Chapter 1 Love is life?

The other world is very interesting topic, which everyone thinks about at least once in their life. What happens to a person and his soul after death? Can he observe living people? These and many questions cannot but worry us. The most interesting thing is that there are many different theories about what happens to a person after death. Let's try to understand them and answer the questions that concern many people.

“Your body will die, but your soul will live forever”

Bishop Theophan the Recluse addressed these words in his letter to his dying sister. He, like other Orthodox priests, believed that only the body dies, but the soul lives forever. What is this connected with and how does religion explain it?

The Orthodox teaching about life after death is too large and voluminous, so we will consider only some of its aspects. First of all, in order to understand what happens to a person and his soul after death, it is necessary to find out what the purpose of all life on earth is. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, St. Apostle Paul mentions that every person must die someday, and after that there will be judgment. This is exactly what Jesus Christ did when he voluntarily surrendered to his enemies to die. Thus, he washed away the sins of many sinners and showed that the righteous, like him, would one day face resurrection. Orthodoxy believes that if life were not eternal, it would have no meaning. Then people would really live, not knowing why they would sooner or later die, there would be no point in doing good deeds. That is why the human soul is immortal. Jesus Christ opened the gates of the Heavenly Kingdom for Orthodox Christians and believers, and death is only the completion of preparation for a new life.

What is the soul

The human soul continues to live after death. She is the spiritual beginning of man. A mention of this can be found in Genesis (chapter 2), and it sounds approximately as follows: “God created man from the dust of the earth and blew the breath of life into his face. Now man has become a living soul.” Holy Bible“tells” us that a person is two-part. If the body can die, then the soul lives forever. She is a living entity, endowed with the ability to think, remember, feel. In other words, a person’s soul continues to live after death. She understands everything, feels and - most importantly - remembers.

Spiritual Vision

In order to make sure that the soul is really capable of feeling and understanding, you only need to remember cases when a person’s body died for some time, and the soul saw and understood everything. Similar stories can be read in a variety of sources, for example, K. Ikskul in his book “Incredible for many, but a true incident” describes what happens after death to a person and his soul. Everything that is written in the book is the personal experience of the author, who fell ill with a serious illness and experienced clinical death. Almost everything that can be read on this topic in various sources is very similar to each other.

People who have experienced clinical death describe it as a white, enveloping fog. Below you can see the body of the man himself, next to him are his relatives and doctors. It is interesting that the soul, separated from the body, can move in space and understands everything. Some argue that after the body ceases to show any signs of life, the soul passes through a long tunnel, at the end of which a bright light burns. White color. Then, usually over a period of time, the soul returns to the body and the heart begins to beat. What if a person dies? What then happens to him? What does the human soul do after death?

Meeting others like yourself

After the soul is separated from the body, it can see spirits, both good and bad. The interesting thing is that, as a rule, she is attracted to her own kind, and if during life any of the forces had an influence on her, then after death she will be attached to it. This period of time when the soul chooses its “company” is called the Private Court. It is then that it becomes completely clear whether this person’s life was in vain. If he fulfilled all the commandments, was kind and generous, then, undoubtedly, next to him there will be the same souls - kind and pure. The opposite situation is characterized by a society of fallen spirits. They will face eternal torment and suffering in hell.

First few days

It is interesting what happens after death to a person’s soul in the first few days, because this period is for it a time of freedom and enjoyment. It is in the first three days that the soul can move freely on earth. As a rule, she is near her relatives at this time. She even tries to talk to them, but it is difficult, because a person is not able to see and hear spirits. In rare cases, when the connection between people and the dead is very strong, they feel the presence of a soul mate nearby, but cannot explain it. For this reason, the burial of a Christian takes place exactly 3 days after death. In addition, it is this period that the soul needs in order to realize where it is now. It’s not easy for her, she may not have had time to say goodbye to anyone or say anything to anyone. Most often, a person is not ready for death, and he needs these three days to understand the essence of what is happening and say goodbye.

