Materialistic philosophy and the life of the soul after death

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

People whose loved ones die often ask themselves the question - what is a soul? Does it exist at all? A person is faced with a lack of understanding according to what laws the soul lives. The search for evidence of the existence of the soul begins, the collection of various information from various sources. The experience of our ancestors shows that the soul exists, but we cannot see it, touch it …? These contradictions are often perplexing.

We can observe the external life around us expressively and distinctly. It is available to everyone. Currently, there is an active development of scientific and objective knowledge. At the same time, a person develops a desire and desire to learn more about the soul, fueled by examples of the possibility of its existence. And if we somehow know something about our soul, then we can only guess about someone else's. Much of that which concerns the soul is hidden. The soul is from another area. There is no need to feel the soul, to determine the color. And even if there are some parameters by which something can be determined (for example, the methods of psychics), then this is secondary, unimportant and unnecessary … You need to know something completely different about the soul. Because, the Lord said, "… Which of the people knows WHAT is in a person, except for the human SPIRIT that lives in him?"

When we think about ourselves, we do not think about the color of our soul, as it is seen by other people. However, when communicating, there is the ability to FEEL the other. It is not clear what kind of feeling, but the ability to feel is there. The more developed a person is, the more mature he is, the more he can grasp the various nuances of the peculiarities of the soul of another. For example, seers can say much more about others than the average person. The Lord reveals to them what is inaccessible to the ordinary mind. It is about the perception of the soul, when one soul perceives the other.

And even if we compare the birth of a child, which takes place in agony, in labor pains, and observe death and agony, then an analogy can be drawn here. That is, the body seems to give birth to a soul that leaves the body. Indeed, after death, everything stops, just like a woman after childbirth.

This is what is open to man. What we see, observe and know.

But further, apparently, not casual, God hides further from us, puts us an obstacle. There are things that everyone can know, and there are knowledge that requires a certain level of maturity. For example, what happens in family life is not revealed to children, but is revealed at a certain age. So it is here. Knowledge about the soul is given to a person as he or she grows spiritually. And the saints, who have really grown to the extent of the age of Christ, know a lot about the soul. They know and feel, but they do not seek. I am convinced that the path of cognizing the soul, the conviction that it really is, is not the path of reading, not studying the issue on someone else's examples … THIS IS THE WAY OF YOUR OWN GROWTH.

No matter how much we give arguments about adult life to a child, he still cannot figure out this information correctly. If he grows up, he will definitely understand. So we need to strive for spiritual growth. Then everything will be clear to us.

What should a person who goes through a severe psychological trauma of loss, who has not previously thought about the soul, do? What can you advise to make sure, understand, accept?

It happens that people go to the Temple, light candles, consider themselves members of the Church, but in grief they have reactions like atheists - disbelief, murmur, doubt in His justice. With what it can be connected?

When we lose loved ones, first of all, we are faced with the absurdity of the situation. The absurdity lies in the fact that we cannot believe that the person is no more … We cannot even think that we too will one day not be. This does not fit into our minds. And it is impossible to come to terms with this absurdity. Since the person was not ready for this, did not think about it before, then for him it becomes a real and tangible pain.

People who go to the temple, who have a philosophical mindset, who have thought about death, who have had some experience, they usually do not perceive the loss so painfully. They start asking themselves questions, looking for answers in themselves … And the Lord reveals himself to them. And it opens …

People who are used to living worldly stereotypes, who are afraid, do not want to, do not know how to think about spiritual things, often stop at the ceremony. The priest understands that these are secondary things, that you need to think about the soul, about prayer. But those who have not come to this knowledge, or are not yet ready, pay more attention to the external side, for them the ceremony becomes more important. But the ceremony itself does not help either their souls or the souls of the departed.

It is important to note that the point is not how many times to go to the Temple, but what a person will discover in himself.

Why does a person go to the cemetery if he doesn't believe?

Indeed, there is adherence to any traditions, human norms, customs. Usually unbelievers are held captive by the human order. What is generally accepted. But, as a rule, these are people who do not have their own inner core. In fact, if a person goes to a grave and does not know why he is going there, he follows some patterns. If he does not walk, he will be condemned … Indeed, why go to the cemetery for someone who does not believe in the resurrection of the soul? And he doesn't believe in the very soul! Many say that it is so accepted, but you never know what else is accepted that a person does not perform! It is customary, for example, to go to church on Sundays. It is accepted for 2000 years to confess sins. And it is customary to pray for many millennia. But this is not done by everyone! But the tradition of going to the cemetery is followed by everyone. Because this does not require internal efforts over oneself, one does not need to change oneself. The paradox is that people, nevertheless, go to the cemetery, and somewhere on a subconscious level, they believe that there is something in this. And yet they deny faith.

