Death and immortality in different religions. Attitudes towards death in various cultures and religions. Dimensions of the problem of life, death and immortality

06.11.2019

Questions life and death at all times were some of the most mysterious, disturbing and mystical. Since ancient times, people have tried to comprehend the answers to them with the help of various teachings and religions. And this is not surprising, since the knowledge of who we are in essence and what will happen to us after earthly life is closely connected with such important concepts for a person as the meaning of life, the finiteness or eternity of being.

In this article, I would like to consider such issues as the nature of the human soul, the meaning of earthly life, the process of dying and transition to another world, as well as our posthumous existence from three points of view:

Representations of world religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam;

- studies of the 20th century: the experience of people who survived clinical death, as well as the memories of people who have passed sessions of regressive hypnosis;

- channeling information received from the subtle world.

In the first part, we will briefly review representations of world religions on these issues.

All the world's religions originated one and a half thousand or more years ago. Their main dogmas, presented in sacred books and writings, were intended primarily for the consciousness and worldview of ancient people, for whom often there were no moral and moral ideas. Therefore, the appearance of certain rules, traditions, laws in those days was a big leap in the development of the people. Religious teachings also contained norms that allowed the people to survive and multiply, for example, such as prohibitions on contraception, extramarital and same-sex relationships, and vice versa, the greeting of large families, polygamy. In order for the very ideology of religion to survive and successfully spread among other peoples, elements of the “stick” (karma, devil, hell) and “carrot” (heaven, mercy and protection of God) were often added to the teachings, and the absolute unshakable truth of religion was proclaimed, implying intolerance towards other beliefs.

Hinduism

Who we are at our core : Hinduism is a family of a wide variety of philosophical systems and beliefs, but the vast majority of Hindus believe that the spirit or soul, called "atman", is the eternal, original, true essence of each individual.

The meaning of earthly life : Hinduism is inextricably linked with the belief in reincarnation (samsara) - the cycle of life and death, the reincarnation of the soul after death into the bodies of animals, people, gods, and with belief in karma - "the law of action and retribution." The goal of atman is to achieve moksha (nirvana), i.e. free yourself from the cycle of birth and death, and come to eternal happiness and peace.

According to the monistic/pantheistic theological schools in Hinduism, atman is initially indistinguishable from the supreme spirit of Brahman (“One and Indivisible”) and the goal of human life is the realization of one’s true “I” and one’s unity with all Existing and with God. However, most Hindus belonging to the so-called dualistic directions believe that the atman is in constant dependence on God, and the achievement of nirvana is possible only through the rejection of material desires, through love for God and by the grace of God.

The process of dying : In Hinduism, death is seen as a temporary cessation of physical activity. At the time of death, the subtle body transfers the soul to another gross body. This process is similar to how air carries a smell. It is often impossible to see where the fragrance of the rose comes from, but it is obvious that it was brought by the wind. Likewise, the process of transmigration of souls is difficult to follow. According to the level of consciousness at the time of death, the soul enters the womb of a certain mother through the seed of the father, and then develops the body that was given to her by the mother. It can be the body of a person, a cat, a dog, etc. This is the process of reincarnation in the view of the Hindus.

Existence after death : After many rebirths, the soul eventually becomes disillusioned with the limited and fleeting pleasures given to it by this world, and begins to search for higher forms of pleasure that can only be achieved through spiritual experience. After a long spiritual practice (sadhana), the individual eventually realizes his eternal spiritual nature - that is, he is aware of the fact that his true "I" is the eternal soul, and not the mortal material body. At this stage, he no longer desires material enjoyment, because - compared to spiritual bliss - they seem insignificant. When all material desires cease, the soul is no longer born and is liberated from the cycle of samsara.

The Advaita Vedanta doctrine states that after achieving moksha (nirvana), the atman ceases to exist as a person and merges with the impersonal Brahman. Followers of the dualistic schools of Dvaita identify themselves as particles of Brahman, eternally possessing individuality. After reaching moksha, they expect to get to one of the lokas (planets) of the spiritual world, and stay there forever, enjoying an eternal relationship with God in one of His incarnations.

Buddhism

There are two main branches of Buddhism - Mahayana (Northern Buddhism), borrowing the ideas of reincarnation and the eternal atman from Hinduism, and Theravada (southern, early Buddhism).

Who we are at our core : Unlike monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), in Theravada Buddhism there is neither an omnipotent Creator God or a Personal God, nor an eternal soul. The concept of the soul in Buddhism has been replaced by the doctrine of an uninterrupted stream of consciousness (santana) or a holistic stream of successive states, behind which there is no absolute support.

The meaning of earthly life : According to the teachings of the Buddha, life is suffering, the cause of which is the desires and passions of people. To get rid of suffering, it is necessary to renounce earthly passions and desires. This can be achieved by following the path of salvation indicated by the Buddha, the teaching of the Four Noble Truths. The essence of this teaching is as follows: The world is suffering. Sickness, old age and death are the fate of all beings. The cause of suffering is the constant desire to satisfy all emerging needs, leading to disappointment, the emergence of karma and the cycle of samsara (rebirth). Calming down and giving up desires is liberation and the path to nirvana.

