Light After Life

Konstantin Korotkov, PhD, Professor

All the images taken from the open sources.

PREFACE [3]

Part I. DEATH DOES NOT EXIST [5]

PROLOGUE [5]

The soul in afterlife—beliefs in ancient cultures [6]

Spiritual life after death according to the Bible [11]

Evolution of the concept of death in European history [14]

Eastern Orthodox Church on afterlife [19]

Works written in the twentieth century on the issue of spiritual life [23]

XX Century Scientific views on the issues of immortality [27]

Response of the Orthodox Church to contemporary contributions [33]

PROCESSES OCCURRING TO A PHYSICAL BODY AFTER DEATH [36]

MOUNTAINEERING DIARY [40]

Part II. THE EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE [65]

ANALYSIS of the EXPERIMENTAL DATA [70]

Our Sensations [74]

FLIGHT OF IMAGINATION ON THE WINGS OF EXPERIMENTAL DATA [79]

THOUGHTS ON ETERNITY [84]

A BIT OF PHILOSOPHY [91]

CONCLUSION [97]

## PREFACE

> However long you may think your existence may be, eternal

> Only Death remains.

> Lucretius

This book discusses one of the important for every person questions: What is Life and Death? What will be after Death? Does Afterlife exist? All nations, all civilizations for millenniums created their answers to these questions, and up till now we do not have an answer. What is Immortality? Is it immortality of a body, of degradation flash, or we need to think of immortality of a Spirit, of immortality of the human creations, the highest achievements of human civilization? Do not you feel the spirit of Michelangelo being in Sistine Chapel? Do not you feel the spirit of Verdi listening to Aida? In some places we may feel the presence of spirits at every step, in every old building and in every museum – you need only to be sensitive and tune yourself to the field of subtle energies. And what is important – now we can measure a lot of these influences. We can measure the influence of old paintings, the influence of ancient buildings and the influence of human Spirit. Several examples you will find in this book.

Our first set of observations was performed in 1993. Since that time our results were widely discussed in journals and newspapers published both in Russia and in Europe. In 1994 book Light after Life was first published in St. Petersburg. At large congresses practically in all European countries, USA and South Americas the results of our study were the subject of long and fruitful discussions with scientists of many different specializations: physics, biology and medicine, including some leading pathologists. At all times we encountered interested and attentive response. The general opinion was that the study has launched a new stage in the investigation of the deepest, most basic questions of our existence, taking the next step in bringing together ancient esoteric perceptions and modern science.

Data discussed in this book were repeatedly reproduced both by us and by other explorers. The main results and conclusions were confirmed. The item of continuation and development of the study of post-mortal states, as well as the process of transfer from life to death itself comes to the agenda.

At the same time, all these years brought some new achievements. First of all, the hardware was immensely enhanced: a totally new generator for visualization has been developed, giving us better stability, repeatability and convenience in observational setup. The same equipment, now manufactured in larger numbers, is used in many research centers in various countries. On this basis, a device for computer registration of integral high-frequency currents has been developed, making it possible to study the dynamics of changes in energy-information state of an organism. The equipment for direct input of Kirlian images into computer, based on modern optics and CCD sensors was developed in 1995 and since then became very popular in medicine and material testing. The name of this new line is Electrophotonic Imaging (EPI) or Gas Discharge Visualization (GDV). This instrument opens up a new page in the history of bioelectrography: it enables the images to be registered in broad daylight and be processed in real-time with all the might of modern computer technology. A special elaborate software has been developed too, helping build up a system for diagnostics of functional condition of a person and monitoring its responses to different influences, treatment and meditation that enabled us to get some new interesting results, a lot of which have been published.

I would like to express my gratitude to all those who helped me in preparation and conducting of these observations, and especially to Helge Savolainen, whose moral and financial support was seminal in helping to start all this work.

Saint Petersburg, 1995

Preface to the new edition

This book has stood the test of time. It has been translated into many languages and remains as relevant as ever. I am confident that you will find it worthwhile and we will not waste our time– I for revising it, you for reading it.

Sincerely, Konstantin Korotkov.

2024

## Part I. DEATH DOES NOT EXIST

> Wherever I be born, there and then,

> Let it come that I meet the Conquerors,

> The peaceful and the wrathful deities;

> Being able to walk and to talk as soon as [I am] born,

> Let it come that I obtain the non-forgetting intellect

> And remember my past life.

"The Tibetan Book of the Dead'

## PROLOGUE

Is there life after death? This question has been around for ages. It does not rise and fall with current fashions and big advertising campaigns. From time immemorial—ever since our species evolved into thinking creatures worthy of the name Homo Sapiens—this problem has been of the most basic and common concern. In studying the customs, rites and beliefs of primitive cultures the anthropologist always finds detailed constructions of the underworld, the place of departed spirits of the dead. Magicians and shamans, wizards and sorcerers, our liaisons with the intangible, are supposed to be able to travel to the underworld regularly so as to come into contact with the deities and the ancestors' spirits.

## The soul in afterlife—beliefs in ancient cultures

Ancients saw a multitude of deities and creatures taking care of the spirits in the underworld, two opposites were emphasized in most religions. They were light and darkness, reward and punishment, paradise and purgatory.

Ancient Egyptians worshipped Osiris as the god of the dead, placing him at the top of the Egyptian pantheon. In the land of the dead, the Ialu Fields, Osiris warmly welcomed the souls of the just. As the god of the dead Osiris enjoyed great popularity among the living, for he gave his devotees the hope of an eternally happy life in another world ruled by a just and good king. Isis, in the Osirian myth, represents the rich plains of Egypt. One who dies is led into the judgment hall by Anubis who then weighs the dead man's heart while Amemait, the Devourer, looks on anxiously. Amemait, eternally hungry monster with the trunk of hippopotamus, paws of a lion, and the maw of a crocodile, was handed the guiltiest hearts. On the other hand, whenever a favorable judgment is rendered the deceased departs victorious. From then on, he will lead a life of eternal happiness in the kingdom of Osiris.

In Egyptian mythology, the human being consists of eight substances: Name, Body, Shadow (also the source of sexuality), Glow, Living Force, and Immortal Part of the Soul Bah. The person dies when Bah, a falcon with a human head, leaves the deceased's body through the mouth. A person is reincarnated when Bah returns to the mummy. This was the very reason for mummification: to preserve the body for the return of Bah [Rahk, 1993].

In Assyrian-Babylonian mythology, queen Ereshkigal, also called the Star of Lamentation, and king Nergal were the rulers of the underworld.

Among other infernal deities we meet the divinities of Aztecs who believed in an upper world where the heavenly powers reside, a low world of the dead, and a central world lived in by men and spirits. The underworld was ruled by the infernal deities; Mictlantecuhtli and his wife Mictanchihuatl governed the nine underground rivers and the souls of the dead.

In Indian mythology, the judge of men and king of the invisible world was Yama—the guide to everyone who ventures into the next world. In his kingdom, friend is restored to friend, wife to husband, child to parents, and all become tranquil, since they are relieved of the ills of earthly existence. Upon death, one's sight rises up to the sun, breath to the wind, speech to the fire, blood to the water. Having left the shell of flesh, the soul lingers for a while, until it is carried away by the Wheel of Transmigration.

Chinese mythology allows the soul a much shorter life. Kuei, the vital force, joins the earth immediately upon death, and Shen, the essential personal element, stays for a longer time, but then disintegrates as well.

The Tibetan Book of the Dead deserves a more detailed treatment because it is a fairly complete account of the eastern view on post-mortal existence. The Tibetan Book of the Dead, or Bardo Thodol is a sacred book of litanies to be recited by the lama over the body of the deceased for 49 days after death with the intention of helping the soul of the deceased overcome the difficulties of afterlife existence and seeing it through either to Nirvana or to the next incarnation. Bardo Thodol literally means "Liberation by Hearing on the After-Death Plane", and implies yogic method of coming forth into Nirvanic Liberation, beyond the Cycle of Birth and Death. Less literally, the Book contains instructions for the living, teaching them to be prepared for the inevitable exit from this world. The instructions help us with the transfer of conscience so as to free the flux of life from the burden of the dying body, thus reaching fullest possible consciousness after death, to be in the state of awareness when we face the original Light and step onto the Great Rising Road leading to the Dharma-Kai of non-birth, or at least to a favorable succeeding re-birth.

"To be born as a human being is a privilege, according to Buddha's teachings, because it offers the rare opportunity of liberation through one's own decisive effort, through a "turning about in the deepest seat of consciousness". If the disciple has learned, as the Bardo Thodol directs, to identify him or herself with the Eternal, the Dharma, the Imperishable Light of Buddahood within, the fears of death will be dissolved like a cloud of mist before the rising sun. Then the disciple knows that whatever he may see, hear, or feel, in the hour of his departure from this life, is but a reflection of his own conscious and subconscious mental content; and no mind-created illusion can then wield power over him if he knows its origin and is able to recognize it. The illusory Bardo visions vary, in keeping with the religious or cultural tradition in which the percipient has grown up, but their underlying motive-power is the same in all human beings. Thus it is that the profound psychology set forth by the Bardo Thodol constitutes an important contribution to our knowledge of the human mind and the path that leads beyond it. Under the guise of a science of death, Bardo Thodol reveals the secret of life; and therein lies its spiritual value and its universal appeal. " (Govinda, 1960).

The text falls into three parts. The first part, called Chikhai Bardo, is a description of the phenomena taking place in the mind at the time of dying. The second part, or Chonyid Bardo, describes the dream-like state immediately following the arrival of death and consisting of 'karmic illusions'. The third part, or Sidpa Bardo, deals with incarnation, beginning with the instinct for rebirth and describing the events preceding the reincarnation, or rebirth. Apart from the three Bardo of death, the manuscript covers the three Bardos of life. Bardo of the Belly, when we are carried in our mother's womb; Bardo of Sleep, when experiencing a recollection of oneself in one's dreams; and Bardo of Mystic Enlightenment, when, in the waking state we forgets ourselves without losing consciousness.

Brilliant mystic images represented in the Book of the Dead are deeply laden with psychological wisdom of the soul's perception of our karmic essence as human beings. This thought was brilliantly expressed by Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) in his remarkable commentary on the Tibetan Book of the Dead (Jung, 1960).

"...the Bardo Thodol offers one an intelligible philosophy addressed to human beings rather than to gods or primitive savages. Its philosophy contains the quintessence of Buddhist psychological criticism; and, as such, one can truly say that it is of an unexampled superiority. Not only the 'wrathful' but also the peaceful' deities are conceived as projections of the human psyche, an idea that seems all too obvious to the enlightened European, because it reminds him of his own banal simplifications...

Metaphysical assertions, however, are statements of the psyche, and therefore psychological...

It is the soul which, by the divine creative power inherent in it, makes the metaphysical assertion; it posits the distinctions between metaphysical entities. Not only is it the condition of all metaphysical reality, it is that reality..

"O nobly-born (so and so), listen. Now thou art experiencing the Radiance of the Clear Light of Pure Reality. Recognize it. О nobly-born, thy present intellect, in real nature void, not formed into anything as regards characteristics or color, naturally void, is the very Reality, the All-Good.

Thine own intellect, which is now voidness, yet not to be regarded as of the voidness of nothingness, but as being the intellect itself, unobstructed, shining, thrilling, and blissful, is the very consciousness, the All-good Buddha.'

...The fullness of its discriminative manifestations still lies latent in the soul." The text continues:

'Thine own consciousness, shining, void, and inseparable from the Great Body of Radiance, hath no birth, nor death, and is the Immutable Light—Buddha Amitbha.' The soul (or, as here, one's own consciousness) is assuredly not small, but the radiant Godhead itself. The West finds this statement either very dangerous, if not downright blasphemous, or else accepts it unthinkingly and then suffers from a theosophical inflation. Somehow we always have a wrong attitude to these things. But if we can master ourselves far enough to refrain from our chief error of always wanting to do something with things and put them to practical use, we may perhaps succeed in learning an important lesson from these teaching, or at least in appreciating the greatness of the Bardo Thodol, which vouchsafes to the dead man the ultimate and highest truth, that even the gods are the radiance and reflection of our own souls..." (Jung, 1960).

The above passages illustrate one aspect of the sacred book, an aspect of great importance in the context of the present discussion, because it is characteristic of the Oriental approach to the understanding of human soul.

In other sacred books, such as the Egyptian Book of the Dead, similar approaches can be found, though often without a profound philosophical analysis. The Egyptian Book of the Dead relates to us the wanderings of the soul pending judgment by Osiris. Egyptians use the same principle to recognize the divine essence upon encounter with a Deity in the infernal kingdom. Both books state the necessity to integrate with the One you see through your mind's eye. The difference is that in the Tibetan book, the Sign (Deity) appears first and must be recognized in order to become it. In the Egyptian book, the Soul must first become a Deity (a Sign) from the very start to avoid being extinguished. Entry into the Kingdom of Osiris and presentment to the sovereign judge is otherwise impossible.

Thus, from the point of view of the Eastern eschatology (the branch of theology concerned with death, resurrection and immortality), the ultimate creator of the world's fate is the individual, whose rebirths and existence in both worlds, depend entirely upon his actions, thoughts and decisions, and upon his karma, which is the product of a person's actions during the successive phases of existence. The ultimate creator of his own circumstance, the individual makes or breaks each possibility. This point of view parallels the Christian doctrine, which teaches that the soul's afterlife depends upon the manner of the individual's earthly life, which is essential in the context of the results we have obtained.

Finally, the Great Religions—Brahmanism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which have spread across frontiers, races, or languages—are the quintessence of all ancient beliefs. They all tell of existence after earthly life, though they tell different tales.

"Christianity, in its orthodox form, rejects the most ancient and widespread belief of the Ktiklos genesen, or Sansara, or 'Reincarnation', and admits one universe only—this, the first and the last—and two lives, one here in the natural body and one hereafter in the body of Resurrection... The need of some body always exists, except for the non-dualist who believes in a bodiless Liberation (Videha) and each of the religions affirms that there is a subtle and death-surviving element—vital and physical—in the physical body of flesh and blood, whether it be a permanent entity or Self, such as the Brahmanic Atma, the Moslem Ruh, and the Christian Soul, or whether it be only a complex of activities (or Skandha,), psychical and physical, with life as their function—a complex of continual change, and, therefore, a series of psychical and physical momentary states, successively generated the one from the other, a continuous transformation, as the Buddhist are said to hold. Thus to none of these Faiths is death an absolute ending, but to all it is only the separation of the Psyche from the gross body. The former then enters on a new life, whilst the latter, having lost its principle of animation, decays." (Woodroffe, 1960).

To conclude—we see the same concept recurring in various and opposite parts of the globe, at different times, dressed up in distinct ornaments and bearing a multitude of names. It is the concept of the soul, which inspirits and elevates Homo Sapiens above the feral world and assigns it a special role in the Universe. It is the soul that provides a form of existence after earthly life, when the flesh is no more.

The materialist view on the idea of the soul as a single concept inherited from one of the ancient cultures by each new civilization does not hold up to serious criticism. One may have some success in finding Assyro-Babylonian roots in the ideas of ancient Judaism, but it would be absurd to look for an absolute common denominator between the various beliefs developed in the East Mediterranean, India, China, Americas and elsewhere. Even assuming the existence of a common base for all these cultures, inherited from an ancient civilization lost in time [Hancock, 1995], we should acknowledge the fact that only those ideas impregnate the spiritual life which are natural and coherent with it. It seems much wiser to concede that all ideas of the soul have originated independently—by means of comprehension through meditation, as well as through mystic contacts of outstanding thinkers from various nations with the Supreme Universal Mind.

"Thinkers of all denominations have always been concerned with the soul. The Hades and Tartarus, the mystic rites and ceremonies, the judgment by Osiris, the Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso in Dante's Divine Comedy, the revelations of Zen, the secrets of the Tibetan Book of the Dead, the apocalyptic pictures in the Bible of the end of the world described by the Christian prophets, the elaborate numerological symbolism of Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical philosophy, the no less elaborate symbolism of modern numerology, the doctrines and beliefs of modern theosophy, the definitions of psychotronics... The Adventist prophecies and the Shiism of the fanatical imams, the esoteric mystery cults and the belief in glosso-lalia, the witchcraft and astrology. Religious theories: historical, anthropological, culturological, phenomenological, psychological, cosmological”. (Tokarchik, 1992). Below is a brief review of contemporary European ideas on the life of spirit after death.

## Spiritual life after death according to the Bible

The Gospel has been guiding the lives of about half the humankind for nearly two thousand years. The idea of eternal life spoken of by Jesus Christ has been written by the Apostles, who have conveyed one and the same meaning in different words. Christians believe in the Last Judgment. Everything comes from God, and everything returns to God.

"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last" (Rev. of St. John, 22,13) "God is love" (John 1,4:8)

The Gospel of John is a book of great religious ideas—Revelation, Incarnation, Regeneration, Communication of Life. God in His love sent Christ to save the world (John 3:16-21). The Savior was sent to the world to suffer tortures and crucifixion so that mankind would be redeemed from vice by the saving grace of Jesus whose blood makes us free from sin.

"In the beginning the Word existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was divine... The Word became flesh and blood and lived for a while among us, abounding in blessing and truth, and we saw the honor God had given Him, such honor as an only Son receives from His father..." (John, 1,1-18).

When a Christian goes to the Holy Communion, it is with the thought, "Jesus and I are one." Death is redeeming from sins, payment for sins. On the other hand, the worst sin is but a drop in the sea of God's mercy and favors granted to the repentant sinner.

"God created the heaven and the earth... God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created he them." (Gen. 1,1-27).

God is for the living, not for the dead.

“Now He is not God of the dead, but of the living; for all live to Him.” (Luke, 20.38)

God is Light, Life, Love, Truth, Freedom. What God has created may not be destroyed, for He is the Most High. The idea of the Last Judgment's fire which must cure this place is noticeable throughout the Gospel.

Why are there pictures of Apocalypse? Why all this darkness that may reign, albeit temporarily, over light? If the Resurrection is there, then He was dead, was He not? Does it mean that everything is mortal?

It is not only the world that is perishable and mortal: every single being dies a death that is unlike the death of any other being. Everyone who comes 'nto this world is guarded by two angels. The Guardian Angel of Life is watching over the individual from the right-hand side, protecting the person's life because Death must not be allowed to arrive too early. On the left-hand side the Angel of Death is watching over his or her death—because life must not last too long. There is also another, the Messenger Angel of many faces and of a thousand eyes. He watches the frail vein connecting the spirit with the body and unwaveringly severs it at a time known to him alone. Heavy slumber befalls the guardian angels, and when the rustle of the Messenger's wings awakes them, it is too late, all time is gone.

Only the human being can see the messenger and even have a premonition of his arrival. Frightened, the human implores to be granted more time, but to no avail: he is always overpowered. The Messenger is privy to the great secrets of existence—the Book of Life. Hard is the Messenger's lot, and great is his obedience. It may be that even he who wrote the Book of Life dreads to read it, since it is said to be more frightening than death. But how frightening is death?

God is in everything, and it has always been so, because Time does not exist for Him who is above eternity. It means that those who accept God and those who reject God make their own choices, and they choose life or death, respectively. The limit for those who avoid God, or reject him, is death. The finite limit is at the same time the beginning of infinity. Death is the final threshold, the very last turn, beyond which the fugitive expects freedom to do whatever is best for his or her own sake. Instead, the fugitive has to face the infinitude. Dreadful is the death of the fool who does not accept God, for God is life. Consequently, what we call death shall be our encounter with life. On the other hand, if we were really alive, there would have been no death. By accepting God, we choose life. By accepting death, we choose God.

“Whither shall I go from thy spirit?

Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend to heaven, thou art there!

If I make my bed in shed, thou art there! If I take the wings of the morning

and dwell in the uttermost part of the sea, Even there thy hand shall lead me,

and thy right hand shall hold me.” [Psalms, 139, 7-10]

Jesus Christ is eternal life, and those who are with Him will be saved. Jesus is the resurrection and life. In this earthly life, everyone is subjected to the death of one's flesh, one's damaged substance. However, when the earthly life conies to an end in the form of death, the heavenly life begins, which does not lead to a "natural" death, and in which the spirit is the only substance. The spirit, or the soul, is the "inner human being" that is not perishable. The Life of the "inner human" may be taken away only by Him who had given it.