Often a person is afraid of the Church as an organization. A person does not mind talking about a higher mind, but does not want any commitment.

After all, if you come to the Church, you need to follow certain rules, obey some spiritual laws, change your life in accordance with these laws. Some people are really afraid of this. They do not want to change their norms of behavior. They are afraid to change their opinion about themselves, their habits. To change oneself, to look for one's sins is very difficult, painful and unpleasant. Now a person is so immersed in the bustle of outer life that he pays attention to his spiritual life to a minimum. There is very little strength left to look within.

This is the choice of every person.

When there is no Faith, when there is no confirmation of the presence of a soul in materiality, when there is no experience, a person begins to ponder over his dreams, heed the advice of others. He begins to suffer even more, falling into a chaos of thoughts and uncertainty. What can you recommend in this case?

When some critical events happen for us, then we stand at a crossroads. There are different ways to think. You need to decide which road to take. And when a person clearly faces a choice, "believe - not believe" or "WHAT to believe", this choice becomes very critical. We are afraid to make mistakes. We want a precise definition of how it is correct. But there is no exact and definite knowledge at this moment.

It is important here:

HUMILITY.

So that what is already open, the knowledge that is - to accept. Suffer that you do not know more. If a person requires obvious knowledge in order to completely calm down, this requirement can lead to even more serious consequences and suffering.

Therefore, Christianity speaks of humility. What we have is to appreciate. A person will appreciate, he will be rewarded more. As the Lord said: "To the one who has, it will be given and will multiply, but from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away." It is very important to accept what is already open and not ask for more.

DO NOT YOUR OUTSIDE THOUGHTS, DO NOT BELIEVE IN EMPTY.

Also, a person is faced with a choice of what to believe. Believe that there is a soul and it is immortal; or that after death everything ends and there is nothing else. Emptiness. This is also faith. Faith in emptiness. I want to demonstrate this with an example. There are a lot of numbers on the number axis, up to fractional numbers, there are countless numbers of them. A person, in order to represent these numbers, needs to think, draw them in his imagination. And there is zero. He is alone. And you don't need to think about it and reflect on it. This is this emptiness.

I can recommend to people who do not believe in the existence of the soul, who do not have enough strength to believe that the soul is immortal, at least not to believe in the second, which says that everything ends. You cannot let this second faith take over. Don't believe in emptiness. This will significantly worsen the situation.

Over 70 years of materialistic philosophy, we have become accustomed to certain judgments. There is matter, and there are its properties. Properties are secondary. Matter itself is important, as is commonly believed. Therefore, we treat properties as something lighter. But in fact, the situation is different. You can illustrate this with an example from physics:

There are material objects. But what are called simply functions that have no independent meaning, in religion these functions carry life in themselves. They are no less real than material objects. In religion they are called Angels.

And therefore, the ratio is completely different. These functions, Angels, are no less real than physical objects.

It follows from this that the soul is much closer to the Angels than to some material objects. The soul cannot be measured, observed, but we see its action.

The theme of phenomena occurring in earthly life, described in Orthodox literature, the theme of clinical death, the theme of life after death … - can this be connected with the questions of the soul? After all, it often happens that after such events that have happened to a person, he is internally transformed, begins to believe and does not doubt?

Yes, of course, there is a phenomenon. There are many stories, collected from various sources, of serious research on this issue. There are many works about clinical death, about the exit of the soul from the body, when a person sees himself from the outside.

But we do not know about many stories. Because people themselves, as a rule, are silent about some phenomenal things that happened to them, since this is a very personal experience that remains only with them.

But if we set ourselves the goal of collecting information, to figure out what happens after death, of course, we will find a lot of confirmation of this. A very serious proof of the truth of the experiences can be considered the fact that, indeed, many people who have experienced clinical death, spiritually come to the point that they can no longer live in the old way, go to the Church, they are not so worried about the worldly as before. These are examples that all this is not fantasy.

