Such people exist at all times, they are endowed with a special gift called differently - extrasensory abilities, clairvoyance, the ability to predict the future, and the like. All of them have a special connection with the parallel world, also called the sixth sense or third eye. .
In the Middle Ages, they were burned at the stake, at the end of the nineteenth they were massively carried away, and during the Soviet era they were also persecuted because of which these people had to be carefully disguised. Today, with their help, unless of course they are charlatans, someone finds a way out of the created life situation, but most often their gift is used to communicate with a parallel world.
They can see what others do not see, and depending on which force they consider themselves to be, they can “help” various people solve their problems.
There are many opinions about how such abilities are obtained, but experts who study this phenomenon believe that one can become either a psychic or a witch. The former mainly perform the function of communicating with spirits, they can heal diseases and predict the future, operating only with bioenergetics.
Witches and sorcerers are able to more subtly feel the presence of otherworldly forces, very often they operate with various ingredients to create drugs for various purposes. Absolutely anyone can become a psychic, since the sixth sense is inherent in everyone and in order for the “third” eye to open, some circumstances are necessary.
Often this happens after suffering a very strong emotional shock. Many practitioners and well-known experts in the field of extrasensory perception talk about some special incidents in their lives, after which they felt changes in the body.
The death of a loved one, getting into an accident and similar cases, for impressionable natures, end with the discovery of just such abilities. At first, a person feels quite uncomfortable, headache, pressure drops and constant noise in the head are symptoms that a connection with the subtle ethereal worlds has begun. Some are frightened, because they don’t know what to do in this case, they hear some voices or strange sounds, that is, everything resembles a situation when the radio suddenly tunes in to several radio waves at once.
Unfortunately, not everyone can cope with the frantic flow of information coming through the space channel. There are cases when, in an effort to get rid of symptoms, a person lays hands on himself, switches to taking drugs, becomes an inveterate drunkard, or ends up in a psychiatric hospital. As experts note, it is very important that at this time there are people nearby who will help curb this element, teach how to use it, or simply understand what is happening correctly.
In the process of working with energy flows, the psychic acts as a filter, a variety of information passes through it, which subsequently affects the physical condition and can lead to nervous exhaustion. Few of these professionals can boast of good health. Despite the fact that they try to help other people recover, they themselves cannot use their gift at all.
Unlike psychics, witches and sorcerers receive their gift by inheritance. It is known for certain that female witches involved in black magic pass it strictly through the generation, that is, from grandmother to granddaughter, bypassing the daughter. Why this is so, no one can say for sure, but experts suggest that this is a very important detail of the ritual. Often, a girl from a young age is prepared by her grandmother for her destiny, which means not only special abilities and, as a result, power, but also a complete absence of family life. Since it is the granddaughter who takes over all the abilities, the attitude towards her is always special, with her own daughters, witches, as a rule, do not get along.
It also happens that the daughter of a witch, wanting to save her child from the path intended for her, simply takes the girl away from her grandmother. Curse, evil eye, corruption, prediction of the future and much more are inextricably linked with witches. There is a belief that they are the wives of the devil and every year on the night of April 30 to May 1 (Walpurgis Night), they flock to the Sabbath, where they indulge in orgies with Satan. Not a single case is known that an ordinary person became a witch or sorcerer, as is the case with extrasensory perception.
The transfer of the witch's gift occurs just before the death of the old witch, when she feels that she will die soon, she simply gives her power to her granddaughter by squeezing her hand. Sometimes, if the girl does not want this, the grandmother tries, as if by chance, to shake hands as if greeting. This is another way to trick you into taking this heavy burden. If the handshake did not happen, then all the power goes away along with its old owner, and not without consequences.
Basically, witches and sorcerers are associated precisely with dark forces, which, of course, contains some truth. It is known that the church and the Christian faith are strictly forbidden to engage in the occult, and even more so to contact with otherworldly forces. In the Middle Ages, only one suspicion of witchcraft could be sent to the stake. Now the church, of course, is not so radical about people endowed with such abilities, in any case, those who practice the so-called white magic. These specialists, or in another way white sorcerers and witches, are not engaged in inducing damage and other similar matters, but mainly practice healing. Their activities include both the treatment of diseases received completely naturally, and correction of the consequences of the actions of black sorcerers.
If it is forbidden to engage in black witchcraft, then where do the black magicians who collaborate with the devil come from? It is believed that these are people who have made a deal with him, and in exchange for their souls, they receive beyond their capabilities. On the other hand, it is quite possible that by taking the soul, the devil instills a demon into the human body, and then it is quite possible to explain why witchcraft abilities are inherited. The spirit, enclosed in a gradually aging body, simply passes into a new and young shell during the handshake ceremony. Witches pay for their abilities not only with the absence of family life, but also with their health. If psychics get diseases mainly of a mental nature and this can be compared with harmful working conditions, then black sorcerers suffer exclusively from physical diseases.
By the end of their lives, they can have a whole bunch of diseases, mainly related to the musculoskeletal system. It is believed that by the end of a witch's life, a hump grows and her whole body becomes twisted and is now alive. That is why very often older women suffering from arthritis, having dry skin of the fingers and toes, are considered witches. The closer death is, the more painful the attacks become, and the very departure to the other world is very painful, and relatives, in order to reduce the suffering of the dying, must open all the windows. During the Middle Ages, in addition to open doors and windows in the house where the witch lived, the roof was necessarily dismantled, it was believed that this made the outcome even easier.
Such a terrible retribution is a consequence of concluding a contract with Satan, and therefore, if the knowledge has not been transferred, then even from the other world, she will try to do it. Specialists studying anomalous phenomena note that after death, no one settles in the houses where sorcerers lived, and people bypass this place. The undead spirit of the former owner constantly returns in the hope that it will nevertheless move into someone, therefore, even near the burial place it is not safe for an ordinary person to be.
