What do people do in the afterlife? Can they see us? The afterlife of the ancient Greeks. Chinese traditional religion.

Before presenting this side of the culture of the Greek people, it is worth recalling a very famous myth. It tells about a couple in love: Eurydice and Orpheus. The girl died from a cobra bite, and her boyfriend could not come to terms with the cruel loss. He went for his beloved to the underworld of the dead to King Hades himself in order to persuade him to return his beloved to him.

In addition, Orpheus was known for his supreme skill in playing various musical instruments, in particular the kephar. With his art, he enchanted the god Charon, and he transported him along the river of the dead to the underground ruler. But there was one condition: Orpheus could not turn back, because Eurydice was following him through the afterlife, led by Hermes. According to the condition, the lovers could return to earth only if Orpheus passed this test. But Orpheus could not resist and looked at Eurydice. From that second she disappeared, sinking into the kingdom of the dead forever.

Orpheus returned to earth. He did not live long. A couple of years later, the man met his beloved, because during one of the Greek holidays he was brutally killed. His soul came to Hades and was reunited with Eurydice.

We can conclude that since ancient times the Greeks believed that a person has a soul, that it is eternal and capable of living both on earth and in the afterlife.

Legends of the kingdom of the dead

In almost all myths concerning the life of the gods and associated with the kingdom of the dead, Hermes accompanied the deceased to the world of Hades. He led souls through holes in the earth's crust and brought them to the shores of the Styx. According to legend, this river encircled the kingdom of the dead as many as 7 times.

The Greeks placed a coin in the mouth of the deceased. It was believed that he would need to pay off Horon, who was transporting across the Acheron. This is a tributary of the Styx. The exit from the underground kingdom was guarded by the giant dog Cerberus (according to other sources, Kerberus). The dog did not let the living into the kingdom of the dead, just as he did not let the dead out of Hades.

2. Minos.

3. Rhadamantha.

These judges interrogated the deceased who came to their kingdom. Should a person live in the kingdom of the dead in goodness, be in fear or without joy? Everything depended on what kind of life a person spent on earth. The ancient Greeks believed that only a few ever experienced mercy. By the way, even today some basic burial customs have been preserved. The Greeks still place coins in the mouths of the deceased.

Disfavor awaited insidious, evil and envious people in the afterlife. No sunshine, joy, fulfillment of desires. Such souls were thrown into tartarus - the underworld itself. However, most of the people ended up in the meadow of Asphodel. It was a foggy area in which there were fields of tulips, very pale and wild. It was through these fields that restless souls wandered, finding their last abode here. It was a little easier for such souls if relatives on earth remembered them and performed various ceremonies in their honor. That is why in the modern world, remembering deceased relatives is considered a good deed.

Harsh Dwelling of Shadows

This is exactly how the kingdom of the dead seemed to the ancient Greeks. This is how people of different nations “see” him even now. But it was in ancient Greece that ideas about this unknown, dark and terrible world were laid down.

There is eternal night, the waters of the black Ocean are constantly rustling. The world of the dead is mournful, gloomy rivers flow in it, almost dead black trees grow, vile, terrible monsters live. Titan criminals are executed there. It is impossible to find consolation in the kingdom of the dead, like peace and quiet. According to legend, even the gods are afraid to go there.

However, this idea of ​​​​the kingdom of Hades did not last long among the Greeks. Over time, views changed and people found a different explanation for the afterlife. After all, all people are different, live different lives, do different things. Therefore, the outcome cannot be identical.

Of course, some residents of the policies did not even think about the kingdom of the dead and what was beyond the “line.” Scientists explain this by the lack of ideas about good and evil among other tribes. In another case, a more advantageous position in the afterlife could be occupied by a person who lived honestly, committed heroic deeds, was decisive, had a strong character, was valiant, and courageous. Over time, the doctrine of the bright Elysium became very popular among the ancient Greeks. According to beliefs, a person who lived his life honestly went to heaven.

By the way, many residents of the policies knew and believed that retribution for evil would definitely come. Underground spirits are able to see everything that happens on earth and if injustice is happening somewhere, they will definitely punish for this act.