However, there are exceptions to every rule. For example, K. Ikskul began his journey to another world on the first day, because the Lord told him so. Most of the saints and martyrs were ready for death, and in order to move to another world, it took them only a few hours, because this was their main goal. Each case is completely different, and information comes only from those people who have experienced the “post-mortem experience” themselves. If we are not talking about clinical death, then everything can be completely different. Proof that in the first three days a person’s soul is on earth is also the fact that it is during this period of time that relatives and friends of the deceased feel their presence nearby.

Next stage

The next stage of transition to the afterlife is very difficult and dangerous. On the third or fourth day, trials await the soul - ordeal. There are about twenty of them, and all of them must be overcome so that the soul can continue its path. Ordeals are entire pandemoniums of evil spirits. They block the way and accuse her of sins. The Bible also talks about these trials. The mother of Jesus, the Most Pure and Reverend Mary, having learned about her imminent death from Archangel Gabriel, asked her son to deliver her from demons and ordeals. In response to her requests, Jesus said that after death he would take her by the hand to Heaven. And so it happened. This action can be seen on the icon “Assumption of the Virgin Mary”. On the third day, it is customary to pray fervently for the soul of the deceased, in this way you can help it pass all the tests.

What happens a month after death

After the soul has gone through the ordeal, it worships God and goes on a journey again. This time, hellish abysses and heavenly abodes await her. She watches how sinners suffer and how the righteous rejoice, but she does not yet have her own place. On the fortieth day, the soul is assigned a place where it, like everyone else, will await the Supreme Court. There is also information that only until the ninth day does the soul see the heavenly abodes and observe righteous souls who live in happiness and joy. The rest of the time (about a month) she has to watch the torment of sinners in hell. At this time, the soul cries, mourns and humbly awaits its fate. On the fortieth day, the soul is assigned a place where it will await the resurrection of all the dead.

Who goes where and

Of course, only the Lord God is omnipresent and knows exactly where the soul ends up after the death of a person. Sinners go to hell and spend time there waiting for even greater torment that will come after the Supreme Court. Sometimes such souls can come to friends and relatives in dreams, asking for help. You can help in such a situation by praying for a sinful soul and asking the Almighty for forgiveness of its sins. There are cases when sincere prayer for a deceased person really helped him move into better world. For example, in the 3rd century, the martyr Perpetua saw that the fate of her brother was like a filled pond that was located too high for him to reach. Days and nights she prayed for his soul and over time she saw him touch a pond and be transported to a bright, clean place. From the above, it becomes clear that the brother was pardoned and sent from hell to heaven. The righteous, thanks to the fact that they did not live their lives in vain, go to heaven and look forward to the Day of Judgment.

Teachings of Pythagoras

As mentioned earlier, there are a huge number of theories and myths regarding the afterlife. For many centuries, scientists and clergy studied the question: how to find out where a person ended up after death, looked for answers, argued, looked for facts and evidence. One of these theories was the teaching of Pythagoras about the transmigration of souls, the so-called reincarnation. Scientists such as Plato and Socrates shared the same opinion. A huge amount of information about reincarnation can be found in such a mystical movement as Kabbalah. Its essence is that the soul has a specific goal, or a lesson that it must go through and learn. If during life the person in whom this soul lives does not cope with this task, it is reborn.

What happens to the body after death? It dies and it is impossible to resurrect it, but the soul is looking for a new life. Another interesting thing about this theory is that, as a rule, all people who are related in a family are not connected by chance. More specifically, the same souls are constantly looking for each other and finding each other. For example, in past life your mother could be your daughter or even your spouse. Since the soul has no gender, it can have both a feminine and masculine principle, it all depends on what body it ends up in.

There is an opinion that our friends and soul mates are also kindred spirits who are karmically connected to us. There is one more nuance: for example, a son and father constantly have conflicts, no one wants to give in, until last days two loved ones are literally at war with each other. Most likely, in the next life, fate will bring these souls together again, as brother and sister or as husband and wife. This will continue until they both find a compromise.

Pythagorean square

Supporters of the Pythagorean theory are most often interested not in what happens to the body after death, but in what incarnation their soul lives and who they were in a past life. In order to find out these facts, a Pythagorean square was drawn up. Let's try to understand it with an example. Let's say you were born on December 3, 1991. You need to write down the received numbers on a line and carry out some manipulations with them.