## Evolution of the concept of death in European history

Gospel truths have been discussed and interpreted in Europe over many centuries. The public understanding of death and afterlife have evolved with the general social and psychological norms and mentality of the various social layers. Russian historian A. Gurevich writes:

"Once the historian assumes a serious attitude toward death and enters into a serious study of the problem, it becomes readily apparent that death is not only a subject for demographic history, theology and the Church didactic. Death is one of the crucial parameters signifying the social conscience. Since the latter is never at a standstill in the course of history, the changes cannot help being manifested in the shift of Man's approach toward death. A study of the parameter may shed light on the humankind's attitude toward life with its primary moral values. Some scholars are of the opinion that an individual's attitude towards death may be regarded as an index signifying the type of civilization. One's perception of death exposes one's secret foundations. At the same time, the individual is the intermediate link between the cultural body and the social body, the two of which are unified through that very link. Hence, the perception of death and of the next world, of relations between the living and the dead represents a theme to be studied and discussed in order to improve the perception of many aspects of the socio-cultural realities of the past. The discussion may result in a proper assessment of the role of Man in history." (Gurevich, 1989).

So much has been written on the subject of death in history that it is virtually impossible to review all relevant works. For the major part, historians deal with the subject in the context of two thousand years of European history. Those were times when religious teachings dominated the public conscience, and the population of Europe concentrated their thoughts upon the ultimate things, such as death, judgment, reward in heaven, and punishment in hell. In the Middle Ages (1100-1500), there were a number of occasions, registered by historians, of widespread expectation of a near end of the world in different European countries, not to mention a small number of adepts prophesying the same. During many a century, death was an essential component of culture. It was a kind of a screen that reflected all ethical values of medieval Europeans. Detailed analysis of the evolution in the attitude toward death from the ancient ages until the present time can be found in the works of French historian Philippe Aries (1914-1984). Let us survey one of his books, the engaging and informative Images of Man and Death (Aries, 1985).

Aries' speculations were based on testimonial materials of different ages: pictures, drawings, monuments, tombstones. This is what he wrote about the location and role of the cemetery.

"In Rome and in Pompeii the dead were excluded from the town. The separation of the dead from the living is the most striking characteristic of these early images. The dead were not to trouble the living nor to mingle with them. All the same, they were neither banished to some faraway place nor altogether isolated: it was important that one could easily bring them placating offerings or eat and drink close to them. So they were deposited immediately outside the town, at its gates or along the roads leading to it. The tombs were situated on either side of the highway, constituting two narrow lines of graves stretching out across the countryside." (Aries, 1985)

An alignment, then, rather than a space—nothing resembling our own cemetery. “Coemetrium” is a word that came later from the Greek into Christian Latin, and “sepulcretum” was rarely used. The concept of a special space reserved for burials did not exist: one buried the dead whenever one could, wherever one wanted to, provided it was outside the town.

As early as the first century, representations of death were evoking not so much the mysteries of the beyond as the delights of the present. The skeletons with the drinking vessels and mosaics in the triclinium were not supposed to be frightening; on the contrary, they were an invitation to pleasure, to make the most of life, whose brevity they called to mind: "Know yourself and your mortality"

As a result, the sacred side of death seemed diminished. Typical epitaphs, which, however, we should not take too literally, for they did not exclude other forms of worship of the dead or religions of salvation, all conveyed to the passerby the same disillusioned or even cynical message: "The hunt, the baths, games, and pleasure—that is life."

A change took place in the second and third centuries AD, one of the great periods of transformation in our cultural history. It was in the towns that the cemetery first made its appearance: behind the fine monument lining the road, humble tombs spread in a disorganized and random fashion over an irregular, bulging space.

"The medieval cemetery was quite different from a modern one. It was a public and sometimes noisy place with a few random tombstones and crosses, where people would come together, after attending mass, for instance. Like the church, with which it was now invariably associated, the cemetery (or the churchyard, as the cemetery was generally known in England), at the center of the public space, was a stronghold of social life. The Hellenistic and Roman space reserved for the dead and for those who brought them offerings, a space set apart from the dwellings of men, in the Middle Ages became a space common to both the living and the dead, where the presence of the dead eventually, although not deliberately, became quite discreet. This promiscuity of living and dead was characteristic of societies of the Western Latin world... The cemetery was also a resting place for the old, a playground for children, and a meeting place for lovers." (Aries, 1985)

This contemplation let Aries to draw significant conclusions concerning attitudes of different ages and nations toward death and the dead. He defined some of the stages of these attitudes and followed their change through time. He began with early Christianity. " Universa fraternitas"

“The dominant theme is that of waiting, repose, or sleep, just as it appears first in the language of epitaphs and, later, in the attitude of the recumbent figures. This period of waiting was rejected by learned theologians for the last time in 1334, but the memory of it survived not only in the dispositions of recumbent figures but in other documents of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

The damned are not presented (in the pictures). They certainly exist—Saint Matthew, among many others, mentioned them; but at first their presence is very discreet, or has been effaced. They are excluded from the field of the image just as they are from the memory of men and of God. Only the elect remain, not as individuals, but as a composite mass, there being no need for particular judgments to distinguish among them. It is enough that they belong to the body of the saints. All that lives on in each being enters en masse into the Kingdom. The individual is absorbed into the immense family of Adam, redeemed and saved.

We have thus arrived at an idea of the beyond which combines a cosmic expansion of heaven with a gathering of the human race: the uni-versa fraternitas.

Beginning in the thirteenth century, this collective and massive conception of the world gave way to another representation, this time stemming from Matthew 25, in which the individual, in place of the species as a whole, became the center of the drama.

In making this transition from the Second Coming to the Last Judgment, we have passed from the general view of man as a species—the family of Adam and Eve—to an inventory in which each individual soul is an object of examination and the entire life is taken into account.

...it acquires a new element of pathos: death is the moment when each man intuitively recognizes his entire life, which is illuminated suddenly, as if by a flash of lightning, and is revealed to him in every detail.

The fact is that as early as the eleventh and twelfth centuries, something momentous happened which quite upset the topography of the beyond. It was the discovery of purgatory. Purgatory had certainly always existed in Christian thought. It was a place for errant souls that had managed to escape damnation but whose faults barred them from sharing the repose of the "saints". They suffered tortures that resembled those of hell, and they "returned" as ghosts to beg for the pity and prayers of the living.

I believe that the popularity of purgatory can be accounted for by two related phenomena. (XVII-XIX)

One is a change in its meaning: purgatory ceased to be a temporary hell, reserved for a few great sinners saved in extremes, and became the antechamber to heaven through which all the elect, with the exception of the canonized saints, had to pass.

The other is a change in sensibility which began to render intolerable the departure of loved ones. In the early stages of this development, corresponding to the wide diffusion of the idea of purgatory, it was the place where those who had passed away went and where, until one joined them, one communicated with them through prayer.

In the nineteenth century emerged an important phenomenon which, in its early stages, coincided with the success of purgatory. It became extremely tempting to see the beyond as a place for reunion, for re discovering earthly affections, following the interval of trials between the death of spouses.

Closer relationships between the living and the dead also developed outside the churches, in positivist and even anticlerical milieu. This was a tide that swept the entire Western world, regardless of religious allegiances.

It produced two, only slightly different, attitudes. The first was that of the Catholics: they either brought purgatory closer to paradise, or else dispensed with purgatory altogether. For the dear departed, there was no longer a hell or a purgatory—only a home for tender earthly relationships reconstituted in eternity.

The second attitude was that of the non-believers, of whom there were many in the anticlerical milieu of the early nineteenth century. For them, what remained after death was not the soul posited by philosophers or Christians but a physical being, an astral body, which could even leave its impression upon a photographic plate when it responded to the appeals of the living.

In the end of nineteenth—beginning of twenties centuries—we are crossing a frontier and coming upon a new sensibility. Death has changed its place and its meaning. Violence, fear, and sexuality now invade a domain in which life and death have become inseparable. Death offers the opportunity for an otherwise impossible love affair. The theme is that of death and the young girl. The new element is eroticism—and in most cases violence, of which eroticism is but one aspect. The former master of ceremonies has become a hunter of humans.

In a world designed to deceive the eye, death is the secret of life; but it is a secret that hides nothing—nothing but nothingness. It is therefore not surprising that the spirituality of the period tended to see life as close to death." (Aries, 1985)

All these changes strongly affected society's attitude toward death and lead to the modern perverse meanings.

"Until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and even much later among the working classes, death was confined by society to restricted areas or ghettos. In those days it was encountered only in churches, tombs, books of hours, and other such places. With the sixteenth century came an important change whose effects are still being felt today. Death emerged from its lair, insinuating itself here and there in domains formerly proscribed to it. Gradually it came to be found everywhere.

Now a new alliance was forged between death, violence, suffering, and sex, one that was to affect the Western imagination.

Mystic ecstasy resembles a scene of death as much as a scene of love; the conjunction of death and desire gave rise to a new category of eroticism. The word was "morbid". It acquired a real aesthetic value, being understood as a variation of "the beautiful," and its effects was much sought after. Lovers were no longer content with one last embrace before death: now they desired to break through the wall and satisfy their desire with an exhumed corpse. Life was now impregnated with death.

Now daily life was never free of death, for death was everywhere present and cultivated. The fashion was not to fear it, but to live gladly in its presence.

Death was so ubiquitous in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries because it represented both a real separation, which one appropriately mourned with tears testifying to one's stricken love, and also an appearance from which the residue of reality had to be expelled so that communications with the departed could be re-established.

Hence, the principal funerary customs of the period: exaggerated expressions of grief, cults of memory, and frequent visits to cemeteries and tombs.

Relegated to the secret, private space of the home or the anonymity of the hospital, death no longer makes any sign.

No mother, no wife, no children, no God: there appears now to be nothing at all in the wavering consciousness of the dying man.

The waters in which he is about to disappear are irresistibly reminiscent of the primordial ocean of the first days of the world and, at the same time, of the protective fluids of the womb. Death is associated with a return to birth, to origins." (Aries, 1985)

## Eastern Orthodox Church on afterlife

Reverend Archbishop Anthony writes about the life of the soul after leaving its robe of flesh,

" When a Christian dies, his or her soul, which has been to a certain extent purified at exit from the body due to the fear of death—leaves the lifeless flesh. The soul is immortal. The soul continues to live the full life that was started on earth, and the soul retains all former virtues and vices. The afterlife of the soul is a natural continuation, and consequence, of life on earth. If the deceased was apious Christian praying to God, if he or she had confidence in God, if one's best was done to obey His commandments, then the soul shall immediately perceive the joyful presence of God, and the soul shall partake in heavenly life, to a greater or smaller extent. If however the deceased was guilty of sacrilege and lived a sinful life on earth, then the soul shall feel anguish and eternal damnation. Pending the resurrection on the Judgment Day, the souls of the devout shall grow more joyous whereas the souls of the impious shall grow more miserable. Maintaining life after the death of the body, the soul continues to possess the properties of personality and self conscience. The soul is able to feel, to be conscious, to perceive, to reason... It should be remembered, however, that outside the body the soul is not a complete individual. Wish as it would, the soul cannot change radically so as to be able to begin an entirely new life. The soul cannot lead a life that would be different from the one it used to live in earthly life. The soul cannot acquire any of the qualities it did not possess while it was in the human body on earth.

The above is the meaning of the words stating that there can be no repentance beyond the threshold of death. The afterlife of the soul goes along the same lines that the soul followed in earthly life." (Anthony, 1953)

Another Archbishop also wrote about this problem. Archbishop Luka was born in 1871 and lived all his life in Russia. An outstanding surgeon and scholar he was consecrated bishop in 1923. Ten days after the consecration he was arrested by Soviet authorities and spent the next twelve years in exile. During World War II his skills as a surgeon became invaluable and enabled him to resume his work at a hospital. He continued to work in the medical profession until he died in 1961. A recognized scholar, he was also a servant of the Church. Though his service to the Church brought him disfavor with Soviet authorities, his profound contributions to medicine outweighed that "handicap," and even brought him Stalin's Prize of the First Degree for a textbook on purulent surgery. A profound thinker, Prof. Voyno-Yasenetsky writes on the subject of the afterlife of the soul:

"There is a constant tie and interaction between the body and the spirit. Everything that comes to pass in the soul of an individual during his of her life is of importance and necessity for one reason—the reason that the life of the body and soul is closely connected with the spiritual life. It is in the spirit that all actions of the body and soul are reflected and kept forever. It is in the acts of body and soul that the spirit is formed. It is under the influence of body and soul that the spiritual life develops either towards good or towards evil. The life of the mind and the heart, as well as the miraculously coordinated function of all other organs, are needed while the spirit is being formed. Their function ceases as soon as the spirit becomes completed, or as soon as its direction has been defined. Eternal bliss of the righteous and eternal torments of the wicked should be interpreted in the sense that the immortal spirit of the former has received light and power after its liberation from the body and is free and unfettered to excel without limit toward good and God's love, whereas the dark spirit of the wicked, of the sinners and of the antagonists of God is to suffer eternal pangs of remorse and bitterness caused by their alienation from God and by the unbearable poison of wickedness and hatred. Human life is divided by death in two: the life of soul and body, and the life of soul and spirit." (Voyno-Yasenetsky, 1978)

This idea was further developed by Reverend Piotr Kalinovsky, who wrote:

"There are people who believe that the afterlife is a uniform immobile state of eternal bliss or a similarly continuous and passive torment in hell. This is not quite so. The Christian doctrine teaches differently. Even in death, there can be no motionless dead stillness. By the time of corporeal death, the spiritual development of personality has not been concluded. In afterlife, the personality continues its development along the lines followed in earthly life. Life experience is completed only when the person's soul has learnt both parts of life—the earthly life and the afterlife. While staying in the body, the soul cannot perceive the spiritual world: the soul can only achieve it by means of spiritual life." (Kalinovsky, 1991)

The concept of spiritual life adopted by the Orthodox Church is important in principle, since it offers an opportunity for the believer to consider the end in peace and freedom, to await it with the peaceful submissiveness of the soul. The Archpriest Sergiy (Bulgakov) writes

"Death is a supreme consecration, a revelation of the spiritual world. Even before they are dead, the dying can perceive the substances of spiritual world, the very heaven with Him who is above. The afterlife of an individual is not death, nor is it a dead faint of the soul, but is a continuation of life started on earth. Deprived of the body, the soul cannot take part in earthly life, but it can change and develop in spiritual life. It can get associated with the world of spirits, both light and dark, as well as with other souls. The afterlife is not a complete life, but the perception of God becomes apparent, as well as the perception of the true meaning of all acts and actions. In afterlife, God can be seen as clearly as the Sun can be seen in this life." (Bulgakov, 1935)

The thoughts outlined above, as written down by the twentieth-century Orthodox Christian theologians, are all based on the millennial traditions of the Eastern Orthodox Church. "The Eternal Secrets of the Next World" published in Moscow in 1908 cited numerous incidents illustrating the righteous death experienced by the Orthodox saints and the holy fathers of the Church. Their souls are shown to be able to continue an active life in the next world, with examples of their contacts with the holy fathers of the Church.

"Death of a body is like a natural transitory sleep that helps to restore, and renew, the spiritual and the corporeal powers. It may be compared to planting the seed in the earth. The seed must first perish—in order to enable the roots of a new life to grow firm and produce green plants bearingflowers and fruits in Eternity ". (Vechnyia Zagrobnyia Tainy, 1908)

The Orthodox Church teaches that the moment of death is always determined by the Lord, however accidental or untimely we may take it to be. The Archpriest Sergiy Bulgakov writes, "Corporeal (physical) death has for its arrival a time and a term that are internal". (Bulgakov, 1992). This idea is supported and developed by another theologian who writes,

"Death has internal causes for his arrival. The external factors such as an illness or an accident manifest themselves to take away the person's life, which occurs in all those cases when a further existence in the earthly world has become meaningless in terms of the individual's spiritual life. Birth and death are in the hands of Our Lord. The hour of death is often connected with the person's spiritual mission. The righteous often have a premonition of Death. They do not get frightened, often just awaiting it serenely, or even wishing for its arrival. A person who led a natural and unimpaired life see death as a natural, appropriate event, as though it were restful sleep after a hard day's work. In this case, death will be tranquil and easy, just like falling asleep. It will be Dormition". (Kalinovsky, 1991)

The above quotations demonstrate that the Orthodox outlook sees the idea of afterlife for the soul as an obvious and natural part of existence. Traditional texts even name specific lengths of time for each stage in the soul's new life, e.g. the day when the soul leaves the body, the day when it comes back to take the last look at familiars and friends for the last time before taking leave. Thus, during the first three days after death the soul is releasing itself from the robe of flesh and is making its farewells, taking leave of the relations and of the habitual place. Also, it is during this period of time that the soul goes through redemption as the angels and the demons argue about which of them have the right to take possession of the soul of the deceased. During the next six days the soul is shown the heavenly bliss, and during the following thirty-one days the soul is shown the torments in hell. Eventually, on the fortieth day the soul finds itself before Jesus Christ for the first judgment. Then and there the soul shall be appointed a place in which to abide until the Last Judgment when the Lord will either declare the complete individual (with the body resurrected) His brother or sister, or renounce that person as an embodiment of sin. In the period until the Last Day, the intimate lot of the soul may be influenced (due to the intercession of the Church, of the righteous, of the family and friend), but on the Last Day the fate of the soul shall be decided by God, and nothing will be able to alter it. God's word shall be final. "And the Angels ware by Him that liveth for ever and ever... that there should be time no longer" (Rev. 10:6). Time implies changes, but everything that is timeless is eternal. Human fate can either be an everlasting life in the joy of being with Christ or an eternal death in the torments of non-being without Christ. These profound ontological notions give rise to the practice of the requiem office for the dead on the ninth day and the fortieth day after demise. Traditionally, on those two days orthodox Christians get together at the table to remember the dead relation, to have a drink, and to speak well of the deceased in observance of the common rule De manibus aut bene, aut nihil (of the dead, speak well or say nothing). Nowadays another tradition is being revived, i.e. to go to church on that day and light a requiem candle for the soul of the deceased to be in peace.

The approach of Christian anthropological eschatology can be accepted or rejected, completely or partially. The essential thing however is that the followers of Jesus Christ are united both with the Eternal Life and the Eternal Truth, whereas those who reject Jesus unite themselves with the nonexistence in Death. In terms of essential meaning, the notions lead to a choice between the eternal life with Christ or the everlasting death without. There can be no alternative, no middle value: one cannot be half-alive and half-dead at once. One cannot serve God, the God of Light, in the morning, and in the same evening be with His adversary, the Devil of Darkness.

## Works written in the twentieth century on the issue of spiritual life

The discussion above was based on the treatment of spiritual life in the Bible, i.e. in the revelations of the prophets who thousands of years ago, had been in communion with the Supreme Mind. The twentieth century has brought with it an unprecedented number of similar contacts, many of them described in minute detail. The numerous books dealing with the problem of communion and contact have become a distinct part of the world literature. There have been earlier examples, of course. Suffice it to mention the works of Emmanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), whose theological philosophy forms the basis for the Church of the New Jerusalem, claiming direct mystical communication between this world and the spiritual realm, and affirming Christ as the true God. As for the profound esoteric traditions of the East, mention should be made of the literature on the subject in Sanskrit, the Buddhist writings, books by Ramakrishna (1844-1884), Hindu mystic, a leader of modern Hinduism, and by Vivekananda (original name—Narendranath Datha, 1863-1902. Hindu Vedantist leader and educator). Until the end of the nineteenth century the works of Eastern philosophers were little known in Europe, which was not due to the lack of interest—it must be explained by the general control and the monitoring pressure exerted by the Christian Churches.

Theosophy, occultism, spiritualism, spiritual teachings all put forth an idea of the soul that has a fine structure and is able to travel in the heavenly realm above the Earth.

A particularly important theory was suggested by the Russian-born Yelena Roerich (1879-1955), the great-granddaughter to the Russian Field-Marshal Kutuzov (the commander who defeated Napoleon in 1812), niece to composer Moussorgsky, wife of the artist Nikolai K. Roerich by whom she had had two sons, Svyatoslav and Yuri, outstanding personalities in the arts and science, respectively. She was also the mother of Agni Yoga doctrine and claimed to have had direct mystic communications with the spiritual realms and had recorded the spiritual messages she had received. Her major work is the fourteen-volume "Agni Yoga" ("The Living Ethics" or "The Teachings of Light").

The doctrine suggested by Yelena Roerich deals with global things - from the place of our planet in the Universe to the essence of thought as an energy. It deals with the two principal invisible worlds (the Thin World and the Fiery World) and with the brethren of humankind, who form an invisible hierarchy helping these inhabitants of Earth incessantly. The doctrine alsо involves the notion of psychic energy carried by people. It rejects the notion of death, stating that "death is no more than a haircut". It exalts the notion of beauty. Below the reader will find some ideas from Yelena Roerich's "Agni Yoga" rendered from the Russian edition published in 1992.