The process of dying : According to Theravada, "I" is a transient combination of five elements (five skandhas): matter, bodily sensations, perceptions, impulses and consciousness. At death, these five elements disintegrate. At the same time, it is recognized that the “dissolution” of individuality at the moment of death is not the absolute end of life, but rather the beginning of a new phase of existence. It is believed that some subtle karmic quality, having absorbed the "five elements", passes into a new body, bringing with it a new combination that helps to enter a "new life" with a new life experience. Some scriptures indicate that the "karma of the five elements" in the form of "the embryo of consciousness" passes into the womb.

Existence after death : According to the teachings of early Buddhism, a living being can be born on one of the five levels of being: among the inhabitants of hell, animals, spirits, human beings and celestials. Like Hinduism, this choice is determined by desire and karma, and the process of reincarnation continues until the living being either "disintegrates" at the time of death, or reaches sunyata, the "great emptiness" - a perfection that only a few achieve.

Christianity

Who we are at our core : In the view of Christians, a person is the unity of the body, born by parents, and the soul created by God "... in his own image and likeness." The birth of the soul is connected directly with the moment of birth of the body. The soul "is a substance (essence) self-contained and incorporeal" (Nemesius). "Our soul is a simple being, endowed with reason and immortal, but which, however, does not exist before the bodies" (Theodoret of Cyrus). Already at the moment of conception, the original sin of his forefathers, Adam and Eve, is transferred to a person.

The meaning of earthly life : All souls have free will. The Christian teaching about the ideal purpose of a person lies in a comprehensive spiritual improvement (“..be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect”), rejection of sinful deeds and thoughts, faith in God, as well as in the performance of the sacraments of baptism, the Eucharist, chrismation, repentance etc. The meaning of human life lies in getting rid of original sin through baptism, as well as in a righteous life pleasing to God, and saving one's soul from hell and demons after the transition to another world.

The process of dying : According to Christian ideas, after the death of a person's body, his soul continues to live. Upon leaving the body, the soul finds itself among other spirits, good and evil. Usually she reaches out to those who are closer to her in spirit. During the first two days, she enjoys relative freedom and can visit those places on earth that are dear to her.

Existence after death : On the third day, the soul goes through "ordeals" - legions of evil spirits block its path and accuse it of various sins, in which they themselves involved it. According to various Orthodox revelations, there are twenty such obstacles, the so-called "ordeals", at each of which this or that sin is tortured; having gone through one ordeal, the soul comes to the next. And only after successfully passing all of them, can the soul continue its journey without being immediately plunged into hell. Then, having successfully passed through ordeals and bowed to God, the soul visits heavenly abodes and hellish abysses for another thirty-seven days, not yet knowing where it will stay, and only on the fortieth day is a place assigned to it until the resurrection of the dead. In Catholicism, there is also the concept of "purgatory" - this is a place and a state of temporary punishment for sins, after which the souls of people enter paradise. After the coming Last Judgment, souls will forever go to heaven for eternal bliss or to hell for eternal torment.

Islam

Who we are at our core : The Islamic tradition represents the human being as a soul (nafs - soul, personality, blood, living body). The concepts of "body", "soul" and "mind" are blurred, but the idea of the immortality of the spirit lies at the heart of the Qur'an. All souls are immortal and created by Allah - the creator of all things.

The meaning of earthly life : Strict overdoing of faith in Allah, Angels, Holy Scriptures, prophets. Every Muslim is obliged to constantly purify and improve spiritually, morally and physically, striving to become an impeccable person. Allah completely predetermines the fate of his creations.

The process of dying : It is believed that after the funeral, two angels, Munkar and Nakir, come to the impious person in the grave, with black faces, frightening voices, piercing blue eyes and hair falling to the ground. They interrogate the deceased about the good or evil deeds he did during his lifetime. This interrogation is called the "trial in the grave"; such a judgment awaits all devout Muslims.

Introduction.

1 . Measurements of the problem of life, death and immortality.

BUT. Biological.

B. Associated with the specifics of life.

AT. Associated with the idea of immortality.

2 . Attitude to death, problems of life, death and immortality

in the religions of the world.

BUT. People's attitude towards death. Why are people afraid of death?

B. Clinical and natural death - what's the difference?

AT. Attitude towards the death of Christianity.

G. Attitude towards the death of Islam.

D. Attitude towards death in Buddhism.

E. Concepts of life, death and immortality based on non-religious and

atheistic approach to the world and man.

3 . Life after death: opinions of scientists and eyewitness accounts.

Conclusion.

Used Books.

Introduction.

Life and death are the eternal themes of the spiritual culture of mankind in all its divisions. Prophets and founders of religions, philosophers and moralists, figures of art and literature, teachers and physicians thought about them. It is unlikely that there will be an adult who, sooner or later, would not think about the meaning of his existence, impending death and the achievement of immortality. These thoughts come to the mind of children and very young people, which is what poetry and prose, dramas and tragedies, letters and diaries say. Only early childhood or senile insanity save a person from the need to solve these problems.