1. It is necessary to add up all the numbers and get the main one: 3 + 1 + 2 + 1 + 9 + 9 + 1 = 26 - this will be the first number.
2. Next, you need to add the previous result: 2 + 6 = 8. This will be the second number.
3. In order to get the third, from the first it is necessary to subtract the double first digit of the date of birth (in our case, 03, we do not take zero, we subtract three times 2): 26 - 3 x 2 = 20.
4. The last number is obtained by adding the digits of the third working number: 2+0 = 2.

Now let’s write down the date of birth and the results obtained:

In order to find out what incarnation the soul lives in, it is necessary to count all the numbers except zeros. In our case, the soul of a person born on December 3, 1991 lives through the 12th incarnation. By composing a Pythagorean square from these numbers, you can find out what characteristics it has.

Some facts

Many, of course, are interested in the question: is there life after death? All world religions are trying to answer it, but there is still no clear answer. Instead, in some sources you can find some Interesting Facts regarding this topic. Of course, it cannot be said that the statements that will be given below are dogma. These are most likely just some interesting thoughts on this topic.

What is death

It is difficult to answer the question of whether there is life after death without finding out the main signs of this process. In medicine, this concept refers to stopping breathing and heartbeat. But we should not forget that these are signs of the death of the human body. On the other hand, there is information that the mummified body of the monk-priest continues to show all signs of life: soft tissues are pressed, joints bend, and a fragrance emanates from it. Some mummified bodies even grow nails and hair, which perhaps confirms the fact that certain biological processes do occur in the deceased body.

What happens a year after death? ordinary person? Of course, the body decomposes.

Finally

Taking into account all of the above, we can say that the body is just one of the shells of a person. In addition to it, there is also a soul - an eternal substance. Almost all world religions agree that after the death of the body, the human soul still lives, some believe that it is reborn in another person, and others believe that it lives in Heaven, but, one way or another, it continues to exist . All thoughts, feelings, emotions are the spiritual sphere of a person, which lives despite physical death. Thus, it can be considered that life after death exists, but it is no longer interconnected with the physical body.

One of the main questions for everyone remains the question of what awaits us after death. For thousands of years, unsuccessful attempts have been made to unravel this mystery. Apart from guesswork, there are real facts confirming that death is not the end of the human journey.

Exists a large number of videos about paranormal phenomena that have taken the Internet by storm. But even in this case, there are a lot of skeptics who say that the videos can be faked. It is difficult to disagree with them, because a person is not inclined to believe in what he cannot see with his own eyes.

There are many stories about how people returned from the other world when they were near death. How to perceive such cases is a matter of faith. However, often even the most inveterate skeptics changed themselves and their lives when faced with situations that cannot be explained using logic.

Religion about death

The vast majority of the world's religions have teachings about what awaits us after death. The most common is the doctrine of Heaven and Hell. Sometimes it is supplemented by an intermediate link: “walking” through the world of the living after death. Some peoples believe that such a fate awaits suicides and those who have not completed something important on this Earth.

A similar concept is seen in many religions. Despite all the differences, they have one thing in common: everything is tied to good and bad, and a person’s posthumous state depends on how he behaved during life. The religious description of the afterlife cannot be written off. Life after death exists - inexplicable facts confirm this.

One day something amazing happened to a priest who was the rector of the Baptist Church in the United States of America. A man was driving his car home from a meeting about building a new church when a truck came towards him. The accident could not be avoided. The collision was so strong that the man fell into a coma for some time.

Arrived soon ambulance, but it was too late. The man's heart didn't beat. Doctors confirmed the cardiac arrest with a second test. They had no doubt that the man was dead. Around the same time, the police arrived at the scene of the accident. Among the officers there was a Christian who saw a cross in the priest’s pocket. He immediately noticed his clothes and realized who was in front of him. He could not send God's servant on his final journey without prayer. He said words of prayer as he climbed into the dilapidated car and took the hand of the man whose heart was not beating. While reading the lines, he heard a subtle groan, which shocked him. He checked his pulse again and realized that he could clearly feel the blood pulsing. Later, when the man miraculously recovered and began to live his old life, this story became popular. Perhaps the man really returned from the other world to complete important matters at the behest of God. One way or another, they could not give a scientific explanation for this, because the heart cannot start on its own.

