Raymond Moody states: each of us has already lived several lives. American psychotherapist Raymond Moody became famous for his book Life After Life. In it, he talks about the impressions of a person who went through a state of clinical death.
It is amazing that these impressions turned out to be common to all dying people. The famous doctor’s new book, “Life Before Life,” tells the story that our life is just a link in a chain of several lives we have previously lived. Moody's book caused a real scandal abroad. She made many people interested in their distant past. It has sparked a new direction in the treatment of a number of serious diseases. It posed a number of insoluble questions to science.
1. LIFE BEFORE LIFE
For centuries, people have been trying to solve the question: did we live before? Maybe our life today is just a link in an endless chain of previous lives? Does our spiritual energy completely disappear after our death, and we ourselves, our intellectual content, always start again from scratch?
Religion has always been primarily interested in these questions. There are entire nations that believe in the transmigration of souls. Millions of Hindus believe that when we die, we are reborn somewhere in an endless cycle of death and birth. They are even sure that human life can migrate into the life of an animal and even an insect. Moreover, if you led an unworthy life, the more unpleasant will be the creature in whose guise you will again appear before people.
This transmigration of souls has received the scientific name “reincarnation” and is being studied today in all areas of medicine - from psychology to conventional therapy. And it seems that the great Vernadsky himself, when building his “noosphere,” somewhere came close to this problem, because the energy sphere around the planet is a kind of accumulation of the former spiritual energies of the myriads of people who inhabited the Earth.
However, back to our problem...
Are there pieces of memory preserved somewhere in the recesses of our consciousness, one way or another confirming the existence of a chain of previous lives?
Yes, says science. The mysterious archive of the subconscious is filled to the limit with such “memories” accumulated over millennia of the existence of changing spiritual energies.
Here is what the famous researcher Joseph Campbell says about this: “Reincarnation shows that you are something more than you used to think, and there are unknown depths in your being that have yet to be known and thereby expand the capabilities of consciousness, to embrace what is not part of your self-image.
Your life is much wider and deeper than you think. Your life is only a small part of what you carry within yourself, of what life gives - breadth and depth. And when you one day manage to comprehend it, you will suddenly understand the essence of all religious teachings.”
How to touch this deep memory archive accumulated in the subconscious? It turns out that you can get to the subconscious through hypnosis. By introducing a person into a hypnotic state, it is possible to induce a process of regression - returning memory to.
past life
Hypnotic sleep differs from ordinary dreaming - it is an intermediate state of consciousness between wakefulness and sleep. In this state of half-sleep, half-awake, a person’s consciousness works most acutely, providing him with new mental solutions.
It is said that the famous inventor Thomas Edison used self-hypnosis when faced with a problem that he could not solve at the moment. He retired to his office, sat down in an easy chair and began to doze. It was in a state of half-asleep that the necessary decision came to him.
And, in order not to fall into normal sleep, the inventor even came up with a clever trick. He took a glass ball in each hand and placed two metal plates below. As he fell asleep, he dropped a ball from his hand, which fell with a ringing sound onto a metal plate and woke up Edison. As a rule, the inventor woke up with a ready-made solution. The mental pictures and hallucinations that appear during hypnotic sleep differ from ordinary dreams. Sleepers, as a rule, participate in the events of their dreams. During regression, a person distantly views what his subconscious shows him. This state in normal people (the appearance of pictures of the past) occurs at the moment of falling asleep or under hypnosis.
Typically, hypnotic phenomena are perceived by people as rapidly changing pictures when viewing color slides on an overhead projector.
The hypnotist only very tactfully, like a psychotherapist, helped them with his questions to expand and deepen the overall picture of regression. It was as if he was leading the subject along the image, rather than telling him the plot of the picture he was observing.
Moody himself for a long time considered these pictures to be an ordinary dream, without paying much attention to them.
But while working on the problem that brought him fame, the topic “Life after life,” he encountered among the many hundreds of letters he received describing in some cases regression. And this forced Raymond Moody to take a new approach to a phenomenon that seemed natural to him.
However, the problem finally attracted the attention of the already world-famous psychotherapist after his meeting with Diana Denhall, a professional hypnologist. She put Moody into a state of regression, as a result of which he recalled nine episodes of his past life from his memory.
Let's give the floor to the researcher himself.
2. NINE PREVIOUS LIVES
My lectures on near-death experiences always raised questions about other paranormal phenomena. When it came time for listeners to ask questions, they were interested mainly in UFOs, physical manifestations of the power of thought (for example, bending an iron rod with mental effort), and past life regression.
All these questions not only did not relate to the field of my research, but simply puzzled me. After all, none of them have anything to do with “near-death experiences.” Let me remind you that “near-death experiences” are deep spiritual experiences that spontaneously occur to some people at the moment of death. They are usually accompanied by the following phenomena: leaving the body, a feeling of quickly moving through a tunnel towards a bright light, meeting long-dead relatives at the opposite end of the tunnel and looking back at one’s life (most often with the help of a luminous being), which appears before one as would be captured on film. Near-death experiences have no connection with the paranormal phenomena that students asked me about after the lectures. At that time, these areas of knowledge interested me little. Among the phenomena of interest to the audience was past life regression. I always assumed that this trip into the past was nothing more than the subject’s fantasy, a figment of his imagination. I thought that about a dream, or an unusual way of fulfilling desires. I was confident that most people who successfully went through the regression process saw themselves as outstanding or extraordinary individuals, e.g. Egyptian pharaoh. When asked about past lives, I found it difficult to hide my disbelief.
I thought so too until I met Diana Denhall, an attractive personality and psychiatrist who could easily convince people. She used hypnosis in her practice - first to help people quit smoking, lose weight and even find lost objects. “But sometimes something unusual happened,” she told me. From time to time, some patients spoke about their past life experiences. This happened in most cases when she led people back through life so that they could relive some traumatic events that they had already forgotten - a process known as early life regression therapy.
This method helped to find the source of fears or neuroses that bothered patients in the present. The task was to take a person back through life, peeling back layer by layer to reveal the cause of mental trauma, just as an archaeologist peels back one layer at a time, each deposited over a period of history, to unearth ruins. at the site of archaeological excavations.
But sometimes patients, in some surprising way, found themselves much further into the past than was thought possible. Suddenly they began to talk about another life, place, time, and as if they were seeing everything that was happening with their own eyes.