"It is the fact of transition that makes people dread the moment of death. But how wonderfully does the spirit rush upwards into the Thin World because it has perceived the transitory character of its existence on the Earth! One should prepare one's spirit for a conscientious estrangement from the Earth... When the fiery spirit is immersed in the overground spheres, it does not avoid the Thin Spheres, because the spirit has experienced a transitory state in space. It is with the feeling of joy that the spirit approaches the Fiery World. One should be considerate of one's last hours on Earth. Very often the last aspiration will determine the next life, as well as the spirit's position in the layers which are to be its abode. It is inadmissible, of course, to summon the spirit back to earth once it has broken off. The tissues, which have set themselves free from the attractive central gravitational force exerted by the Earth, will have to suffer a great strain in order to assimilate themselves once again to the Earth's atmosphere. One should learn to be able to think at exit in the same manner as one used to think at birth. Delays are harmful at birth, and they are equally harmful at death. The fine structure of the new body must be taken into consideration. The wounds inflicted upon the dying will have to be healed in the Thin World. Torments are not caused by death, but they are caused by the living.

Astral bodies have their volumes and their weights, and possess many of the properties characteristic of this earthly life. The relativity of earthly knowledge is generally known. To a great extent, the astral bodies retain this relativity, but no sooner have they set themselves free from the earthly cover than the astral bodies acquire the ability of spiritual creativity.” (Agni Yoga, 1992).

Adherents of occultism have developed an even more elaborate theory of the multiform structure of the human soul. Some occult theories regard the person's existence as occurring on several levels at once, with the physical level being the lowest and the most comprehensible one. The next, ethereal level is where a person possesses an ethereal body that supports the formation and the very existence of the physical body. In comparison with the physical body, the ethereal body has a higher degree of reality. It is owing to the movements of the ethereal body that the parts and organs of the human body maintain their forms and shapes. The ethereal body corresponds to the mineral level. All things living possess ethereal bodies. The third component of a person is the astral body. While the physical body cannot retain its form without the assistance of the ethereal body, the power of the ethereal body alone is not sufficient to produce the light of conscience. Taken alone, the ethereal body would only be able to keep the physical body in the vegetable state. When awake, the ethereal body is lit up by the astral body.

The three bodies—physical, ethereal, and astral—are the essence of the corporeal part of the human being. In addition, there is a component that forms the soul. Human self-identity is composed of the perceiving soul, the reasoning soul, and the conscious soul. Then there is a component that is spirit. The spirit is composed of the Self-Spirit, the Life-Spirit, and the Man-Spirit.

At death, the physical body is separated from the ethereal body. The physical body now has to cope on its own, and, unable to do so it is to decay. The ethereal body maintains its communion with the astral body for a few more days, during which period the deceased is in a state allowing it to perceive the experiences and emotions of the astral body. After death, the first experience of the deceased consists of the images of life between physical birth and death. In terms of manifestation, they are quite unlike the same images experienced during the lifetime. To a certain extent, life proceeds backwards during the purification stage, which means that experience starts with the images immediately preceding death, and other images come by one in reverse order until the deceased is able to recall the early childhood. It is not until the deceased has gone through all stages of life—back to the moment of birth—that all the person's longings get purified by the purging fire. Then there is nothing to prevent the deceased from plunging wholly into the spiritual world, which is yet another stage of existence. First the physical body is left behind, then the ethereal body, and finally the time comes for decay of that part of astral body which can only exist in the conscience of the outward physical world'

Consequently, there are three dead bodies: physical, ethereal and astral. The course of a person's life falls into three stages:

1 the period during which the physical and ethereal bodies grow up and mature,

2 the period when the astral body and self-identity also participate in the process of development, and

3 the period when the ethereal and the physical bodies begin to redevelop, i.e. when they start growing backwards. As for the astral body, it participates in the entire process—from birth until death.

Similar theories have been suggested by other thinkers, e.g. Mme. Yelena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891) who developed a doctrine about the so-called astral planes that are a sort of stepping stones for the soul to climb on its way to the spiritual realm; also, the authors of the voluminous works Urantia and Dianetics, as well as many others who claimed to have had direct communication with the Supreme Mind and who were able to write down the reports of their contacts in an understandable and readable manner. We are not going to review those works here and now, nor are we going to substantiate their value. What matters for us here is the general thesis of the self-sufficiency (self-consummation) of the soul, as well as the idea of the soul's existence during a short or a long period of time after the death of the body.

## XX Century Scientific views on the issues of immortality

The sages among the humankind have always been able to see the spiritual aspect of the world. They have always believed in God and in immortal spirit, The ancient philosophers, including Plato and Socrates, believed in immortality. Plato taught, "The human spirit is immortal. The hopes and aspirations of the soul are in the next world. A true sage is willing to die so as to start a new life."

Among the true believers in God one can name Sir Isaac Newton, Galileo Galilee, Blaise Pascal, Louis Pasteur, Albert Einstein, Ivan Pavlov, and many other outstanding thinkers and authors. Below are a few quotations from the Russian authors of different times.

"Only be who never thought seriously of death will not believe in the immortal spirit." (Leo Tolstoy)

" The person's life, both private and social, is based on the belief in the immortal soul. It is the supreme idea, without which neither an individual nor the nation can ever exist."

(Fyodor Dostoyevsky)

"I believe that every human being is able to perceive the presence of God, if only one does not submit oneself to the fuss of everyday life."

(Alexander Solzhenitsyn)

In the recent decades, the issue of immortality has been widely discussed by the scientists. A further development of scientific views on the problem has been offered by Raymond Moody, E. Kubler-Ross, and by their numerous followers. Their books are so widely known that it does not seem necessary to try and render their contents here. All of them contain discussions of cases of "clinical death". Individuals who have experienced death and have been brought back to life all tell similar stories: they all experienced a separation from the physical body, an instantaneous image of their entire life prior to the moment of separation, the perception of a long tunnel leading up into the heavenly light. If one has been following this review from the very beginning, one will realize that there is nothing novel in such contributions, since the sources cited earlier have all been based on similar recollections, and the book The Eternal Mysteries of the afterlife is entirely composed of such recollections, with references to experiences of the holy fathers of early Christian era. Special merit, however, must be given to the books written by Raymond Moody and others, because the authors have awakened the general public to the issue by dealing with it in terms of modern scientific research methods.

A considerable contribution to the study has been made by the school of transpersonal psychology. Of great interest are the observational research conducted by Stanislav Grof, who studied the effects of hallucinogen drugs (LSD in particular) on the human conscience. Dr. Grof was able to detect several levels of conscience, which manifest themselves when the brain is "set free" due to the influence of LSD. While moving from level to level, the individual moves further and further away from the biological nature to approach the Universal cosmic consciousness. The material collected by Dr. Grof and his wife Christina allowed them to draw certain conclusions on the nature of human conscience. He writes in Beyond the Brain:

"Although there are no clear boundaries and demarcations in the realm of consciousness, it seems useful for didactic purposes to distinguish four distinct levels or realms of the human psyche and the corresponding experiences: (1) the sensory barrier, (2) the individual unconscious, (3) the level of birth and death, and (4) the transpersonal domain. The experiences of all these categories are quite readily available for most people. They can be observed in sessions with psychedelic drugs and in various modern approaches of experiential psychotherapy using breathing, music, dance, and body work. Laboratory mind-altering techniques, such as biofeedback, sleep deprivation, sensory isolation or sensory overload, and various kinesthetic devices can also induce many of these phenomena. A wide spectrum of ancient and Oriental spiritual practices are specifically designed to facilitate their occurrence. Many experiences of this kind can also occur during spontaneous episodes of non-ordinary states of consciousness. The entire experiential spectrum related to the four realms has also been described by historians and anthropologists with respect to various shamanic procedures, aboriginal rites of passage and healing ceremonies, death-rebirth mysteries, and trance dancing in ecstatic religions." (Grof 1985)

Grof's conclusions are directly connected with the issue of death and afterlife. On entering the realm of conscience, the person crosses the barrier of individual death to become a particle of the Universal Mind, and the person's conscience appears to be immortal. Moreover, it gets involved in the general development process taking place in the global realm of conscience. The conclusions suggest an explanation of the instances of transmigration (reincarnation) remembered by certain individuals—deja vu events, and also to help explain extraordinary latent faculties in human being which manifest themselves in moments of mortal danger, extreme situations or special inducements.

"Some other transpersonal phenomena involve transcendence of spatial rather than temporal barriers. Here belong the experiences of merging with another person in a state of dual unity... or expanding one's consciousness to the extent that it seems to encompass all of humanity. In a similar way, one can transcend the limits of the specifically human experience and tune to what appears to be the consciousness of animals, plants, or even inanimate objects and processes. In the extreme, it is possible to experience the consciousness of all creation, of our planet, of the entire material universe. An important category of transpersonal experiences involving transcendence of time/or space are the various ESP phenomena, such as out-of-body experiences, telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, and clairaudience, and space and time travel." (Grof, 1985)

Dr. Grof's research allowed him to put forth a new approach to the understanding of the human role in the Universe.

"...the exclusive image of the human being as nothing but a biological machine is no longer tenable. In serious logical conflict with this traditional model, the new data supports quite unambiguously the view that has been held by the mystical traditions of all ages: under certain circumstances, human beings can also function as vast fields of consciousness, transcending the limitations of the physical body, of Newtonian time and space, and of linear causality." (Grof, 1985)

At the same time, Dr. Grof's work ushers in a new way to an understanding of the internal causes and suggests a new treatment for various neuroses. This also refers to such mental illness as thanatophobia, an extreme fear of death. All cases of thanatophobia go through episodes of mortal dread, which are frequently mistaken for the onset of a heart attack, apoplexy, or asphyxia. The regular checkups that the patients seek do not reveal any organic diseases. Their complaints are purely subjective, because the patients suffer from sensations and emotions existing in their empirical memories (caused by bodily traumas, including the traumas at birth), rather than by the current physical process. Of course, their sufferings are real. The only means of rescue is to bravely face the recurring gestalt (by means of active technique). Thus, thanatophobia may be cured through sensations of death and rebirth. Thoughts of death may exert a strong influence on the mind (psyche) and, consequently, on the behavior of an individual. It should be noted that the influence is not directly related either with the age or with the intellectual level. Dr. Grof writes about this phenomenon citing the lives of two outstanding scientists, Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler.

"Freud postulated in his final theoretical formulations the existence of death instinct as a decisive force in the psyche. His biological emphasis prevented him from seeing the possibility of psychological transcendence of death, and he created a gloomy and pessimistic image of human existence. The theme of death also played an important role in his personal life, since he suffered from a severe thanatophobia. Adler's life and work were also very strongly influenced by the problem of death. He saw the inability to prevent and control death as the deepest core of the feeling of inadequacy." (Grof, 1985)

Dr. Grof is not alone in his speculations. Increasingly, scientists all over the world concede to the necessity of changing the western scientific paradigm and including in it an expanded view of human consciousness. Most of the proposed systems agree on the following major levels of existence: (1)physical, involving non-living matter/energy; (2) biological, focusing on living, sentient matter/energy; (3) psychological, dealing with mind, ego, and logical thinking; (4) subtle, comprising psychic and archetypal phenomena; (5) causal,characterized by formless radiance and perfect transcendence, and (6) absolute consciousness and balance of all the levels of the spectrum. In particular, in Wilber's model (Wilber, 1982), phenomenal worlds are created from the original unity by progressive reduction and enfolding of higher structures into the lower. In this, Wilber follows exclusively the text of Bardo Thodol, described here earlier, which represents the movement from the highest to the lowest levels, or Bardos, of the human soul at the time of death. A more detailed survey of existing scientific ideas is given in Part 3 of this book.

It should be noted that the true science has never opposed spirituality. Voltaire's atheism was a revolt against the clerical absolutism, and beneath his atheist clothes Voltaire was a common man struggling for his right of free will. As the quintessence of atheism, Marxism rejected all religions, and at the same time it acquired all properties of a religion—a belligerent and intolerant one at that. That quality of Marxism was pointed out by the Russian thinker Sergiy N. Bulgakov who wrote in 1903:

"...the doctrine has many features of a strictly religious teaching. Although it denounces any religion as a manifestation of 'a bourgeois ideology', Marxism is, to a certain extent, an obvious substitute for religion. The Marxist eschatology is in its doctrine of revolution, the Marxist 'paradise'is Communism, the Marxist 'chosen people' is the proletariat. Marxism proclaim capitalism to be the Devil, and the Marxist leaders are their Messiahs—their martyrs suffering for their beliefs. Under the cover of superficial scientific robes, the Marxist teaching tries to quench the religious thirst by religious methods. For, even when deprived of religion, the human being cannot help suffering from his or her separation from the world as a whole entity. The individual longs for an organic unification—for a substitute of the Church communion. That is the reason why such an individual will accept Socialism easily and readily."

The lines above were written long before the movement started to regard, revere, and worship Marx and Lenin as deities, long before the idea of a Socialist Mausoleum was materialized, long before the "Legendary Lives" of the ideological leaders were written and their obligatory portraits replaced icons in every home, with their obligatory statues in every public square. Joseph Stalin, formerly a student in a theological seminary, had led the Communist religion to its culmination when he declared Lenin to be the Communist god with himself as the god's prophet. Characteristically, the central symbol of the Communist religion was the leader's mummified corpse placed in a glass sarcophagus for people to worship it ecstatically. In thousands upon thousands, common folk would queue for long hours despite the cold weather only to take a look at the mummy while reverently passing by it.

Soviet regime was based on oppression and death. More than occasionally, the problem of life and death was essentially the central theme in the works of outstanding Russian theologians of the twentieth century: Nikolai Berdyayev, Paul Florensky, Vladimir Solovyev, Nikolai Fedorov, Vladimir Rosanov, who considered the issue in the context of philosophical concept of time.

Ancient Greek philosophers related time to the inevitable retributive justice and unavoidable vengeance, whereas the Russian religious thinkers related time as evil, punishment for the primordial sin and for the injustice towards the ancestors. Berdyayev called time an illness of death—a cause of decay and death. Hence the opposition to time which, as the Russian philosophers suggested, could be conquered along with death, finiteness and decay either by means of religious faith (Florensky), love and spirituality (Solovyev), freedom and creativity (Berdyayev) or else an active resurrection of the ancestors (Fedorov). The latter conception is a combination of the traditional Christian idea of the resurrection of the dead with the idea of hope inspired by the technological advances and scientific discoveries.

Traditions of Russian philosophy differ fundamentally from those of Western-European philosophies. The European existentialists share a concern for the personal experiences of individuals, centering on the transitory character of the mankind's finite existence. Russian philosophers, on the other hand, hold that eternity is a value of absolutely primary importance. Russian philosophy essentially defies time. In Russian theology and philosophy, the problem of transitory existence (existence in time) has always been transformed into variations of the eternal problem of love and death. In this respect, various doctrines have been suggested: in one (suggested by Rosanov), the way towards the goal is achieved by means of sexual love, which is considered a neutral origin of the species, the erotic element and the source of new life. In another (suggested by Fedorov) immortality is gained through resurrection of the ancestors—which will overcome time itself, and with it—the humankind's finite life span and bodily degradation. Berdyayev holds that time is a false infinitude. Fedorov hopes for resurrection and continued earthly existence; Berdyayev hopes for its defeat and terminal cessation.

The ideas of the two latter philosophers manifest themselves in the two different concepts of infinity: the ordinary and the metaphysical. The former suggests an infinite future; the latter suggests an escape from it. From the religious and philosophical point of view, "...an infinite life in this world would have no sense. The positive meaning of death is that the consummation of life cannot be realized in time—not even infinite time, let alone finite. Life can only be consummated in eternity — only beyond the time limit"(Berdyaev, 1991). Eternity in the sense of immortality is not the future. The future is death.

Many contemporary Russian philosophers hold similar views on the problem of life and death. Suffice is to mention the works of Demichev, Uvarov, Stolovich, Friauf. In a recent philosophical publication, the doctrine is laid out as follows:

"We split the world in two: the 'before' and the 'after.' The great split in the human conscience cannot perceive the monism of the Universe: it is not able to project death as a continuation of life. We tend to view, as if from aside, the process of body degradation, decay and ultimate disintegration, picturing our soul, able to break away from the body, as the immortal 'Self' We imagine the body as a trivial piece of substance, unworthy of our sorrow if it decays and perishes. All is perishable but the soul. The soul is not apart of the dispute on life and death—it is beyond, without, not of our Time... In order to reach the supreme ideal, it is necessary to go through the ecstasy of death that is illumination, epiphany, and you will see. The ideal world will present itself as the creator's creation, and, as you fall into the abyss of death, you are no longer a body plus soul, you are a spirit and an angel. The tale of death is captivating, substantial and permanent." (The Forms and Shapes of Thanatos, 1991. 1992.1993.).

## Response of the Orthodox Church to contemporary contributions

The Orthodox Church reacted against the works of Raymond Moody and his followers. Incidentally, the response did not come from Russia, where the political situation in the 1970s allowed no theological disputes. The reaction came from the United States of America—from the hieromonk Seraphim Rose, born into a typically Protestant family and converted to the Orthodox Church in 1961 at twenty-six years of age. In a book published in 1982 he offered detailed analyses of the modern out-of-body experience, UFO-contacts, and the ancient and contemporary writings on occultism and mysticism. He does not actually deny the reality of experiences described in the works in question, but his judgment is unequivocal:

1. These are merely 'extra-corporeal states, well-known, especially in occult literature, and occurring in recent years with increasing frequency to ordinary people, not otherwise related with occultism. However, in effect, these states tell us almost nothing about what goes on with the soul after death other than that it continues to exist and to have a conscience.

2. The sphere where the soul goes in the beginning, upon first leaving the body, is not the heaven or hell, it is a region close to earth, referred to by various names: “other side”, “Bardo plane” (Tibetan Book of the Dead), “Realm of the Spirits” (Swedenborg and spirits), “Area IT” (Monroe), or, in the Christian orthodoxy language, the sub-celestial aerial kingdom inhabited by fallen spirits, who earnestly attempt to mislead people to their end.

3. The beings who can be encountered in this area are always—or almost always—ghosts, whether they are summoned via a medium or by occult means, or encountered during the extra-corporeal existence. These are not the angels, since angels dwell in the heavens, and only transit through this area as God's messengers. These are not the souls of the dead, since these dwell in the heavens or in hell, and would only pass through upon their death on their way to their judgment.

4. Experiments in this realm cannot be trusted, and certainly cannot be judged by their appearance. Even those who are firm in their Christian orthodox beliefs may be easily fooled by the fallen air spirits, and those who enter it uninformed are easy prey for them. (Paraphrased from Rose, 1991)

The place, where the soul comes just after death, is not Paradise or Hell, but a special area close to the Earth where the evil spirits are living. These spirits try to cheat the person's soul to get it ruined. Angels cannot be met in this area, as they live in the Sky and only pass by it when coming to the God. The souls of the dead stay in this area only temporally on their way to the Judgment-seat. Hence, in this area only the evil-spirits — Hellhounds — can be met, and all experiences are induced by these spirits.

Fortunately, not all Orthodox priests are as categorical in their judgments. In the preface to a Russian book titled The Transition, the Moscow priest Alexander Kalinovsky (Borisov), Ph.D., a Doctor of Biology, writes the following:

"One of the greatest achievements made in the second half of the twentieth century are the modern advances in medical science which have given us an opportunity to see beyond the curtain of death for a period of five to ten minutes (the period of resuscitation), to make certain that there is a new life to be lived beyond that curtain. It may very well happen that in the years to come we shall be able to learn more and more about life after death. In any case, one thing is certain: God has granted us a revelation which is in accordance with the present level of scientific thought. What shall be our response to this revelation? The answer will depend on the intuition, sensitivity, maturity, and free will of each of us." (Kalinovsky, 1991).

This idea can be traced all through Kalinovsky's book:

"The main achievement of recent years has been the fact that the medical doctors studying the problem of resuscitation have supported the Christian teaching on the life of the soul. The first step, which is also the most important one, has been irrevocably taken: after the death of the body, life continues. This fact has been confirmed by the medical science as well as by theology." (Kalinovsky, 1991).

Indeed, if, in their after-death experiences, they had met the devils or the fallen spirits, then the human beings would have been influenced by the evil spirits and their tricks. After their revival, such persons would have stayed in the power of the evil spirits and would have behaved accordingly. Such individuals would be full of bile, of wickedness, of hatred, and of the desire to hurt the humankind in every imaginable way. Examples of such behavior have been shown more than once in American films, e.g. "The Exorcist". In fact, the revived persons behave in a quite different manner. Among those who have experienced death and resuscitation, most people have undergone a spiritual transformation. Quite frequently, the spiritual transformation is complete: they begin to perceive the brightness and preciousness of life, their attitude towards other people becomes all kindness and affection, they begin to think of others and to take care of them, they may be said to have thrown away everything vain and superficial and meaningless, they become instrumental in rendering Love and Happiness. By no means can these qualities be the impact of evil spirits. It is important to note that this thought was mentioned in Moody's first book (Moody 1976).