Interestingly, in pre-Christian times, witches were not considered a product of evil and no one expelled them from the settlements. On the contrary, such a woman or man performed the duties of a healer and midwife, they were responsible for performing various rites to appease the gods on the eve of the upcoming battle and caused rain if the drought threatened the crops. Today, among small nationalities such as the Yakuts, Nenets and others who continue the traditions of their ancestors and do not give up their pagan faith, the cult of shamans is still in force. Abilities for shamanism are manifested similarly to the abilities of a psychic, but at the same time, shamans are more like sorcerers in their actions. This cult of the worship of otherworldly spirits is of the same nature as witch rites, with the only difference that the witch does something solely for her own benefit.
No matter how hard modern science tries to hide the fact of the existence of this phenomenon or explain it from the point of view of physical laws, so far it has not been successful. Many patients, including those who were previously hopelessly ill, can tell when the doctors themselves recommended turning to a “knowledgeable” person. Until now, many prefer to treat stuttering, enuresis and similar diseases by turning to psychics or sorcerers, and be sure to call them to newborn children if they do not stop crying to remove the evil eye. Even if we exclude the facts of charlatanism, all the same, in any settlement there will be several people with witchcraft abilities, whom everyone knows well, but information about them is transmitted exclusively orally, on the recommendation of acquaintances.
People have always known that death cannot be avoided. The afterlife has remained a mystery to us, but we have always tried to find out what awaits us after death. Religions of different peoples of the world describe the afterlife in different ways. In modern times, we are told that after death the soul can go to Hell or Paradise, which depends on the actions of a person during life. However, in ancient times, people described the other worlds differently - more interestingly, fully, colorfully. In this article, we will describe the variations of the afterlife of various ancient peoples, and also find out who the guides to the afterlife are.
Carrier or guide to the afterlife
From the textbooks of history and mythology, almost every one of us learned that people in ancient times were extremely responsible for funeral rites. A person was specially prepared for the afterlife, as they believed that without this his soul would not be accepted, because of which it would then get stuck between the worlds of the dead and the living. In funeral rites, special attention was paid to the process of appeasing the carrier or guide, as it is also called.
The line between the worlds: the afterlife and ours has always been something that actually existed. For example, the Slavs believed that it was the Smorodinka River. The ancient Greeks called the river Styx the boundary between the worlds, and the Celts called the boundless sea that the soul had to overcome with the help of a guide.
The ferryman who transported souls to the afterlife was treated with respect. The Egyptians, for example, performed separate rituals to appease him. It was believed that if this was not done, the soul would never reach the afterlife, even if its owner was a righteous man. Special amulets and objects were placed in the coffin of the deceased, with which his soul had to pay the guide.
The Scandinavians believed that between the worlds of the living and the dead is the deepest river with gloomy ominous water. Its shores were only in one place allegedly connected by a bridge of the purest gold. It is almost impossible to cross this bridge on your own, as it was guarded by evil giants and ferocious dogs. The soul had only one way out: to somehow negotiate with the mother of these giants, who was a witch named Modgud. By the way, the Scandinavians believed that Odin himself met the warriors who distinguished themselves in the battle on the bridge described above, after which he accompanied them to Valhalla - the mythological underworld for warriors, in which they will have an eternal holiday with beautiful Valkyries.
Charon, the hero of the mythology of ancient Greece, was considered the most intractable carrier to the afterlife. He transported souls across the fast river Styx to the underworld of Hades. It was impossible to find a compromise solution with him, since he was law-abiding and never argued with the gods of Olympus. For the crossing, Charon demanded only one obol - a small coin of that time, which the relatives of the deceased put in his mouth during the funeral. If traditions and customs were not respected during the funeral, Charon refused to let his soul on his boat. If the relatives of the deceased were stingy and did not make a generous sacrifice to Hades, Charon also refused.
The most tempting is the afterlife in the representation of the Celts
The Celts believed that after death a promising "Land of Women" awaits them, in which everyone can do what they love. The dead, who managed to get there, expected a carefree, pleasant life. Brave warriors could participate in glorious tournaments there, minstrels indulged women there, endless rivers of ale (an intoxicating Celtic drink) awaited drunkards. The souls of the druids and sages did not remain on the "Land of Women", since soon after the death of the body they were destined to be reborn into another body and continue their mission.
Perhaps it is precisely because of such ideas about the afterlife that the Celtic warriors have always been considered inveterate grunts, brave and absolutely fearless. They were not afraid to die, because they knew that after death they would go to the heavenly world. They did not value life, giving themselves completely to the battle.
To get to the "Land of Women", it was necessary to sail on a boat with a guide. Legend has it that there was once a mysterious settlement on the west coast of Brittany. Its inhabitants suddenly lost their debts and stopped paying taxes, as they had a responsible mission. The men from this village were destined to transport the souls of the dead to the afterlife. Every night an unknown something came for them, woke them up and directed them to the seashore. There, beautiful boats were waiting for them, almost completely submerged in the water. Male guides sat at the helm and ferried the souls with which the boats were loaded to the gates of the underworld. After some time, the boats hit the sandy shore, after which they quickly emptied. The souls were sent to other guides in black cloaks, who asked them for their names, rank and gender, after which they were escorted to the gates.
Guards at the thresholds of the underworld
In many myths and legends, there are guards at the doors of the afterlife kingdoms, which are most often dogs. Some of these guards not only guard the gates of the underworld, but also protect its inhabitants in the future.
In ancient Egypt, it was believed that Anubis, a deity with a jackal's head, who was very respected and feared, was in charge of the afterlife. Anubis met the souls brought by the guide, after which he accompanied them to the trial of Osiris and was present next to them until the verdict.
Legends say that it was Anubis who revealed the secrets of mummification to people. He allegedly told people that by preserving the dead in this way, it is possible to provide them with a happy and carefree afterlife.
In the Slavic religion, the soul was escorted to the afterlife by a wolf, which later grew into a character in the well-known fairy tale about Ivan Tsarevich. The wolf was the guide. He transported the dead across the Smorodinka River to the kingdom of Rule, telling during this how to behave there. The guardian of the afterlife of the Slavic world, in turn, was the winged dog Semargl. He guarded the borders between the Slavic mythical worlds of Navi, Reveal and Rule.