Such cases were repeatedly encountered in the practice of Diana Denhall during hypnotic regression. At first, these patients’ experiences frightened her; she looked for her mistakes in hypnotherapy or thought that she was dealing with a patient suffering from a split personality.
I have always believed that each of us is the subject of an experiment for ourselves, and therefore I wanted to experience past life regression myself. I shared my desire with Diana, and she generously invited me to begin the experiment that same day after lunch. She sat me down in a soft chair and gradually, with great skill, brought me into the deepest trance. Then she said that I was in a trance state for about an hour. I kept in mind all the time that I was Raymond Moody and was under the supervision of a skilled psychotherapist. In this trance I visited nine stages of the development of civilization and saw myself and the world in different incarnations. And to this day I don’t know what they meant or if they meant anything at all.
All I know for sure is that it was an amazing sensation, more like reality than a dream. The colors were the same as they are in reality, the actions developed in accordance with the internal logic of events, and not the way I “wanted”. I didn’t think: “Now this and that will happen.” Or: “The plot should develop this way.” These real lives developed on their own, like the plot of a film on the screen.
I will now describe in chronological order the lives I have lived through with the help of Diana Denhall.
LIFE FIRST
IN THE JUNGLE
In the first version, I was a primitive man - some kind of prehistoric variety of man. An absolutely self-confident creature who lived in the trees. So, I existed comfortably among the branches and leaves and was much more human than one would expect. By no means was I an ape.
I did not live alone, but in a group of creatures similar to me. We lived together in nest-like structures. During the construction of these “houses,” we helped each other and tried in every possible way to make sure that we could walk to each other, for which we built reliable flooring. We did this not only for safety, we realized that it was better and more convenient for us to live in a group. We have probably already climbed the evolutionary ladder a fair way.
We communicated with each other, directly expressing our emotions. Instead of speech, we were forced to use gestures, with the help of which we showed what we felt and what we needed.
I remember that we ate fruit. I clearly see how I am eating some fruit unknown to me now. It is juicy and contains a lot of small red seeds. Everything was so real that it seemed to me as if I was eating this fruit right during a hypnosis session. I could even feel the juice running down my chin as I chewed.
SECOND LIFE
PRIMITIVE AFRICA
In this life, I saw myself as a boy of twelve years old, living in a community in a tropical prehistoric forest - a place of unusual, alien beauty. Judging by the fact that we were all black, I assumed that this took place in Africa.
At the beginning of this hypnotic adventure, I saw myself in the forest, on the shore of a calm lake. I was looking at something in the clean white sand. Around the village there was a sparse tropical forest, thickening on the surrounding hills. The huts in which we lived stood on thick stilts, their floors raised about sixty centimeters above the ground. The walls of the houses were woven from straw, and inside there was only one, but large, rectangular room.
I knew that my father was in one of the fishing boats fishing with everyone else, and my mother was busy with something nearby on the shore. I didn't see them, I just knew they were close and felt safe.
LIFE THREE
A MASTER SHIPBUILDER TURNS IN A BOAT
In the next episode, I saw myself from the outside as a muscular old man. I had blue eyes and a long silver beard. Despite my old age, I still worked in the workshop where boats were built.
The workshop was a long building facing a large river, and from the river side it was completely open. There were stacks of boards and thick, heavy logs in the room. Primitive tools hung on the walls and lay in disarray on the floor. Apparently I was living out my last days. My shy three-year-old granddaughter was with me. I told her what each tool was for, and showed her on the newly completed boat how to work with them, and she timidly looked over the side of the canoe.
That day I took my granddaughter and went boating with her. We were enjoying the calm flow of the river, when suddenly high waves rose and capsized our boat. My granddaughter and I were swept away by the water in different directions. I fought against the current, trying with all my might to grab my granddaughter, but the elements were faster and stronger than me. In helpless despair, watching the baby drown, I stopped fighting for my own life. I remember drowning, suffering from guilt. After all, it was I who started the walk in which my beloved granddaughter met her death.
LIFE FOUR
TERRIBLE MAMMOTH HUNTER
In my next life, I was with people who were hunting a shaggy mammoth with desperate passion. I usually did not notice that I was particularly gluttonous, but at that moment no smaller game would satisfy my appetite. In a state of hypnosis, I nevertheless noticed that all of us were by no means well-fed and we really needed food.
Animal skins were thrown over us, so that they only covered our shoulders and chest. They did little to protect us from the cold and did not cover our genitals at all. But this did not bother us at all - when we fought with the mammoth, we forgot about the cold and decency. There were six of us in a small gorge, we threw stones and sticks at the powerful animal.
The mammoth managed to grab one of my fellow tribesmen with its trunk and, with one precise and strong movement, crush his skull. The rest were terrified.
LIFE FIFTH
GRAND CONSTRUCTION OF THE PAST
Fortunately, I moved on. This time I found myself among a huge construction site, in which masses of people were busy, in the historical setting of the beginning of civilization. In this dream I was not a king or even a monk, but just one of the workers. I think we were building an aqueduct or a network of roads, but I'm not sure about it because from where I was it was impossible to see the entire panorama of the construction.
We workers lived in rows of white stone houses with grass growing between them. I lived with my wife, it seemed to me that I had been living here for many years, because the place was so familiar. There was a raised platform in our room on which we lay. I was very hungry and my wife was literally dying from malnutrition. She lay quietly, emaciated, exhausted, and waited for the life to fade away from her. She had jet black hair and prominent cheekbones. I felt that we had lived a good life together, but malnutrition had dulled our senses.
LIFE SIX
TOLD TO THE LIONS
Finally I came to a civilization that I could recognize - Ancient Rome.
Unfortunately, I was neither an emperor nor an aristocrat. I sat in the lion's den and waited for the lion to bite off my hand for fun.
I had long fiery red hair and a mustache. I was very thin and was wearing only short leather pants. I knew my origins - I came from an area that is now called Germany, where I was captured by Roman legionnaires in one of their military campaigns. The Romans used me as a bearer of stolen wealth. Having delivered their cargo to Rome, I had to die for their amusement. I saw myself looking up at the people surrounding the pit. I must have begged them for mercy, because there was a hungry lion waiting outside the door next to me. I felt his strength and heard the roar he made in anticipation of his meal.