In fact, we are talking about a triad: life - death - immortality, since all the spiritual systems of mankind proceeded from the idea of the contradictory unity of these phenomena. The greatest attention was paid here to death and the acquisition of immortality in another life, and human life itself was interpreted as a moment allotted to a person so that he could adequately prepare for death and immortality.

With few exceptions, people of all times and peoples spoke quite negatively about life, Life is suffering (Buddha: Schopenhauer, etc.); life is a dream (Plato, Pascal); life is the abyss of evil (Ancient Egypt); "Life is a struggle and wandering in a foreign land" (Marcus Aurelius); "Life is a fool's story told by an idiot, full of noise and fury, but devoid of meaning" (Shakespeare); "All human life is deeply immersed in untruth" (Nietzsche), etc.

Proverbs and sayings of different peoples such as "Life is a penny" speak of the same. Ortega y Gasset defined man not as a body and not as a spirit, but as a specifically human drama. Indeed, in this sense, the life of every person is dramatic and tragic: no matter how successful life is, no matter how long it is, its end is inevitable. The Greek sage Epicurus said this: "Accustom yourself to the idea that death has nothing to do with us. When we exist, death is not yet present, and when death is present, then we do not exist."

Death and potential immortality is the strongest lure for the philosophical mind, for all our life's affairs must, one way or another, be commensurate with the eternal. Man is doomed to think about life and death, and this is his difference from the animal, which is mortal, but does not know about it. Death in general is a retribution for the complication of the biological system. Unicellular are practically immortal and the amoeba is a happy creature in this sense.

When an organism becomes multicellular, a mechanism of self-destruction at a certain stage of development, associated with the genome, is built into it, as it were.

For centuries, the best minds of mankind have been trying, at least theoretically, to refute this thesis, to prove, and then to bring real immortality to life. However, the ideal of such immortality is not the existence of an amoeba and not an angelic life in a better world. From this point of view, a person should live forever, being in a constant prime of life. A person cannot accept the fact that it is he who will have to leave this magnificent world, where life is in full swing. To be an eternal spectator of this grandiose picture of the Universe, not to experience "saturation of days" like the biblical prophets - could anything be more tempting?

But, thinking about it, you begin to understand that death is perhaps the only thing before which everyone is equal: poor and rich, dirty and clean, loved and unloved. Although both in antiquity and in our days, attempts were constantly made and are being made to convince the world that there are people who have been "there" and returned back, but common sense refuses to believe this. Faith is required, a miracle is required, which the gospel Christ performed, "trampling death by death." It has been noticed that the wisdom of a person is often expressed in a calm attitude towards life and death. As Mahatma Gandhi said: "We do not know what is better - to live or die. Therefore, we should neither overly admire life, nor tremble at the thought of death. We should treat both of them equally. This is ideal." And long before that, the Bhagavad Gita says: "Indeed, death is meant for the born, and birth is inevitable for the deceased. Do not grieve about the inevitable."

At the same time, many great people realized this problem in tragic tones. An outstanding domestic biologist I.I. Mechnikov, who thought about the possibility of "cultivating the instinct of natural death", wrote about L.N. Tolstoy: "When Tolstoy, tormented by the impossibility of solving this problem and haunted by the fear of death, asked himself if family love could calm his soul, he immediately saw that this is a vain hope. Why, he asked himself, should I bring up children who will soon find themselves in the same critical condition as their father? Why should I love them, raise them and watch over them? For the same despair that is in me, or for stupidity? Loving them, I cannot hide the truth from them - every step leads them to the knowledge of this truth. And the truth is death. "

1. Measurements of the problem of life, death and immortality.

A. The first dimension of the problem of life, death and immortality is biological, because these states are, in fact, different aspects of one phenomenon. The hypothesis of panspermia, the constant presence of life and death in the Universe, their constant reproduction under suitable conditions, has long been put forward. The definition of F. Engels is known: "Life is a way of existence of protein bodies, and this way of existence consists essentially in the constant self-renewal of the chemical constituents of these bodies", emphasizes the cosmic aspect of life.

Stars, nebulae, planets, comets and other cosmic bodies are born, live and die, and in this sense no one and nothing disappears. This aspect is most developed in Eastern philosophy and mystical teachings, proceeding from the fundamental impossibility of understanding the meaning of this universal circulation with the mind alone. Materialistic concepts are built on the phenomenon of self-generation of life and self-causation, when, according to F. Engels, "with iron necessity" life and a thinking spirit are generated in one place of the Universe, if it disappears in another.

“The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23).

According to the teachings of Christian saints, death can be bodily (the cessation of the life of the body) and spiritual (no sensation of the soul with a living body). In addition, for an immortal soul, death is also the boundary between earthly life and heavenly life. Therefore, many Christian martyrs (St. Ignatius the God-bearer and others) accepted their death with joy - for them, the day of death on earth became a day of birth in heaven. In the Revelation of the Apostle John the Theologian, it is written that death will cease after the Last Judgment in the future, under the reign of the Kingdom of God: “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death; there will be no more crying, no wailing, no sickness. (Rev.21:4) ". R. Moody Life after Life, Minsk, 1996, p. ten

In our society, the Bible is the most read and discussed book concerning the spiritual nature of man and his life after death. But in general, the Bible says very little about the events that occur after death and about the nature of the other world. This applies mainly to the Old Testament. “According to some Old Testament scholars, only two texts in the entire document speak of life after death.