Reverend Alexander Menn, an outstanding Christian Orthodox thinker (dreadfully murdered in 1991 by an unknown killer), writes of the afterlife:

"For a Christian, the idea of uniqueness of every person excludes the idea of a transmigrating soul. Yet, in the Christian conscience, the doctrine of reincarnation is important in a different sense. What is that sense ? Jesus Christ said, "... If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow me." (Matt. 16:24) Which implies a moral, rather than a metaphysical, transformation, an ability to leave the prison cell of one's own Self in order to acquire the capacity for empathy without losing one's self-identity. For he who gives himself to others will benefit from it. In fact, the notion of reincarnation transforms the idea of immortal soul into something earthly, something material, whereas the mystery goes beyond the earthly existence. Regardless of the number of the worlds, the individual undergoes a development and improvement in each of them... If a person has left much undone in this world, it means that he or she will be granted opportunities to do it in other worlds with other dimensions. The road to the goal is endless. The development is boundless. Jesus said that Man must be perfect, for Our Father in heaven is perfect. It means that there are no bounds to our development and perfection. It also means that something very important is conceived in this earthly existence. One should not believe, however, that the separation of the soul from the body at death must signify the individual's liberation. It is not so. God has created us as beings in whom the fickle matter, the Nature, and the immortal Spirit are married." (Menn, 1991)

Several conclusions can be drawn from the above discussion. The esoteric beliefs, the occult beliefs, and the religious teachings of all times and of all peoples concur that death does not terminate the life of the soul. According to various doctrines, existence of the soul after death can take different forms. However, all doctrines are agreed that there exists a tie between one's earthly life and one's afterlife of the soul, and the latter is the continuation of the former on a different level.The soul does not leave the body at once. Various terms have been assigned to this process by different doctrines, generally from two to nine days. Within this period, the soul is connected with the body. Sometimes the soul is able to return into the body, and the person can be revived for a further life on Earth. In the vast majority of cases, however, the transfer of the soul irreversible. The soul undergoes a transformation, and acquires a new spiritual experience, which determines the soul's further existence. Even so, the soul continues to be connected with the body it has left.

## PROCESSES OCCURRING TO A PHYSICAL BODY AFTER DEATH

> For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same; as one dies so dies the other.

> Eccl.3.19.

Over the centuries, different nations and civilizations practiced various customs designed to handle their dead. Ancient Egyptians mummified dead bodies and stored them in chambers, Hindus burned the bodies, Bushmen left them out for wild beasts to eat. Most nations, however, supplied their dead with all things necessary for continuation of earthly-type life and buried them in graves. They believed that future life in the next world depended on the handling of the body. But what does modern science tell us about the processes occurring to a body after death? What experimental characteristics have been obtained and what was their nature?

These questions are of basic value in the discussion of the data received because only from a comparison with these data can the importance and the meaning of the data received be clearly seen. Therefore, despite the specific character of the data submitted below, it seems to be unthinkable to skip this step. However, if the subsequent descriptions cause some unpleasant sensations for the reader, this chapter might be skipped and further conclusions taken on trust.

A huge volume of medical and forensic literature has been devoted to Postmortem changes in body tissues. During the last 25-30 years alone, more than ten thousand papers and at least some ten books were devoted to the problems of death term diagnostics and various tissues outside the body preservation. Today many of these questions are the prerogative of thanatology, a science dealing with the problems of death and dying. This term comes from the name of the Greek god of death Thanatos, the son of the goddess Hekate and the brother of the god of sleep Hypnos. At the moment of death Thanatos flies to a dying person on his black wings and cuts off a strand of hair. After this there is only one way for the person: to Hades's underground vaults. We shall not survey the literature in detail, referring only to some books and giving a short review. [Poison, 1985. Simpson, 1952]

In a relatively short time after breath ceases (8 to 20 minutes according to various data) the cerebral cortex dies. This process is connected with dramatic changes occurring at the separate cellular levels. The cessation of substance exchange, connected first of all with the breath and blood current stoppage, results in inhibition of oxidation and restoration processes at a sub-cellular and molecular level. First of all the anoxia promotes the activation of catabolic processes in cells of the central nervous system. The oxidizing exchange type is replaced by the glycolitic type, which results in the sharp reduction of ATF synthesis and is followed by retarded electron transport, the infringement of ion gradients and the processes of free radical formation. The increase of cell membrane permeability results in destructive changes in cells. At first these phenomena in cells are reversible, but in the process of anoxia they pass a certain critical level and are transformed after developing irreversible degenerative changes. After this the destruction process goes only in one direction. Protein denaturation takes place in cells, which results in damage to cell structure and further in RNA and DNA disappearance. Autolisis comes next. The damage to different organs and tissues occurs at different time periods, depending strongly on the environmental conditions. At room temperature and a normal humidity for example, the marrow preserves up to 4 hours after the head stoppage, body tissues—skin, muscles, bones—to 20-24 hours.

All these internal processes are accompanied by external features. First of all the body temperature decreases. Temperature fall begins 45-60 minutes after death. This slowing down is caused not by the fact that after the death processes of exchange proceed for some time, but mainly by the fact that in the beginning the external layers are cool, while the inside layers remain warm. The body gradually cools down until its temperature reaches the temperature of the environment or even becomes 0.5 - l C lower due to the evaporation of moisture from the skin surface. The speed of the body temperature fall is influenced by various factors; under room conditions the body temperature drop follows some empirical laws.

One hour after death, the cooling of hands is appreciably felt, in 2-3 hours—face skin cooling. The temperature drop is on the average one degree an hour. After 6 hours the reduction of temperature is somewhat slowed down: 1 C in 1.5-2 hours. Total cooling comes in 24-30 hours. The dependence of rectal temperature change with time corresponds well to a smooth parabolic curve.

In 2-4 hours after death there appear corpse spots on soft tissues. Their development has three stages. Hypostasis stage lasts 4-16 hours; in this stage the corpse spot coloring entirely disappears, as blood and lymph are moved from the vessels. The diffusion stage is 14-24 hours after death. The lymph and intercell liquid gradually diffuse through the blood vessels walls inwards, and dilute the blood plasma, which promotes erythrocytes haemolysis. Liquid part of blood also diffuses through the vessel walls and impregnates surrounding tissues.

Corpse spots after squeezing turn pale and gradually restore the color. The imbibition stage becomes advanced by the end of the first day. The liquid consisting of lymph intercell liquid and plasma impregnates the skin. Corpse spots do not change after squeezing. Rigor mortis advances 2-4 hours after the death. Skeletal muscles gradually begin to condense, which leads to their shortening. Total development of rigor mortis in all muscles groups is reached at the expiration of the day, and then the process of rigor mortis permission, that is muscle debility, begins. At room temperature debility usually is observed by the end of the second—beginning of the third day; at low temperatures rigor mortis is preserved for a more extended time.

Skin and external mucous membranes drying begins at once after the death, but visually it is displayed somewhat later. The so-called after-death hair and nail growth is caused by human skin drying and condensation. Initial rotting attributes at room temperature are observed on the 2nd - 3rd day.

For the sake of a more exact formulation of "death" terms in forensic medicine, research of various physical-chemical body parameter dynamics were conducted. Among these the most reproducible were the recognition of the level of potassium and sodium content in intercell liquid, inorganic phosphorus, residual nitrogen and total albumin in blood and other body liquids. Electrical parameters of tissues were investigated as well: conductivity, both total and at acupuncture points, dielectric permeability at various frequencies. On the basis of extensive experimental data it was shown that all these parameter characteristics change smoothly, following the linear or Parabolic dependence. For the early time periods, some hours after death, the registration of ultra-weak lightening of various tissues have been used, the process being of smoothly decreasing nature.

In thanatological literature it is judged that knowing the cause of death (with blood loss or without, drowning, strangling etc.) and the environmental temperature, the application of a rational test complex permits us to establish the death rate of an adult person with the accuracy on the average from several minutes to several hours in 4-48 hours after the death period.

We report the data from the medical literature specifically in order to demonstrate to the reader the complex nature of tissue decomposition process and its inevitability. As the Bible says: "All comes in one place; all comes from dust and all returns to dust" (Eccl.3.20.). Therefore all tales about the rising dead and walking corpses are nothing more than late-night folklore. Appropriate physiological mechanisms of these phenomena do not exist.

At the same time, all literature reviewed with the description of experimental data testifies that in studying processes with periods more than three hours after the death no oscillating characteristic has been found. All the processes investigated were of smooth monotone nature. This fact is very important for our research and during further discussion of the experimental data obtained in the present work we shall pay special attention to this feature.

## MOUNTAINEERING DIARY

Dry, inflexible experimental approach alone cannot sufficiently cover the subject matter of this book. For every human being the topic is too heavily loaded with intricate conceptual systems dealing with morality, philosophy and ethics. Thus, in order to relate the author's personal point of view on the subject of death, his notes have been incorporated into the text, originally written in a dry, factual manner. The notes, which are placed at suitable intervals throughout the scholarly text, are meant to dilute the somber subject. It is entirely up to the reader to ponder over the author's reflections or skip over them.

The collapse of the empire of Soviet Union drove many of its citizens to a careful consideration of Death. Until then, the hustle and bustle of everyday life, the ideological din intentionally produced by the authorities had really left no time for serious thinking. To most Soviet people death seemed a stranger, a foreign element—something entirely out of Soviet context and, if possible, something to be avoided. The society was trained to regard Death as an accident, misfortune, and generally an unlucky turn of events breaking the smooth flow of idyllic Soviet life. Voltaire and Rousseau, and later Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels had created the powerful atheistic movement, which was then elevated by the Soviet rulers Lenin and Stalin to the ranks of religion. During seventy years of the Soviet regime, this movement managed to change radically not only the proletarian world's outlook, but also the entire moral landscape of the whole Russian nation—or, to be precise, of what remained of the Russian nation after the revolution and the ensuing political tyranny. Genuine faith was out of the question in Soviet society. Rationalism and skepticism had been implanted in the Soviet minds. Hence the general attitude towards Death. It was seen as the edge of the abyss, some black curtain separating our bright world of the living from the bottomless non-existence of the dead. This morality was reinforced by official propaganda, which painted the image of cloudless happiness in the country where nothing bad could ever happen by definition, where all criminality was eradicated at the root, where there were no industrial calamities in the coal mines or elsewhere, where people died peacefully only at an advanced age and after long, happy lives.

These illusions were cruelly crushed by the events of recent years. A wave of hatred and bloodshed swept through the population of the former Soviet republics, through major cities and the countryside of mainland Russia and the adjoining lands. Crime—both organized and random—was ubiquitous. Accidents, explosions and catastrophes follow one another in a continuous succession. The course of Russian development in the last 20 years has made it clear that in their struggle for power, party politicians of every hue share a lack of concern about the fate and livelihood of their compatriots. Naturally, the thought of encountering death is ubiquitous as well, bringing the citizen to the very hard question: 'What does death mean?'

Any adult has faced Death in its claim on one's near and dear, whether family or friend, and any adult has attended a funeral at the cemetery. For the most part, these events have been seen as tragic incidents not connected with life at all, which are beyond the pattern of everyday activities and emotions. Time flies, and only some memories and the traditionally tidy gravestone remain, while life goes on, taking its normal course. For the general populace, Life and Death are wide apart from each other.

Awareness of death came to me at the age of twenty-one, when mountaineering was the greatest pleasure of my life. I used to make regular trips to the mountains three or four times a year, always with several other friends from my mountaineering club, and always to increasingly difficult climbs. In the summer of 1973, two young climbers from my club lost their lives in the mountains. Roped in a pair, they were ascending a steep ice slope, when suddenly the second man in the pair stumbled and fell. When one falls on a steep ice slope, it is virtually impossible to stop sliding. The leader was caught unawares when the rope pulled him down. The two were sliding faster and faster, now side by side, now apart, now pushing one another with the sharp-pointed crampons fastened to their climbing boots. They tried to hold on to the surface only to feel the skin stripped off their hands. Finally they struck the ice blocks on the icefall below, and stopped. One of them died right there, the other lived long enough to arrive at the hospital. They both were strong, healthy, and young—just over twenty. I knew them both well.

The emotional impact on me was so great that I began to see the two sides of mountaineering at once. Before the accident I only saw the thrill. Training in the fantastically beautiful mountains, opposing wrath of the elements brought out real men and made friends for life. Now I saw the other aspect, the mortal danger of it all. I had known of the danger hypothetically: after each climbing season we had a special session at the club, where we were informed in detail of all incidents and accidents, and their causes, with subsequent discussions on what ought to have been done and of how it could have been avoided. Books on mountaineering contained scores of episodes described in detail. We all knew that ours was the most dangerous sport, with the risks always great irrespective of the country. In the United States, for example, the annual death rate was 56 per 10,000 climbers according to the report published by the National Safety Council for the years 1984-89. By comparison, hang gliding (the second on the danger list) took an annual toll of 11.4 per 10,000. But never before had death come so near to me; never before had I seen my friends killed.

I must admit I then had my doubts whether it was really worth it. Why should I take the risks? I also became interested in the Eastern philosophies and started spending hours in the public library. I read books on Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Confucianism, and Zen. Few works on the subject were available in Russian, and I had to read most of them in English. The aching void in my heart was gradually being filled with ideas from these books. I had a lot of material to analyze, to make comparisons, to find parallels. Eventually I developed a philosophy of my own, which I will call the philosophy of optimistic fatalism. It was a hodgepodge of other peoples' ideas (from Epicureans to Zen-Buddhists), which I had built up on the foundation of Christianity. Before I write about it at length, I will draw a general analogy.

Let us imagine an ant crawling up the trunk of a tree. From the ant's point of view, there is no telling if the tree is tall or short, if it has many branches °r few etc. The brave ant is climbing higher and higher, until it turns, without thinking, to continue along a branch. This is a critical moment, a turning point in the ant's life, for all the other parts of the tree have just been cut off. The ant can never explore other boughs, branches, twigs, or leaves. It is certainly for the ant to decide to retrace his steps and take a different route. The way back is always open, but the forward movement makes the idea of retreat more and more difficult and problematic. So the ant advances onto a smaller branch, than along a twig, and eventually onto a green leaf at the very end of the twig. The forward movement has been concluded, and the ant will stay on the small leaf to the end of his short life.

Human beings are likewise engaged in a forward movement which often depends on their own choices, actions, laziness, mistakes etc., but life on the whole is always in the hands of God. It is for the Lord to decide who is to be born into the Rockefeller family and who is to be born into the family of a peasant in the Siberian village at the end of the earth. It is for Him to determine how long a newborn baby is to live, whether he or she shall die at twenty or will live to be eighty. I suggest, however, that the word "determine" should be used with reservations. God's decisions need not be the only determinant factor. The life of a small insect (like the ant above) may come to an untimely end due to different factors, e.g. a sudden rush of wind, a drop of sticky sap, a hungry bird. Similarly, no human being can be certain how long his/her life is likely to continue, because it may discontinue quite suddenly, at any moment. Anything may happen tomorrow: a brick may fall on my head from above and kill me, a drunken driver may hit my car and kill me, an emergency blood transfusion may infect me with AIDS and kill me slowly. All events, everything that happens to us, should be regarded as Acts of God. I find it true both about Death and Life, with one difference between them, i.e. practically every situation in life can be lived through, can be overcome, can be forgotten, and things may so change in the course of time that life will appear brighter and more beautiful than ever before. All around the world, a saying persists in many tongues and variations: 'Time heals all wounds.'

This reminds me of mountaineering again. Whenever the weather changes for the worse, one can go to one's tent and wait patiently, making the most of it in the warmest corner. One cannot do the same about Death. You cannot wait and allow it to pass by. The arrival of Death is purposeful: he comes to take his toll away to his own world. All the same, Death seems to be playing his game according to certain rules. I developed a system of notions after my twenty-plus years of mountaineering and rock-climbing. My system agrees, quite naturally, with many customs, beliefs and superstitions existing in various parts of the world. I will list the notions supplying them with examples from my favorite sport, mountaineering, because it is in the risky undertaking like mountaineering that the latent laws and regularities manifest themselves faster and brighter that anywhere else. One and the same process may take a period of many months on land or the time taken by one climb in the mountain.

More often than not, Death gives a warning. A sign spelling out "No Entrance" may be said to appear to those who can read Death's language. From time immemorial people knew of the sign language of Death, and have always looked for such signs, especially at times of imminent great events or calamities. Before major military campaigns, the great captains of ancient times would ask the priests to prophesy what the future had in store for them. The priests, or sages, or shamans, or holy men by any other name would all use different methods. Some trusted the positions of the stars in the sky, others would study the ashes of the sacred bonfire, and still others would practice fortune-telling from reading sacred signs on the sacred animals' guts. Such signs as thunderstorm, hurricane, eclipse of the sun, and other manifestations of the fury of the elements have always been considered as signs of warning. Actually, the outward signs have been looked upon as sort of traffic lights, as certain posts marking the way to the truth, whereas the real guiding force has been the inner voice, or, to be more precise, the voice of God passing on his will.

It could be fatal to rely upon the outward signs only. The son of Nostradamus, who also practiced astrological prophecies, was punished by death for a wrong military forecast. None of the numerous modern Russian astrologers were able to foretell the dramatic political events in this country from 1991 to the modern times. They were observing the positions of the stars mechanically without any deep penetration into the heart of the matter. The warning sign of Death may manifest itself as an event, phenomenon, or incident, but more often it is an inner feeling, mental awareness, superstitious belief. All manifestations of superstitious beliefs make sense if they are really penetrated into. Animals present us with a good example. Cats are the most sensitive pets in terms of sensing the energy. The cat is able to perceive its master's energy. The cat will show pleasure and affection by purring and keeping close to those whose energy field is powerful and good-natured. The cat will come to the owner if he or she is in need of energetic feedback. The cat will run away from a person surrounded by a rigid field giving out a pricking sensation. This hardly agrees with the general superstition that a black cat is a bad omen.

The most telling outward sign is the general character of a process and the coincidence by which the seemingly insignificant events happen to come together. Taken alone, each of the minor events may seem a trifle. When they are occurring frequently and regularly, the trifles add up, and this can only mean that the process has taken a wrong route. If this is the case, one ought to either try and change the route or step aside.

In 1983 our team of six young sportsmen went to the faraway Central Pamir gorge to conquer a rock face which had not yielded to any climbers. Bad omens started appearing from the very beginning of this adventure. The warnings of evil fortune were many. As we approached the site, our mule slipped on the path, and we had to carry the load on our own shoulders. While we were having trouble with the mule, the sack with sugar got lost mysteriously. It was never found, and we had to have our tea with only the recollections of the sugar. On the very first day, when we just started making a reconnaissance of the work to be done and of the route to be covered, a small rock rolling down the side of the mountain hit one of us, cutting the tendons in his foot. It took us the rest of the day to carry him to where the shepherds were with their flocks and then to transport him, on a borrowed mule, to the main camp below. On the second day, during a vertical ascent, a screw gate snapped under the weight of another fellow, who was saved only by the safety loop on the rope—but not before suffering a seven-meter fall. On the third day I found myself suffering from food poisoning, with the usual symptoms of severe vomiting and diarrhea. I grew weak as a baby, reduced to crawling from hook to hook, out of breath after each move. These events were crowned that same day by a thunderstorm.

The five of us were sitting huddled in our tent fastened to the pitons on a small rock ledge in the middle of the rock face, at a distance of 400 meters above level ground. The heavy rain, the howling wind, the thunder and lightening striking almost simultaneously, as they normally do in the heart of the storm, vividly demonstrating the fury of the elements and suggesting thoughts of an unfortunate outcome. We were getting wet to the skin and we could not help being alarmed at the howls of the wind trying to break the strong ropes. By midnight the storm had abated, but the clouds were still shedding rain. In the sunshine of the next morning we were drying our clothes and arguing about what had better be done. My friend and I argued that we had much better descend immediately. Two others insisted that we climb on. One did not speak up.

It was not the thunderstorm that had alerted me, but the sequence of annoying trifles which seemed to warn repeatedly: “Do not advance. STOP AND RETREAT.” Those for the ascent of the mountain said that we had much to do, that the most difficult part of the rock face was behind us, that the sun was shining and we should be triumphantly coming back the day after the next. Eventually, I used my right of the leader to stop the debate, "Let's call it a day. Take off the ropes. We are going down." Four hours later we were back on the ground, and the thousand-meter-tall wall remained unconquered. With doubts gnawing at my heart, I kept asking myself, "Did I make the right call? Oughtn't we to have struggled through? How shall we explain to the others why we backed out?" In the evening we were in the shepherds' quarters. No sooner had we gotten there than a horrific storm broke out, much more powerful than before. If it was so terrible down where we were now, what was it like up there, I wondered. The weather stayed bad for four days. As we discussed it again down in the main camp, we concluded we had been rather clever about backing out of our expedition. Two years earlier, a group of rock climbers from Rostov froze to death on the rock face under similar circumstances: their leader would not give up, he would conquer the mountain at any price. He was the only survivor.