According to other versions of the ancient Greeks, the souls of the dead remain in their graves or hide in underground caves. At the same time, they are able to turn into snakes, lizards, insects, mice, including bats. But at the same time they will never have a human appearance.

There is also a legend. According to it, souls “live” in visible form, living on the islands of the dead. At the same time, they can again turn into the image of a person. To do this, they need to “settle” in nuts, beans, fish and other foods that their future mothers eat.

According to another legend, the souls or shadows of the dead fly to the northern part of the globe. There is no sun and light. But they can return to Greece in the form of rain.

There is also this version: souls are carried away to the west. Far, far away. Where the sun sets. It is there that the world of the dead exists. It is very similar to our white light.

It is especially worth noting that the ancient and modern Greeks believed in receiving retribution for sins and bad deeds. The dead receive punishment depending on how they lived their lives on earth. In turn, there were beliefs regarding the transmigration of souls. By the way, this process could be controlled. To do this it was necessary to use magical formulas. And the science of applying these formulas was called “metempsychosis.”

The ancient Greeks hated death and were afraid of it. In life we ​​tried to have more fun and not indulge in grief.

Rituals

The burial ceremony was necessary and has been done since ancient times. The deceased thereby received the opportunity to cross the river of the dead and get to Hades. This was the only way his soul could achieve peace. The worst thing for the ancient Greeks was the absence of a burial ceremony for any of the relatives.

A relative who was not buried in the earth, who died in war, is a terrible sin for his family. Such people could even be punished with death.

Views on the existence of souls after death and the afterlife changed, but the rituals of the ancient Greeks remained unchanged, like traditions and rituals. In order to prevent the wrath of the gods on the day of the death of a relative or friend, one had to look mournful.

The deceased were buried in places specially prepared for this. These were either the basements of their own houses, or crypts. To prevent epidemics from breaking out, burial sites gradually began to be moved to islands that were uninhabited. City residents found another way out. They buried the dead behind the walls of the policies.

The Greeks chose one of the forms of funeral rites. The first involved burning the body of the deceased at the stake, the other - burying him in the ground. After cremation, the ashes were placed in a special urn, and it was buried in the ground or stored in a tomb. Both methods were welcomed and did not cause any complaints. It was believed that if you bury it in one of these ways, you can save the soul from torment and restlessness. Even in those days, graves were decorated with flowers and wreaths. If the body was interred without being cremated, all the values ​​that the person treasured during life were put into the grave with it. It was customary for men to put down weapons, and for ladies - precious jewelry and expensive dishes.

Changing priorities

Over time, the Greeks came to the conclusion that the human body is something very complex, and the soul has a higher world principle. After death, she must be reunited with this whole.

The old views about Hades slowly began to collapse in the minds of the Greeks, becoming meaningless. Only ordinary citizens living in villages were still afraid of the formidable punishment of Hades. By the way, some views about the kingdom of the dead got along well with the dogmas of Christianity.

If we look at Homer's poems, his heroes are quite individual people. All this affected the nature of death. For example, Achilles was sure that only after being put to sleep would he gain eternal glory and always openly and fearlessly walked towards his fate. But in the face of the true face of death, Homer's hero gave up. Achilles begged for mercy and mercy from fate. So Homer made it clear to his contemporaries and descendants that man is just a weak part of this world.

In later times, the ancient Greeks developed ideas of secondary and even multiple births. Allegedly, the human soul comes to earth in different periods and eras in the form of different people. But in all ideas it was the same: man is powerless before fate, the will of fate and death.

Cultural Studies of Ancient Greece

Pythagoras' unusual attitude towards women

We perceive Pythagoras as a great mathematician, but few people know that he devoted part of his time to spiritual discussions with women. His task was to instill in them a love of beauty. Remembering that a woman is the keeper of the home. It may seem strange that such a famous person paid attention to family issues.

Capital of Athos Karea

Karea (Slavic name Karen) is the capital of the Athos monastic state. Founded in the 9th century, it is a settlement consisting of monastic dwellings located in the center of the Athos Peninsula. Historically referred to under various names, such as “Karean Lavra”, “Karean Skete”, “Royal Monastery of the Most Holy Theotokos of Karey”, etc.

Storage in olive oil.