If we talk about the soul, sometimes you wonder how a person's appearance changes from his mental and spiritual state. We will always distinguish an evil person from a good one. The internal is always reflected in the external. And a person who was evil, then repented, began to engage in righteous activities, became kind, and his appearance changed at the same time. Is this not proof of the connection between soul and body? Doesn't the brain change its appearance?

Yes, only I would call it justification, not proof

The same holy fathers, such individuals as Seraphim of Sarov, Sergius of Radonezh, Kirill Belozersky, they were very critical and independent people, not giving in to the crowd, with a critical way of thinking, sober … They did not doubt, they were sure that there was a soul.

Yes, of course they not only believed in it, but also knew. But for many unbelievers, this is not conclusive evidence.

If a person wants to be convinced, he tries to understand, to understand. If he doesn’t want to, then no matter how much you prove it to him, he anyway “covered his ears”, closed his eyes. You cannot show or explain anything to him. Death is a kind of stimulus that makes you think and open your eyes to reality. Spiritual reality in particular. And the person would not want, but you will not go anywhere.

But if a person turns off certain of his feelings, and does not want to direct them to the right place, then nothing can be explained. As a professor at the Moscow Theological Academy A. I. Osipov likes to give an example, “try to explain to a blind person what pink or yellow looks like,” you cannot prove anything to him.

How can one believe in that life if it is impossible to explain by what laws it happens, from the point of view of our perception and understanding? That is, everyone is trying to transfer to that life some properties of this life.

I have already said that the life of the soul follows other laws. If we go back to physics, then there is an electric field, there is a magnetic field. The laws are different, but, nevertheless, they are related to each other. The electric field generates static particles. And when these particles move, a magnetic field arises. And then it turns out that the magnetic field arises not only when the particles move, but also exists without any particles. These are different but related worlds. And it is impossible to accurately explain the properties of another world while being in this.

The life of the soul after death has been described by many authors. There is also a certain scientific description. But in different cultures, we can observe the difference in these descriptions. And even within the same culture, in particular Orthodoxy, there is a difference in the description of different holy fathers. Basically, these are differences in particulars, but, nevertheless, all these ideas are partially different. Doubts appear … The temptation to say that all this is fiction.

Each culture has its own differences and characteristics. It makes no sense to focus on these particulars and differences, since this is a specific view of a person who is trying to "convey" something to us.

I would like to cite as an example the words of Andrey Kuraev, who says that in an amazing way Judaism and Christianity differ from other beliefs and religions. The part about the existence of the soul after death is little developed in them. We hardly know what happens after death.

In Christianity, in the Gospel, there is only one story about the rich man and Lazarus. But it is worth paying attention to the fact that after the Resurrection of Christ, when he had already gone through a lot, and it seemed that he could tell people a lot (after all, he was present among them for forty days), He practically did not say anything. The Lord Himself did not say anything! A lot of legends have survived to this day, and almost nothing about life after death. This means that we DO NOT NEED it. The Lord Himself set limits. It’s as if he’s telling us: “You don’t go there, you don’t need it, you are babies. If you grow up, you will find out."

If you tell a child about a sea that he has never seen, for him a pond with frogs in the yard may seem like a sea. After all, if he has never seen, then he cannot know for sure. Here the imagination turns on and you can come up with anything. But until the child himself sees the sea, he will not understand all the charm, no matter how hard they try to explain it to him.

The most important thing here is TRUST.

You have to learn to trust. Do not try to imagine and fantasize yourself, how it will be there - good or bad. Live this life. It will be good there too if this one has lived well. The main thing to always remember is that the transition to another life is really a secret.

In the Church, everything comes down not to the idea of life after death, but to help. If you can do something for the deceased, do it. According to the Gospel, there is a certain connection between the life that is here and the life that is there. If you lived here in a divine way, then it will be good there.

What can we do for the soul of the one who has departed to another world?

Here, in real life, complement his life. Do something for him. And this help will be reflected in his life there. If for the sake of the deceased, charity, mercy is done, then it is as if he did it himself, in this life. It will be rewarded to him. You can take communion, for the sake of a loved one who has gone, change yourself, go to God. The souls of loved ones are connected with our souls.

I want to illustrate this with an example from physics. Two smallest particles that were in interaction, after separation, continue to behave as part of a single reality. No matter how far from each other, they behave in the same way, while changing, relative to each other, although there is no exchange of information between them.

Abbot Vladimir (Maslov)