The most terrible and malicious guard was the three-headed Cerberus - a mythical dog guarding the gates of the underworld, which existed in the mythology of Ancient Greece. According to legend, Hades once complained to his brother Zeus that his world was poorly guarded. Souls are constantly getting out of it, breaking the universal balance. After listening to his brother, Zeus gave him a ferocious guard - a huge three-headed dog, whose saliva was toxic, and he himself was covered with poisonous snakes. For many centuries, Cerberus faithfully served Hades, but one day he briefly left his post, after which he was killed by Hercules for the head, which the hero then presented to King Eurystheus. This was the twelfth labor of the glorious Hercules.
Slavic worlds: Nav, Yav, Rule and Slav
Unlike other peoples of that time, the Slavs believed that the soul in the afterlife would not stay forever. Soon after death, she will be reborn and go to the world of the living - Reveal. The souls of the righteous, who during their lifetime did nothing bad to anyone, for some time went to the world of Rule - the world of the gods, in which they were prepared for rebirth. The souls of people who died in battle moved to the world of Slav, in which Perun met heroes and daredevils. This god provided the heroes with all the conditions for a carefree afterlife: eternal peace, fun and so on. But sinners, criminals and deceivers went to the evil afterlife - Navi. There, their souls fell asleep forever, and it was possible to disenchant them only with prayers, which the relatives of the dead who remained in the world of the living had to constantly say.
The Slavs believed that the soul would go back to the world of Yav after two generations. Thus, the deceased had to be reborn as his great-grandson. If he did not have any, or the family was interrupted for some reason, the soul had to be reborn into an animal. The same thing happened with the souls of irresponsible people who abandoned their families during their lifetime.
Music from the world of the dead
In his works, Helena Roerich said that in the future, when the spiritual level of a person reaches a higher level, more and more mediators will appear among people - people who are able to perceive information of a creative and scientific nature from other worlds. Mediumistic abilities are the most primitive means of communication between the worlds (and between the dead and the living).
Because of this, mediums are able to transmit messages only of the most general, everyday nature. Mediators, unlike mediums, are people of a much higher spiritual and psychic organization. It is the mediators who should in the future possess the ability of the so-called spiritual cognition based on insight, that is, insight, inspiration coming from the higher, creative spheres of space.
It is possible to understand what mediator's abilities are by looking at various examples of receiving creative information from the world of the dead by some of our contemporaries. The name of Rosemary Brown, an Englishwoman who writes musical works in which the best musical experts and critics recognize the styles of Beethoven, Brahms, or Liszt, has long appeared in the Western media and in the books of English researchers. At the same time, Rosemary Brown herself does not hide her relatively modest abilities and knowledge in music. She speaks openly and simply about her amazing abilities inherent in her: she does not write music herself, but under the dictation of great dead composers!
The famous British composer Richard Rondy Bennet comments on Rosemary's abilities in this way: “Many are able to improvise, but without many years of study, you cannot fake music in this way. I myself would never be able to fake something like Beethoven. Concert pianist Hefzibah Menuhin gave a similar review of Rosemary Brown's recordings: “I look at these recordings and wonder. Each piece is exactly the same as the composer's style."
Rosemary Brown assures that the beginning of such an unusual creative collaboration with composers of the past was laid when she was only 7 years old. Just at this time, a certain spirit visited the girl and told her about what awaits her in the future. Years passed after this visit and Rosemary saw an old portrait of Franz Liszt and ... recognized in him the spirit that came to her in childhood. In addition to Liszt, other composers began to enter into telepathic contact with Rosemary, among whom were Brahms, Chopin, Stravinsky. And Debussy, during his lifetime, was distinguished by the fact that he saw whole pictures in space at the time when he composed music, conveys more picturesque images through Rosemary than musical recordings. Rosemary Brown says that the musicians give her completely finished pieces and she records them for the public.
The phenomenon of Rosemary Brown and her extraordinary statements aroused great interest in music circles. Once, when meeting with the famous composer Leonard Bernstein, Rosemary gave him her work, as if specially written for him by Rachmaninov. Rosemary told Bernstein that the ghost of Rachmaninov, who appeared to her, asked her to pass this work to Bernstein. The music transmitted by Rosemary made a huge impression on the composer.
As the spirit of conductor Donald Tovey told Rosemary (probably on behalf of all her "otherworldly collaborators"), composers do not pass on their works to her from the other world simply for pleasure or conceited motives. The great composers who have left this world are trying to arouse interest in the phenomena of a spiritual order among those people who could, using their intellectual abilities, unbiasedly explore the true nature of human consciousness and soul. As they say in all esoteric teachings, the human soul is immortal if it evolves and does not degrade. And the souls of great composers continue their favorite creative pursuits and. Perhaps this is what great composers are trying to prove to us by transmitting their works through the “musical” mediator Rosemary Brown.
Once, a curious incident happened to Rosemary Brown, once again confirming her ability to telepathically communicate with the souls of the departed. A German journalist who had heard of Rosemary's unusual abilities visited her to interview her. Speaking with Rosemary, the journalist expressed his distrust of her ability to transmit the music of deceased composers. Then Mrs. Brown calmly told the journalist that right now the spirit of Franz Liszt is in the same room with them, the journalist simply does not see him. The correspondent, after a moment's thought, suddenly spoke quickly to the spirit of Liszt in German, which Brown did not know at all. And then something incredible happened: Rosemary told the journalist that List had left them for a while, and then returned with some woman whom Rosemary had not seen before.
Nevertheless, she began to describe to the journalist what a woman looked like, and the colors left the face of Mrs. Brown's skeptical guest. As it turned out, the journalist asked Liszt to bring his (that is, the journalist's) deceased mother. List complied with his request, and Rosemary Brown described in detail the appearance of the deceased mother of the journalist. Not understanding German, Rosemary did not know what the journalist had asked Liszt. And even if she knew German, anyway, she had never seen a woman in her life, whose appearance she described exactly, down to the smallest detail! These incredible facts make us believe that the ability to transfer creative information from one world to another really exists.
