourselves. Our world will collapse, and we will be consigned to oblivion. Perhaps this is a disappointing thought, but it is quite logical."
Promotional video:
Suddenly the waters of the womb boil. The womb shudders. Hell unfolds. All around is blows and pain. Terrible convulsions. Whirling. Jerks one after another. The believing brother rushes towards a new experience and disappears into a dark tunnel. Having got out of the womb, he is outside. He exists. The other brother screeches shrilly and tries to hold on. He is shocked by what is happening. He grieves and mourns the tragedy. Suddenly, he hears a chilling scream, and then many screams from the darkness, then silence falls. “Here is a terrible end! he exclaims. - Everything, as I said!"
“The“deceased”brother mourned by the skeptic was born in a new world. A cry is a sign of health and strength, and noise is a chorus of joyful exclamations of a family welcoming the birth of a healthy baby."
Thoughts about death, more than birth, have a profound impact on our lives. Near-death survivors find that the experience has revolutionized their lives. In fact, no matter what kind of contact with death, for a person it will not pass without a trace. This is the magic of death.
Scientists agree that if the word "death" was absent in our dictionary, then great books would not have been built, pyramids and cathedrals would not have been created, amazing works of art would not have been created, because any art is rooted in religion or magic … The inevitability of death gives meaning and significance to life.
"Death is the source of our motives, aspirations and accomplishments," admitted one psychologist. According to Freud and Jung, day or night, whether we are asleep or awake, there is not a minute without the thought of death in our subconscious. Often these thoughts come to the surface, despite the fact that we try our best to fight them.
Alan Watts said: “There is nothing more attractive than the thought of death. Because man knows that he will die, he created art, science, philosophy and religion. There is nothing that encourages thinking so much as the thought that thoughts will end."
According to psychologist Anthony Starr, man is the only creature that can foresee his death. Animals, as we know, have reflexes and an innate reaction to danger, which keeps them from a premature end, but we cannot believe that animals, like humans, see the inevitability of future death. Our awareness of our own inevitable death, perhaps, is the most significant difference between man and all other living organisms.
Observations have shown that children are aware of death from about 5 years old. This is the age when the child begins to clearly separate himself from the environment and from other people; his ego reaches such a degree of development that he sees himself as a separate being, and as soon as the ego asserts itself, it immediately begins to see the possibility of its own death. Depending on how the child is raised, he may regard death as a frightening, final, destructive experience, or, in a more religious approach, the highest extension of the personality.
Until the age of 5, children tend to talk to their deceased relatives. Andrew Greeley, director of the Center for the Study of Public Opinion at the University of Chicago, found that 31% of the teenagers surveyed said they had been in contact with the deceased. It's a pity, but no one has done any research among young children regarding contact with the dead. There are many stories on this topic, but rigorous research could show that many children do not fantasize when they claim to have talked to relatives who have died.
Not realizing the so-called line between life and death, they can easily cross it. Children see a connection between things that is completely different from the "interconnectedness" noted by modern doctors. A study of children from China, Hungary, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States has shown that children under the age of six see life as a continuity of everything that exists. Psychiatrists don't take this seriously. Should we consider this thought as stupid, "childish", or does it contain the deepest truth?
• A 5-year-old girl who was brought back to life after drowning described her out-of-body experience to her doctor and parents as something completely natural, like a walk. It did not seem strange to her that her body was lying on the shore, surrounded by people, and she herself was floating in the air: she did not die, it was a simple adventure, she explained. Can a child's remark reflect some innate human ability to OBT (experience outside the body) and deep knowledge about life after death?
Psychologist M. Eissler cites three reasons why scientists have avoided studying death for decades.
1. Pragmatism: because death is an irreversible and universal phenomenon, what we can learn from its study; this is a situation that we do not own. 2. Objectivity: We are too emotionally affected by the topic of death to accept the need for objective scientific research. 3. Hedonism: in our culture, energy is spent for the sake of greater comfort and pleasure; can the exploration of such a dark topic as death serve this purpose?