Corinthian Canal

a narrow strip of land 6 km wide, located between two gulfs - the Saronian in the east and the Corinthian in the west, uniting the Peloponnese with Megaris and the rest of Greece: “the same (isthmus) made the country inside a continent” (Pausanias).

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………..2

The phenomenon of death………………………………………………………………..3

The Egyptians' idea of ​​the afterlife…………………………….5

Ancient Greece and death……………………………………………………...9

Death in the Middle Ages……………………………………………………..10

Modern attitude towards death……………………………………….…..13

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………16

List of used literature……………………………………..…17

Appendix……………………….…………………………………….….18

Introduction

Before sitting down to write this essay, I thought for a long time about what topic I should take. I revised a lot of topics, but, nevertheless, I liked the essay “Attitudes towards death in different cultural eras” the most. You ask me why? There is a completely objective reason for this. Yes, while a person is alive, he is given this whole world, a person is given the ability to manage his life, choose certain actions, hope for something, count on happiness... Death is complete certainty, the absence of choice, when nothing is allowed.

The relevance of this topic lies in the fact that the attitude towards death has a huge impact on the quality of life and the meaning of existence of a particular person and society as a whole.

For a long time, people have been afraid of death and at the same time interested in it. But she always remained mysterious and incomprehensible. Man cannot live forever. Death is a necessary biological condition for the turnover of individuals, without which the human race will turn into a huge, inert monolith. For the stability of any social education, a clear designation of moral criteria related to the phenomenon of human death is required. This... helps to keep society in a dynamic balance of morality, preventing aggressive instincts, uncontrolled mass murders and suicides from coming to the surface

The purpose of my work is to show how people viewed death in different cultural eras.

Now about the books. My essay consists almost entirely of excerpts from books, since I believe that an essay should be a summary of the topic, compiled from several sources.

The phenomenon of death

The phenomenon of death is not just a recognition of the disappearance, the “personality” of a person’s individual life. At the same time, this is a question about posthumous existence and how one can overcome the fear of death, how to make death a meaningful and, perhaps, even a creative moment in life.

It seems that the fear of death has always been there, that it is an integral property of man. Even before our era, in early ancient lyric poetry one can find sad feelings about death that were quite common at that time.

However, modern researchers show that the fear of death and its experiences arose no earlier than the second millennium BC; before that, for many millennia, people experienced death quite calmly.

Death constantly lives next to us, we have become close to it, treat it with food from our table, put it to sleep in the next room - and yet we still treat it as an arrogant and unceremonious hanger-on. She is like an uninvited guest that we are forced to tolerate because we know about her “high rank.” And only a few people (scientists and philosophers) are trying to send the guest home, although, alas, so far unsuccessfully. Most people, having come to terms with the impending inevitability, do not try to attack the wall, but turn back into the tradition of a humble departure from life.

But death is not just the cessation of the body’s vital functions; it is as much a mystery and a miracle as life itself. Perhaps we are not always fair to death because we look at it with a bias. Perhaps it is worth giving up stereotypes and offering her closer communication, which, of course, does not turn into mutual love.

In the very first culture, which received the name archaic (this is approximately 100–50 thousand years BC), death was understood as the departure of the soul from the body. And as a result, an archaic person calmly perceives death, because death is just a change of place of existence, in principle, the “way of life” of the soul does not change after death. An archaic person puts into the grave everything that the soul needs for a full and joyful life: food, weapons, jewelry, later (rich people) his beloved wife, horse, etc.

People of the next cultural era (ancient Egypt, Babylon, ancient India and China), on the contrary, believed that the afterlife was significantly different from earthly life. The gods live best, they have everything (power, property, etc.), and their way of life does not change at all. This is what the ancients called immortality. But people are mortal, and their afterlife is terrible. As a result, a person, on the one hand, begins to acutely experience his death, on the other, to dream of immortality and look for a way out of the current dramatic situation.

The dream of immortality excites the minds of great scientists even in modern times. That is why interest in studying the phenomenon of death still does not fade. And from this point of view, the greatest interest is the understanding of the death of the pharaoh by the Egyptian priests, who were among the first to endow the deceased person - the pharaoh - with immortality, thereby perpetuating the dream of humanity about eternal existence.