It should be noted that Rosemary is not the only "intermediary between the world of the living and the dead" in the world of music and not the only person who communicates with the souls of dead musicians. British pianist John Lill, one of the winners of the International Tchaikovsky Competition, said that the spirit of Beethoven helped him become a famous musician. It all started when Lille, studying at the Moscow Conservatory, was once preparing to perform at a competition. During the rehearsal, the musician began to feel that someone was watching him closely. Looking back, John saw a strangely dressed man, whom he recognized as Beethoven. Since that time, according to the pianist, the spirit of the great composer accompanied him at many competitions. Lille saw his ghost in many cities where he had to visit in connection with concert activities.
Another musician, Clifford Entiknap, assures about his contacts with the spirit of one of the great composers of the past - Handel. According to him, the spirit of Handel gave him an oratorio lasting four and a half hours, parts of which were subsequently recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra and the Handel Choir. Critics reacted with approval to the music, however, they did not like the words of the oratorio.
Clifford Entikknap was probably the first musician to explain to some extent the mechanism of transmission of music by brilliant composers of the past to modern musicians. Entiknap said that in one of his past incarnations, Handel was his teacher, which is why he made telepathic contact with the soul of Handel. These words make it possible to understand why the ability to transmit music to this world from the world of the dead is given to some and not given to others. For this, of course, a potential mediator between the two worlds needs not only an appropriate spiritual and psychic organization, but also certain karmic ties that have developed between composers and mediators who transmit their music to our world.
Heavenly Council
Another example of mediating abilities - this time in the field of medicine - is the amazing work of an uneducated miner, José de Freitas from Brazil, known under the pseudonym Arigo. Thanks to his unique abilities, Arigo cured more than two million people over the last 15 years of his life. In the small mountain town of Congonhas do Campo, Arigo saw more than 1,000 patients a day every day. How did he do it? The healer conducted the reception of patients in a rather original way: the line of patients slowly moved right in front of Arigo, who was sitting at the table, and he, barely glancing at the person standing in front of him, quickly sketched something on the pieces of paper lying in front of him. These fugitive notes were prescriptions written in German or Portuguese, and medicines prepared from them in simple pharmacies turned out to be surprisingly effective.
Arigo's abilities interested scientists. 1968 - neurologist Andre Poirish from America, together with a research group, which included six doctors and eight scientists from other specialties, conducted a study of the miraculous abilities of Arigo. In front of the researchers, more than 1,000 people passed in front of the healer, and without touching any of the patients and on average spending less than one minute on each of them, he made more than a thousand diagnoses, accompanying each diagnosis with recommendations for treatment and writing out the appropriate prescriptions.
In their reports on research work with Arigo Poires wrote: “It became clear that we could confirm 550 diagnoses out of 1,000, since in these cases we were able to determine the disease. In the remaining 450 cases, we doubted the correctness of our diagnosis, because we did not have the necessary equipment. In cases where we were sure of the diagnosis, we were not able to find a single mistake in Arigo.” In addition, the American researcher noted that Arigo wrote prescriptions with unusual accuracy and detail, although he spent no more than a few seconds on each. Many of his recipes included up to 15 different medicinal substances with exact official names, indications of quantity, proportions and dosage. About five patients out of a hundred, Arigo called the diagnosis, but did not write anything out, saying: “Sorry, I can’t help you.” Doctors from the Poirish group confirmed that all these patients were in fact hopeless.
What is the secret of the amazing abilities of the healer? Arigo explained to the researchers that a certain voice that he hears with his right ear helps him heal people (how can one not recall the Christian belief that there is an angel behind the right shoulder of a person, and a devil behind the left?). As Arigo himself assured, this voice belongs to the spirit of the German doctor - Dr. Fritz. Dr. Fritz, according to Arigo, died in Estonia in 1918. Helping Arigo in his medical practice, this spirit, in turn, consulted with the souls of a Japanese surgeon and a French physician. Arigo told some more information about his "outrageous" assistants, even biographical details from the life of these people. But despite this, historical evidence of their life and work has not been found. Judging by the way Arigo himself explained his abilities, he was a real healer-medium who carried out his medical practice with the help of a whole “heavenly council” of the souls of once dead doctors.
At the same time, Arigo was not only an excellent therapist, but also a unique surgeon. His abilities in surgery resembled the technique of Filipino healers. True, in the last years of his life, Arigo was engaged only in diagnostics. This was probably due primarily to the fact that the healer had to serve two times in prison for being engaged in medical activities without an official license. Prior to his imprisonment, Arigo not only made diagnoses and wrote prescriptions, but also performed thousands of complex operations in an absolutely unthinkable environment.
The operations were carried out by him in completely non-sterile conditions, he used a kitchen knife and simple scissors as tools, and the operations themselves were performed surrounded by crowds of children. Eyewitnesses said that his work was like surgery "in the middle of a London station at rush hour." Puarish talked about the operation on the colon, which he became an eyewitness. “Arigo asked the patient to lower his trousers. Then he took a knife, wiped it on his shirt, made a big cut, parted the abdominal muscles, pulled out the intestines and calmly cut off a piece of them, as if cutting sausages. After that, he took both ends of the intestine, put them back and connected the edges of the anterior abdominal wall ... He never used thread. In conclusion, Arigo slapped the patient hard on the stomach and said: “Well, that’s it.”
As soon as the researchers did not try to explain the mechanism of the healer's miraculous surgery! It was believed that all this was hypnosis, hallucinations or ingenious manipulations by Arigo. But all these assumptions quickly disappeared. First, Arigo's operations were repeatedly filmed by official investigators. Their opinion was unequivocal: no one in the world has yet been able to hypnotize a movie camera. Secondly, analyzes of blood and tissues removed from the bodies of patients during operations confirmed their belonging to those operated on, which also testified to the authenticity of these incomprehensible operations. Summing up his research into Arigo's abilities, Poirish said, "He does it. I can't tell you how. In a week, he alone heals no less number of patients than a huge clinic, and, I think, does it no worse.