Chapter 2: Consciousness beyond life. Scientific evidence

> Carpe diem! - Catch the moment!

> Memento mori! - Remember death!

> Fiatveritas, pereatvita!

> Let truth be done, let life perish!

Recent decades have seen the emergence of irrefutable evidence attesting to the continued existence of the information essence, or soul, after death. These materials were obtained by various researchers and independently reproduced. They were then subjected to rigorous statistical analysis and published in refereed journals, thereby meeting all modern scientific standards. These data cannot be ignored or dismissed as mere mysticism or parapsychology. Let us now examine the most significant studies.

Clinical death

There is no doubt that surgery is an important part of modern medicine, and its achievements are nothing short of astounding. Modern surgery is at the forefront of medicine, with organ transplantation, laparoscopic surgeries, artificial joints and implants, and the use of robots leading the way. Open-heart surgery is a crucial procedure. During this operation, the patient is connected to artificial circulatory devices and a network of monitors for an extended period.

During various procedures, sudden cardiac arrest can and does occur. This stops blood circulation, cuts off the brain's blood supply and results in the patient entering a state of clinical death. If cardiac arrest lasts for more than 5 minutes without first aid, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, there is a high probability of brain damage and death of nerve cells. If cardiac arrest lasts more than eight minutes, death is likely, although there are exceptions. This means that if sudden cardiac arrest occurs outside of a medical facility, death occurs in 90% of cases. If it occurs in a hospital, especially during surgery, with timely interventions, most patients survive and go on to live normal lives.

It is a well-documented fact that patients who have experienced clinical death have reported unusual visions. They frequently report leaving their physical bodies, flying through tunnels, and meeting radiant entities, sometimes with deceased relatives. Patients feel a sense of joy and aspire to this luminous world. However, after some moments, they are forced to return with regret to their mortal body.

When such evidence began to accumulate in large numbers, researchers were compelled to investigate this phenomenon. These experiences were named near-death experiences (NDE) and out-of-body experiences (OBE).

Near-death experiences (NDEs) are extremely common. In fact, around 9 million Americans have claimed to have had something similar. They are recognized as real in the scientific literature. The greatest contributor to the recognition of this phenomenon was the Dutch cardiologist Pim van Lommel (born 1943).

Pim van Lommel

He worked as a cardiologist at Rheinsteit Hospital in Arnhem from 1977 to 2003. During this time, he developed an interest in patients' accounts of unusual sensations during clinical death. He successfully engaged his colleagues in the topic, leading them to organize a comprehensive study. This involved interviewing patients who had experienced clinical death immediately after surgery in the intensive care unit. They collected testimonies from 344 patients who survived cardiac arrest in ten Dutch hospitals. Of the 344 patients who survived cardiac arrest in ten Dutch hospitals, 64 (18%) had these experiences in their memories. Of these, 41 (12%) reported specific experiences. Many of them were unequivocal in their report that they saw the experience "coming out" of their own bodies. Those who experienced OBE were certain that they had been "thrown out of their bodies" but retained perception, emotion, and very clear consciousness.

OBE is not related to the duration of clinical death, the drugs used, or the patient's initial condition. OBE occurs within minutes of the patient's heart stopping and the brain gradually ceasing activity. This strongly suggests that as yet unexplored neural processes underlie OBE. Furthermore, a research team from the University of Padua in Italy has proven that memories formed during OBE are identical to those formed during normal waking consciousness. They are also more complex and profound than fictional memories. It is therefore clear that OBE cannot be explained by the workings of the imagination as in dreams. It is also important to note that patients are able to see what is happening to them from the outside and then describe it. For example, patients may watch themselves undergoing heart surgery. A nurse in the cardiology department stated:

“During the night shift, an ambulance delivered a 44-year-old man in a coma to the cardiology department. When we prepared to intubate the patient, we discovered he was wearing dentures. I removed his dentures and placed them on the crash cart.

After approximately an hour and a half, the patient had a good heart rate and blood pressure. However, he remained ventilated, intubated and comatose. He was transferred to the ICU for further CPR.

I met with the patient again after more than a week had passed. By this time, he had returned to the cardiac ward. When he saw me, he said, "This nurse knows where my dentures are. You were here when I was brought to the hospital and you took the dentures out of my mouth and put them on the cart with all these bottles. There was a drawer below and that's where you put my teeth. I checked – they were really there”.

A comatose patient could undoubtedly observe what was happening in the operating room.

In 2001, Pim van Lommel and his colleagues published an article in the leading medical journal Lancet that was highly critical of the selection of articles. Pim van Lommel, R van Wees, V Meyers and I Elfferich. A prospective study in the Netherlands examined near-death experiences in survivors of cardiac arrest. (Lancet 2001; 15; 358(9298):2039-45). In 2007, he published a fascinating book, “Consciousness Beyond Life”, which was subsequently translated into many languages. Pim van Lommel states emphatically: “The near-death experience is an authentic experience that cannot be explained by imagination, fear of dying, hallucinations, psychosis, drug use or lack of oxygen”.

In 1998, the Near Death Experience Research Foundation (NDERF) was established. The researchers were determined to collect testimonies from people who had experienced clinical death. They collected more than 5,000 testimonies, of which about 45% reported leaving the body with observations of what was happening in the operating room. The survey asked 1,122 survivors of NOD a direct question: "Did your perception differ in any way from your normal, everyday vision?"

722, (64.3%) answered "Yes," while

182 (16.2%) were undecided and

218 (19.4%) answered "No."

Visions during OBE were undoubtedly paranormal, despite the fact that many people stated that they were not religious. It is notable that the majority of individuals who underwent OBE reported a notable shift in their outlook on life. They began to see life as a beautiful journey, became kinder and more tolerant of others, stopped fearing death, and their lives were filled with new meaning. They are certain that their experience is proof of life after death.

However, not everyone agrees with this. Many doctors and neurophysiologists are convinced that these visions are simply flashes of neural activity in the dying brain, completely disconnected from events in the outside world. They assert that the sensation of leaving the body is a malfunction of the vestibular apparatus. Pim van Lommel presents a compelling case against such reasoning in his book. However, I believe this is irrelevant. If a person is open to new information and a new view on life, they will accept this information with interest. A person who is a strict materialist and closed to everything new and unusual will undoubtedly deny it. Everyone has the right to choose their position.

Reincarnation memories

Jan Stevenson

Dr. Ian Stevenson (2018 - 2007) was the head of the Department of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine at the University of Virginia. He was awarded the title of Professor of Psychiatry at the university. Dr. Stevenson spent forty years researching children who spontaneously recalled their past lives, and he found that these memories had factual corroboration.

In total, Dr. Stevenson and his colleagues studied approximately 2,500 children who reported memories of past lives. In about 1,200 of these cases, they were able to confirm the child's memories without a doubt. The majority of cases studied by Stevenson originated from Asia, India and other regions where the doctrine of reincarnation is widely accepted. However, there were also numerous cases from the United States and European countries. The research definitively showed that cases of childhood memories have the following general characteristics.

1. The child confidently describes his past life.

From the moment a child starts to speak, they start to describe their past life. It is not uncommon for children to assert that their name is different from the one given to them by their biological parents. The child is clear that their current family is not their true family and that their real family lives in another town or village. The child confidently recalls the names of his/her former family members and where he/she lived in a past life. Children can and will describe object details of the house and neighborhood from their past lives.

2. The child unquestionably recalls details of their death in a past life.

In around 50% of cases where children remember their past life, they died a violent or premature death. Dr. Stevenson discovered that individuals who died from knife or bullet wounds were born with birthmarks or scars at the wound sites, indicating a new reincarnation. In modern life, the child will almost certainly have developed phobias related to the cause of death from a past life.

3. A child can and does recognize relatives from a past life.

The child's biological relatives were located based on the information he provided about his family from a previous incarnation. The baby can tell the names of family members and the level of kinship when he meets his former family for the first time. The baby often knows family secrets that may have only been known to his family members in a previous life. The family from the past life often recognizes the baby as the reincarnation of their deceased relative. The biological parents of a child in his current incarnation are often afraid that the child will leave them for the family from the previous incarnation. This is because the mutual attraction to the members of the previous family is very strong. This fear is unfounded, however, as the child's bond with the current family is unquestionably strong.

4. Talent from a past life.

Personal traits and preferences, habits and manner of behavior are often transmitted from one incarnation to another. Talents from past lives continue to exist in the present incarnation. Thus, reincarnation explains prodigies. Recall the movie “Little Buddha” by Bernardo Bertolucci.

5. Gender in a new incarnation usually remains the same.

In 90% of the cases studied by Dr. Ian Stevenson, the child returned the same gender as in the previous life. The fact that gender changes in only 10 percent of reincarnation cases provides additional insight into homosexuality, transsexuality, transsexualism, and gender identity.

6. A physical similarity between one incarnation and another.

Research definitively shows that physical appearance can be similar from one incarnation to the next. Two unique cases where research has been ongoing for 20-30 years prove that facial features can be inherited from one lifetime to the next. Ian Stevenson studied Suzanne Ghanem in the late 60s and Daniela Jourdi in the early 70s when they were young children. Photographs of these women from their past incarnations were available. In 1998, Stevenson visited Suzanne and Daniela again and found that these two women, then adults, had facial features completely similar to their past incarnations. These cases are described in Tom Schroder's book, “Old Souls”. Two other reincarnation cases studied by Stevenson, which also had photos available for comparison, show unquestionably similar facial features in Burmese twins. In his book “Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect” (1997), Dr. Stevenson firmly advises future researchers to "conduct systematic studies of the similarity of facial features in study subjects to their previous incarnations".

7. Planning life in a new incarnation. Relationships are unequivocally renewed at reincarnation.

Stevenson's research revealed two cases of physical similarities at reincarnation in Burma of two twins who were sisters in past lives. In other words, two sisters were reincarnated as twin girls. This example proves that souls can plan their new incarnations to reunite with their loved ones. This twin case was part of a study of 31 pairs of twins (62 people). The past lives of these people were indisputably confirmed. In 100% of these cases, the twins had close relationships in past lives.

8. Prophetic dreams.

Stevenson's studies revealed that prophetic dreams occur in 22% of cases. A soul preparing to incarnate into a family will usually send a dream foreshadowing its future reincarnation. This dream is most often seen by a future mother. Once the child is born, the dreamer realizes that the dream foretold the birth. Prophetic dreams, as well as relationships renewed during reincarnation, prove that souls can and do plan their new incarnations. Prophetic dreams are a clear indication of the spiritual component at work in cases of reincarnation.

The world owes Dr. Stevenson a great debt of gratitude for his invaluable contributions to the field during his professional career. Reincarnation research is now being conducted at the University of Virginia under the direction of Dr. Jim Tucker. It is important to note that Dr. Stevenson wrote in a strict academic style, as his target audience was academics. His cases of past life research are presented as stories on the institute's website to make his scholarly work more easily understood. If you appreciate scientific rigor and want to see the evidence for yourself, go to the primary source.

https://grekhi.wordpress.com/2015/05/

Transpersonal Regression Therapy

Dr. Brian Weiss

I was compelled to read a book by Brian Weiss “Many Lives, Many Teachers”, which left a profound impact on me. He graduated with honors from Columbia University in New York City in 1966. In 1970, he received his Doctor of Medicine degree from Yale University. He then completed his internship at Bellevue Hospital in New York University Medical Center before returning to Yale to finish his specialization in psychiatry. Upon graduation, he began teaching at the University of Pittsburgh. Two years later, he became head of the psychopharmacology department at the University of Miami. He gained recognition in the field of biological psychiatry and drug and alcohol addiction research while in this position. Four years later, he was promoted to Professor of Psychiatry and appointed Chief Psychiatrist of the large University Hospital in Miami. By that time, he had already published thirty-seven scientific articles and book chapters in his field of expertise.

At one point, he provided therapy to a young girl. She was suffering from anxiety, irritability, depression and pain of unknown origin. Weiss conducted several therapy sessions with her, but there were no results. He decided to use hypnosis to search for the underlying causes of her condition and found them. Once in a hypnotic state, she began to describe her surroundings. It was clear she had travelled to ancient Greece. She stated that she had three children, a husband, and a nice house. Weiss instructed her to trace her life further and she suddenly began to cry. Through her tears, she stated that enemies had attacked the city, killed her husband, her children, and one of them had shot her with a bow.

The sessions lasted for six months. At each session, she confidently reported another episode from her past life. These episodes took her back to Israel, Spain, and France. Dr. Weiss brought her to the moment of death each time, and each time the death was cruel and violent. Six months after the therapy, the woman was free of her fears, depression and pain. She was cheerful and happy. This was the main effect of the sessions. Dr. Weiss continued hypnotic sessions with many patients and each time he achieved a positive result. He published several books describing his experiences. Dr. Weiss was not the only one to develop the Transpersonal Regression Therapy (TRT) method.

All modern psychotherapeutic methods unquestionably trace the origins of today's clients' problems to the past. Freud saw them in the complexes of repressed childhood experiences. Jung added to them the experience of the collective unconscious, the common past of mankind. Stanislav Grof and Abraham Maslow assert that the origins of problems lie in the intrauterine period and the birth process. Systemic therapy definitively shows that a client's problems can also originate from the past of their lineage and the birth system. Modern regression hypnotherapy definitively identifies the roots of a client's problems in the fetus, early childhood, and traumatic events in adulthood. Transpersonal Regression Therapy goes further still, incorporating unfinished past life experiences and archetypal experiences from between lives. TRT is a short-term, non-medical psychotherapy that uses an altered state of consciousness. In this state, the therapist and client work together to address the client's issues. Each session has a clear focus and purpose, and the therapist uses a client-centered approach. The therapist and client agree on the material to be addressed in each session. This material is directly related to the problem the client has identified.

TRT employs a range of psychotherapeutic stimuli, including humanistic, psychodynamic and transpersonal approaches. TRT is a process-oriented, body-related therapy that deepens the client's emotional experience and expression to the point of catharsis. The repressed contents of the subconscious mind uncovered in therapy lead to profound insights and realizations. These relate to the biography of the present life (childhood, birth, pregnancy, prenatal period) as well as to the family, past lives, afterlife states and archetypal realms.

https://tassointernational. ru/regression-therapy/

The long-term experience of using the TRT method has irrefutably demonstrated its efficacy in correcting patients' psychological states. Furthermore, it provides compelling evidence for the process of reincarnation, which is intimately linked to the question of the survival of consciousness – the soul – after death.

Interesting research on the results of TRT method application, performed using Bioelectrography method (BioWell device) is published on the site

https://ru.journal.reincarnatiology.com/reinkarnatsionnaya-terapiya/

The results of the client's examination after the reincarnation therapy session showed the ideal state of the energy field of the client. When analyzing the dynamics of the energy centers location in the process of therapy, harmonization of the centers location and increase of their potential were revealed. Thus, the Bio-Well method allowed us to objectively trace the bioenergetic changes taking place in the human body in the process of working with him by the TRT method and showed the effectiveness of the conducted work.

To gain a deeper understanding of the method, researchers investigated the dynamics of electrophotonics indices during a person's recollection of their childhood, early childhood, intrauterine period and past lives and fantasizing on these topics. Subjects were asked to recall any vivid, emotionally colored event from their childhood. For example, they were asked to think of a birthday when they were happy and joyful. You had to feel like that child, feel their thoughts, emotions and feelings from the inside. Look around through the eyes of this child. See where you are, what is happening around you, who surrounds you, how people around you behave. Listen to sounds, smell odors, feel what you is wearing, assess whether you are comfortable in these clothes, look at them, and touch them with your hands. This way the subject gathered as much information as possible about the event from their life.

In the second stage, the subjects were instructed to mentally change their clothes and the setting of their childhood memories. And they observed themselves in this process, noting how comfortable they were in the new situation.

In the third stage, the subjects were instructed to fantasize and invent an event that had never existed in their lives, and to fully experience their emotions and bodily sensations.

Next, change the setting, characters, attire, and other specifics, then observe your feelings and bodily sensations once more.

The Bio-Well measurements were as follows:

1. The control stage involved recalling oneself as a child while attempting to alter an existing memory.

2. The control phase involved a fantasy and an attempt to change an nonexistent event.

The study of the body's response to fantasies and memories during the TRT session yielded the following results.

The results clearly show that during the memory work, the indices of Bio-grams during positive experiences increased. The glow area and the symmetry coefficient increased.

The results of attempts to alter genuine childhood memories were disappointing. The glow area and symmetry coefficient both declined. The subjects reported experiencing physical and emotional discomfort. The results of the study remained insignificant when the subjects fantasized and changed a non-existent event.

The researchers concluded that:

Memories affect the psychophysical state and emotions are released. This releases the emotional charge, which in turn indicates that memories have a therapeutic effect. It is clear that fantasies do not affect the deep psychophysiological processes in the body.

It was confirmed that during TRT sessions, regression into past lives and early childhood, a person is working with their memory and not fantasizing or inventing non-existent events.

There was a clear distinction between memories and fantasies:

• The body experiences a high level of sensations.


• • The capacity to consider details and particulars.


• • The picture cannot be changed (it is a memory).


• Emotional healing occurs as a result of the release of emotional charge.


• • The experience is integrated into personality.


Control and childhood memories.

Scientific research into the process of communication with "spirits"

Professor Gary Schwartz

It is a well-known fact that rituals of communication with spirits have been practised since ancient times. Shamans of all times and nations built their ceremonies on this. The Delphic Pythia entered a trance and prophesied about the future. In the 19th century, Allan Kardec (1804–1869) developed a whole new direction of spiritualism. He was a French teacher, philosopher and researcher of psychic phenomena whose works in the field of spiritualism are fundamental.

His real name at birth was Hippolyte Leon Denizard-Rival. He became famous under the pseudonym "Allan Kardec", which he was allegedly given by spirits. The author of the definitive works on spiritualism: "The Book of Spirits", "The Book of Mediums", "The Gospel in the Interpretation of Spirits". Kardec worked tirelessly to restore the original purity of the Evangelical Teaching, in collaboration with the High Hierarchs and the Spirit of Truth itself. His books are the definitive source of knowledge about life after death and the answers to the most fundamental questions about the meaning of existence. He provided a comprehensive account of the spirit world. Kardec's ideas are especially popular in Brazil, where streets, cultural centers, libraries and even a football club are named after him. Brazil has an official religion, Candamblier, which is based on communication with spirits.

In the 19th century, spiritualism was all the rage, and many scientists were interested in this process. However, in the 20th century, interest disappeared. There is no chance that anyone would think of spinning a table now. However, there is a certain category of people who make a living by calling on the spirits of the dead. They help grieving relatives communicate with the dead.

This process piqued the interest of Gary Schwartz, a professor at the University of Arizona and director of the Laboratory for the Study of Consciousness and Health.

Schwartz stated that his initial interest in extrasensory abilities was sparked by a car accident he was involved in with his then-wife while driving on the Roosevelt Highway in Manhattan in the mid-90s. He heard a voice telling him to fasten his seatbelt. (Back then, seatbelts weren't mandatory, and most drivers didn't bother to fasten them.) He fastened his seatbelt and told his wife to do the same. Minutes later, they were rear-ended by a speeding car. Schwartz was inspired to investigate where the voice was coming from after being saved by a mysterious voice.

He began studying the issues of consciousness and conducted research, testing mediums such as John Edward from the TV show Crossing Over and Alison DuBois, the prototype for the main character of the series “Medium”. Schwartz is convinced that DuBois can contact the dead. The first experiments proved the reality of this process, and he set about putting it on a scientific basis. He is convinced that when a medium calls the spirit of a dead person, it appears, although it is impossible to see. Dogs and children seem to sense their presence. This means that their presence can be registered by sensitive equipment.

In his laboratory, he took the initiative of organizing a separate room without windows and installing a special ultra-sensitive ultraviolet camera there, cooled with liquid nitrogen. Such cameras are made to order and are used in astronomy. The medium was in this room, and when a spirit was summoned, the camera recorded a strong glow, invisible to the human eye. The figure shows the results of one of the experiments. The third frame in the top row shows the moment the spirit of the deceased appeared. As you can clearly see, the brightness of the glow is significantly different from the control.

Schwartz is researching the process of distant healing. He is convinced that spirits can facilitate this process. In this case, the medium calls on the spirit and demands its assistance in healing a person. Schwartz records a bright glow in the ultraviolet region and documents the change in the patient's condition. These experiments are carried out in compliance with all the rules of modern science, despite how strange they may seem. Schwartz is convinced that these experiments prove the existence of a parallel reality and the possibility of contact with the spirits of the dead. Schwartz is a prolific speaker at conferences, a regular contributor to scientific journals, and an author of several books.

Results of experiments on contact with the spirit of the deceased.