Isaiah 26:19: “Thy dead shall live, dead bodies shall rise! Rise up, triumph over those who are cast down in the dust: for your dew is the dew of plants, and the earth will vomit the dead.”

Acts 12:2: “And many of those sleeping in the dust of the earth will awake, some to eternal life, others to everlasting reproach and shame.” R. Moody Life after Life, Minsk, 1996, p. eleven

Thus, in Christianity, death is regarded as the sleep of the physical body, while the soul is immortal.

Immortality in Christianity is destined for all souls without limitation: the righteous and the sinners, but it will be different for everyone. Eternity is prepared for the righteous in paradise, in heaven, where there is neither pain nor suffering. For sinners - eternal torment in hell, retribution for sins and crimes. There is also the so-called "purgatory" where all unbelievers go. But no one has the right to judge where the soul will spend "the rest of its eternal life", except for Jesus Christ himself, who will proclaim his sentence at the Last Judgment. Therefore, immortality in Christianity is the eternal existence of the soul in another world, which depends on the deeds of a person during life.

Buddhism

According to Buddhist teaching, existence is a cycle of births, deaths and rebirths, proceeding in accordance with the quality of the actions of the reborn being. The process of becoming stops when enlightenment (bodhi) is reached, after which the enlightened one (buddha), no longer subject to the law of karma, enters a state called by Buddha Gautama "immortality" (amata).

“Buddhism says that every new convert should be “showed the path to amata”, on which the liberation of the mind is achieved through the deepening of wisdom and meditative practices (sati, samadhi).” http://www.ordodeus.ru/Ordo_Deus1_d.html#Immortality in Buddhism

Therefore, the desire of the soul or ego (atman) for eternal individual existence is the immediate cause of all suffering and the basis of the cycle of reincarnation (samsara).

Buddhism sees the search for eternal life as a deliberately doomed path leading away from enlightenment: even gods who live unimaginably long, eventually die.

Despite the proclamation of the inevitability of the irreversible destruction of the unique individual personality of a person after death, Buddhism makes a concession to the natural human desire to gain immortality. This concession consists in the inclusion in the canon of Buddhism of the teaching that before the final achievement of nirvana, the righteous believer must necessarily pass through a series of heavenly or hellish realms, in accordance with his merits or sins before the Bodhisattva.

Buddha said: "Be your own lamps", "All my teaching has only one taste of salvation."

To achieve nirvana, a Buddhist must follow the eightfold path in life: right view, intention, speech, action, lifestyle, effort, awareness and concentration. Observe in your life five rules of behavior: do not kill, do not take someone else's, do not commit adultery, do not lie, do not intoxicate yourself. Be wise in your decisions and actions. Keep the middle way and don't go to extremes.

To explain what nirvana is, the Buddha gives the following comparison: “The happiness of an ordinary person is comparable to the pleasure experienced by a leper from scratching his own wounds, the happiness of nirvana is comparable to a cure for leprosy. Talking about nirvana is comparable to a fruitless attempt to explain to a leper what the pleasure of healthy people is.

In heaven is the paradise Tushita, its name means "satisfied, joyful." This is one of the regions where the gods dwell. It is located above the top of Mount Sumeru - the center of the world. Extinguishes the garden of joy and the world of desires and passions. In paradise Tushita reincarnated souls who observed the five commandments: do not kill, do not steal, do not commit adultery, do not lie, do not intoxicate yourself - as well as nurtured by good deeds and meditation immeasurable states of consciousness: a loving heart, compassion, impartiality - in other words, those qualities that make up the essence of the awakened mind. In this heavenly world, the souls of bodhisattvas are reborn. The Buddha of the future, before his descent to earth, resides in a heavenly paradise.

So, in Buddhism, death is considered as physical death, that is, the death of the body, the existence of which is a cycle of births, deaths and rebirths, proceeding in accordance with the quality of the actions of a reborn being, and immortality is nothing more than immersion in nirvana with complete dissolution of the human "I" in it

Islam

In Islam, “between death and the Day of Judgment, when Allah will finally decide the fate of all people, an intermediate state of “barzakh” (barrier) is supposed. In this interval, the bodies of the dead are still able to feel, although they are in the graves, and the souls of the dead go either to heaven (the souls of Muslims) or to the Barahut well in Hadhramaut (the souls of the infidels). In Islam, there is a "grave punishment" - a small trial of people immediately after death, a kind of preliminary investigation. The grave in this regard is purgatory, where preventive retribution is determined - punishment or reward. As in Christianity before the Day of Judgment, all the dead will be resurrected and brought before God. The righteous will find eternal bliss in paradise - al-Janna" http://dvo.sut.ru/libr/filosofi/i197rodu/13.htm

Immortality in Islam differs from immortality in other religions in that the soldiers who died in the battle for the faith immediately gain immortality in paradise. Therefore, in Islam it is believed that death is an integral attribute of life, its component. After death, all except non-Muslims are equal before Allah. Immortality exists in Islam, as in other religions, its only distinguishing feature is that the warriors who fought in the name of Allah gain immediate immortality in paradise.