The priest himself said more than once in his interviews that he saw only the white light and nothing else. He could have taken advantage of the situation and said that the Lord himself spoke to him or that he saw angels, but he did not do this. A couple of reporters claimed that when asked what the man saw in this afterlife dream, he smiled discreetly and his eyes filled with tears. Perhaps he really saw something hidden, but did not want to make it public.

When people are in a short coma, their brain does not have time to die during this time. That is why it is worth paying attention to the numerous stories that people, being between life and death, saw a light so bright that even through closed eyes it seeps through as if the eyelids were transparent. One hundred percent of people came back to life and reported that the light began to move away from them. Religion interprets this very simply - their time has not yet come. A similar light was seen by the wise men approaching the cave where Jesus Christ was born. This is the glow of heaven afterlife. No one saw angels or God, but felt the touch of higher powers.

Another thing is dreams. Scientists have proven that we can dream anything that our brain can imagine. In a word, dreams are not limited by anything. It happens that people see their dead relatives in their dreams. If 40 days have not passed since death, this means that the person actually spoke to you from the afterlife. Unfortunately, dreams cannot be analyzed objectively from two points of view - scientific and religious-esoteric, because it’s all about sensations. You may dream about God, angels, heaven, hell, ghosts and whatever you want, but you don’t always feel that the meeting was real. It happens that in dreams we remember deceased grandparents or parents, but only occasionally does a real spirit come to someone in a dream. We all understand that it will be impossible to prove our feelings, so no one spreads their impressions further than outside the family circle. Those who believe in the afterlife, and even those who doubt it, wake up after such dreams with a completely different view of the world. Spirits can predict the future, which has happened more than once in history. They can show dissatisfaction, joy, sympathy.

There are quite famous story which occurred in Scotland in the early 70s of the 20th century with an ordinary builder. A residential building was being built in Edinburgh. Norman McTagert, who was 32 years old, worked at the construction site. He fell with quite high altitude, lost consciousness and fell into a coma for a day. Shortly before this, he dreamed of falling. After he woke up, he told what he saw in the coma. According to the man, it was a long journey because he wanted to wake up, but he couldn’t. First he saw that same blinding bright light, and then he met his mother, who said that she had always wanted to become a grandmother. The most interesting thing is that as soon as he regained consciousness, his wife told him about the most pleasant news that was possible - Norman was going to become a dad. The woman found out about her pregnancy on the day of the tragedy. The man had serious health problems, but he not only survived, but also continued to work and feed his family.

At the end of the 90s, something very unusual happened in Canada.. The doctor on duty at one of the Vancouver hospitals was taking calls and filling out paperwork, but then she saw a little boy in white night pajamas. He shouted from the other end of the emergency room: “Tell my mom not to worry about me.” The girl was afraid that one of the patients had left the room, but then she saw how the boy walked through closed doors hospital. His house was a couple of minutes from the hospital. That's where he ran. The doctor was alarmed by the fact that it was three o'clock in the morning. She decided that she had to catch up with the boy at all costs, because even if he was not a patient, she needed to report him to the police. She ran after him for just a couple of minutes until the child ran into the house. The girl began to ring the doorbell, after which the mother of that same boy opened the door for her. She said that it was impossible for her son to leave the house, because he was very ill. She burst into tears and went into the room where the child lay in his crib. It turned out that the boy had died. The story received great resonance in society.

In the brutal Second World War one private Frenchman spent almost two hours firing back at the enemy during a battle in the city . Next to him was a man of about 40 years old, who covered him on the other side. It is impossible to imagine how great the surprise of an ordinary soldier in the French army was, who turned in that direction to say something to his partner, but realized that he had disappeared. A few minutes later, screams of approaching allies were heard, rushing to help. He and several other soldiers ran out to meet help, but the mysterious partner was not among them. He searched for him by name and rank, but never found the same fighter. Perhaps it was his guardian angel. Doctors say that in such stressful situations, mild hallucinations are possible, but talking with a man for an hour and a half cannot be called an ordinary mirage.