I knew it was impossible to escape, but when the door to the lion was opened, the instinct of self-preservation forced me to look for a way out. The point of view at that moment changed, I fell into this body of mine. I heard the bars being lifted and saw the lion heading towards me. I tried to defend myself by raising my hands, but the lion rushed at me without even noticing them. To the delight of the audience, who squealed with delight, the animal knocked me down and pinned me to the ground.
The last thing I remember is how I am lying between the lion’s paws, and the lion is going to crush my skull with its powerful jaws.
THE SEVENTH LIFE
SOPHISTICATED TO THE END
My next life was that of an aristocrat, and again in Ancient Rome. I lived in beautiful, spacious rooms, flooded with a pleasant twilight light, spreading a yellowish glow around me. I was reclining in a white toga on a bed shaped like a modern chaise lounge. I was about forty years old, I had the belly and smooth skin of someone who had never done hard physical labor. I remember the feeling of satisfaction with which I lay and looked at my son. He was about fifteen years old, his wavy, dark, short-cropped hair beautifully framed his frightened face.
“Father, why are these people breaking into our door?” - he asked me.
“My son,” I answered. “We have soldiers for this.”
“But, dad, there are a lot of them,” he objected.
He was so frightened that I decided to stand up, more out of curiosity, to see what he was talking about. I went out onto the balcony and saw a handful of Roman soldiers trying to stop a huge, excited crowd. I immediately realized that my son’s fear was not justified. Looking at my son, I realized that the sudden fear could be read on my face.
These were the last scenes from that life. Judging by how I felt when I saw the crowd, this was the end of it.
LIFE THE EIGHTH
DEATH IN THE DESERT
My next life took me to a mountainous area somewhere in the deserts of the Middle East. I was a trader. I had a house on a hill, and at the foot of this hill was my shop. I bought and sold jewelry there. I sat there all day and appraised gold, silver and precious stones.
But my home was my pride. It was a fine red brick building with a covered gallery in which to spend the cool evening hours. The back wall of the house rested on a rock - it did not have a backyard. The windows of all the rooms faced the facade, offering views of distant mountains and river valleys, which seemed something especially amazing among the desert landscape.
One day, returning home, I noticed that the house was unusually quiet. I entered the house and began to move from one empty room to another. I was getting scared. Finally I entered our bedroom and found my wife and three of our children killed. I don't know exactly how they were killed, but judging by the amount of blood, they were stabbed with knives.
LIFE NINE
CHINESE ARTIST
In his last life I was an artist, and a woman at that. The first thing I remember is myself at the age of six and my little brother. Our parents took us for a walk to a majestic waterfall. The path led us to granite rocks, from the cracks in which water emerged, feeding the waterfalls. We froze in place and watched as the water flowed in cascades and then fell into a deep crevice.
It was a short excerpt. The next one related to the moment of my death.
I became poor and lived in a small house built on the backs of rich houses. It was very comfortable accommodation. On that last day of my life, I was lying in bed sleeping when a young man came into the house and strangled me. Just. He didn't take anything from my things. He wanted something that had no value to him - my life.
Here's how it happened. Nine lives, and in one hour my opinion about past life regression has completely changed. Diana Denhall gently brought me out of my hypnotic trance. I realized that regression is not a dream or a dream. I learned a lot from these visions. When I saw them, I remembered them rather than imagined them.
But there was something in them that is not found in ordinary memories. Namely: in a state of regression, I could see myself from different points of view. I spent several terrible moments in the lion's mouth outside myself, observing events from the outside. But at the same time I remained there, in the hole. The same thing happened when I was a shipbuilder. For some time I watched myself as I was making a boat, from the side, the next moment, for no reason, without controlling the situation, I again found myself in the body of an old man and saw the world through the eyes of the old master.
Shifting the point of view was something mysterious. But everything else was just as mysterious. Where did the “visions” come from? When all this was happening, I was not at all interested in history. Why did I go through different historical periods, recognizing some and not others? Were they genuine, or had I somehow caused them to appear in my own mind?
My own regressions also haunted me. I never expected to see myself in a past life, entering a state of hypnosis. Even assuming that I would see something, I did not expect that I would not be able to explain it.
But those nine lives that surfaced in my memory under the influence of hypnosis greatly surprised me. Most of them took place in times I had never read about or seen a movie about. And I was in each of them an ordinary person, nothing stands out. This completely shattered my theory that in a past life everyone sees themselves as Cleopatra or some other brilliant historical figure. A few days after the regression, I admitted that this phenomenon was a mystery to me. The only way to solve this riddle (or at least attempt to solve it) I saw in the organization scientific research, in which regressions would be broken down into individual elements and each of them carefully analyzed.
I wrote down a few questions, hoping that regression research might help answer them. Here they are: Can past life regression therapy affect painful conditions of the mind or body?
How can we explain these unusual journeys? How to interpret them if a person does not believe in the existence of reincarnation? Then I didn’t know how to answer these questions. I started writing down possible explanations.
How to explain the mysterious visions that visit a person in regression? I did not think that they strictly proved the existence of reincarnation (and many people who came into contact with the phenomenon of past life regression did), but I had to admit that some of the cases known to me could not easily be explained otherwise.
Can people themselves, without the help of a hypnotist, open channels leading to past lives? I wanted to know: Is it possible to induce past life regression through self-hypnosis in the same way that can be done through hypnotherapy?
The regression gave rise to a host of new questions that required answers. My curiosity was piqued. I was ready to dive into past life research.
Raymond MOADY
3. IS REINCARNATION PROOF?
Raymond Moody began serious research into the phenomenon of regression while teaching psychology at West Georgia State College in Carol Town. This educational institution in contrast to many other American institutions, much attention was paid to the study of parapsychological phenomena. This situation allowed Moody to create a group of experimental students of 50 people. It is worth recalling that, while studying the problem of “Life after life” in the seventies, the researcher used materials from two hundred patients who had emerged from death.
But these were, naturally, isolated cases. During regression, Moody conducted experiments with a simultaneous hypnotic influence on the team. In this case of group hypnosis, the pictures visible to the subjects were less bright, as if blurred. There were also unexpected results, sometimes two patients saw the same pictures. Sometimes someone asked after waking up to return him to past world, he was so interested in it.
Moody installed another one interesting feature. It turns out that a hypnotic session can be replaced by an ancient and already forgotten method of self-hypnosis: continuous gazing into a crystal ball.