Arigo died in 1971, taking his secret with him. Official science could not give an explanation of the nature of its healing abilities. One thing is certain: the international celestial council, which helped Arigo in his medical practice, not in vain chose him as his earthly employee - a man who did not have a special medical education. It is impossible to carry out complex surgical operations with a kitchen knife using only advice from the other world. Arigo's natural abilities clearly had something in common with those of the Luzon healers. In the teachings of Agni Yoga this "something" has a definite name - psychic energy. Only she alone can replace the sterility and anesthesia necessary for surgical intervention. Arigo's phenomenon consisted in the fact that he was not only a "transmitter" of vast medical knowledge, but also a carrier of psychic energy of unprecedented potential, which allowed him to carry out these unique operations.
History has preserved the name of another healer, whose gift was also associated with the forces of other worlds. This is a world-famous clairvoyant. He dictated recipes to his patients and explained in detail all the features of the treatment, being in a special trance, which some called sleep. E. Casey claimed that all the recipes that he communicated to his patients were dictated to him Higher power. They also informed him of information about what would happen in the world in the near future.
Even thanks to these single examples, it is possible to imagine how much the creative potential of human consciousness can increase if it learns to cooperate with the evolutionary, spiritual forces of other worlds. If the appeal of the human mind to other-material forces of evil entails its own enslavement, as well as irreparable harm to everything around, then the cooperation of man with the creative forces of other worlds opens up a fundamentally new evolutionary turn for humanity, new era in the development of science and art.
Scientists say that after death, nothing happens to us except the destruction of the body. However, it is common for mankind to invent other worlds and believe that there we are met by a certain guide of souls to the kingdom of the dead. And who can be a guide to the world of the living? Mythology did not come up with a name for this character. It was invented by life itself. This is a resuscitator. The correspondent of "Schrödinger's Cat" spent the morning with one of these guides, Sergei Tsarenko, and found out what it's like to pull people out of the other world.
7:02 Wake up, you're out of a coma!
Eyes blind from the bright sun rushing through the windows. Ceilings, walls - everything reflects this light and amplifies it. White sheets on the beds of patients in the intensive care unit, white fabric partitions between them - you feel like in an endless snow-covered steppe, where it is just as painful to look around and just as somehow scary ...
Oh, he's coming to his senses! the nurse on duty says anxiously.
The chief anesthesiologist-resuscitator of the Medical and Rehabilitation Center of the Ministry of Health, Sergei Tsarenko, is bending over a patient - a man in his forties with a bandaged head. Numerous tubes connect his body with a variety of devices. He opens his eyes and immediately closes his eyes, frightened by this bright whiteness around.
Wake up, wake up good morning! the doctor urges him to return. Behind him is the medical staff.
This patient was recently brought out of a coma. But to return from where nothing happens to you, apparently, is hard. Especially where there is such turmoil.
“There is no need to be arrogant, there is nothing heroic in this work, and there are no feats. Rescuing a patient is just a tactical task ... "
The man takes a deep breath. He has already been removed from the ventilator. Feeling that he can breathe on his own, he opens his eyes again.
Good morning! - Sergey repeats.
Good-good! - the man hoots in response and nods in greeting.
The morning round of patients in the intensive care unit begins - this is how the first hours of each new day of the doctor Sergei Tsarenko pass.
7:15 Ugly pride
The bandage on the head gets wet with the contents of the skull. This is not an ichor, but a liquid that washes the brain, - the nurse explains to me, already standing by the bed of another patient. - Came to us yesterday. The state is negative.
Serious patients are in this ward. I stand aside so as not to get in the way, and from afar I observe the work of the doctor and his colleagues.
He has a bad reaction to propofol, tachycardia begins. He can’t breathe on his own, only on a ventilator, he needs to be sedated,” the sister continues, explaining the situation not to me, but to the chief resuscitator.
Then instead of propofol morphine, - orders Tsarenko. And he continues: - Take cultures of urine, blood, from the tracheostomy. Conduct a bacterial analysis.
He discusses with colleagues which drugs to cancel, prescribes new ones. Examines a couple more patients and rushes on.
You control all the vital functions of a person. It’s just some kind of omnipotence ... - I mutter, trying to keep up with the doctor and tying the strings of a disposable gown on the go, which they pulled on me at the entrance to the department.
Thoughts of omnipotence are very dangerous for doctors. Many, especially in their youth, go through this. But there is no need to be arrogant, there is nothing heroic in this work, and there are no feats. Rescuing a patient is just a tactical task, - deftly turning around corners, Sergey leads me along the tangled hospital corridors.
Emergency resuscitation assistance is usually provided by a whole team of doctors: one does an indirect heart massage, another injections, the third installs a catheter in the central subclavian vein, the fourth performs artificial ventilation of the lungs - and all this must be done smoothly, quickly and accurately.
When a patient is on the verge, each of the doctors must monitor the information coming to the monitors - pulse, pressure - and respond to all changes with lightning speed. It's all tactics. Probably, the work of an air traffic controller is most similar to this, - Sergey argues. - After all, the life of people also depends on his actions, he also, one might say, controls them. And omnipotence, pride - this is an extra, nasty feeling.
You talk about it with such disgust, as if you had a chance to taste it.
It was business. I went into medicine because I wanted to save humanity, - Tsarenko turns around sharply and grins maliciously. - Yes, that's how - on a grand scale, snobbishly - I imagined this work. Well, even now I have not abandoned the idea of salvation, I just began to treat it more realistically and more calmly. And when I first came to neuroreanimatology, I thought that I was already a super-cool professional: I can do everything and I certainly know everything. It always seems that way until the first serious mistake.
Until someone dies?