Egyptian ideas about the afterlife.

The Egyptians' ideas about the afterlife developed in a very distant time, beyond the historical period accessible for research from written sources, i.e. long before the unification of Egypt at the turn of the 4th and 3rd millennia BC. e.

Ideas about the afterlife are indicated by burials with vessels and objects of food and property (hunting and fishing tools, among other things), as well as with slate plates, which were used during life to paint the body and probably had the significance of amulets. The dead, often wrapped in skins, lay in round pits or clay coffins, sometimes pots, in the so-called embryonic position on their left side, mostly with their heads to the south. The population of Egypt was already dense at that time, and extensive cemeteries indicate the existence of large settlements of people who had switched to a sedentary lifestyle."

Let us dwell in some detail on the burials of the Neolithic era, since this is the only direct source of that time on the basis of which one can judge the Egyptians’ idea of ​​​​the afterlife.

On the western bank of the Nile, north of Fayum, Neolithic sites were discovered in Kharaga - Abusir el-Melek and Gerzea (Tarkhan) and on the eastern bank - Tura and Meadi. There is insufficient archaeological information from Lower Egypt due to unfavorable soil conditions. Excavations were successful only in the mentioned Merimde Beni Salam on the west bank of the Nile and in Helwan - El-Omari and Meadi - on the east.

Data from the listed areas formed a general picture of Neolithic burials for Egypt, which are characterized by the following points:

1) the graves are located along the north-south line;

2) the bodies are given an embryonic position;

3) the bulk of the body lies on the left side with the head to the south and, therefore, facing the west. Much less common are burials with the head to the north, on the right side, and also facing the west;

4) in Merimda, another custom prevailed: the face of the deceased, lying with his head to the north on his left side, was turned to the east. In the cemeteries of Tura and Tarkhan, approximately half of the dead are turned to the west, the rest - to the east. Apparently, there was a mixture of funeral rites and traditions here;

5) their household utensils were buried with the dead;

6) there are no traces of mummification yet, but there are graves lined with mats, bodies wrapped in skins;

7) archaeologists who have gained extensive experience in excavating Neolithic necropolises emphasize that no traces of deliberate dismemberment of the body were found in the graves.

From all the listed facts, only one undoubted conclusion can be drawn: the deceased was considered as immersed in a deep sleep, he continued to live, needing food and household utensils.

In the Neolithic era, the safety of the body of the deceased was valued. Indeed, if death is just a dream and the deceased continues to live, then dismemberment of the body is unthinkable. The idea of ​​the need to preserve the body for future life ultimately led to the emergence of the art of mummification and tomb construction. Wrapping the body in skins for burial in the era before the unification of Egypt was the beginning of measures taken to preserve the body.

The Egyptians were frightened by the thought of damaging the body of the deceased, and they tried in every possible way to preserve its integrity. Most of all, the Egyptians cared about the safety of the head - the “seat of life.” The thought of beheading was terrifying for the Egyptians - only the enemies of the gods wanted this, and it is difficult to imagine that such an act would be possible in relation to a deceased family member.

The evolution from Neolithic burials to burials of the historical era, from primitive pit graves to architecturally improved tombs, from the absence of artificial preservation of the body to highly improved mummification can be traced quite consistently and clearly. This evolution in itself, without a doubt, reveals the basic idea of ​​the Egyptians about the afterlife as a direct continuation of earthly life. In this case, a necessary condition is the complete preservation of the body of the deceased. According to the ideas of the ancient Egyptians, the deceased is helpless in the grave and the living, first of all close ones - family, relatives, are called upon to provide him with an afterlife existence.

The care of the living for the dead is the funeral cult of the dead performed by the living. The cult of the dead among the Egyptians cannot be confused with the cult of ancestors among other peoples. The cult of the dead is not the deification of the dead, but the concern of the living for the afterlife of the dead, the duty of the living towards the dead. The cult of the dead was not an abstract religious obligation for the Egyptians, but a practical necessity caused by the transition of loved ones to another world. In essence, it was a struggle against death for eternal life. This explains the paramount importance of the cult of the dead in the life of Egyptians throughout the history of Egyptian society - from Neolithic times until the complete disappearance of Egyptian culture.