2. Attitude towards death, problems of life, death and immortality in the religions of the world.

Let's consider these problems in relation to the three world religions - Christianity, Islam and Buddhism and the civilizations based on them.

2.1. The Christian understanding of the meaning of life, death and immortality comes from the Old Testament position: "The day of death is better than the day of birth" and the New Testament commandment of Christ "... I have the keys to hell and death." The divine-human essence of Christianity is manifested in the fact that the immortality of the individual as an integral being is conceivable only through the resurrection. The path to it is opened by the atoning sacrifice of Christ through the cross and resurrection. This is the sphere of mystery and miracle, for man is taken out of the sphere of action of the natural-cosmic forces and elements and is placed as a person face to face with God, who is also a person.

Thus, the goal of human life is deification, the movement towards eternal life. Without realizing this, earthly life turns into a dream, an empty and idle dream, a soap bubble. In essence, it is only a preparation for eternal life, which is not far off for everyone. That is why it is said in the Gospel: "Be ready: for at what hour you do not think, the Son of Man will come." So that life does not turn, according to M.Yu. Lermontov, "into an empty and stupid joke," one must always remember the hour of death. This is not a tragedy, but a transition to another world, where myriads of souls, good and evil, already live, and where each new one enters for joy or torment. According to the figurative expression of one of the moral hierarchs: "A dying person is a setting star, the dawn of which is already shining over another world." Death does not destroy the body, but its perishability, and therefore it is not the end, but the beginning of eternal life.

Christianity associated a different understanding of immortality with the image of the "Eternal Jew" Ahasuerus. When Jesus, exhausted under the weight of the cross, went to Golgotha and wanted to rest, Ahasuerus, standing among the others, said: “Go, go,” for which he was punished - he was forever denied the rest of the grave. From century to century he is doomed to wander the world, waiting for the second coming of Christ, who alone can deprive him of his loathsome immortality.

The image of "mountainous" Jerusalem is associated with the absence of disease, death, hunger, cold, poverty, enmity, hatred, malice and other evils there. There is life without labor and joy without sorrow, health without weakness, and honor without danger. All in blooming youth and the age of Christ are comforted by bliss, they partake of the fruits of peace, love, joy and fun, and "love one another as themselves." Evangelist Luke thus defined the essence of the Christian approach to life and death: "God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. For with him all are alive." Christianity categorically condemns suicide, since a person does not belong to himself, his life and death are "in the will of God."

2.2. Another world religion - Islam - proceeds from the fact that man was created by the will of the almighty Allah, who, above all, is merciful. To the question of a man: "Will I be known when I die, will I be known alive?", Allah gives the answer: "Will not a man remember that we created him earlier, but he was nothing?" Unlike Christianity, earthly life in Islam is regarded highly. However, on the Last Day, everything will be destroyed and the dead will be resurrected and brought before Allah for the final judgment. Belief in an afterlife is essential

because in this case a person will evaluate his actions and deeds not from the point of view of personal interest, but in the sense of an eternal perspective.

The destruction of the entire universe on the day of Judgment implies the creation of an entirely new world. A "record" of deeds and thoughts, even the most secret, will be presented about each person, and an appropriate sentence will be pronounced. Thus, the principle of the supremacy of the laws of morality and reason over physical laws will triumph. A morally pure person cannot be in a humiliated position, as is the case in the real world. Islam categorically forbids suicide.

The descriptions of heaven and hell in the Qur'an are full of vivid details, so that the righteous can be completely satisfied, and the sinners get what they deserve. Paradise is the beautiful "gardens of eternity, at the bottom of which rivers flow from water, milk and wine"; there are also "pure spouses", "big-breasted peers", as well as "black-eyed and big-eyed, adorned with bracelets of gold and pearls." Those sitting on carpets and leaning on green pillows are bypassed by "forever young boys", offering "bird meat" on dishes of gold. Hell for sinners is fire and boiling water, pus and slops, the fruits of the zakkum tree, similar to the head of the devil, and their lot is "screams and roars." It is impossible to ask Allah about the hour of death, since only he has knowledge of this, and "what is it given to you to know, maybe the hour is already close."

2.3. The attitude towards death and immortality in Buddhism is significantly different from Christian and Muslim. The Buddha himself refused to answer the questions: "Is the one who knows the truth immortal or is he mortal?", and also: can the knower be mortal and immortal at the same time? In essence, only one kind of "wonderful immortality" is recognized - nirvana, as the embodiment of the transcendent Superexistence, the Absolute Beginning, which has no attributes.