Chapter Three. Discussion of our experimental data

> No, there can be no mistake here: the real meaning of my life is precisely in what will happen to me after death.

> Robert Merle "Madrapur"

In 1994–1995, we successfully conducted a study of the transformation of human energy immediately after death over the course of several days. Ten experimental series were conducted, each lasting between three and five days. The deceased were men and women aged between 19 and 70. The experiments were conducted using the gas-discharge visualization (GDV) method. This method allows one to record the glow of various objects in a high-intensity electromagnetic field. This is the same effect that was widely known in the 20th century as the "Kirlian effect", named after the Russian researchers who invested a lot of effort into studying this method. In the 1990s, we developed modern equipment to measure the quantitative parameters of the glow. The GDV method (and Bio-Well system) is now used all over the world.

www.bio–well.com, www.iumab.club.

Analysis shows that all the data concerning "Life after Life" theme can be divided into three large groups:

• Data obtained in meditation, experience, contacts and hallucinations;


• Experimental data on the changes occurring to body tissues after death;


• Information on anomalous postmortem processes, increasingly obtained through non-traditional scientific means: parapsychology, transpersonal psychology, thanatology.


The first group of data is personal, being in principle non-reproducible, with the way of expression depending on the culture, age and race, but taken together these data tell a tale about some form of soul life after death, that is after the stoppage of the mechanism with which this soul was connected. Now we already know that the main part of this mechanism is connected with the soul only indirectly through consciousness: one might replace a heart, a kidney, attach artificial legs or mechanical lungs—a person will retain his own self. The big problem is to solve the secret of the brain: what is it—a subject or an object ? A container of brain and soul or their only source? Shall we be able to keep the soul after a replacement of a part of the brain? Answers to these questions are likely to begin in the near future, but all teachings agree on the point that the soul can leave the body, exist outside it, perceive sensations, see other worlds and then come back into the body to continue the earthly existence.

Over the centuries these ideas marked a boundary line between two philosophic schools: Idealism and Materialism. For the followers of materialism all speculations about the soul always related to legends and fantasy, they explained this idea as the representation of human fear before the hostile nature, as their attempts to stand above the animal world. In any society poets and storytellers were appreciated and honored. And all religions were no more than canonized folk tales. Matter is primary; spirit is the generation of the same matter, product of brain activity, complicated structure, having new quality owing to a certain organization level. A computer comparable in complexity of its structure to the human brain in the near future will be able to compose verses independently, to make decisions and to demonstrate character. When a computer is turned off or when the brain is dead, everything is over—only matter exists!

At the present level of knowledge, it is impossible to resolve this dispute. Neither party can give any unequivocal proof of their point of view. Libraries are filled with books, in ideological disputes fates broke and heads fell, but the question remains in the same state as in ancient Greece. But in spite of the fact that the followers of soul's existence have only verbal, non-reproducible, subjective data, this point of view is closer to us and in all further discussion we shall directly or obliquely use it. The second group of facts is a purely materialistic pathology—anatomic data about changes occurring to a human body mechanism after its activity stops. As an automobile left by its owner out of doors gradually rusts and crumbles, a body, left by the soul, shrinks and irreversibly comes to dust. Only the time parameters of the processes are different: for an automobile it is months or years, for a body—hours and days. This process is unidirectional and irreversible; when it passes a certain critical level the return to the former condition is already impossible, it can be only further destruction. All tales about living and walking zombies is a fantasy: as any mechanism, a body can function only in case of integrity and serviceability of the main parts and first of all of the General Managing and Coordinating Center—the Brain. But destruction in these tender structures takes place within hours. So the soul, if we are to acknowledge that it exists, after the death of the body should possess its own existence.

But there is one more question: how long does the soul appear to be connected with the body? Does it leave the body at once, at the moment of the heart stoppage or brain structure destruction, or does it proceed to come back to its dead shelter for some time in order to leave it forever at a proper moment? This question is not answered by autopsy research. Their task is to study the processes of "...Decomposition of organic body is leaving nothing but chemical components forming its substance... " (K.Marx). And as we see from above, all the data obtained by thanatology testify to the process of a gradual change of body tissues with smooth transition from one stage, from one condition to another. Main attention is paid to revealing and researching attributes which distinguish the dead condition from the living one. It is connected with one of the main applied tasks of researches of this kind—the determination of the moment of irreversible transition from living state to dead and revelation of time periods and causes of death. "Final diagnosis completes the autopsy," says an old medical proverb.

Now we may formulate the main question of the chapter: what is the task of experimental researches of postmortem condition and what do we hope to discover in conformity with all the submitted data?

We see the main task of afterlife research as the search for objective reproducible proof of some characteristic bodily changes that can be connected with the transformations of spiritual substance of this body. As shown above, there is at present a large volume of subjective proof of separation of spirit and body; therefore, it would be logical to assume that the moment of separation should be reflected on the material body level, resulting in a change of some of its characteristics. Thus, one can easily assume that this division is not instantaneous, that this is a process which takes a certain time, and follows certain laws and sequences.

Even from the medical point of view, at present it is impossible to determine for sure the moment of death (excluding the case of a serious mechanical damage to body tissues). What can one say about the bodies suspended in an indefinitely long period? Practically all religions of all times and nations imply a more or less extended connection between soul and body. But what can be considered as an experimental proof of such connection? What body parameters should be investigated and what should one try to find out in these parameters?

The answer to this question is likely to be found in all the material presented above. Physical-chemical processes are gradual by nature; they cause relatively smooth changes of cells and tissue characteristics. Hence, rapid, non-monotone changes of these characteristics will attest to some dramatic bodily changes. This is a common feature of experimental science: variation of a curve testifies to some inner reconstruction of the investigated object. Experimental investigations of these changes should conform to all principal western scientific traditions: first and foremost they should be reproducible, at any rate in statistical data. Each object under research in the given experiment is absolutely individual and has its own behavior, but there should be some laws common for all objects. The following important condition is connected with this idea: independence and objectivity of experimental data. This means that results should not depend on changes of environmental conditions, equipment features, and experimenter's intentions. As a rule, any experiment inherits such dependence to some extent, explicit or hidden, and the experimenter's task is to find it and use some techniques to reduce its influence to a minimum. The opportunity of experimental repeatability of results in another place by another experimenter is connected with this condition as well. Modern science looks very cautiously upon non-reproducible data.

And, at last one more question: which characteristics of the processes, which parameters can reveal a response of material carrier to the movement of spiritual substance? It seems to us that it should be a set of parameters that demonstrate such a connection with the living state, that is, parameters that are correlated with the living nerve or psyche in a human organism. Hence, to find any changes of these processes characteristics after death, we can try to connect these changes with spiritual substance transformations, just as soon as we prove their independence from external conditions and purely biological processes.

In the present work we abstain from considering all possible processes of this kind: such task is for a larger research organization with better resources. We are going to restrict ourselves to the group of parameters most familiar to the author, connected with the process of gas discharge visualization well known under the name of "Kirlian effect".

## Part II. THE EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE

> Well then, let us begin!

> Without any hesitations I shall end

> What have begun, leading to a nearest coast

> The course of a tired ship.

> Ovidi Nason "Love science"

The Human Energy Field (HEF) is a highly sensitive reflection of the physical, emotional, and in some instances, the spiritual assessment of an individual. To measure this, data is obtained from the fingers of both hands and is converted into an HEF image using proprietary sophisticated software. This technology is predicated on the Kirlian effect and in the modern times on Gas Discharge Visualization (GDV) process, which has been described in detail in many publications. The results are interpreted based on the energy connection of fingers with different organs and systems via meridians that are used in acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine.

The scientific area we are entering by conducting the present research lies at the boundary between two well developed territories, possessing their laws and rules: the territory of the western scientific framework and the territory of mystical understanding. Development of the western and eastern sciences throughout the centuries follows different laws: western scientist investigated the environmental subject world, trying to touch, to weigh, to measure; wise men of the East have been meditating on the fundamental structure principles of the Universe. Everything, that does not directly influence the material world, that is, everything that cannot be recorded and measured, is treated by western science with mistrust and suspicion. The eastern tradition considers reflection and thought to be the highest step of knowledge. But the more advanced engineering and technology became and the more surprises they brought to mankind, the more often the West looked to the East, and the louder the voices of ancient wise men were heard. Western youth searches for an outcome in Krishnaism, Zen-Buddhism and Oriental war arts, scientists try to reveal the hidden sense of "Bagavatgita" and "China Book of Changes". The coming century promises a new step in the understanding of the Universe, a western rationalism and eastern mysticism synthesis stage. Therefore, in the given work we tried on the one hand, to keep the stringent western scientific rules and on the other hand to take into account and respect the laws and rules of the spiritual world. At the present stage of knowledge, we are standing at the new boundary, beyond which we can see vast spaces before us and can only guess what wonders and dangers are awaiting us there. We do not know for sure which factors are significant, and which are not, what will be important and what will be irrelevant. That is why while arranging and processing experimental data we took into consideration all possible factors which could in any way have influenced the experimental procedure and results, no matter how strange they might have seemed. Research to follow will no doubt show the meaning of different factors and results.

When preparing the experimental work, we accepted the following organizational principles:

• reliability of data;


• objectivity, i.e., independence of the individual researcher;


• possibility of independent reproduction of the results.


The experiment was organized as follows. The subject, delivered to the experimental site within 1-3 hours from the time of death, was taken to the experimental room. The left hand of the subject was fixed on the electrode by means of a restricting device which ensured a stationary position of the hand and fingers throughout the experimental session. Every hour, the Kirlian discharge characteristics of left-hand fingers were registered. The experimental process consisted of 3 quasi-independent steps:

• the preparation, including the mounting and checking of the equipment, object selection and installation;


• experiment itself and draft material processing;


• computer processing of the experimental data.


Special measures were taken to ensure repeatability of the results, and to minimize the effect of operator qualification and emotional state and the environment, especially with respect to the electromagnetic environmental situation during the experiment.

All the experimental data presented below were received under the same conditions: on the same premises with the same equipment, operating in a certain stabilized mode with consistent technique. In the course of operation, the equipment was tested and calibrated periodically. The premises on which the experiments were conducted were a concrete basement 20 meters long and 4 meters wide. The subject under investigation was placed in the far end of the basement. After the subject was put into place, all equipment remained in a fixed position until the end of the experimental session. The windows were closed with dark curtains, the illumination was turned off except for a red lantern installed near the equipment. The basement was locked and besides the operators no one was to enter it.

The data were recorded every hour during day and night. The working group consisted of 2-3 persons changing shifts every 8-10 hours. The operators were to act as follows: once an hour to descend to the experimental room, to mark the photo paper sheet (date, time), to put the sheet under the fingers and to produce two discharge photos on one sheet, at the same time making the discharge photo of a reference mark, then place the exposed paper in a black envelope. Equipment was arranged in such a manner that to operate it one should only press the button. All the parameters were set beforehand and were held with accuracy of no less than 1 %. 1 -2 times a day all photos were processed using large canisters with—10 liters of freshly prepared photo solutions. After the end of the experiment the whole set of photos was taken for computer processing. Several times a day the discharge photos of operators' fingers were produced, which permitted us to monitor their condition. On Monday the experiment was usually finished and the body was handed over for autopsy examination.

So the experimental process consisted of three quasi-independent steps:

• the preparation, including the mounting and checking of the equipment, subject selection and installation;


• the experiment itself and draft material processing;


• computer processing of the experimental data.


Each of these steps was performed by a special team supervised and directed by the author.

Such process organization provided independence of the data from a particular operator's performance—his qualification, skill or knowledge. Subjective judgment was practically excluded. For experiments in the boundary area this is significant and should be taken into account.

As seen from the presented material, the research technique enabled us to obtain the most reliable and objective data. All the research steps were quasi-independent, the equipment stabilized and metrologically checked, data processing was supervised by the various operators, each of them performed only some of the operation. The technique of the experiment and data processing was highly automated and constructed as a set of certain algorithms that allowed to meet the above requirements. For example, using materials of the present book and having appropriate equipment and software one can receive very similar data.

Preparing for the experiment in 1995

Repeating the experiments in 2014

## ANALYSIS of the EXPERIMENTAL DATA

> No, there could be no error here: the real sense of my life exactly in what will be with me after death.

> Robert Merl, "Madrapur"

The experiments showed that the deceased bodies exhibited a specific GDV glow parameter, variable in time, but no qualitative difference existed between the discharge glow of living and the deceased. We were unable to discern any special features of the glow associated with the deceased bodies. The types of glow varied within a wide range, with transitions from one type to another. Glow intensity was lower for deceased bodies, but did not drop to zero level—only to some fixed value.

I group. Curves with relatively weak oscillation amplitude.

II group. Curves with relatively weak oscillation amplitude but with one pronounced peak.

III group. Large amplitude curves.

E After analyzing a large amount of data, we discovered a very interesting feature: each of these groups is characterized by a specific death cause:

group I: "calm, natural" death caused by the conditions of body tissues,

group II: "violent" death as a result of a traffic accident with scull—brain injury,

group III: "unexpected" death as a result of some tragic circumstances which in more favorable conditions could have been avoided.

I want to stress that the above division is rather tentative and in no way is final. It's quite possible that later the principle of classification will substantially change. For example case N 1 as seen from the curve belongs to group III though the death cause might with full right be identified as natural. Successes of medicine in this century put off the death threshold for earlier incurable cases. Therefore, the given death might scarcely be classified as natural. Case 5 in accordance with the curve character might be attributed to group III, however it is more interesting to group it with case 4. Besides, such division is confirmed by discharge photos grouping to be discussed below. At the given stage there is too little data for final classification, therefore allocated groups should be considered as preliminary, however even such preliminary analysis permits sometimes to see the data in a new light and thus to lay the base for further experiments.

Let us note the main features of curves common to each group.

group I. On the curve one might allocate two segments: oscillations exceeding benchmark level and comparable with benchmark; duration of the first segment is from 16 to 55 hours, it is scarcely expedient to allocate any features to these sites.

Examples of dynamic curves of group I

group II. Explicitly pronounced peak in one case corresponds to the first 8 hours after death, in the other case—the end of the first day; oscillations come to benchmarck level approximately two days after the death.

Examples of dynamic curves of group II

group III. In this group the most explicitly represented features common for all three cases are as follows: • high amplitude and duration of oscillations as compared with the previous groups;

• reduction of amplitude from the beginning to the end of experiment—peaks at night from 21:00, of various rate and duration;


• local glow drop at the end of the first day and a sharp drop at the end of the second day.


Examples of dynamic curves of group III

## Our Sensations

> It doesn't matter how hard you urge your horse, how hard you spur it or how fast it runs. If you run in circles, you will not get away from the point where you started.

> Sufi Proverb

The question that was raised in the very beginning of our experiments was: what is the meaning of increased overnight activity? We observed this phenomenon on the first experimental night. In the morning, the night-shift experimenter, a regular employee of the organization, noted a few things:

"Throughout the night I felt the presence of a substance. "What's that,"—/ asked, not understanding him. —"Presence of what?

"Substance. So, we call the meandering spirit of the dead man. Everyone who works in our institution for a while, if they do not become drunkards, begin to feel it in due course. At nights and on weekends it is usually much stronger than by day. And this night particularly, the substance was felt especially clearly.

In the beginning of the experiment, I went down to the basement hourly, and routinely conducted the photographic work. I have worked in this institution for a few years and have seen a lot. At 11:45 p.m., as usual, I entered the basement and came to the body. Suddenly I was shocked by a strong sensation of fear, entirely wild, my hair stood on end. As I recalled later, I had felt such panic only once before, during a bear hunt: we were tracking the animal, when all of a sudden, I had a gut feeling that the bear was actually behind me, and did not harbor peaceful intentions. Now I was gripped by the same primal fear. I tried to calm myself, but in vain—the fear did not subside. I took the photo quickly and almost ran out upstairs. Isn't it funny? A strong man, a professional, a hunter—and afraid of ghosts! But I did not want to go back to the body unnecessarily. These sensations recurred all night until 5 a.m., though, of course not with such intensity when I was prepared to face them. But when I entered the basement at 6 a.m., everything was quiet again.

Later on, I tried to understand, what had happened to me? This fear could not be subdued by logic, as if my subconsciousness had felt the danger and reacted to it in a primal way. A very interesting and new sensation!"

I wondered how the next night would go.

On the next night the sensation was repeated only once, at 3 a.m.; on the third night there was absolutely nothing. In the second experiment my assistants have had no unpleasant sensations. That is why, naturally, I decided to check everything myself in the following experiment. Coincidentally it was experiment 3—a suicide case.

It is 11:45 at night. I come from the laboratory and along the deserted staircase, down to the basement. It is absolutely quiet in the building. Somewhere in distant rooms there are guards and my colleagues. I am alone. The halls and the operating rooms are unusually empty. In the daytime, I would see gurney with dead bodies each step of the way, just brought in or being prepared for autopsy. At night they are all moved to the freezers. Rarely does one see a body brought in at night.

Passing by the morgue, I come down still lower to the basement and along the concrete corridor to the door of our experimental room. Even in the daytime, the main denizens down here are rats. I unlock a small iron door, having some difficulty using the keys in the dim light of a bulb. After this dim light I usually stand still for some time to allow my eyes to get accustomed to the red semidarkness of the basement. I stand and appraise my sensations. Throughout the many years of research with others who have extra-sense capacity, I had gone through numerous training sessions that develop sensitivity and the ability to perceive fragile energies. The skills thus acquired have been rather useful in everyday life. Therefore I pull myself together and try to perceive what I can.

I feel nothing but an empty room. The subject is at the distant end from the door, about 20 meters away. I begin to move slowly ahead. I reach the middle of the basement when suddenly I feel someone's glance directed at me. Everyone has experienced this sensation, the pressure of someone's gaze on your back in a crowd, a store, or a bus. But in a crowd, you can turn and meet the eyes of the 'intruder' who is the source of this nuisance. Here, in the middle of the basement, of course, I can find no such source. The basement is empty, and the entire building contains no more than five people. But the presence is felt very succinctly. I come to the subject and turn on the equipment. The sensation is that someone is lingering nearby, watching all my actions. There is no hostility in this presence, only quiet observation. Quiet, but not indifferent.

I get the sensation that this observer is here by right, while I am here by accident and for no reason. In the evening before the beginning of my shift I was going to stay in the basement for the hour that elapsed between measurements, but now this intention entirely unmotivated. It is not fear I feel, but rather the kind of discomfort you experience in unpleasant company: the sense that you're not wanted here. Finishing the measurements, I turn off the equipment and leisurely go back to the door. Here, the sensation of someone else's presence is absent. I once again slowly tour the room. Ah here it is again! I return to the distant end of the basement near the back wall, about three meters from the gurney with the body. Here the sensation is present but not strongly. Eventually I manage to determine that the presence is most intense approximately in the center of the room, some 5-7 meters from the body. Then I decide that I can scarcely do more, and I head for the exit. This time, I feel a gaze on my back until the very moment I exit. Only after closing the low iron door I realize how tired I got over these last 20 minutes.

Later on, all the members of my group of experimenters shared their impressions. On the whole, they rather coincide. The presence was felt especially strongly on the first night, though not in all experiments. As a rule, it was possible to detect a place in the room where the feeling was the strongest and this place never coincided with the position of the body; as a rule it was 3-5 meters away. Primal fear arose only in the first and fourth experiments with different operators. By daytime none of us felt anything, despite the same level of illumination in the room as at night, and despite our efforts to sense something. As the experiments progressed, we all became accustomed to these "substances," and were able to ignore them. At the same time, the presence of those sensations felt by different people, the inability to control it logically may testify their objectiveness.

The increased nocturnal activity is probably significant. Absence of activity in the day time cannot be attributed entirely to the of influence of daylight, or to the greater number of people present: our basement room had no windows and was kept at a darkened level of illumination around the clock; we also seldom entered the room with more than three people at a time. However, both the sensations and the experimental curves demonstrate increased nocturnal activity. Much more experimental data has to be accumulated before we can explain this phenomenon.

I already mentioned earlier that 20 minutes of work in the experimental room strained my energy level drastically. As I found out, this was a constant: each visit to the facility was followed by feelings of tiredness and depletion, and each time I needed a rest to bring me back to norm. My assistants experienced the same effects. A significant drop in energy levels was also evidenced by Kirlian photographs, which we recorded on each other before and after the experimental shift.