Having placed the ball on black velvet, in the dark, only with the light of one candle at a distance of 60 cm, you need to completely relax. Persistently peering into the depths of the ball, a person gradually falls into a state of a kind of self-hypnosis. Pictures coming from the subconscious begin to float before his eyes.
Moody states: this method is also acceptable for experiments with groups. In extreme cases, the crystal ball can be replaced with a round decanter of water and even a mirror.
“Having conducted my own experiments,” says Moody, “I established that the visions in the crystal ball are not fiction, but fact... They were clearly projected in the crystal ball, moreover, they were colored and three-dimensional, like images in halographic television.”
Regardless of the method used to induce regression: hypnosis, looking into a ball, or simply self-hypnosis (and this happens), under all conditions the researcher was able to identify a number of features during regression that are all related in their commonality:
- Visuality of events from a past life - all subjects visually see pictures of regression, less often hear or smell. The pictures are brighter than ordinary dreams.
- Events during regression occur according to their own laws, which the subject cannot influence - basically he is a contemplator, and not an active participant in events.
- The regression pictures are already somewhat familiar. A peculiar process of recognition occurs with the subject - he has the feeling that what he sees and does, he has already seen and done once.
- The subject gets used to someone's image, despite the fact that all the circumstances do not coincide: neither gender, nor time, nor environment.
- Having inhabited the personality, the subject experiences the feelings of the one in whom he has incarnated. Feelings can be very strong, so that the hypnotist sometimes has to calm the patient by convincing him that all this is happening in the distant past.
- Observed events can be perceived in two ways: from the point of view of third-party observation or a direct participant in the events.
- The events that the subject sees often reflect the problems of his life today. Naturally, they are refracted historically in time and depend on the environment where they occur.
- The regression process can often serve to improve the subject's state of mind. As a result of this, a person feels relief and purification - emotions accumulated in the past find a way out.
- In rare cases, subjects feel noticeable improvements in their physical condition after regression. This proves the inextricable connection between body and spirit.
- Each time, subsequent introductions of the patient into a state of regression occur easier and easier.
- Most past lives are life ordinary people, and not outstanding figures of history.
However, the same Moody gives several convincing examples where an equal sign can be put between regression and reincarnation. These are the examples.
Dr. Paul Hansen from Colorado saw himself in regression as a French nobleman named Antoine de Poirot, living on his estate near Vichy with his wife and two children. It was, as memory tells us, in 1600.
“In the most memorable scene, my wife and I were riding horseback to our castle,” recalls Hansen. “I remember it well: the wife was in a bright red velvet dress and sitting in a side saddle.”
Hansen later visited France. By the known date, name and place of action, he, according to documents preserved from past centuries, and then, from the records of the parish priest, learned about the birth of Antoine de Poirot. This completely coincides with the regression of the American.
Another story tells of a famous tragedy that took place in 1846 in the Rocky Mountains. A large group of settlers was caught in the late autumn snow drifts. The snow height reached four meters. Women and children, dying of hunger, were forced to resort to cannibalism... Of the 77 people in the Donner squad, only 47 survived, mostly women and children.
Today, a German woman came to Dr. Dick Satpheng for treatment for overeating. During the act of regression, under hypnosis, under hypnosis, she saw in every detail terrible pictures of cannibalism on a snowy pass.
I was a ten-year-old girl at the time, and I remember how we ate my grandfather. It was scary, but my mother told me: “This is how it should be, this is what grandfather wanted...” It turned out that the German woman came to the United States in 1953, knew nothing, and could not have known about the tragedy that took place a hundred years ago in the Rocky Mountains. But what’s amazing: the description of the tragedy from the patient’s story completely coincided with historical fact. The question involuntarily arises: is her illness - chronic overeating - a “memory” of the monstrous days of hunger in a past life?
They say that a fairly famous American artist came to a psychotherapist and underwent regression. However, having returned under hypnosis to a past life, he suddenly spoke in French. The doctor asked him to translate his speech into English language. An American with a clear French accent did it. It turned out that in the past he lived in old Paris, where he was a mediocre musician who composed popular songs. The most mysterious thing was that the psychotherapist found in the music library the name of a French composer and a description of his life that coincided with the story of an American artist. Doesn't this confirm reincarnation?
Even stranger is Moody's story about one of his subjects. In a state of regression, he called himself Mark Twain.
“I have never read either his works or his biography,” the subject said after the session.
But in his practical life he was imbued with the traits of a great writer in every detail. He loved humor, like Twain. He loved to sit on the porch in a rocking chair, talking with neighbors, like Twain. He decided to buy a farm in Virginia and build an octagonal workshop on a hill - the same one Twain once worked in on his estate in Connecticut. He tried to write humorous stories, one of which described Siamese twins. It is amazing that Mark Twain has such a story.
Since childhood, the patient had been keenly interested in astronomy, in particular Halley's comet.
Twain, who also studied this particular comet, is also known to have a passion for this science.
This amazing case still remains a mystery. Reincarnation? Coincidence?
Do all these serve? short stories proof of the transmigration of souls. What else?..
But these are isolated cases that have received verification, and only because we met with people who were quite famous. One has to think that there are not enough examples to draw definitive conclusions.
There is only one thing left - to continue studying mysterious phenomena reincarnation.
However, we can firmly say: regression heals the sick! Once upon a time in medicine, the state of the patient’s spirit was not connected with the illness of the body. Now such views are a thing of the past.
It has been proven that regression, which certainly affects a person’s spiritual state, successfully treats it. First of all, various phobias - nervous system disorders, obsessions, depression. In many cases, asthma, arthritis are also cured...
Today, many American psychotherapists, as they say, have already adopted a new direction in medicine - regression. The famous psychotherapist Helen Wambech provides interesting data from this area. 26 specialists reported outcome data from 18,463 patients. Of this number, 24 psychotherapists were involved in the treatment of physical illnesses. In 63% of patients, elimination of at least one symptom of the disease was observed after treatment. Interestingly, of this number of those cured, 60% improved their health because they had experienced their own death in the past, and 40% improved due to other experiences. What's the matter here?
Raymond Moody tries to answer this question. He says: “I don’t know exactly why past life regression only works for certain diseases, but it reminds me of what Einstein said many years ago: “There may be radiations that we don’t know about yet. Remember how we laughed at electric current and invisible waves? The science of man is still in its infancy.”