There are quite a lot of similar stories about life after death. Some of them are confirmed by eyewitnesses, but doubters still call it a fake and try to find scientific justification for people’s actions and their visions.

Real facts about the afterlife

Since ancient times, there have been cases where people saw ghosts. First they were photographed and then filmed. Some people think that this is an edit, but later they are personally convinced of the veracity of the pictures. Numerous stories cannot be considered proof of the existence of life after death, so people need evidence and scientific facts.

Fact one: Many have heard that after death a person becomes exactly 22 grams lighter. Scientists cannot explain this phenomenon in any way. Many believers tend to believe that 22 grams is the weight of the human soul. Many experiments were carried out that ended with the same result - the body became lighter by a certain amount. Why is the main question. People's skepticism cannot be eradicated, so many hope that an explanation will be found, but this is unlikely to happen. Ghosts can be seen by the human eye, hence their "body" has mass. Obviously, everything that has some kind of outline must be at least partly physical. Ghosts exist in greater dimensions than us. There are 4 of them: height, width, length and time. Ghosts have no control over time from the point of view from which we see it.

Fact two: The air temperature near ghosts decreases. This is typical, by the way, not only for the souls of dead people, but also for the so-called brownies. All this is the result of the action of the afterlife in reality. When a person dies, the temperature around him immediately drops sharply, literally for an instant. This indicates that the soul leaves the body. The temperature of the soul is approximately 5-7 degrees Celsius, as measurements show. During paranormal phenomena, the temperature also changes, so scientists have proven that this happens not only during immediate death, but also afterwards. The soul has a certain radius of influence around itself. Many horror films use this fact to bring the filming closer to reality. Many people confirm that when they felt the movement of a ghost or some entity near them, they felt very cold.

Here is an example of a paranormal video that features real ghosts.

The authors claim that this is not a joke, and experts who watched this collection say that approximately half of all such videos are the real truth. Particularly noteworthy is the part of this video where the girl is pushed by a ghost in the bathroom. Experts report that physical contact is possible and absolutely real, and the video is not fake. Almost all pictures of furniture moving may be true. The problem is that it is very easy to fake such a video, but in the moment where the chair next to the sitting girl began to move by itself, there was no acting. There are very, very many such cases around the world, but there are no fewer of those who just want to promote their video and become famous. Distinguishing fake from truth is difficult, but possible.

Find out if there is life in the Universe other than Earth. Here you will find comments from other users about whether there is life in heaven, whether there is other life in the Galaxy, whether there are other forms of life.

Answer:

Many religions teach us that after death, life continues, only in heaven. Including Christianity. Whether there is life in the Universe is another question, which, however, interests people no less.

People have been confident in the existence of God throughout their history. This conclusion was reached by billions of inhabitants of our planet with different social status, in different emotional states, different mindsets. What is the chance that each of them could be wrong? Even anthropological research confirms that a universal belief in God existed even in the most primitive communities.

Is there life beyond the boundaries of our ordinary existence? This can be proven by the sheer complexity of the structure of our planet. It can be assumed that God not only created it, but also tries to maintain life. Apart from the Earth, it is not yet known what exactly he may be responsible for.

And only a mind superior to human could create our own so complex and multifaceted. After all, in a second we are able to process information in huge quantities. So far, science has not yet found an exact explanation for everything that happens in our heads.

Is there other life in space?

Surely every person, and more than once, asked himself the question, is there life on Venus and Saturn, on the Sun and on Jupiter? Scientists have been conducting numerous studies for many years, trying to find signs of life, at least small. Their solar neighbors are of primary interest to them, just as they are to us.

The greenhouse effect and powerful atmosphere forced scientists to call Venus the sister of the Earth. Many astronomers are confident that there used to be seas and oceans here, although now the surface is rocky and deserted. Is there other life on this planet? Hopes are unlikely to come true, because the atmosphere itself is now not very suitable for living forms.

On Jupiter, according to scientists, intelligent life is also practically impossible. Largely due to the fact that the planet is practically devoid of rocky surface, hurricanes constantly rage on it. But the satellites of this planet are of much more interest. Because they are most similar to our native Earth.