Buddhism did not refute the doctrine of the transmigration of souls developed by Brahminism, i.e. the belief that after death any living being is reborn again in the form of a new living being (human, animal, deity, spirit, etc.). However, Buddhism introduced significant changes to the teachings of Brahmanism. If the Brahmins argued that it is fashionable to achieve “good rebirths” through different rites, sacrifices and spells for each class (“varna”), i.e. become a raja, a brahmin, a wealthy merchant, etc., then Buddhism has declared all reincarnation, all kinds of being, inevitable misfortune and evil. Therefore, the highest goal of a Buddhist should be the complete cessation of rebirth and the achievement of nirvana, i.e. non-existence.

Since personality is understood as the sum of drachmas, which are in a constant stream of reincarnation, this implies the absurdity, the meaninglessness of the chain of natural births. The Dhammapada states that "being born again and again is sad." The way out is the path of gaining nirvana, breaking through the chain of endless rebirths and achieving enlightenment, a blissful "island" located in the depths of a person's heart, where "they do not own anything" and "thrive for nothing." the essence of the Buddhist understanding of death and immortality As the Buddha said: "One day of the life of a man who has seen the immortal path is better than a hundred years of the life of a man who has not seen the higher life."

For most people, it is impossible to achieve nirvana immediately, in this rebirth. Following the path of salvation indicated by the Buddha, a living being usually has to reincarnate again and again. But this will be the path of ascent to the "higher wisdom", having reached which the being will be able to get out of the "circle of being", to complete the chain of his rebirths.

A calm and peaceful attitude towards life, death and immortality, the desire for enlightenment and liberation from evil is also characteristic of other Eastern religions and cults. In this regard, attitudes towards suicide are changing; it is considered not so sinful as meaningless, because it does not free a person from the circle of births and deaths, but only leads to birth in a lower incarnation. One must overcome such attachment to one's personality, for, in the words of the Buddha, "the nature of personality is continuous death."

2.4. Concepts of life, death and immortality, based on a non-religious and atheistic approach to the world and man. Irreligious people and atheists are often reproached for the fact that for them earthly life is everything, and death is an insurmountable tragedy, which, in essence, makes life meaningless. L.N. Tolstoy, in his famous confession, painfully tried to find in life that meaning that would not be destroyed by death, which is inevitably coming to every person.

For a believer, everything is clear here, but for an unbeliever, there is an alternative of three possible ways to solve this problem.

The first way is to accept the idea, which is confirmed by science and just common sense, that in the world it is impossible to completely destroy even an elementary particle, and conservation laws apply. Matter, energy, and, it is believed, information and organization of complex systems are conserved. Consequently, the particles of our "I" after death will enter into the eternal cycle of being and in this sense will be immortal. True, they will not have a consciousness, a soul, with which our "I" is associated. Moreover, this kind of immortality is acquired by a person throughout his life. It can be said in the form of a paradox: we are alive only because we die every second. Every day, erythrocytes in the blood, epithelial cells die, hair falls out, etc. Therefore, it is impossible in principle to fix life and death as absolute opposites, not in reality or in thoughts. These are two sides of the same coin.

The second way is the acquisition of immortality in human affairs, in the fruits of material and spiritual production, which are included in the treasury of mankind. To do this, first of all, you need confidence that humanity is immortal and is on a cosmic destiny in the spirit of the ideas of K.E. Tsiolkovsky and other cosmists. If, however, self-destruction in a thermonuclear ecological catastrophe is real for humanity, as well as due to some kind of cosmic cataclysms, then in this case the question remains open.

The third path to immortality, as a rule, is chosen by people whose scale of activity does not go beyond their home and immediate environment. Not expecting eternal bliss or eternal torment, not going into the "tricks" of the mind that connects the microcosm (i.e. man) with the macrocosm, millions of people simply float in the stream of life, feeling themselves to be its particle. Immortality for them is not in the eternal memory of blessed humanity, but in everyday affairs and worries. "Believing in God is not difficult .... No, you believe in a person!" - Chekhov wrote this, not at all assuming that it was he, himself, who would become an example of this type of attitude to life and death.

Conclusion.

Modern thanatology (the doctrine of death) is one of the hotspots of natural science and the humanities. Interest in the problem of death is due to several reasons.

Firstly, this is a situation of a global civilized crisis, which, in principle, can lead to the self-destruction of humanity.

Secondly, the value attitude to human life and death has changed significantly in connection with the general situation on Earth.

Almost one and a half billion inhabitants of the planet live in complete poverty and another billion are approaching the mark, one and a half billion earthlings are deprived of any medical care, a billion people cannot read and write. There are 700 million unemployed in the world. Millions of people in all corners of the globe suffer from racism, aggressive nationalism.

This leads to a pronounced devaluation of human life, to contempt for the life of both one's own and that of another person. The bacchanalia of terrorism, the growth in the number of unmotivated murders and violence, as well as suicides, are symptoms of the global pathology of mankind at the turn of the 20th - 21st centuries. At the same time, at the turn of the 60s, bioethics appeared in Western countries - a complex discipline located at the intersection of philosophy, ethics, biology, medicine and a number of other disciplines. It was a kind of reaction to the new problems of life and death.