But in this case, what can we say about reincarnation - a phenomenon that is even more profound?
Here Moody's position seems more flexible. Reincarnation, he says at the conclusion of his book, “is so attractive that it can cause unhealthy psychic experiences. We must not forget that reincarnation, if it exists, may be completely different from how we imagine it, and even completely incomprehensible to our consciousness.
I was asked recently: “If there was a court hearing at which it was necessary to decide whether reincarnation exists or not, what would the jury decide?” I think he would rule in favor of reincarnation. Most people are too overwhelmed by their past lives to explain them any other way.
For me, past life experiences have changed the structure of my faith. I no longer consider these experiences “weird.” I consider them a normal phenomenon that can happen to anyone who allows themselves to be put into a state of hypnosis.
The least that can be said about them is that these discoveries come from the depths of the subconscious.
The biggest thing is that they prove the existence of life before life.”
Moody Raymond. Life before life. Each of us has already lived several lives.
Longing for the deceased is the most painful human suffering. Sometimes the bitterness of loss is so unbearable that the survivor himself dreams of death. Is it possible to change the situation and return the joy of life to a person? Yes, says the famous Dr. Moody. He wrote his new book “All about meetings after death” about this.
WORKSHOP ON WORKING WITH DEATH
American resuscitator Raymond Moody knows everything about the afterlife and the light at the end of the tunnel. He wrote a book about this twenty years ago. "Life after life" which is still sold around the world in huge quantities.
But since then he has not stopped his research. He retired to a mansion in Alabama and began to conduct some experiments in a unique laboratory hidden from prying eyes. The doctor doesn't even have neighbors, but knowledgeable people They say that from time to time unfortunate people who have lost loved ones come to visit him. And he, as part of the experiment he is conducting, organizes meetings for them with the deceased. After sessions of communication with the dead, the living leave Dr. Moody cheerful and ready to move on with their lives.
This is hard to believe, but it is the pure truth. And what Dr. Moody does is called grief therapy. He conceived this project back in the 1990s. Then he bought an old mill far from people and civilization and converted it into a “workshop for working with death.”
WORLD THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
As an exception, the doctor allowed filmmakers into his mansion who were filming about him documentary. As soon as they crossed the threshold of a strange home, the television crew found themselves in the world of Through the Looking Glass: absolute darkness, hundreds of mirrors of various shapes and sizes... In such conditions, a person loses the sense of time and the reality of what is happening. This is exactly the result, according to the doctor, that he sought.
How does Dr. Moody work? He spends half a day asking an inconsolable client about a lost relative, learning a lot of details and details, and along the way studying his interlocutor and figuring out how to help him. After all, we are all different, and each requires a different approach.
Then the doctor takes the patient into a windowless room (Moody calls it the “psychomanteum”) and sits him in a chair in front of a huge mirror. Incredibly, after some time the inconsolable sufferer begins to feel the presence of the deceased. He hears his voice, smells his perfume, feels his touch.
How does the doctor do this? It's incredible! “Very likely,” he replies. -The ancient Greeks were engaged in similar experiments. I just borrowed their idea."
ENTRANCE TO THE OTHER WORLD
Statistics say that 65% of widows see the ghosts of their deceased husbands, 75% of parents who have lost a child maintain contact with him (visual, auditory, etc.) throughout the year. This brings relief to both those who find themselves in the realm of grief. However, for a long time it was believed that such meetings with the dead occur involuntarily and cannot be organized by order, and that they cannot be observed and studied in laboratory conditions.
In previous books, Moody wrote about the memories of people who experienced clinical death. Very often, while doctors were fighting for the lives of patients, they made unusual astral journeys in which they met their deceased relatives and friends. As a result, they ceased to be afraid of death, having become convinced from their own experience that this was only a transition to another, more happy life.
However, this zone into which the “travelers” found themselves has its own clear boundary, beyond which a person cannot advance, otherwise he will die completely and irrevocably. Moody called it the middle region - the crossroads of the physical and other worlds. Unexpectedly for himself, the scientist discovered that in fact, meetings with deceased relatives can take place not only in the middle region and not necessarily during clinical death.
A special technique of looking into a mirror, according to Moody, allows people to see the spirits of deceased relatives at almost any time they wish...
“The ability to see images of deceased relatives is of great benefit,” the scientist believes. - After all, the grief of some people who have lost loved ones knows no bounds. And my magic mirrors allow them to console themselves and get rid of their suffering.”
ORACLES OF THE DEAD
The ancient Greeks, for example, had “psychomanteums,” or oracles of the dead, to meet with the dead. A similar place, according to the ancient Greek geographer Strabo, was located in Western Greece in the city of Ether. Those who controlled the oracles settled in underground mud houses connected by tunnels. They never came to the surface during the day; they left their caves only at night.
At the end of the 50s of the 20th century, the Greek archaeologist Sotir Dakar discovered this place and began excavations. The oracle turned out to be a complex underground complex of cells and labyrinths, converging on a large cave, where meetings with ghosts took place. In it, Dakar found the remains of a giant bronze cauldron. Once upon a time inner surface was polished to a shine and ghosts could be seen on the surface of the water that filled it. The large sizes created huge, life-size visions.
It should be noted that visitors to the oracle were carefully prepared for the sacrament. They stayed underground for a month, then they were led through dark corridors and cells, and only then did they find themselves in a cave.
LOST IN TIME
“After studying the experience of the Greeks,” Moody writes, “I decided to try to reproduce... meetings with the dead in the Greek manner... I turned the top floor of my old mill in Alabama into a modern psychomanteum... I hung a giant mirror on the wall, placed it next to comfortable armchair. And he draped it all with a black velvet curtain so that it looked like a dark chamber.” Indeed, Dr. Moody's mirror reflects only darkness. Behind the chair there is a single light source - a small colored glass lamp with a 15-watt bulb.
Moody asks experiment participants to bring some mementos that belonged to the deceased. Then he spends half a day with them, taking a leisurely walk in nature and finding out the reasons why the person wanted to meet the deceased.
Some time later, having gained experience, the scientist realized that preparation for the meeting plays a very important role. It facilitates the transition to an altered state of consciousness, in which only such meetings are possible. To help the subjects “get lost” in time, Moody forces them to take off their watches and also removes all the mechanisms hanging in the house. The large library, furnished with antique furniture, creates the atmosphere of bygone times.