But researchers do not exclude the presence of simple organisms on Saturn. Sedimentary organic matter and water ice predominate on its surface, but this does not force us to completely abandon the idea of ​​​​the development of living life forms in precisely such conditions.

Are there other forms of life?

People have always been interested in whether there are other forms of life in the Galaxy, in Space, in addition to those that we encounter on our Earth. The search for evidence of this theory began from the very moment research expeditions into space became available to us. After the first flights, we began to launch special devices in order to conduct research.

Many experts say that somewhere in the depths of the Universe, the existence of at least 9 more civilizations is possible. Three of them are noticeably behind us in terms of development, three are at approximately the same level as us, and three more are superior.

Modern science is not yet ready to completely exclude the existence of other life forms, which may also be similar to us. Conclusions about the existence of other forms of life can be drawn even from the concept that our Universe is infinite.

Representatives of a civilization who are on an identical branch of evolution may turn out to be similar to us.

Amino acids and hydrocarbons found in one of the meteorites studied by NASA experts are considered irrefutable evidence of organic life forms in space. It is believed that all life in the Universe is based on these elements.

Nikolai Viktorovich Levashov in the early 90s of the 20th century described in detail and accurately what Life (living matter) is, how and where it appears; what conditions must be on planets for the origin of life; what is memory; how and where it functions; what is Reason; what are the necessary and sufficient conditions for the appearance of Mind in living matter; what emotions are and what their role is in the evolutionary development of Man, and much more. He proved inevitability and pattern appearance of Life on any planet on which the corresponding conditions simultaneously occur. For the first time, he accurately and clearly showed what Man really is, how and why he is embodied in a physical body, and what happens to him after the inevitable death of this body. has long given comprehensive answers to the questions posed by the author in this article. Nevertheless, quite sufficient arguments have been collected here indicating that modern science knows practically nothing about either Man or real the structure of the World in which we all live...

There is life after death!

Sight modern science: does the soul exist, and is Consciousness immortal?

Every person who has encountered the death of a loved one asks the question: is there life after death? Nowadays, this issue is of particular relevance. If several centuries ago the answer to this question was obvious to everyone, now, after a period of atheism, its solution is more difficult. We cannot simply believe hundreds of generations of our ancestors, who, through personal experience, century after century, were convinced that man has an immortal soul. We want to have facts. Moreover, the facts are scientific. From school they tried to convince us that there is no God, there is no immortal soul. At the same time, we were told that this is what he says. And we believed... Note that exactly believed that there is no immortal soul, believed that this is supposedly proven by science, believed that there is no God. None of us has even tried to figure out what impartial science says about the soul. We simply trusted certain authorities, without particularly going into the details of their worldview, objectivity and interpretation of scientific facts.

And now, when the tragedy happened, there is a conflict within us. We feel that the soul of the deceased is eternal, that it is alive, but on the other hand, the old stereotypes instilled in us that there is no soul drag us into the abyss of despair. This struggle within us is very difficult and very exhausting. We want the truth!

So let's look at the question of the existence of the soul through real, non-ideologized, objective science. Let's hear the opinions of real scientists on this issue and personally evaluate the logical calculations. It is not our FAITH in the existence or non-existence of the soul, but only KNOWLEDGE that can extinguish this internal conflict, preserve our strength, give confidence, look at the tragedy from a different, real point of view.

The article will talk about Consciousness. We will analyze the question of Consciousness from the point of view of science: where is Consciousness located in our body and can it stop its life?

What is Consciousness?

First, about what Consciousness is in general. People have thought about this question throughout the history of mankind, but still cannot come to a final decision. We know only some of the properties and possibilities of consciousness. Consciousness is awareness of oneself, one’s personality, it is a great analyzer of all our feelings, emotions, desires, plans. Consciousness is what sets us apart, what makes us feel that we are not objects, but individuals. In other words, Consciousness miraculously reveals our fundamental existence. Consciousness is our awareness of our “I”, but at the same time Consciousness is a great mystery. Consciousness has no dimensions, no form, no color, no smell, no taste; it cannot be touched or turned in your hands. Even though we know very little about consciousness, we know with absolute certainty that we have it.