What of the people who are habitually confronted with this environment, every day, week after week of steady work here? We measured their energy levels, taking gas-discharge photographs of doctors and aides. All three doctors who were examined exhibited normal images without anomaly, images of healthy people with slightly dissonant energy, light distinctions, variations and maladies. In contrast, all aides who were examined exhibited completely anomalous images—N-type according to Kirlian classification. They complained of numerous malaises typical of people with damaged energy. To be fair, they were all heavy drinkers, so it was impossible to say whether the source of their malaises was work or recreation. Watching them, I recalled Mika Waltari's descriptions of the servants of the House of Death in "The Egyptian":

“Priests directed everything inside the House of Death. Still, the minions, who took care of cleansing, preparing and mummifying he bodies, were thieving all in sight with the righteousness of divine justification. Having once crossed the threshold of the House of Death, one rarely lost the stigma of disgust, shared with the entire caste, and was destined to remain among the corpses for the rest of his life. In the first few days, everyone seemed to me to he damned by the gods; their chatter, their curses, and their derision of the torpses disgusted me. Later, I discovered amongst them some genuine master craftsmen, who valued their skill highly and followed a certain hierarchy of superiority. Each was specialized in a certain area, much like the doctors in the House of Life, so that one was concerned with heads, another with abdomen, a third with the heart, a fourth with the lungs, preparing each part of the body for everlasting existence in the appropriate manner."

As it happened, the subject of energy drain continued in a rather disturbing development. After the end of the experiment, we all became submerged in the worries of the summer: vacations, trips, or, as the case was for me, a deskful of experimental data to process. Not until September did I meet again with one of the physicians who headed the experimental group. He told me a disturbing tale.

A week after the end of the experiments, he was performing a routine autopsy. Carelessly, he brushed his hand against a fragment of the bone, but dismissed it as safe since there wasn't even a scratch on his hand. However, the next day his finger swelled up and began to ache; by evening he had a high fever, and when the ambulance brought him to the hospital, the diagnosis was clear: general blood poisoning. Only after two weeks of blood transfusions, cleansing, and medications could he go back to his normal lifestyle.

"How could this happen to you,"— I asked,— "a professional for many years, how could you be so affected by our experiments?" "In my daily work, I deal with corpses only for a short period during the day,"— he explained.—"The bulk of my work is paperwork, lab research, and preparation of documents and materials. In our experiments, on the other hand, we spent many hours each day with the bodies, including night-time hours, when the activity is especially strong. Although, naturally, there is also the end of the working year, accumulated fatigue, vitamin deficiency—a combination of factors led to a drop in the strength of my immune system and, consequently, an increased receptivity to infection. In the future experiments, be sure to watch experimenters' vitamin intake."

It would be sad to find that the deceased actively drain energy from our live bodies. Rather, while existing in transitional state, they open a channel which connects our world with the world of another reality. This channel is where our energy goes, and when a person falls under the influence of this channel he is acted upon by powerful cosmic forces. He falls under the rule of laws and relationships that have a powerful effect on our lives, but are none the closer to our inspection or understanding. This problem will certainly require more attention in the future.

When I related this experience later at lectures, many in the audience were curious: why wasn't a medium invited to become acquainted with these 'beings' in more detail, and why wasn't there an attempt to make contact with these beings? The reasons have to do with my desire, at this stage in the experiment, to obtain more 'natural' results unaffected by any influence. First, the progression of the process must be observed and its features noted; then we can attempt to influence it. If mediums were involved at the very beginning, the very essence of the experiment and its results could have been altered unpredictably. Secondly, a medium could have become attached to the experimental room, exerting influence even after his or her shift. This could also lead to unexpected consequences. The reality of this danger has been Proven through experience with gauges that register psychic pressure over distance.

In the future, it would unquestionably be interesting to involve a Medium able to establish contact with the spirit of the deceased, and observe the effect on the outcome of the experiment. Naturally, these experiments must be performed with better accuracy, so as not to disturb the kingdom of the dead for nothing. These experiments require extensive specialized training and much courage.

## FLIGHT OF IMAGINATION ON THE WINGS OF EXPERIMENTAL DATA

> Alas, our fate is carefree and merciless As a child: with a smile she erases secretly The pictures, that mind draws for a heart With the thin paint of our secret hopes.

Hala Satavachan (I millennium AD)

We should stress that the above division is rather tentative and in no case final—the data sample is too little to proclaim these associations definitive. It's quite possible that the principle of this classification will substantially change at some later instance.

At the same time, it is evident that the moment of transition through the last threshold is determined by many factors, which are often random: whether there is a medicine at hand; whether medical aid was timely; the person's stress level, etc. At any given stage there is too little data for final classification, and, therefore, the groups named above should be seen as preliminary. However even such preliminary analysis sometimes sheds a new light on data and lays a foundation for further experiments. Let us note the main features of curves common to each group.

The obtained set of data raises many questions. How is it to be interpreted? What factors can be connected with the observed phenomena? What hypotheses can we formulate from this? Data obtained raise a lot of questions. What does it all mean? With what factors can the phenomena observed be connected? How can it be interpreted? And naturally, the first question one should answer: how reliable is this data, is this not caused by experimental errors or registration of simple physiological processes? Let us improvise on the theme of the data obtained, putting together possible interpretations, objections and arguments.

The first objection is the one we can hear from practical-minded materialists: "This is all nonsense and a waste of time and money. A physical body two days after death can show no activity besides the processes of decomposition. Noted oscillations mean nothing but insignificant fluctuations determined by photo materials and data processing errors."

This argument is quite easy to answer. Probably, further critics will find more than one error in our experimental technique, but as a first step it seems to us quite satisfactory. This is confirmed by the holistic nature of the obtained results, for example the glow drop from the beginning of the experiment to its end, though the drop is not identical for all cases but is dependent on the situation. If it depended on the experimenter, this drop would have been more or less smooth and identical for all cases. And in some cases we observed even a rise of that characteristic in the end! Besides, as was noted in the description of the technique, a picture of a benchmark object—a little bottle with physiological solution was taken simultaneously with object discharge pictures. The benchmark glow curve is the most direct method of error calibration. As was shown in the previous chapter, the benchmark oscillation range is substantially smaller than the range for the most "calm" case. Comparison with meteorological data also demonstrates the absence of any appreciable influences of this factor on experimental data. So we see no reason to doubt the reliability of presented results.

After this explanation, our materialistic critic can offer the following argument: "All the presented data do not cause doubt from the experimental technique's point of view, but what they register is nothing more than residual physiology activity of muscle tissues transforming in the process of decomposition. Processes individual for each sample take place in tissue, for example, dehydration and wrinkling, dependent upon epidermis age and environmental conditions. To speak of any connection of the data obtained with the former owner of these tissues is meaningless."

The main answer to this argument as it seems to me is the nature of the data obtained—primarily their division into three groups, correlating with the nature and reason of death. The most interesting are the features noted in the third group. The physiological characteristics measured after death vary in the first hours and further on either remain constant or change smoothly, as smooth curves. We could find the oscillatory processes anywhere and what is more, the processes similar to those obtained. At this stage it is early to make any conclusions, but it is known that oscillatory processes with periodic rises and drops during several hours are characteristic of systems with high activity.

At the same time, if we registered only the processes of dehydration and transformation of body tissues, they would correlate with individual features and age, and the temperature in the room. But this correlation is absent. Really, if in Groups I and II people of almost the same age are represented, in the most interesting Group III age varies: 18, 49 and 56 years. The body characteristics differ as well: a heavy-build man, a fat crumbly man and a young girl.

The simplest solution is to state that the observed curves represent the recording of inconsequential biological processes and to disregard them on that basis. This is similar to how the 18th century dismissed meteors, the 19th century dismissed hypnosis, and the 20th century dismissed telepathy. S. Grof (1993) was absolutely right when he said:

IIt is absurd that a worldview that has long been outdated in modern physics is still considered scientific in many other fields. This is holding back future progress. It is a fact that observations and facts that contradict the mechanistic model of the Universe are most often discarded or hushed up. Furthermore, research projects that do not relate to the dominant paradigm are deprived of funding. The most striking examples of this are psychology, alternative approaches to medicine, psychedelic research, thanatology, and some areas of anthropological field research”.

So, let us assume that the data presented tell us about the movements of the soul after death, and about responses of the body to its parting from soul. We can name this soul energy or spirit, we can guess which plane—astral, ether or air it belongs to, we can form the most exotic hypotheses of its nature—at this stage it does not play a significant role.

In the cases of a calm, 'senile' death, the life-cycle of a person is naturally finished, he has ended his term, and his biological clock is showing midnight. The soul quietly leaves the unnecessary material shell and departs for further journey. But this does not take place at once: the soul remains with the body for two or three more days. It seems that this time is taken for some changes of the connections between the physical body and the ethereal one, some final alteration, the last crisis. One can imagine an analogy of the last inspection of a war fortress being vacated by the troops, when the vigilant commander passes along the already empty halls, where only recently everything was in a struggle, at work, in movement and where now one can only look around for the last time, smoke the last cigarette, turn off all the lights, and then move on to the new light, new life. From 16 to 55 hours after the death we see the oscillations of the curve that peaks upwards, or, on the contrary, tragically drops, but in any case, in two-three days everything is over, never to repeat again...

The situation is absolutely different in the case of a natural, but to some degree unexpected death. The life was not finished yet then, although who knows—maybe this life term was encoded in his genes and would have come to its end regardless of the thrombus that killed a person. Death came totally unexpected. Accordingly, we see on his chart (fig. 5-10) how strong the variations of his energy are. For two entire days—a long 48 hours—the energy protests restlessly until it becomes clear that there is no return. The last burst is followed by a sharp drop of the glow, as if some interior source is shut off. The ethereal body flies away, tearing up the last threads connecting it with the physical body. After this only an inanimate object remains that does not differ from the mineral world, changing and transforming according to the laws of chemistry. The tissues produce a smooth constant glow similar to rubber or plastic. But the soul does not want to part with body; she rushes about, as if again and again verifying the inevitability of the event. The Christian tradition always separated the cases of "unprepared" death. In the Middle Ages, death without confession was ranked high on the list of undesirable events: it hindered an easy passage of the soul through purgatory. In group I, death might as well have come suddenly, but all of the subjects were advanced in years and had inevitably been thinking about their last day, even without confession, and so they had been prepared.

Now a tragic, agonizing, recognized death—the suicide. The ethereal body is firmly connected with the physical body, the astral body—with the ethereal one. The totally unexpected end of life is a result of an accident, an evil concatenation of circumstances and misfortunes. Of course, on some deep level it is predetermined, but so far it has been possible to balance the scale somehow, to keep the hope going, to steer clear of the crisis, to wait for something else, to live on. But this time everything has become unbearable; this is the end point, the edge of darkness, the split where one movement can solve all problems. The tormented brain refuses to perceive reality and does not hear the desperate, but oh, so silent cries of the frail body, the body never listened to in the first place, and commands the hands to grab the rope. The stool is kicked out, and the delicately balanced course of physical processes called life is suddenly interrupted.

But not the ethereal life! This ethereal body is not prepared yet to leave the physical body, with which until a moment ago they struggled together through daily doubts. Maybe it is true that stronger emotions and experiences, more troubled feelings and sensations, more active participation of the soul in daily struggles tend to make more difficult for the soul to leave her earthly shell.

Then the soul lingers around, uncertain what to do, unable to be released forever, and so the glow doesn't settle down. Isn't this the reason for the Church's condemnation of suicide, as well as the prohibition to bury the victims on the holy ground inside the Church fence? Wasn't the Church thereby banishing the restless spirit, which again and again returns to the body, troubling and frightening the living?

And, finally, the sudden death—a tragic accident striking down a person full of life, energy, plans and ideas. He steps down from the sidewalk in a hurry to cross the road a second earlier, and then a wild impact, flash of light, and the limp body is lying on the pavement, with life trickling out with the blood. There is a narrow thin peak in the first four hours after death and then a deep drop, in spite of the fact that it is the most active time, midnight. Photos of the glow clarify the reason for this peak: there are star-shaped, disparate spots, as if a set of snowflakes sprinkled around the finger—I have seen nothing similar in my 15 years of experience with the Kirlian effect. It is as if a fountain of energy had burst out through the ruptured shell. It is quickly gone, but the connections are not severed yet, for the frail ethereal body needs more than a day to say good-bye to the physical body.

An interesting fact: in the case of a natural death by aging the process of departure takes a day or two. On many curves one observes a sharp drop after two days—is this a random coincidence or a manifestation of some law unknown to us, connecting life cycles with the most natural temporal periods affecting all living beings and determining the very course of all Earth processes: sunrise and sunset. But, according to our data, this period behaves as an absolute measure, not connected with the time of the day, and the end of the 48-hour period after death may fall on any time of day in most of our experiments. However, we emphasize once again that the present number of experiments is entirely insufficient for any final conclusions.

The tragic death of a young girl. She was in a theater with a friend, and during the intermission in the buffet, she choked on a piece of apple that had gotten into her windpipe. They started hitting her on the back, which made the situation worse. A few minutes later, she died. The young, blooming creature has only just begun to live; she is only on the threshold of life, when all of a sudden such an absurd end comes. Had there been a different set of circumstances, had there been an experienced doctor nearby, she would have been back to normal in a half an hour, with only an unpleasant recollection of the event.

The problem of a sudden death, especially death of children and youths, is a very complex one. Here is what priest Peter Kalinovsky has to say on the topic:

"A young creature's death would be not only unfair, but also senseless if it were the end of his existence. But there is nothing senseless in nature, and God's will is frequently unknown to us. A child dies sinless, and in the other world his soul should be happy. People of a simple natural life feel ^nis. Such view is the most humane, and it allows the living to understand the event."

But let us look at the curves of this experiment. Sharp peaks, rises and drops, gradual downfall, but no wanted rest, no direct line.

## THOUGHTS ON ETERNITY

> The soul must take care of the body, just as a pilgrim on the way to Mecca takes care of his camel, but if the pilgrim spends all his time feeding and decorating the camel, the caravan will leave him behind and he will perish in the desert.

> Al-Ghazali

Death demands to be treated with respect, with no mocking or unceremoniousness. This statement can again be illustrated by instances from the mountaineering practice. I attended the burial of many a young friend who had trifled Death, walking the razor's edge. I found out that the second and third years of rock climbing prove to be the most dangerous for a sportsman: the climber has been trained, has had several successful climbs, and is beginning to think that every mountain is attainable. The lure of the mountains and the promise of the champion's spoils has made many a sportsman think of competition rather than of one's safety. It is then that the climber usually gets into trouble. Naturally, those who survive will change their attitude towards danger radically.

Another custom of Death is to claim the person who has had his or her fair share of good luck, fortune, success and happiness. The fare share seems to be different for different people at different periods in their lives. When you feel that you have had good luck too often or for too long, you must expect it to end—usually in a painful manner. Experienced drivers are well aware that small problems with the car avert a serious accident. Life is painted with zebra stripes: broad white stripes must have black stripes in between. The broader the white stripes, the broader and blacker are the black ones, with Death lying in ambush. Death expects to be paid 'the good luck toll.' Having it too good for too long is a bad omen. And many small misfortunes are much better than one great disaster.

In the 1980s there was a world-class climber in Leningrad (Now renamed St. Petersburg). I will call him Alexander for the purposes of this story. He was notorious for having the fortune always on his side. Fine weather always settled in when he arrived at the mountains. If ever it started raining, it was not until he was safely back at the camp. His ascents were invariably neplus ultra. Whenever he had to draw lots, his luck was flawless. He had an interesting job and a beautiful wife. One winter he took part in a 20-km cross-country ski race held at a suburban forest. The day was cold, and there were no spectators who usually crowded the hills along the race route. In the middle of the race, on a downhill run, Alexander fell and seriously twisted his foot. While waiting for help to arrive, he sat on the snow in his light skiing suit drenched with sweat. When he finally was brought to the hospital some time later, he was diagnosed with a critical case of pneumonia. He died two days later. While we are busy averting our thoughts away from Death, Death keeps an eye on each of us.

Another custom observed by Death is similar to the course of events above. The lives that are the brightest, most eventful and happy, most filled with achievements, with the strongest influence on others seem to attract the attention of Death the fastest. Suffice it to mention the Italian painter Raphael (1483-1520), the Russian poets Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837), Sergei Esenin (1895-1925), Vladimir Vysotski (1938-1980), the English poet George Gordon Byron (1788-1824). Their lives flashed like bright comets. Brimming over with high spirits, each of them lived a life filled with great deeds, great achievements, and great passions that would more than fill a few average lives! Thousands of lives orbited around theirs, were influenced by them or depended on them and their actions. Incidentally, let us ask ourselves, what professions render their practitioners most influential and magnetic? The answer is simple: authors and politicians (though, of course, not any writer or any man in the corridors of power would qualify for this definition). Oddly, these are the two professions particularly attractive to Death. A list of authors who died young may be found in any literature textbook.

Politicians are worthy of a special mention. The profession of the Head of State (Monarch, President, Prime Minister) is listed as the most dangerous with respect to the ratio of those assassinated to the total number of rulers. There are 55 names on the incomplete list of the 20th - century heads of different states in the world. The Russian Tzar Nikolai the Second with his family, Indian Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, the US Presidents William McKinley and John F. Kennedy, the Chilean President Salvador Aliende, the Swedish Prime Minister Olaf Palme, the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, the Romanian ruler Nicolae Ciauchescu. The 20th -century situation has been quite consistent with all preceding centuries. If we were to cite the rulers and monarchs murdered in olden times, volumes would have to be written to include all their names. For example, out of fifty Russian Grand Dukes and Czars ruling in succession from the tenth century to 1917, fourteen have been murdered—that's a mortality rate of 28%. There is no other profession, trade, or occupation in this country with such a heavy toll.

I should think that in this particular respect the history of any other country is rather similar to that of Russia. Shakespeare summed it up as follows,

> For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground

> And tell sad stories of the dead kings:

> How some have been deposed, some slain in war,

> Some hounded by the ghosts they have deposed;

> All murdered: for within the hollow crown

> That rounds the mortal temples of a king

> Keeps Death his court...

> William Shakespeare. Richard II

A detailed study of instances of assassination yields some curious data, with striking coincidences. I will cite the lives of two outstanding American politicians: Abraham Lincoln, elected senator in 1847, elected president in 1860; and John F. Kennedy, elected senator in 1947, elected president in 1960. Each married a bride of age 24. President Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy; president Kennedy had a secretary named Lincoln. Both presidents were succeeded by a Johnson after assassination: Andrew Johnson, the 17th President, and Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th President. The two Johnsons were born in 1808 and 1908, respectively. Both Lincoln and Kennedy had premonitions of approaching mortal danger. Both of their assassins were killed shortly after they committed the crime. The chain of coincidences is extraordinary.

Statesmen of other ranks appear to be in great danger, too. The Swiss historian Felix Auer suggests that in the course of European history, the post of Minister of Finance has often been a favorite with Death: 37 French ministers of finance suffered a martyr's death from 1315 to 1781. It may be concluded that the more powerful the person and the higher his position in society, the more effectively he secures the attention of Death.

On the other hand, Death seems to be in no hurry when someone has a set purpose and is striving to achieve a goal in life. Such a person is usually allowed to attain the goal, and immediately afterwards Death arrives to claim the toll. This appears to be especially true of those who would take arms against a vast sea of trouble. Old age was granted to those politicians who strove to establish great empires and managed to reach the summit of power only after many years of struggle—Tatar's Genghiz Khan, Asia's Tamerlane, Japan's Tototomi Hideyoshi; as well as to philosophers who founded great religions—Moses, Mohammed, Confucius, Chang Tao-Ling; and to those who devoted their lives to reflection, meditation and creative work—monks, scholars, great authors. With respect to the above category of politicians, prophets etc., longevity is not correlated with the intensity of their lives. Many a person from the high-longevity group has had a tempestuous and eventful life, and has often been in danger of losing life. Each, however, had been striving for a great goal which was eventually attained.

Though it had a happy ending, my personal crisis of that kind left me brimming over with emotions. One spring, on the eve of the climbing season, my friend and I went for a rock climb in the country. We were going to do training climbs up a wall, with safety provided from below. This usually means that one sportsman, with the end of the rope tied to his harness, climbs up, hammering pitons into the cracks and pulling the rope through the carabiners attached to the pitons, while the partner stays below, holding the other end of the rope. I had climbed up about eight meters and had hammered in two pitons, when I was stopped by an overhang. I groped my way around, trying to find a grip, or a suitable crack for the piton to be driven in, but I found neither. Later, I learned that in this situation the only reasonable way out is to descend, examine the rock wall once again, and see what can be done about it from the bottom. As a rule, a way out can always be found. On that spring day I did not descend. I wanted to climb up at all costs. After some groping, I found what I thought was a thin crack, into which I inserted a light "petal" peg, hung a light rope ladder over it, and stepped onto the lowest rung. I was going to move upwards in search of a shelf, but the peg shot out and I fell, back first, from the height of a three-story building, pulling out all the pitons that I had driven in minutes earlier... When I regained consciousness, I was told to lie still for a half an hour. Then my friend helped me up, and I was even able to waddle to the bus. My whole body was in pain. An X-ray examination made at the nearest emergency center showed no fractures, and I was allowed to go home.