DATES IN THE MIRROR
Moody openly admits that he doesn't know how the technique of looking in a mirror works. He simply took an ancient idea and ran with it. The scientific explanation for all this has yet to be developed.
“I have been conducting research... since 1990 and... examined more than 300 people. The discoveries made were truly amazing. Many patients did not see the dead they wanted to meet. And there were quite a few of them - about 25%. Meetings with ghosts did not always take place in the mirror itself. In approximately every tenth case, the ghost came out of it. Subjects often said that the ghosts touched them or that they felt their proximity. It also happened the other way around - about 10% of patients reported that they themselves went into the mirror and there they had an encounter with the dead.”
WOW!
And of course, Moody's book is filled with numerous amazing stories, like all his previous works.
One man, for example, came with an obsession: his mother was sick a lot during her life, and he really wanted to know if she was doing well after death. In the evening, Raymond took him to the vision room, explained everything necessary and left him alone. About an hour later, the patient appeared in the doctor's office - smiling and crying at the same time. He saw his mother! She looked healthy and happy. The man told her, “It’s good to see you again.” - “I’m glad too.” - “How are you, mom?” “Everything is fine with me,” she answered and disappeared. The fact that his mother was no longer suffering as she did before her death reassured the man, and he left, feeling like a heavy burden had been lifted from his heart.
Here's another example. “A woman came on a date with her deceased grandfather,” says the scientist. “She had a photo album with her, and she told me about her love for her grandfather, showed me pictures. She went into the room with the mirror in the hope of seeing her grandfather, but no one was prepared for what happened. She not only saw, but also talked to him...
When the woman began to cry, he came out of the mirror and began to calm her down, hugging her and stroking her back. The patient perfectly remembered the touch of his hands and the words that he was happy where he was.”
This American doctor and psychologist gained worldwide fame after the publication of a scandalous book that raised many insoluble questions for science. Dedicated to the study of such a phenomenon as death, it instantly became a bestseller, and Moody Raymond continued to collect testimonies of those who had been “beyond the borders.”
A question that interests everyone
Raymond Moody was born in 1944 in Porterdale (USA). His father served in the Navy as a corpsman, worked as a surgeon in hospitals and saw patients die. A convinced atheist, he did not believe in life after death and perceived his departure as a fading of consciousness.
Moody Raymond, who read Plato's Republic, was incredibly struck by the story of a Greek soldier who came to his senses after being seriously wounded on the battlefield. The valiant warrior told about his travels in world of the dead. This myth made a huge impression on the teenager, who repeatedly asked his father about what awaits people after death. As Raymond recalls, such conversations did not lead to anything good: Moody Sr. was a harsh and irreconcilable person who defended his position in a harsh manner.
The phenomenon of miraculous resurrection
After school, the young man enters the University of Virginia, where he receives a doctorate in philosophy and psychology. During Moody's training, Raymond meets a psychiatrist whose doctors recorded clinical death. Returning to life, the man spoke about his strange experiences and sensations, which echoed the story of a warrior resurrected from the dead, described by Plato. The student was amazed by the details of such an unusual journey, accompanied by strange phenomena.
Later, when Raymond teaches philosophy, he often recalls the myth of the Greek soldier and even gives an entire lecture on this topic. As it turned out, among his students there were many who experienced clinical death, and their descriptions of the wandering of the soul in the world of the dead often coincided. Moody notices that there is an amazing light everywhere that defies description.
Gradually, the teacher’s house turns into a gathering place for people who want to discuss all the details of their death and miraculous resurrection. Extremely interested in curious facts, the scientist realizes that he lacks knowledge, and at the age of 28 he enters a medical institution in the state of Georgia.
"Near Death Experience"
The famous Raymond Moody, whose books shed light on issues that concern all people, is engaged in research in college, where much attention is paid to the study of parapsychological phenomena. He is interested in traveling to past lives.
It was at this time that the future author of sensational bestsellers collected stories about what he himself called NDE - Near Death Experience. This is the state of a person who has been recorded dead, but suddenly returns to life. But not a single person can tell exactly what happens after cardiac arrest. The fact is that clinical death is reversible, but biological death occurs after 20 minutes, and no one returned to our world after it was established.
Stories turned into a book
Moody Raymond conducts research and works as a forensic psychiatrist in the prison hospital. He is the first to describe the experiences of approximately 150 people who were revived after doctors declared them dead. These impressions turned out to be common to everyone who was resurrected, which greatly surprised the doctor. “Why are these stories so similar? Can we say that the soul lives forever? What happens to the brain dead person?, - thought about important issues Raymond Moody.
“Life After Life” is a book published in 1975 that caused a real scandal abroad. People have always wondered if we start our existence anew every time? Does our spiritual energy disappear after death? Is there any evidence left in the memory that the person lived before? And how to touch the “memories” hidden in the depths of consciousness?
"Memories" of past lives
What is the world bestseller about, which had the effect of a bomb exploding? The book sheds light on some questions that have troubled humanity since time immemorial, and tells whether there is life after death.
Raymond Moody objectively looks at complex phenomena and collects together all the memories of people who describe the same sensations they experienced when dying: unusual sounds, “tunnel syndrome,” floating above the ground, peace, spiritual light, various visions, reluctance to return to the physical body.
Science confirms that our subconscious is filled with “memories” accumulated over thousands of years, and in order to touch them, hypnosis is necessary, which causes the memory to return to a person’s past lives.
Is the soul immortal?
Moody meets a professional hypnologist who helped the doctor resurrect several episodes from his past life. It must be said that Raymond Moody was shocked by this experiment.
“Life after life” does not give a definite answer to the burning question of whether our soul is immortal, but the stories collected in it speak about one thing: after death, a new existence does not begin, but the old one continues. It turns out that no interruptions occur in a person’s life, but not all scientists agree with this controversial statement.
They do not consider regression to be real memories and do not equate it with reincarnation. Experts are sure that such pictures supposedly from a past life are just fantasies of our brain, and they have nothing to do with the immortality of the soul.
Personal experience
Interestingly, the doctor attempted suicide in 1991. He claims to have had an NDE experience, and this further confirmed his opinion of the eternal soul of man. Now the famous Raymond Moody lives with his wife and adopted children in Alabama.