Uff, thank God, I had no lethal errors. And in this I was incredibly lucky. And he could, probably, bury someone because of his arrogance, if he hadn’t slowed down in time and turned on his head. But there were mistakes that led to complications. Then older colleagues with whom I worked at the Sklifosovsky Institute helped me grow up. Now I also work with students of the Faculty of Fundamental Medicine of Moscow State University and the Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education. I tell young people my stories, for which I was ashamed. I just admit that I - the person who now teaches them - made mistakes and is still not immune from them. I hope they understand it. You know, doctors have such a habit, especially resuscitators, to always doubt themselves and their patients. I will never say in advance that I can handle everything and get the patient out. I will never say that the patient is recovering until I discharge him from the department.
7:38 Distrust fashion
Numbers are flashing on the monitors in the ward, ventilators are buzzing. Grandmother lies on the bed, the apparatus breathes for her. Tsarenko persuades the patient:
My dear, show me the tongue, well, show me.
Grandma opens her mouth.
Look! He listens to you, - the sister is surprised. “And we couldn’t get anything from her,” she returns to a businesslike tone and reports: “Right-sided stroke, extensive. Found at home. When brought to the hospital, she was in a deep coma.
Raise this leg, - Sergey pats his grandmother. - Come on, pick it up. Get up, my golden one. Raise-raise, my sun!
“If the patient does not believe that the doctor can return him to a normal life, he will not return there - simply because he refuses to follow him.”
The old woman again succumbs to the persuasion of the doctor. It can be seen how he is trying with all his might to move his leg. It turns out only a couple of centimeters, but this is already progress. So she hears the doctor and tries to fulfill his requests.
You communicate with patients as if they are your relatives: “dear”, “my sun”. Did this cause any problems? - I'm interested. - Nobody regarded it as familiarity?
So far, this has not happened, - the doctor pulls off his gloves after the examination. - Although these days it is not excluded. In general, I am afraid that soon litigation with doctors will be as fashionable in our country as in the West. For doctors, this is a very painful topic. In the early 2000s, I was an intern in the United States, and it struck me that there were signs hanging around the streets there: “If you have medical problems and you don’t know how to turn them into legal ones, we will help you and make money together.” The Anglo-Saxons have such a culture. We are a little different, but we adopt this fashion.
But sometimes doctors are really not very polite and not very competent.
Of course, the medical shop is heterogeneous, yes, however, like all professional shops: everywhere there are boors and irresponsible. But why stigmatize the entire profession? There is a growing distrust of doctors, and before they were respected. Before, sorry for the intimate details, when people went to the hospital, they put on clean underwear. In other words, they showed respect. Now what? Many patients believe that doctors are crooks. And it doesn't benefit anyone. A doctor - after all, he not only helps a person physically, but also gives hope for recovery. If the patient does not believe that the doctor can return him to normal life, he will not return there - simply because he refuses to follow him.
7:53 Life is easier this way
After examining the patients, we go to Tsarenko's office. On the shelves between volumes of scientific and medical literature are the Bible and the Bhagavad Gita. An icon of the Mother of God hangs above the door.
Strange, I thought that resuscitators were mostly staunch atheists.
You have decided about God ... Well, I need to leave you now for a while - to go to a general hospital conference. She gathers every day after her rounds, where we discuss especially seriously ill patients. But we have five minutes to God, - Sergey smiles. - I believe. And recently came to this.
And what led?
Death, which bypassed several times, - the doctor sighs heavily, but does not change at all in his face, remains as calm and strict, only his voice is a little lower and speaks more slowly: - Remember the terrorist attack in the transition to Pushkinskaya on August 8, 2000? It happened around 6 pm. On that day, right by this time, I had to go to the theater with my wife. But I was called for a consultation in another city. Our daughter went instead. She then knew the road poorly and decided to leave early. And she passed there literally five to ten minutes before the explosive device went off. I know to myself that I would have walked back to back - and I got just into the explosion.
Later, in October 2002, there was a terrorist attack on Dubrovka. Then Sergei Tsarenko was on duty with a team of doctors right outside the building of the House of Culture, where they gave "Nord-Ost". They rescued those who managed to get out of the hall, captured by the terrorists.
"Doctors find different ways cope with it, don’t worry - someone drinks, but I started to believe in God, in the rebirth of the soul and engage in spiritual practices ”
We took risks. All emergency services, of course, were located right at the Palace of Culture. When people were carried out, there was not a second to lose. We should have been nearby. But if the terrorists still blew up the building ... I think the Lord would save us then. It is hard to explain. When you imagine that someone cares about you and your patients, it is easier to live. Before our eyes, people are constantly dying - not because of mistakes, but for objective reasons, sometimes you just can’t save them. And it's hard. Doctors find different ways to cope with this, not to worry - someone drinks, but I began to believe in God, in the rebirth of the soul and engage in spiritual practices. After the round, I sit down here in the office and meditate for about fifteen minutes, and then again in the same rhythm ...
In the rebirth of the soul? You work with the body all the time, you know how a person dies: his heart stops, the blood flow of the brain stops, he loses consciousness, his breathing stops. Did you manage to notice how the soul separates from the body?
No. I just believe. It's easier for me to live. Okay, sorry, I'll be right back.
8:35 Death labels
You will not envy Sergey's professional past - more precisely, the circumstances in which he had to work. In addition to the terrorist attacks at the beginning of the 2000s, there were also the 1990s, which also tested doctors for strength: then even in federal hospitals there were not enough medicines and equipment.
“Buy some antibiotics, please. Bring tomorrow to the hospital. It’s not me for myself, it’s me for your family, ”Sergey mimics himself in a pitiful voice. He had just returned from a meeting, made some strong tea, and sank into a chair. - I remember very well how I asked relatives for the missing drugs for patients. Yes, medicines ... Then they worked in Sklifa as in wartime. When some terrible disaster occurs - war, natural or man-made disaster - and there is a massive flow of patients, doctors have to make a terrible choice.
It was necessary to choose - whom to save. Back in the days Crimean War such a technology was introduced: colored labels were hung on the wounded. Green - these are those who can not yet receive medical care, they are not dying yet; black - those whom it makes no sense to save, they will die anyway; red - people who need to be urgently reanimated, because if you do not start fighting for their lives right now, they will die. Tsarenko had to hang black labels on his patients in the days of Nord-Ost and in post-perestroika times.