At midnight, in bed, I suddenly felt the breath of Death. Pain attacked me in waves, and each new wave seemed more and more unbearable. Breathing was painful too. When I tried to hold my breath and take a deep breath afterwards, it resulted in a sharp pang. A veil hung before my eyes. I felt like I was dying. The pain was so severe that there was no room for any coherent thoughts, fear, or remorse. I was only able to wake up my wife and ask her to call for an ambulance. My state of mind could be described as a total absence of mind. I only wanted the pain to be over. I did not care what the outcome would be or in what manner it would be reached. I had no other wish or thought. Once I was brought to the hospital I received some injections, put to bed, and in the morning, I felt I was to live on...

After the incident it took me a long year of training to overcome the fear of another fall and to be able to climb in the mountains effectively and professionally. From then on, I was able to have every situation under control. I did my job carefully and, at the same time, quickly and energetically. For many years after the incident, I went to the mountains as a group leader, I happened to get into various kinds of trouble, but my recollection of the past always helped me keep the presence of mind.

The long happy months spent in the mountains with daring and fearless people and my regular work with rescue parties led me to another conclusion—Death is rather partial in his treatment of people. Some are allowed to be rescued, and others are done away with mercilessly. I shall never forget an incident, or accident, that occurred at the Shkhelda Mountaineering Camp in Central Caucuses. A very young girl slipped on the path. She fell down and rolled some four meters down a slant. At the end of her fall, her head struck a rock. The shock was so violent that she died of internal hemorrhaging on the way to the hospital.

There is a Serenity prayer that says, in one of its variations:

> " God grant me the serenity

> To accept the things I can not change,

> Courage to change the things I can,

> And the wisdom to know the difference..."

It reminds me of a Chinese parable. Young pupils asked their wise old master, how to behave so as to avoid all the traps set by life, and to be able to reach a respectable old age. The master answered by telling them the story of a traveler who had to cross a rapid river. All depends on the choices you make:

"One traveler may aim at crossing to a place up the river. He will have to swim hard so as to avoid being swept away by the current. He may be able to conquer the stream and be eventually satisfied with his performance. Although content, he will be in a state of utter exhaustion after crossing the river. On the other hand, he may be overpowered by the stream, thrown against a rock and get killed. A wiser traveler will choose to cross to a place down the river. Then he will swim with the stream, and will only have to direct his course a little. Feeling much refreshed, he will continue his way on land happily."

Every human being can be compared with either of the travelers in the parable. In the turbulent flow of life, some struggle against the current, trying to ignore the natural elements, while others flow with the stream of life. The latter enjoy going with the stream. For them, life is not an eternal struggle, but a pleasure.

There are no unsolvable problems for persons who live in harmony with the stream of life, because they set themselves attainable goals within the bounds of capabilities of their real world, and Fate gives them solutions, setting them on their way. The main problem is how to secure the awareness of the streams of life in the world, how to get a hold of the rhythm of the Universe, how to reach an agreement with the rhythm and keep pace with it.

The reader may wonder, how this discussion is related to the subject of the book, the theme of Death? I can assure the reader that the two are in immediate contact. Death is an event in the chain of Life. It is one of the numerous stations on the road of Life, differing from all the other ones in the fact that after that station the train of life enters a one-track tunnel, and we can only wonder what happens in the depth of the tunnel.

Our lives have been predestined by the supreme powers. The predestination, however, is flexible rather than absolute. Not every event or every date has been decreed. There is room for opportunities and probabilities. It looks as though a draft agenda is always prepared for every newborn baby, with correlations and alterations to be introduced later in the course of life, with personal variants, acts, and circumstances. I will call this doctrine "fatalism", but it is fatalism of a different kind from those manifestations of fatalism which were implied in the Greek tragedy or in Shakespearean "Macbeth". The terms of undetermined predestination are similar to the enigmatic statements in which prophecies used to be transmitted by priests at the shrine of Apollo at Delphi. This is the reason why we do not often think of death, although Death is always close behind each of us. This is also the reason why we avoid thinking of death, even though death is a natural part of life. In this respect, the human being may be compared to the butterfly which is born at sunrise and is to die at sunset. All day long, it flies merrily from flower to flower. Likewise, people enjoy the whirl of life filled with love and merriment, passions and torments, without ever thinking of the terminus. The process has been predestined. All our small, unreliable boats are being carried on by the stream of life. The art of life is to keep afloat, not to let your boat capsize in the turbulent flux of the stream, not to run aground, but to steer clear of the backwater from which the boat cannot be carried out by the current.

The signs of Death are spelled out for those who have intuition, experience, and talent to read them. This capacity for foresight, or presentiment, is the highest level of such talent. Few people are endowed with this natural power, though some acquire it after an emotional crisis or physical trauma. The majority of those possessing this talent are not attentive to the warnings of Death. In the bustle of everyday life they just don't pay attention. It is very difficult to bring home the warning signs of Death.

There was a rock climber of high reputation in St. Petersburg, Guriy Chunovkin. Guriy was a winner of countless awards in Soviet Union mountain championships; his team conquered the most difficult slopes of Caucasus and Pamir. Once he was leading a team of climbers up a rather inaccessible icy peak face. The climbers had been working at it for three days when they found themselves on a small ledge, with an icefall hanging over them. They planned to spend another full day climbing this wall, and to have the mountain conquered by the end of the day. On the eve of that final day, Guriy awoke in the middle of the night to hear the water running down the canvas of their tent. He thought it was extraordinary: it should be snowing at such a high altitude, and no rain could possibly be expected. But the summer was too warm for any snow.

All of a sudden he had a premonition of the porous ice mass above them soaking up water and growing heavier every minute. He told us later that the warning had been like a blow struck by an invisible messenger. Immediately, he awoke his party to move down to the base of the slope. As they were half-awake, they obeyed. Then, the inevitable controversy arose from his decision: absolutely everyone was displeased, indignant, and scornful. They argued that they were so close to being awarded the champions' medals, but his egotism had deprived them of the victory. As I mentioned, Guriy was a man of high reputation, so four hours later they found themselves at the starting point of their ascent.

They left all pitons in the rock wall as they descended by the ropes. At seven they had a short rest for some tea and re-packing. They were going about their business on the moraine about five hundred meters away from the wall. Angry with their leader, they would not look at him. Suddenly they heard a horrific crash: the upper part of the ice wall broke off and slid down—very slowly at first, then gaining momentum. Guriy shouted, "Safety helmets on! Hit the ground!" They pressed themselves to the stones, seeking safety behind the boulders. In the next instant the gigantic ice mass crashed at the foot of the wall, with hard blocks of ice flying over their heads. Several minutes later all was quiet again. They had given Death the slip, but they did not seem to be fully aware of it yet.

The outcome will be quite different if you are not attentive to you own, or someone else's, intuition. I had a good friend, Kirill Varvashtian. He was clever, handsome, a favorite with women, and a fine mountaineer. One summer he was working as an instructor at the Dombai Mountaineering Camp in Central Caucuses. A friend asked Kirill to keep him company on a climb up the nearby mountain Bela-la-Kaja. The rock face in question was not a difficult one for a first-class climber. Experienced mountaineers usually started on the route early in the morning to be back by tea-time in the afternoon. Kirill had no second thoughts about it. He gave his consent at once, just because a friend was in need of his assistance. The following morning, they started very early, with light rucksacks on their backs. At the gate, however, a girl was waiting for them. She was a certain Lena who was very fond of Kirill. Lena rushed at them, begging of Kirill to back out of his promise. When asked to explain, Lena could only repeat endlessly, "I know that you must not go there today!" After Kiril’s refusal to oblige her (he thought it an absurd request, of course), Lena knelt before him: she implored, she wept, she promised she would do anything for him if he only stayed in the camp. By that time quite a few people had come up to wonder at the scene. Eventually Kirill pushed her out of his way and started on the path with his usual self-assurance. Six hours later he was dead. A slip on the wet moss sent him flying forward a mere three meters, with the resulting open fracture of hip bone. His wound was bandaged on the spot, a radio message brought a professional rescue team, but all was in vain. His shock ought to have been treated promptly, and his friend had no proper medication with him.

## A BIT OF PHILOSOPHY

> In a true Sufi, thought keeps pace with his feet, ...he is present in its entirety: his soul is where his body is - where his soul is - and his soul is where his feet are and his feet are where his soul is. This is the sign of presence without absence.

> Huviri

The above thoughts on the subject matter have been of general character. Do abstract theories help when Death claims someone you love? Can philosophy help if the person who dies is an integral part of your life?

Each of us is closely associated with many other people. The life of each of us may be said to be guided, if not quite ruled, by other people. This is true about various categories of people surrounding us: father and mother (who may be kind and loving, or alcoholics, or not known to their offspring), teachers and instructors, lovers and spouses, children, and colleagues. All these people surround each one of us, forming the home, social and moral environments. All of a sudden, a link in the surrounding environment passes away. When someone near and dear dies, this person is gone forever. It is a tragedy causing great grief. However, we can imagine that the person in question is gone to some end of the earth and is living in a place not only difficult to access but also without any means of communication. Incidentally, some years ago such a situation was typical of Russia. When a citizen of USSR emigrated to the United States or to Israel, hardly anyone heard from, or of, the emigrant. Correspondence was out of the question, since it might endanger the safety of other people. Those who stayed in the country were certain however that the emigrant was very much alive somewhere in this world, living his or her life. They also hoped that there was a possibility of their seeing one another again someday, through it might only happen in the remote future. Thus, grief was reduced to sadness. I suggest that an analogy may be drawn between emigration and death, between making one's exit from life in the USSR and making one's exit off the stage of life.

> "All the world's stage,

> And all the men and women merely players:

> They have their exits and their entrances..."

> William Shakespeare

It is only the destination that is different.

With the analogy accepted, it should be easy to picture to yourself the departed alive. You can imagine that the two of you are really talking, because you know very well what kind of response would have been made if he or she had been alive. If you communicate with the late friend in this way, the deceased person will live on in your memory. As long as there is someone to think about the deceased, they remain with us in this world. In Ancient Greece, this doctrine was a religious belief: they believed that the soul of a human being will stay alive as long as the memory of the dead person was being kept alive. They had a tradition of commemorating everyone. That was why they erected their monuments and wrote their poems. Some historical figures—the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen or the Russian Peter the Great—may seem to us more alive than the postman whom we see daily.

A particle of Death exists in every human soul. Whenever a close friend or relation dies, a certain part of one's heart goes after the deceased, and the aching void is immediately taken up by the Death. The size of the part seized by Death will depend on the circumstances. When an aged mother loses her only child, she loses everything. Her life is over. She is still able to eat, and drink, and talk, but she is dead to the world, because she loved her son or daughter with all her heart, and she can never have another child to take up the void, so Death seized it all. When a Romeo loses his Juliet, the lover's heart is filled up with Death, too. In this case there may be more than one outcome. Overwhelmed by the sorrow, the lover may surrender himself to despair, and die. If he is not a man of impulse however his heart will be healed, because Death will be pushed out of his soul bit by bit—by other people, other emotions, other excitements. Distress and sorrow must be suffered, but they must be the emotions of life, rather than those of Death. Every person has one life to live here and now. One's life is one's own, and it must be regarded as the greatest happiness, a gift of God. Every human being has the right to enjoy every minute in this world with "the sweet keen smell, the sighing sound, the lights around..." All the other people in the world—the living and the dead alike—form an environment of one's own life.

The joy of life cannot be permanent, only the idiot is always joyous. In his progress with the stream of life, any normal person has to go with different waves—to be rolled by the mounting waves now towards good luck and joy, now towards bad luck and sorrow.

" The web of our life is of a mingled jarn, good and ill together”.

> William Shakespeare, All's Well that Ends Well

If the progress is in harmony with the world and with one's own self, if he/she is able of forming a good judgment about one's age and station of life, with a sound mind in a sound body-—then, and only then, moments of real happiness may be reasonably expected. What are the criteria of this kind of life? What are the reasons for expectation of happiness? Humankind received them all two thousand years ago, in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt.5:3-12). Whenever attempts were made to distort the principles of the sermon, or disobey them, the results were regrettable. All those who obeyed the commandments sincerely, and tried and lived their lives in accordance with the rules set up for them in the Sermon on the Mount, were able to be in harmony with the world, and ended this earthly life peacefully. The proof of the Sermon is in the bimillennial experience of humankind. It follows then that all other theses in the New Testament represent the Profound Esoteric Truth. Hence, why should we doubt the truth of the words spoken by Jesus Christ about entering the kingdom of heaven? The notion of life after death is all the more believable as it is similar to relevant theses in other religious teachings giving a warning of the Last Judgment. It should be noted however that Jesus did not spell out His answers to several questions that we cannot help asking ourselves,

• What happens to the soul immediately after death?


• How does the soul leave the body?


• Where does the soul stay pending the Judgment Day?


In the absence of definite indications, we can ponder over possible answers and make experiments. By seeking the Truth, we can find it bit by bit.

The above brings us back to the main subject of my work. It took me many years of reading, of thinking over what I read, of risking my life in the mountains, to be able to formulate my views on the subject of life and death, of existence and eternity. The next step was to go to the dissecting theater and see with my own eyes the human body without soul, the body that no longer contained a spirit. Eventually, I started making experiments which are discussed in this book.

Life and death go hand in hand. Death is brother to life. The profound laws and regulations of life are the same as those as of death, for in the face of eternity life and death are equal. When compared to the millennial periods flying by, the average seventy years of human life is but a tiny flash of light giving out a tiny sparkle. The sparkles are so many, however, that all together they produce a soft even glow—now glimmering, now blazing, but always radiant—which has been in existence these many thousand years. No sooner is the human baby born than it takes the very first step toward death. All the other steps are to be taken one at a time without thinking of the final one. It is only natural that it should be so. Absolutely all things and beings in the Universe are first born, then they grow and develop to live a full life, then they fade away and perish. The only difference between them is in the life-span: one millions of a second for the free electron, several days for the butterfly, years for the animal, millennia for the mountains, and millions of years for the star. As for extinction, they do not disappear—they get transformed. They all transfer into others forms and states: the electron is swallowed up by the molecule, the green leaf transforms into oil or coal, the star fades out to become energy. Even on that level, there is no death. Instead, there is matter rotation, a perpetual dance ring, a continual transformation of the kind of metamorphosis. The Universe is a unity. Each part of the Universe is in unity with all the other parts. Everything is transferable from one state into a different one. Everything undergoes continuous transformation. The human race is only a part of the process, a tiny grain in the whole creation, which has a place of its own—only we do not know yet where exactly this place is. Let us therefore be optimists. Let us believe that each of us will live a long and eventful life in this world. Let us believe that, after a life in this transitory world, we will continue living in the next world—and I sincerely wish a continuation of life to my readers, to my near and dear, and to myself.

Research into the transition process

> From the fingers then the emanation activity takes place. It is very important that aura should end by network of living sparks. Therefore, even lilac and dark blue auras should have ruby sparks in circle.

> Agni Yoga

In 2023, together with Dr. Raul Valverde, Senior Lecturer at Concordia University, Montreal, and  Chet Swanson, we began a study of the process of transformation of the energy of a person before and after death. Jennifer Hamilton working in a hospice learned to work with the Bio-Well and successfully organized the measurement of a dying person for several weeks before and several days after death. As you can imagine, this required significant approvals from both management and relatives. We held several sessions. The figures show the results in graph form. As the results show, the energy measurements remained stable over an extended period, aligning with the clinical condition. On the 28th day, the person fell into a coma and the energy began to decrease. However, on the day of death it increased sharply and remained at a high level for four days after death. Similar results were obtained in several sessions.

The studies were conducted in two modes. In some cases, an electrically conductive Bio-Well glove was used to record the glow dynamics over a long period of time. In others, the GDV glow of all ten fingers was recorded. In all cases, the aforementioned time dynamics of the glow were recorded. It would be fascinating to continue the study after death for several days, but this has not yet been organized.

The data obtained clearly correlate with the study of ultra-weak biophoton emission of biological objects, namely plants and mice. [Slawinsky J. Journal of Near-Death Studies, 6 (2) 1987. Zagadnerna Biophysica Wcspolesnei, 15 (1), 1987]. It was established that the impact of factors leading to the death of an object causes a burst of so-called "necrotic" radiation. In a series of EEG experiments, measurements of a dying person definitively showed that 15 seconds before the patient's heart stopped beating, he experienced high-frequency brain waves called gamma oscillations, as well as some slower oscillations, including theta, delta, alpha and beta oscillations. These oscillations are associated with concentration, dreaming, meditation, memory recovery and recollection during life. The dying human brain displays an enhanced interplay of neuronal coherence and coupling. [Vicente R. et al. Aging Neuroscience, 22 February 2022. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2022.813531]. Such studies enable us to gain a deeper understanding of the process by which living beings transit to another state.

## CONCLUSION

> Some people are seduced by earthly life,

> Some, in dreams, approach the next.

> Death is the Rubicon: no one before this wall

> will know the Truth it hides.

> Omar Khayyam

> "His ideal was pure experimental science at one end of the spectrum, and pure experimental mysticism at the other. Direct experience on every level and then clear, rational statements about those experiences."

> Aldous Huxley. Island

The biological and informational universes are but different sides of the same reality, and the concept of evolution is fully applicable to the information world as well. In this particular world Homo Sapiens is dramatically different from the other biological beings. The speed of Homo Sapiens' development is much higher than of any other species. Practically without biological change, the mankind as a species made tremendous progress in their information world, leaving far behind the seemingly more adaptable, powerful and promising competitors. Due to the evolution in the information world, the people have captured not only a leading, but a dominating position. Correspondingly, we changed biological world and environment.

That is a very important point: whatever happens in the information universe is of the same importance to what happens in the physical world. The main properties of the Energy-and-Information Universe, as well as physical world, are based upon wave interaction in many different ways. If a concept such as the one introduced in this study is to be proven experimentally, appropriate instruments should be developed through relevant areas of technical sciences.

Experimental data shows that Bio-grams of any parts of a human body (living or dead) do not contradict the proposed model. In addition, the specific feature of the GDV technique (which meanwhile is the most sensitive for the study of Energy-Informational Structures) makes it nearly the only tool available today.

It is quite natural and we can give an example in order to illustrate it. Let us imagine that a certain alien automated probe from the distant cosmos scans the surface of our planet. It would discover absolutely abnormal activity in millimeter waveband (which is explained, as we know, by TV broadcasting). This activity, not ceasing for a moment, still has some peaks, immediately after the observed location is moving out of sunlight (as we know, there are more channels on the air in the evening time). Some areas of the Earth surface have a higher density of this emission. The aliens do not know what the destination of these waves is, they are not aware of the specific characteristics of TV signals and devices for its deciphering. They regard this emission as a specific information sign. Through a very elaborate study they can discover that there are several kinds of those signals (different TV systems, different channels). As they cannot come close to the surface and have no information sources but their space-probe, they cannot guess the existence of surface-based, localized systems for signal generation and globally distributed satellite systems. In the end, the alien scientists would conclude that the Earth is a specific being, whose activity can be registered in the corresponding waveband. One can only imagine what a concept of the inner structure of this being could be put forth, and what program of the study would be developed. They will never arrive at the idea of mankind without sending a new, more sophisticated probe.

In a way we are in the same position: we are in the beginning of a very long exploration of Energy-Information world. One of the main objectives of this study was to find a way to apply the western scientific paradigm to the investigation of the world, traditionally studied in esoteric ways. The approach provides several steps: the acquisition of facts unexplained by modern science, proposal of a hypothesis, experimental verification, and refinement of it into a theory.

Not only should the theory itself have all the traditional attributes of the western paradigm, but similar principles should be observed at every stage of this development. Among them, the first to be mentioned are experiment repeatability, objectivity and independent reproducibility.

In the times of great geographical discoveries, navigators had always brought along their maps, much like navigators of today. Looking at the older maps now, we can only be astonished: how could they achieve such great results in their voyages with such primitive prior knowledge! Our study can be regarded as such a primitive, perhaps naive attempt to map out the great expedition toward knowledge.

Naturally, all the data obtained should be considered as preliminary, initial steps on the topic. Subsequent experiments should develop it, and in some points, no doubt, contest our results. We see a large amount of work ahead, connected with finding new experimental data, checking the ideas and discovering new laws. Aside from this particular topic, a set of other interesting problems arise: investigation of the very moment of transition from the state of living to the state of death, revealing features and properties of this transition. Such data can provide new information for resuscitation specialists: it will draw the boundary line after which reversal of death becomes impossible. Another challenge—the influence of various illnesses, traumas, mental and emotional states before death on the process of transformation. This is only a small sample of questions which await being answered in the immediate and distant future. Analysis of our results transcends both biology and philosophy: it seems to me that we are standing at the threshold of a vast new world. The journey through it will bring us new knowledge and possibly a revision of many accepted notions.