Life after death: books that have become a consolation for millions of people
After the first book, the second one comes out - “Life after life. Light in the distance,” where the author examines in detail the feelings of children who have experienced clinical death.
In Glimpses of Eternity, which is written especially for skeptics, Moody smashes into dust all doubts about the immortality of the human soul. He publishes completely new evidence that life is the beginning of a long journey.
The unique technique, revived by the doctor, formed the basis of the work “Reunion”, where Raymond describes the technique of meeting with his loved ones who have passed on to another world. The book teaches how to deal with the subconscious and accept grief without turning to the services of a psychotherapist.
Life After Loss, written with D. Arcangel, is intended for those who have lost loved one. The grief that engulfs people helps to restore strength and even move to a different level of perception of life.
One can have different attitudes towards Moody's works, but the fact that he scientific works helping people cope with the pain of loss and treating emotional stress is beyond doubt. If it is accurately proven, this will be a real revolution in the human worldview.
In the 70s of the twentieth century, American psychotherapist Raymond Moody wrote a famous bestseller, known in our country under the name “Life after Death.” In his work, Moody talks about the so-called “post-mortem experience” of people who have experienced clinical death. He describes the visions of his patients, tries to systematize them and leads the reader to the idea that after the physiological processes in the human body stop, his “soul” continues to exist independently, maintaining its own consciousness.
The main merit of Raymond Moody is that he attracted public attention to a phenomenon known since time immemorial, described in the philosophical “Dialogues” of Plato, who lived in Athens 400 years BC. And the misconception is that the so-called “separation of the soul from the body” is possible only in the case of clinical death.
Such conditions have already been described and are being actively studied by scientists and enthusiasts. As it turns out, “leaving the body” is a completely ordinary phenomenon and happens to us literally every night in our sleep. Only in the case of clinical death does a spontaneous and uncontrolled “leaving the body” occur, and in a dream this process is natural.
So what is sleep and why does a living creature need to periodically fall into a helpless state, disconnecting from reality? Where do dreams come from? Academic science still does not provide clear explanations for such questions. Perhaps the first practical work in this area was the book “Dreams. What are they and how are they caused,” written in 1898 by the British priest Charles Leadbeater. Somewhat later, in the 20-50s of the last century, the works of Sylvan Muldon in collaboration with Gerward Harrington gained fame, who created many mystical terms and theories around dreams that have come into use in various esoteric practices. Later, from the 70s to the end of the 90s of the twentieth century, the studies of Robert Monroe, Robert Bruce, Richard Webster and of course Carlos Castaneda became famous. Each of the mentioned authors interprets the phenomenon of dreams in their own way, but they are all united in one thing - during sleep, a person falls into a state in which his consciousness exists separately from the body.
And the question immediately arises: where, in fact, is our consciousness hanging out at this time? This is where the fun begins. To avoid confusion in the terminology of different authors, I will designate this place by the most common term “astral” or “astral plane”. The term has been in use since time immemorial, but the meaning used for this article was coined and popularized by Charles Leadbeater. I will not give definitions of various theosophical teachings, because their interpretations vary greatly, I will only say that the most common understanding of the term looks something like this: “astral” is the energy component of the general field of the Universe, in which the material and immaterial are united. Usually the “astral plane” is imagined to be inhabited by “astral entities”, in particular: the souls of dead people, angels and their opposites, various drummers and other ghosts. According to the widespread version, it is from the astral plane that all this brethren, including flying saucers, manifest themselves in our world. As an alternative and nod to the “uninitiated,” this place is sometimes referred to by the vague term “other dimensions.”
“Well, where is all this?” - a meticulous reader will ask, and he will be right. To satisfy the skepticism of agnostics, I will talk a little about achievements in the field of astronomy. Back in 1937, American astronomer Fritz Zwicky from the California Institute of Technology was puzzled by the fact that the total mass of the Universe visible to instruments turned out to be approximately 500 times lower than calculated. With the development of technology, some part of the “missing substance” was discovered; it turned out to be interplanetary gas. However, even after this, the summation of the observed masses of galaxies and the “found” gas did not give a total mass sufficient to comply with the laws of gravity and keep the galaxies in their current position. The missing and invisible substance was named " dark matter“And according to modern scientists, its mass accounts for 80 to 90% of the matter in the Universe! According to the author of the article, this is where you need to look for the location of the “astral plane.”
The fact that the above is not the fruit of wild imagination is indirectly confirmed by the following quote from the world electronic encyclopedia “Wikipedia”: “December 22, 2006 in the official publication Russian state- “Rossiyskaya Gazeta” http://rg.ru/2006/12/22/gosbezopasnostj-podsoznanie.html - an interview was published with Major General Boris Ratnikov, presented as “the curator of a special unit that dealt with the secrets of the subconscious” in the structure of the Federal security services (FSO). In the interview, he, among other things, says that the study of the so-called. higher plans conducted by intelligence services different countries a very long time ago, but traditionally this work was highly classified. According to him, the intelligence services of different countries, even “in the first half of the last century,” actively tried to use occult knowledge for their own purposes, and therefore “at times real “astral” battles were fought.”
Now that we roughly understand where the “astral plane” is located and have realized that this is a very interesting place, since the secret services carefully hide it from us, I will try to tell you what the “astral plane” is, based on the experience of Novosibirsk researcher Mikhail Raduga . I would like to note that Mikhail has nothing to do with mysticism, he is a scientist - a materialist, and in order to completely abstract from theosophical terms, in his research he uses the terms “phase” and “phase state of the brain,” but more on that below. However, in order not to confuse readers, I will continue to operate within the framework of the previous terminology.
How can one consciously get into the “astral”, bypassing the near-death states described by Raymond Monroe? Oddly enough, there are a great many ways. In Castaneda's descriptions, there are plants containing narcotic substances. In the same way, shamans and priests of pagan cults find themselves in the “astral” plane. Adherents of Eastern religions do this through meditation. Our schema-monks and monks ended up through torture of the flesh. In general, any method is suitable in which you will be between a conscious state and a failure into oblivion. Even a fat woman tormenting herself with hunger can inadvertently fall into the “astral plane.” But the easiest way to do this is through a “drowsy” state, which is what the state is called when a person falls asleep or has just woken up.