Now we see that the first and third reasons have lost their significance - what we have learned about death in recent years from people who were brought back to life is the best evidence of life after death.
Other death studies are helping to better understand life. Dr. Lisle Marburg Goodman, a psychologist at Jersey City College in New Jersey, conducted 623 interviews with creative people and found that creativity and fear of death are more closely related than scientists might have suspected. The most creative people were able to talk openly and freely about their deaths without feeling much anxiety about it. But upon further research, Dr. Goodman found many contradictions. An excellent example is the case of a young physicist.
Having great authority in his field, K. M. claimed to have accepted the thought of death many years ago and from that time "never thought about it again." No, he said, the thought of dying does not oppress him, nor does talking about death, but, of course, thoughts of death do not serve as an incentive for his actions and do not affect him even on a subconscious level. Then he was asked the question: "If you are aware of this, when would you prefer to die - in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening or at night?"
“It doesn't matter,” KM replied quickly. "Which season would you like to die for: spring, summer, fall or winter?" "No difference".
Somewhat annoyed, K. M. asked why these useless questions. When Dr. Goodman asked if K. M. death an important event in his life, he replied: "Yes, probably the most important." He agreed that he prefers a specific time and place for other significant events in his life, but he never thought about it in relation to death. Further questions were unpleasant to him, and when asked if he would like to know in full the circumstances of his death, he replied categorically: "I don't want to!"
“The mood of K. M. has changed dramatically, says Dr. Goodman. "He became taciturn, his old enthusiasm completely disappeared, and he admitted that he felt depressed." In the end, he realized that his earlier statement - that he had long since come to terms with death and no longer thought about it - was not entirely true. He realized that he had never really accepted the thought of death and had been depressed for years thinking about it. Death often dreamed of him, and now he realized that on a subconscious level he always had thoughts about death. He admitted that he was always acutely aware of how quickly time was passing, but he still did not connect this directly with repressed thoughts about his death.
Dr. Goodman boldly continues the theme:
“I believe that everything that distinguishes us from the lower animals is a direct consequence of the response to the challenge of death. The very human essence is based on the knowledge of one's own death. From the construction of permanent dwellings and the invention of vehicles to reach distant places faster and faster, to concepts and the creation of the highest works of art, everything is based on our knowledge of death.
If we did not know that our future is limited, we would only face the struggle for momentary needs and conveniences, we would remain at the level of animals. Death not only serves as an incentive for creativity, the theme of death is central to all forms of artistic creation: drama, dance, music, fine arts.
In fact, upon careful consideration of the history of art, we come to the conclusion that the apogee of the artist's work reaches during the periods of the most obvious opposition to his own death. “This pattern,” says Dr. Goodman, “operates in times like ours, when the denial of death becomes the primary defense mechanism.
Even the Middle Ages does not contradict this principle, the Middle Ages, when creative aspirations did not go too far, because death was so powerful that people did not have the strength to resist the thought of it. The more deaths there are, the greater the need to deny death."
Dr. Goodman is not alone in believing that if we make ourselves aware of the inevitability of our own death, it can enable our undiscovered abilities to materialize and make every moment of our life more valuable.
People who have experienced clinical death naturally become more aware of their death. She has already had a strong impact on their lives, and it is not surprising that the greatest impression was left on those who are sure that, being outside the body, they met their creator. Some of these stories are filled with deep religious feelings. We'll look at two of them.
• 1970 February - California housewife Catherine Hayward learns from doctors that she has Hodgkin's disease, a usually fatal swelling and inflammation of the lymph glands and spleen. After a short remission, the disease returned in March 1974. Catherine felt that she must die by all means: “I knew it was only a matter of time. I sent the children away to live with their father. It was June 30, 1974, ten o'clock in the evening. I dialed Ann, my closest friend."
Ann arrived, and for a while Catherine spoke without fear of impending death. Ann noticed that her friend was losing her strength and insisted on taking her to the hospital. Katherine continues:
“The last thing I remember after we left home was walking through the hospital doors to the emergency room. I came to myself in intensive care. Ann was nearby. I was entangled with wires and tubes. I got scared. I heard the bell and saw the nurse hurrying to my bed."