This coincided with the growing interest in human rights, including in relation to one's own bodily and spiritual existence and the reaction of society to the threat to life on Earth, due to the aggravation of global problems of mankind.

If a person has something like a death instinct (which Z. Freud wrote about), then everyone has a natural, innate right not only to live as he was born, but also to die in human conditions. One of the features of the 20th century is that humanism and humane relations between people are the basis and guarantee of survival for mankind. If earlier any social and natural disasters left hope that the majority of people would survive and restore what was destroyed, now vitality can be considered a concept derived from humanism.

Used Books.

1. Handbook of an atheist. Publishing house of political literature.

Moscow, 1975

To the credit of philosophy, it must be said that not all thinkers, even irrationalists, perceived life in such a gloomy aspect. A. Bergson, one of the few philosophers on Earth who was awarded the Nobel Prize, thought a lot about the problems of life. Bergson relied on natural science. The central concept in his books is a certain metaphysical-cosmic process, a "life impulse" (elan vital), of its own...

materials from the textbook "Philosophy" edited by V.P. Kokhanovsky, "Philosophy" by V.A. Kanke and other materials. In the first chapter of the work, the problems of life and death are considered in the spiritual understanding of man, the opinion of philosophers of different eras and peoples. In the second chapter, these problems are considered from the point of view of world religions: Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. The third chapter discusses the reasons...

Problems of life and death and attitudes towards death

in different historical epochs and in different religions

Introduction.

1. Measurements of the problem of life, death and immortality.

2. Attitude towards death, problems of life, death and immortality

in the religions of the world.

Conclusion.

Bibliography.

Introduction.

When an organism becomes multicellular, a mechanism of self-destruction at a certain stage of development, associated with the genome, is built into it, as it were.

1. Measurements of the problem of life, death and immortality.

1. 1. The first dimension of the problem of life, death and immortality is biological, because these states are, in fact, different aspects of one phenomenon. The hypothesis of panspermia, the constant presence of life and death in the Universe, their constant reproduction under suitable conditions, has long been put forward. The definition of F. Engels is known: "Life is a way of existence of protein bodies, and this way of existence consists essentially in the constant self-renewal of the chemical constituents of these bodies", emphasizes the cosmic aspect of life.

Awareness of the unity of human and human life with all life on the planet, with its biosphere, as well as potentially possible life forms in the Universe, is of great ideological significance.

This idea of the sanctity of life, the right to life for any living being, by virtue of the very fact of birth, belongs to the number of eternal ideals of mankind. Ultimately, the entire Universe and the Earth are considered as living beings, and interference with the still poorly known laws of their life is fraught with an ecological crisis. Man appears as a small particle of this living Universe, a microcosm that has absorbed all the richness of the macrocosm. The feeling of "reverence for life", the feeling of one's involvement in the amazing world of the living, to one degree or another, is inherent in any worldview system. Even if biological, bodily life is considered an inauthentic, transitory form of human existence, then in these cases (for example, in Christianity), human flesh can and should acquire a different, flourishing state.

1.2. The second dimension of the problem of life, death and immortality is connected with the understanding of the specifics of human life and its difference from the life of all living things. For more than thirty centuries, sages, prophets and philosophers from different countries and peoples have been trying to find this watershed. Most often it is believed that the whole point is the realization of the fact of impending death: we know that we will die and are feverishly looking for a path to immortality. All other living things quietly and peacefully complete their journey, having managed to reproduce a new life or serve as fertilizer for the soil for another life. A person is doomed to painful lifelong thoughts about the meaning of life or its meaninglessness, torments himself, and often others, and is forced to drown these damned questions in wine or drugs. This is partly true, but the question arises: what to do with the fact of the death of a newborn child who has not yet had time to understand anything, or a mentally retarded person who is not able to understand anything? Whether to consider the beginning of a person's life the moment of conception (which cannot be accurately determined in most cases) or the moment of birth.

It is known that the dying Leo Tolstoy, addressing those around him, said,

so that they turn their eyes to millions of other people, and not look at one

lion. An unknown death that touches no one except the mother, the death of a small creature from starvation somewhere in Africa and the magnificent funeral of world famous leaders in the face of eternity have no difference. In this sense, the English poet D. Donn is deeply right when he said that the death of each person detracts from all mankind and therefore "never ask for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for you."

It is obvious that the specificity of life, death and immortality of a person is directly related to the mind and its manifestations, to the successes and achievements of a person throughout life, to the assessment of his contemporaries and descendants. The death of many geniuses at a young age is undoubtedly tragic, but there is no reason to believe that their subsequent life, if it took place, would give the world something even more brilliant. There is some kind of not quite clear, but empirically obvious pattern, expressed by the Christian thesis: "God takes first of all the best".