How does a person feel when consciously moving to the “astral”? As a rule, these are vibrations of variable frequency or sensations similar to painless passage through the body electric current. Maybe a feeling of swaying or a strong roaring in the ears, some researchers compare it to the roar of an airplane taking off. Then there is an “ejection from the body” and the “out of the body” consciousness may end up above its bed or, on the contrary, roll off it. Usually a person continues to feel his “astral body” identical to his physical one, he can see and even touch it, despite the fact that the physical body itself will lie on the bed. By the way, an interesting point: most people who practice these techniques note disgust towards the “abandoned body”. But in the “consciousness that has left the body,” all feelings are preserved, and if there were any pain or other negative sensations before “leaving the body,” they disappear - the “astral body” acquires extraordinary lightness and freedom. By the way, an interesting observation - if a person in reality has poor vision, in the “astral” this deficiency is completely absent, the colors look bright and distinct. The environment is usually similar to that in which consciousness “left the body” with the exception of certain details. The perception of objects and situations is realistic to such an extent that beginners with no experience often do not realize themselves in the “astral plane” and confuse their state with reality.
A person who finds himself in the “astral” acquires amazing properties- he can fly, instantly cover any distance, with the power of thought materialize living and inanimate objects, including the most outlandish ones, communicate with the dead, travel to different planets, explore the past and future. The possibilities of an “astral” traveler are practically unlimited and depend on personal control over consciousness and his own desires. Separately, I would like to note that all this happens in full consciousness and reality of sensations with all senses.
Return to the body is always carried out automatically and even against the will of the experimenter, as a rule, after 1-5 minutes. But, in the “astral” there is a completely different perception of time and 5 minutes can be perceived as several hours. I had the opportunity to talk with people who, since childhood, have the ability to consciously enter the “astral” during sleep and happily use this ability for their own needs and entertainment. At the same time, they unanimously note that for the time being they considered such a state to be the norm and were sincerely surprised when others did not understand what they were talking about.
Now about the interests of the intelligence services. As already noted, an “astral traveler” can penetrate the most protected places, including secret safes, computer memory, and see objects hidden from prying eyes, regardless of their location. And with enough experience, you can connect to the Unified Information Field and “receive” information on any issue from there. By the way, this is where clairvoyants and some psychics get their prophecies. But, for practical use, there is serious problem- information received from the “astral” is not always reliable. I think this is due to the fact that there are many plans in it and, as a result, the information may correspond to another reality. And I don’t know of a single case where a lucky person guessed the winning lottery numbers or otherwise got rich using “astral” information. This may be why the forecasts received from various prophets are usually vague and vague. Separately, I would like to note that the delivery of material objects from the “astral plane” is completely excluded. I admit that the mentioned intelligence officers, with their technical arsenal and powerful funding, have advanced beyond amateur research, but then their capabilities can become truly unlimited.
And now let's return to where we started - dreams and dreams. According to the participants in the experiments, the “astral body” of sleeping people in the “astral” looks like an ordinary material person, but behaves inhibited and unconsciously, reminiscent of “zombies” from “horror” films. By the way, it is in this state that some adherents of magical practices can influence the consciousness of a sleeping person. The very energetic essence of a person obeys the laws of the “astral” and in the same way materializes for itself pictures of the past day, episodes of a film seen, and projects problems that concern it. It is here that you can see a deceased person, connect to the Unified Information Field and see “prophetic” dreams. And all this was known to our pagan ancestors for a long time, and as an echo of their knowledge, the popular proverb came to us that “the morning is wiser than the evening.”
The person who connected all these phenomena together and developed a coherent methodology for the conscious use of the phenomenon was the Russian researcher Mikhail Raduga http://aing.ru. However, he explains the phenomenon itself very prosaically. According to the scientist, this condition is just a little-studied function of the brain. Thus, we can conclude that the concepts of “out-of-body experience”, “exit to the astral plane”, “separation of the soul from the body” during clinical death and the most ordinary dream are things of the same order, but with different degrees of awareness. However, the systematization of the described phenomena does not remove the main question - what does all this mean? Is our soul separated from our body at every opportunity, or is this the work of the brain and subconscious. Personally, I prefer the first answer. But how it will actually be there will be shown by new research by scientists.
Written for the portal of the Great God of the Internet http://greati.net
Reviews
With your permission, I want to notify you that I, too, have been in a state of clinical death and I can assure you that I observed both myself and the people around me from the outside, moreover, I have repeatedly proven this state to friends who were in doubt about my statements.
I will not describe in detail what I have already depicted in my publications, I will only say that human abilities of perception, presence outside the body consciousness and other incomprehensible and inexplicable phenomena, which we equate to occultism and mysticism, have a place to be. I would like to clarify in this regard the statement that leaving the body is a completely ordinary phenomenon and happens to us literally every night in our sleep. It is necessary to clarify what comes out and from which body. If the body is sick or healthy, weak or strong, old or childish, then the exit of consciousness in the form of a soul is not the same process and is therefore perceived differently. Many of my drinking buddies drink themselves to the point of alcoholic hallucinations and, together with the squirrel, begin traveling outside the body.
During sleep, our consciousness hangs out in the brain and chats with those stereotypes that arise in nerve cells bodies. It is enough to pinch yourself to realize and identify your dreams. The astral world is highest level information field of the universe and can represent more than one universe. When you go out into the newly-minted virtual world, the carrier of which is the Internet, you do not question its supernatural nature, and the Maynet between human relationships of psi energy is also a natural manifestation of an information field that has three levels. You can also read about this in my publications.
And now about “dark energy” or matter, which cannot yet be recorded with instruments, I also spoke in a humorous form more than once, but I will say briefly that the range of vibrations, pulsations and movement of the bioenergetic potential in pulsirs, which are structures, systems in many variations, can to be intuitively recognized and identified by indirect influences that are perceived as creative fantasy.
To tell the truth, I have many questions, for example about Mikhail Raduga and his research, which I am trying to solve. Much is not entirely clear to me and is perceived with a grain of salt.
I would like to note that the energetic essence of man mentioned in the article, which obeys the laws of the astral plane, cannot materialize pictures or episodes of films, photographs or drawings in reality, except in the form of virtual elements reproduced from memory. It is possible to experimentally materialize something unreal if the accuracy of the experiment exceeds the twenty-third degree, which is still practically impossible. With respect and hope for continued exchange of information.