16 people had to be placed in a nine-bed resuscitation ward. Such a full house was constantly. Once I left work, and another doctor took over on duty, he was my subordinate. At that time, we had a very elderly patient with a massive stroke lying on a ventilator, and it was clear from everything that he would die soon. All machines in the hospital were busy. I then thought for a long time and made a decision, I told my colleague: “If there are receipts at night, take off this grandfather’s apparatus.” In the morning I come, the doctor says that there were no receipts. And at the conference it turns out that they brought a young guy, 19 years old. He was not taken to intensive care because there were no places. He lay somewhere in the corridors of the department, somehow he was examined there, and in the morning he died. He had a huge cranial hematoma. The guy would have been saved if that doctor had turned off the hopeless grandfather. But my colleague did not dare to label anyone. Formally, according to the law, he, of course, should not have listened to me. Yes, but we buried that grandfather a day later.
“Death must take place eventually. Someone will have to make way."
9:10 Hold on to this world
To say that now everything is perfect with medical equipment is to lie. We will not do this. It is possible that in large hospitals in Moscow, St. Petersburg and in a couple of regional centers there is high-tech equipment, prosperity and idyll reign. But in order to provide quality medical care to all those in need, much, much more is required.
In Russia, there is a big problem with maintaining the life of patients with respiratory failure, who are forced to constantly be on ventilators. In fact, the state should make such devices available to patients by opening special clinics in different cities, where there would be enough devices. But so far this problem has not been solved.
Five years ago, Sergei Tsarenko took up the matter himself. Together with colleagues, he opened a private clinic for patients who are unable to breathe without “artificial lungs”. The resource of this clinic, of course, is small, but even a few dozen saved lives are the result. Now the doctor is hatching new plans to save humanity.
My acquaintances, thermophysicists from Moscow State University, and I want to make one project at the intersection of science and applied medicine - a thermophysical model of the brain. Such an aggregate that will be connected to each specific patient and show directed changes in the temperature of individual parts of his brain. This is very important for neuroreanimatology. With this thing, it will be possible to look into the brain and track how the lesion is localized, whether it is spreading or not. This has never happened before in medicine. Will it work? I will not guess.
What is still sorely lacking in medicine?
Alternatives to antibiotics. This is a huge, nightmarish problem - drug resistance in microorganisms. If we do not deal with this now, in a few years we simply will not be able to fight inflammation and infections - then we are unlikely to be able to keep patients in this world. I wouldn't want to live like this.
Are you afraid to die yourself?
No. I just don't plan on dying early. It seems to me that I can bring a lot of benefits here, - the doctor smiles. But I don't want to be immortal. Death must take place eventually. Someone will have to give way. The species is more important than the individual.
25 Guide to the Dead World
Daniel realized that his life was over. He will never die, but now he will always be dead.
He walked across the silent field in the direction where the realm of the dead began.
He clearly saw only one single bush in front of him - everything else blurred before his eyes. Maybe because he was crying? But can angels cry? Maybe because he became nearsighted? But angels see not with their eyes, but with their souls.
Rather, this bush was his highest destiny. If the angel could read the hieroglyphs in these outlines of branches, he would read: "Here awaits you who will lead you into the kingdom of darkness."
Before Daniel had time to approach the bush, a short peasant in a black shirt and boots jumped out of it. The peasant had a beard to the ground, a nose like a white mushroom, and his hands were thin, like rowan branches. The creature seemed to have grown out of the ground.
“I am your guide,” the creature said. - It is better to enter the realm of the dead from the other side. We will go there on foot. It's not far. Although everything is relative, and until the evening, we will reach complete darkness.
Judging by everything that the evening came in two hours, it was not long to go. And Daniel was even surprised that there is a Dead World very close to the city.
They walked across a lifeless field, then along a forest, watching from a distance how the cars of a perfect technical world were running along the highway.
The conductor was silent. And what could he say? This person may have remained forever between the bustle of the city and the Spirit, he is always on the road. Daniel was well aware of this uncertainty of the soul, and it seemed to him that people, in their vicious spirit, are more conductors, always striving to take all the living to their Dead World.
The guide smelled slightly of alcohol, and Daniil guessed that he sometimes lingered, hiding behind a bush to drink a sip or two of vicious water.
Finally, they approached a stone archway - lonely, in the middle of an endless field. Behind it began stone steps that led down. And Daniel understood: this is the way to the underground dead kingdom.
They descended for a minute or two and found themselves in a crowded city. How many people have died in all the past centuries! There were those who during their lifetime aspired to live in big cities.
Oh, how cramped they were now. Dead souls literally pushed through among many of their own kind. Their bellies and backs rubbed against each other, it was hard for them to move their arms, and each small step in this crush was a great achievement for them.
- Where are they going - these people? Daniel asked.
- Oh, they go in different directions: they go to work, to shops, to hospitals, to gambling houses, to temples. But we won't go there. Our path is different. Those who have angelic souls are entitled to a quiet corner, away from all this fuss.
And they turned onto a sparsely populated street - so familiar to Daniel from childhood - and went along the stone road.
People were busy in the yards. Daniel began to look at them.
Strangely, these were all the souls of people who died during his lifetime. He knew everyone, saw them all, now they are all dead. And Daniel was surprised that here they were exactly the same as in life.
- We have a real city here, - the guide said, - people are all mortal, - they come to us, to eternity. It is good for the dead because he does not need to die anymore. Perhaps, there, on Earth, they are small children who cannot share all their toys among themselves. They are all afraid to be here.
Dead people approached the fences, greeted Daniel and told him: “We ourselves were children, and now we have matured. We see everything and understand everything, we need to plow, we need to sow, we also need to live, if we are not aware of ourselves, everything around us will disappear, only our dark spirit will remain in the void.
Daniel peered into the eyes of people and was surprised at their purity. Another psychology! These are other people. How bright they all see! They were ashamed of that past life. And they made excuses that in real life they were just children.