One of the main questions of humanity is the question of the nature of this very Consciousness (soul, “I”, ego). Materialism and idealism have diametrically opposed views on this issue. From point of view materialism Human Consciousness is the substrate of the brain, a product of matter, a product of biochemical processes, a special fusion of nerve cells. From point of view idealism Consciousness is the ego, “I”, spirit, soul - an immaterial, invisible, eternally existing, non-dying energy that spiritualizes the body. Acts of consciousness always involve a subject who is actually aware of everything.

If you are interested in purely religious ideas about the soul, then it will not provide any evidence of the existence of the soul. The doctrine of the soul is a dogma and is not subject to scientific proof. There are absolutely no explanations, much less evidence, for materialists who believe that they are impartial scientists (although this is far from the case).

But how do most people, who are equally far from religion, from philosophy, and from science too, imagine this Consciousness, soul, “I”? Let's ask ourselves, what is “I”?

Gender, name, profession and other role functions

The first thing that comes to mind for most is: “I am a person”, “I am a woman (man)”, “I am a businessman (turner, baker)”, “I am Tanya (Katya, Alexey)”, “I am a wife ( husband, daughter)”, etc. These are certainly funny answers. Your individual, unique “I” cannot be defined general concepts. There are a huge number of people in the world with the same characteristics, but they are not your “I”. Half of them are women (men), but they are not “I” either, people with the same professions seem to have their own “I”, not yours, the same can be said about wives (husbands), people of different professions, social status , nationalities, religion, etc. No affiliation with any group will explain to you what your individual “I” represents, because Consciousness is always personal. I am not qualities (qualities only belong to our “I”), because the qualities of the same person can change, but his “I” will remain unchanged.

Mental and physiological characteristics

Some say that their "I" are their reflexes, their behavior, their individual ideas and preferences, their psychological characteristics and so on. In fact, this cannot be the core of the personality, which is called “I”. Why? Because throughout life, behavior, ideas, preferences, and, especially, psychological characteristics change. It cannot be said that if these features were different before, then it was not my “I”.

Realizing this, some people make the following argument: “I am my individual body”. This is already more interesting. Let's examine this assumption as well. Everyone knows from a school anatomy course that the cells of our body are gradually renewed throughout life. Old ones die (apoptosis), and new ones are born. Some cells (the epithelium of the gastrointestinal tract) are completely renewed almost every day, but there are cells that go through their life cycle much longer. On average, every 5 years all the cells of the body are renewed. If we consider the “I” to be a simple collection of human cells, then the result will be absurd. It turns out that if a person lives, for example, 70 years, during this time all the cells in his body will change at least 10 times (i.e. 10 generations). Could this mean that not one person, but 10 different people lived their 70-year life? Isn't that pretty stupid? We conclude that “I” cannot be a body, because the body is not permanent, but “I” is permanent. This means that the “I” cannot be either the qualities of cells or their totality.

But here the particularly erudite give a counter-argument: “Okay, with bones and muscles it’s clear, this really cannot be the “I”, but there are nerve cells! And they are alone for the rest of their lives. Maybe “I” is the sum of nerve cells?”

Let's think about this question together...

Does consciousness consist of nerve cells? Materialism is accustomed to decomposing the entire multidimensional world into mechanical components, “testing harmony with algebra” (A.S. Pushkin). The most naive misconception of militant materialism regarding personality is the idea that personality is a set of biological qualities. However, the combination of impersonal objects, be they even neurons, cannot give rise to a personality and its core - the “I”.

How can this most complex “I”, feeling, capable of experiences, love, be simply the sum of specific cells of the body, along with the ongoing biochemical and bioelectric processes? How might these processes shape the self? Provided that nerve cells constituted our “I”, then we would lose part of our “I” every day. With each dead cell, with each neuron, the “I” would become smaller and smaller. With cell restoration, it would increase in size.

Scientific studies conducted in different countries of the world prove that nerve cells, like all other cells of the human body, are capable of regeneration (restoration). This is what the most serious international biological journal writes: Nature: “Employees of the Californian Institute for Biological Research. Salk discovered that in the brains of adult mammals, fully functional young cells are born that function on a par with existing neurons. Professor Frederick Gage and his colleagues also concluded that brain tissue renews itself most rapidly in physically active animals...”