Catherine's heart stopped, she survived OBT. Some of the patients do not know exactly whose voice they heard, Catherine knew:
“I saw Him - I knew it was God. I approached Him - and in the end I felt completely safe. I heard Him say, “You must return,” although His lips did not move. His right hand moved in the air like a flower shaken by the wind. His left hand touched me. The words sounded implacable.
When I remember, it makes me laugh, how I answered, I was led like an offended child: “I don't want to come back. I want to stay here with You. " He replied: “Your soul has always been turned to me. It's time to accept what you have to. I tell you: it will be a happy life - you will know love, and I will not leave you, because you belong to me."
Catherine woke up from excruciating pain: the tubes inserted into her lungs, through which oxygen were supplied, interfered. Two days later she was transferred to the ward, but she was too depressed and too angry to eat or talk to anyone. By the evening of the second day, she was returned to the intensive care unit.
“I was out of my body again - and He was here. Looking into His eyes, I was embarrassed, I don't know exactly why. In any case, I achieved what I wanted - to be close to Him. He looked at me sadly and said, “My compassion has brought you to me again. I know that you want to be by my side. If you do as I ask, you will come to me later, and I will not leave you. " I nodded my head in agreement. He smiled - turned away and disappeared. After that, I started breathing again. It was easy to breathe, there was no pain. I knew that this was the beginning of a new life. The strength began to return to me."
Catherine soon left the hospital, and now she is a healthy, active woman who has become even more religious and compassionate thanks to her experience. All symptoms of her illness mysteriously disappeared and she devoted herself to working with dying patients in several hospitals. The doctor who treated her said: "I worked a lot with people to help them accept death, but for the first time I had to help a patient accept life."
Many scholars are confused by the religious moments of encounters with death, some dismissed them altogether. They want, long to hear stories about tunnels, lights, music and the like - harmless, "symbolic" things, but are not happy or simply do not take into account the evidence that a person has seen God or talked to Him.
We spoke with one researcher about his patient's encounter with death. He said: "Her story would be much more credible if not for this confusion about God and religion." Another scientist said, "I believe in the experience of death until there is religion." This attitude is all too well known. But the religious aspects cannot and should not be ignored, this is a rather important part of meeting with death.
• We find that sometimes a person enters into a contract with God, and the contract is valid. Dr. Norman Sand, a cardiologist, was involved in an accident and was taken to the intensive care unit of the City Hospital in Portland, Oregon. At about two o'clock the next day, during surgery, he was found dead. He survived the OBT and with the shining light and the quiet music poured in the air, he entered into an argument with the universal power.
“I would define it precisely as a universal force. I think that if there were some physical expression of it, I would call this power God, but there was no expression of it. One could say - consciousness, life force, universal consciousness. We exchanged remarks, got into an argument about whether or not it was time for me to die.
I remember a few things. But the feelings I experienced are stronger than words. Much energy was expended in deciding whether I would live or die. I was 16 years old then, and I remember that the conversation was about the fact that I did not have the opportunity to do something in real life, and I defended my rights, assuring that if I was given a chance to live, I would try to do life is better and help my fellow man.
We made an agreement that I will live, doing what I promised, and that I will return, that is, I will die when I turn 50. At 16, 50 seems incredibly far away. Now I'm a little worried about what will happen a few years later, when I turn 50. I'm not going to see this as necessarily a fulfilling prophecy, but I'm really curious about what might happen on my fiftieth birthday."
Dr. Sand recalled seeing that doctors were going to put his body "in a green plastic bag", believing that he was dead and could not be resuscitated. Suddenly he began to breathe on his own. He remained unconscious, but, as he recalls, he realized that at times doctors enter his room and, pricking him with something like a button on the end of a pencil, waited for a reaction. He claims that it took him a huge amount of energy to return to life, and, obviously, his parents also spent a lot of energy on it. Dr. Sand fulfilled his promise and dedicated his life to helping others. I wonder if it will be counted on to him during the execution of the sentence.
A. Landsberg