What was their age? Both babies and old people. They were just young. Approximately all ages were the same, each retained its own characteristics of earthly outlines, but everything about them was beautiful.
- What can you say alive? they asked. – Can they live without negative emotions? This is inherent only in the dead, only we are calm. They, the living, still know so little about life, they could live a thousand times better, but for this you need to understand that it depends only on him - a living person.
We have special bodies, special feelings - we have a great advantage: we do not have to be afraid of death, because we are already dead.
Here, underground, they repeated our earthly life, and if coffins had not floated across the sky instead of clouds, Daniel would have believed that he had returned fifteen years ago.
They lived in his own city, in familiar houses. And yet it was not exactly the city of his childhood.
He was surprised and glad that the dead were completely devoid of anything negative. They were even more cheerful, more joyful than the living, with more lively, pure hearts, although their faces remained serious.
Daniel walked their streets with a calm heart. He wasn't scared. There were no evil, unclean souls here.
They all moved slowly, smoothly, they did not smile. But this was offset by the beauty of their souls.
- There are absolutely no negative emotions! Daniel said.
- The dead have no negative emotions! It is unnatural for them to cause even the slightest harm to their own souls, - answered the guide. - Life here takes place in peace of mind, and who has the most peaceful soul if not the dead? The living exist, and we live. Wise men of the living call to die for life in order to live. Yes, you living ones exist, you do not get joy from your own soul. If coffins, not clouds, floated over the living, everything would become clear to them. Here we died to all evil. We, who talk about eternity, are all good. "The dead know when to stop" - this thought touched me quite deeply. They do not have big requests, desires, their feelings are not so terribly distorted as those of the living. Often living people despair, they themselves, not knowing why, want to become dead faster. They rush to this kingdom, when one can live and live in living life, but one cannot explain this to the living.
- The living ones that get here are mostly small children. They have to learn everything from the very beginning, they have learned so little in their lifetime. The living do not know who to believe, some believe in a bright future, but what kind of bright future is there in the realm of the dead? Soon the living will wean themselves from this idea. They, perhaps, are closer now to the dark present. We don't know anything, but still it's not as bad as it is on Earth. We have one faith here: faith in eternity! We believe that in eternity we will not melt like ice cream, but we will again be something whole, and we will have some kind of form and some kind of spirit. However, it is more convenient and lighter in them than in the bodies of the living. How are our bodies different from earthly ones? And the heart beats - it’s true, more calmly, and the stomach works - though it’s not so insatiable, and our spirit is really not so crazy! And at least one thing we know, unlike the living, that only the living did stupid things on earth, and not the dead.
In a small black square, familiar people surrounded Daniil to only express their joy that he was now with them, and then made it clear that he was completely free, and no one would prevent him from enjoying their Dead World. And when they parted, Daniel felt alone in this Dead City. External monotony soon bored. It was completely incomprehensible to him how these people live and what is their joy in life.
The sky above the city reminded him of black paper. No sun, no stars, no clouds. And the city itself, despite the abundance of houses and people, was terribly empty. When the soul stays in the Dead City, it will want life so much.
Finally, Daniel was tired of walking, became rooted to the spot, not knowing where to put his mortal body. I wanted to go back to the living world, to my room, to my sofa. He was sure that this was a dream and that awakening was about to come.
He stood and looked at one point, seeing in front of him only an empty black square of the square. But there was a feeling that if this square was pushed apart like a screen, something beautiful would stand behind it. He covered his face with his hands, then opened it again. A guide stood three meters from him, he did not rush Daniil, only from time to time took out his bottle from his pocket and drank a sip or two of invigorating water. Here, in the Dead World, he did not hide. After all, "the dead have no shame."
- What is your name? Daniel asked the conductor.
“But Charon knows him,” he replied, shrugging his shoulders.
- How long ago did you die?
- Did I die? the old man asked, blowing his nose into his long beard, “I’m kind of like working as a cemetery watchman. Here, among the graves, I spend the night and stay awake. All the dead are around, I almost don’t see the living, and after that figure it out and try whether I’m alive or dead.
The guide again drank two sips of invigorating water and said:
“Since you are already dead, then go to your white house along this path,” he pointed with his hand towards some island in the field, “a small garden of Eden grew there, and many flowers were fragrant.
The guide left Daniel, and he was left alone.
He realized that the living world no longer exists. He disappeared incredibly simply: how many nightmares, how many visions that hurt, were his reality - and death came - and was not death at all. The past state, powerful as it was, now had no power.
He gained freedom. He made what seemed to him the only reality disappear. He overcame suicide, because it is unbearably difficult to leave through it and very disgusting - but no one can prevent him from freeing his consciousness from life.
“I want joy! Endless joy! I want penetration and comprehension! I want the same world without pain. The world where I am alone is reality, I am the creator. I don't want absolute peace, I want life, the ideal life!" his soul said.
True joy has arrived. Here it is - it's started! Light! Light ahead! He approached the garden, his soul revived. This is the world where I reign, for here I am alone. This is what happens in a dream: there is no need to be born again, for I have already been born from the womb of my mother. Now everything is like a dream. I am not an angel, I was born from a womb - and this is the basis, without which fantasies would not be complete. Womb! It gave rise to not only one heavy fantasy by name - life, but millions of other fantasies - manifested in a dream and deep subconsciousness. It's good that I don't remember, I don't remember at all how I ended up in that world.
It just dawned and I was born.
Then I walked through the Dead City - it was night, and I fell asleep, just fell asleep or forgot. Matter melted and now reappeared.
A black, plowed field... Peaceful, quiet white-veiled clouds floated over it... It was warm all around - eternal summer... A nightingale flying high in the sky convinced him of this.
Daniel entered the garden. Many fruits grew here: apples, pears, oranges, bananas. Palms, birches, oaks and magnolias grew together. Birds sang and music played, softly accompanying the birdsong.
The white house stood surrounded by lilac bushes. Daniel realized that this is the place where eternity awaits him. And here his life will continue indefinitely.