In this sense, life and death are not covered by the categories of rational knowledge, do not fit into the framework of a rigid deterministic model of the world and man. To talk about these concepts in cold blood is possible up to a certain limit. It is due to the personal interest of each person and his ability to intuitively comprehend the ultimate foundations of human existence. In this respect, everyone is like a swimmer jumping into the waves in the middle of the open sea. One must rely only on oneself, despite human solidarity, faith in God, the Higher Mind, etc. The uniqueness of a person, the uniqueness of personality is manifested here to the highest degree. Geneticists have calculated that the probability of the birth of this particular person from these parents is one chance in a hundred trillion cases. If this has already happened, then what amazing diversity of human meanings of being appears before a person when he thinks about life and death?

1.3. The third dimension of this problem is connected with the idea of gaining immortality, which sooner or later becomes the center of attention of a person, especially if he has reached adulthood.

There are several types of immortality associated with the fact that after a person remains his business, children, grandchildren, etc., the products of his activity and personal belongings, as well as the fruits of spiritual production (ideas, images, etc.).

The first type of immortality is in the genes of offspring, close to most people. In addition to the principled opponents of marriage and the family and misogynists, many seek to perpetuate themselves in this way. One of the powerful drives of a person is the desire to see his features in children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. In the royal dynasties of Europe, the transmission of certain features (for example, the nose of the Habsburgs) over several generations has been traced. This is associated with the inheritance of not only physical characteristics, but also the moral principles of family occupation or craft, etc. Historians have established that many prominent figures of Russian culture of the 19th century were related (albeit distantly) to each other. One century includes four generations.

Thus, in two thousand years, 80 generations have changed, and the 80th ancestor of each of us was a contemporary of Ancient Rome, and the 130th was a contemporary of the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II.

The second type of immortality is the mummification of the body with the expectation of its eternal preservation. The experience of the Egyptian pharaohs, the practice of modern embalming (V.I. Lenin, Mao Zedong, etc.) indicate that in a number of civilizations this is considered accepted. Advances in technology at the end of the 20th century made it possible to cryogenesis (deep freezing) of the bodies of the dead, with the expectation that the physicians of the future will revive and cure now incurable diseases. Such a fetishization of the human corporality is typical mainly for totalitarian societies, where gerontocracy (the power of the elderly) becomes the basis for the stability of the state.

The third type of immortality is the hope for the "dissolution" of the body and spirit of the deceased in the Universe, their entry into the cosmic "body", into the eternal circulation of matter. This is typical for a number of Eastern civilizations, especially Japanese. The Islamic model of attitude to life and death and various materialistic or rather naturalistic concepts are close to such a solution. Here we are talking about the loss of personal qualities and the preservation of particles of the former body that can enter into the composition of other organisms. This highly abstract kind of immortality is unacceptable to most people and is emotionally rejected.

The fourth path to immortality is connected with the results of human life creativity. No wonder members of various academies are awarded the title "immortal". A scientific discovery, the creation of a brilliant work of literature and art, an indication of the way for humanity in a new faith, the creation of a philosophical text, an outstanding military victory and a demonstration of state wisdom - all this leaves the name of a person in the memory of noble descendants. Heroes and prophets, martyrs and saints, architects and inventors are immortalized. The names of the most cruel tyrants and the greatest criminals are forever preserved in the memory of mankind. This raises the question of the ambiguity of assessing the scale of a person's personality. It seems that the greater the number of human lives and broken human destinies lies on the conscience of one or another historical character, the more chances he has to get into history and gain immortality there. The ability to influence the lives of hundreds of millions of people, the "charisma" of power causes many a state of mystical horror mixed with reverence. Legends and traditions are composed about such people, which are passed down from generation to generation.

The fifth path to immortality is associated with the achievement of various states, which science calls "altered states of consciousness." Basically, they are the product of a system of psycho-training and meditation adopted in Eastern religions and civilizations. Here, a "breakthrough" into other dimensions of space and time, travel to the past and future, ecstasy and enlightenment, a mystical feeling of belonging to Eternity are possible.

We can say that the meaning of death and immortality, as well as the ways to achieve it, are the reverse side of the problem of the meaning of life. Obviously, these questions are solved differently, depending on the leading spiritual attitude of a particular civilization.

2. Attitude towards death, problems of life, death and immortality in the religions of the world.

Let's consider these problems in relation to the three world religions - Christianity, Islam and Buddhism and the civilizations based on them.

because in this case a person will evaluate his actions and deeds not from the point of view of personal interest, but in the sense of an eternal perspective.

For a believer, everything is clear here, but for an unbeliever, there is an alternative of three possible ways to solve this problem.

Conclusion.

Modern thanatology (the doctrine of death) is one of the hotspots of natural science and the humanities. Interest in the problem of death is due to several reasons.

Firstly, this is a situation of a global civilized crisis, which, in principle, can lead to the self-destruction of humanity.

Secondly, the value attitude to human life and death has changed significantly in connection with the general situation on Earth.

Used Books.

1. Handbook of an atheist. Publishing house of political literature.

Moscow, 1975

2. Philosophy. Textbook for students. 1997

3. Cultural studies. Textbook and reader for students.

Death and immortality in different religions. Attitudes towards death in various cultures and religions. Dimensions of the problem of life, death and immortality

Buddhism

Islam

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