This is confirmed by publication in another authoritative, peer-reviewed biological journal Science: "Within two recent years Researchers have found that nerve and brain cells are renewed, like others in the human body. The body is capable of repairing disorders related to the nervous tract itself.”, says scientist Helen M. Blon."

Thus, even with a complete change of all (including nerve) cells of the body, the “I” of a person remains the same, therefore, it does not belong to the constantly changing material body.

For some reason, in our time it is so difficult to prove what was obvious and understandable to the ancients. The Roman Neoplatonist philosopher Plotinus, who lived in the 3rd century, wrote: “It is absurd to assume that, since not one of the parts has life, then life can be created by their totality... moreover, it is completely impossible for life to be produced by an accumulation of parts, and that the mind was generated by that which is devoid of mind. If anyone objects that this is not so, but that in fact the soul is formed by atoms coming together, that is, bodies indivisible into parts, then he will be refuted by the fact that the atoms themselves only lie one next to the other, not forming a living whole, for unity and joint feeling cannot be obtained from bodies that are insensitive and incapable of unification; but the soul feels itself” (1).

“I” is the unchanging core of personality, which includes many variables but is not itself a variable.

A skeptic can put forward a last desperate argument: “Maybe “I” is the brain?” Is Consciousness a product of brain activity? What does he say?

Many people heard the fairy tale about the fact that our Consciousness is the activity of the brain in school. The idea that the brain is essentially a person with his “I” is extremely widespread. Most people think that it is the brain that perceives information from the world around us, processes it and decides how to act in each specific case; they think that it is the brain that makes us alive and gives us personality. And the body is nothing more than a spacesuit that ensures the activity of the central nervous system.

But this tale has nothing to do with science. The brain is currently being studied in depth. The chemical composition, parts of the brain, and the connections of these parts with human functions have been well studied for a long time. The brain organization of perception, attention, memory, and speech has been studied. Functional blocks of the brain have been studied. A huge number of clinics and research centers have been studying the human brain for more than a hundred years, for which expensive, effective equipment has been developed. But, opening any textbooks, monographs, scientific journals on neurophysiology or neuropsychology, you will not find scientific data about the connection of the brain with Consciousness.

For people far from this field of knowledge, this seems surprising. In fact, there is nothing surprising about this. Just no one ever didn't find it connections between the brain and the very center of our personality, our “I”. Of course, materialist scientists have always wanted this. Thousands of studies and millions of experiments have been conducted, many billions of dollars have been spent on this. The efforts of scientists were not in vain. Thanks to these studies, the parts of the brain themselves were discovered and studied, their connection with physiological processes was established, a lot was done to understand neurophysiological processes and phenomena, but the most important thing was not achieved. It was not possible to find the place in the brain that is our “I”. It was not even possible, despite extremely active work in this direction, to make a serious assumption about how the brain can be connected with our Consciousness?..

There is life after death!

English researchers Peter Fenwick from the London Institute of Psychiatry and Sam Parnia from Southampton Central Clinic came to the same conclusions. They examined patients who returned to life after cardiac arrest and found that some of them exactly recounted the contents of conversations conducted by medical personnel while they were in a state. Others gave exact a description of the events that occurred during this time period.

Sam Parnia argues that the brain, like any other organ of the human body, is composed of cells and is not capable of thinking. However, it can work as a thought detecting device, i.e. like an antenna, with the help of which it becomes possible to receive a signal from the outside. Scientists have suggested that during clinical death, Consciousness, acting independently of the brain, uses it as a screen. Like a television receiver, which first receives the waves entering it, and then converts them into sound and image.

If we turn off the radio, this does not mean that the radio station stops broadcasting. That is, after the death of the physical body, Consciousness continues to live.

The fact of the continuation of the life of Consciousness after the death of the body is confirmed by Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Director of the Research Institute of the Human Brain, Professor N.P. Bekhterev in her book “The Magic of the Brain and the Labyrinths of Life.” In addition to discussing purely scientific issues, in this book the author also provides his personal experience encounters with post-mortem phenomena.