Over time, the forms of this cult changed, its content was enriched, but the foundation remained unshakable, fully formed already during the early Old Kingdom. The deceased continues to live in the grave, subject to the preservation of the integrity of his body and the care of the living - this primitive idea was never abandoned by the Egyptians, it was only bizarrely and sometimes contradictoryly combined with ideas that arose later. According to these later ideas, the deceased, who continues to live in the grave, in addition to the needs for food and drinks, has a need to leave the grave into daylight, fly up to heaven to the gods, etc. This need is no longer felt by the body of the deceased, but by the material, but an element invisible to the human eye, which can be in the grave, but can also be removed from it anywhere.

Herodotus 1 wrote: “The Egyptians were also the first to teach about the immortality of the human soul. When the body dies, the soul passes into another being, just being born at that moment. Having passed through [the bodies of] all terrestrial and sea animals and birds, it again inhabits the body a newborn child. This cycle continues for three thousand years. This teaching was borrowed by some Hellenes, both in ancient times and recently." On this occasion, X. Kees 2 quite reasonably notes: “The facts here are noted correctly: the immortality of the soul and the idea of ​​its ability to take on different images. But the philosophical formulation of this idea, the system, is Greek, despite the priority of the Egyptian content. Herodotus clearly has in mind the teaching Pythagoras 3 about the immortality of the soul, and the same teaching of Empedocles 4, and then later teachings with the three-thousand-year period of Plato 5 - teachings alien to Egyptian ideas."

Let's summarize some results. Data from prehistoric burials discovered and examined by archaeology, as well as the study of countless burials of historical time, clearly prove the following:

1) from ancient times, the Egyptians, like many other peoples, believed in an afterlife;

2) the afterlife has long been presented as a direct continuation of the earthly one, but only in the grave;

3) in the afterlife the deceased needed the help of the living. They had to provide him with a home (tomb), provide him with food and drink (mortuary gifts or sacrifices). It was these ideas that formed the basis of the cult of the dead, typical of ancient Egypt, which should not be identified with the cult of ancestors known from the history of many ancient peoples;

4) after unification, the art of mummification developed in Egypt. It is based on the desire to preserve the body, dictated by concern for the well-being of the deceased in the afterlife, which was thought of as material. Not only the mummy was placed in the tomb, but also sculptural images of the deceased - substitutes for the mummy in case of its destruction or damage. This was a guarantee of existence in the afterlife.

In ancient Egypt, the cult of the dead was based on the totality of these ideas, which existed in the country until the spread of Christianity in it. The Egyptian cult of the dead, which was based on concern for the material well-being of the deceased, never broke with this idea, although in later times ideas that contradicted it penetrated into it. The Egyptians' ideas about the afterlife as a similarity to the earthly life served as the reason for the stability of the ritual nature of the funeral cult.

Ancient Greece and death.

Ancient culture is considered the greatest creation of mankind. At first it was perceived as a collection of myths, tales and legends. However, in the 19th century, views on the processes of antiquity changed fundamentally. It turned out that it was not at all by chance that in ancient Greek culture the problem of life and death became one of the seminal ones. Religious and philosophical movements in ancient Greece dealt with death dramatically. During the classical period of ancient Greek philosophy, attempts were made to overcome the fear of death. Plato created the doctrine of man, consisting of two parts - an immortal soul and a mortal body. Death, according to this teaching, is the process of separation of the soul from the body, its liberation from the “prison” where it resides in earthly life. The body, according to Plato, as a result of death turns into dust and decay; after a certain period of time, the soul again inhabits a new body. This teaching, in a transformed form, was subsequently adopted by Christianity.

A different understanding of death is characteristic of the philosophy of Epicurus 6 and Stoicism. The Stoics 7, trying to alleviate the fear of death, spoke of its universality and naturalness, for all things have an end. Epicurus believed that there is no need to be afraid of death, that a person does not encounter death. He said: “As long as I live, there is no death, when there is death, I am not.”

The ancient philosophical tradition has already come to consider death as a good. Socrates 8, for example, speaking before the judges who sentenced him to death, stated: “... it seems, in fact, that all this (the sentence) happened for my good, and this cannot be so that we understand the matter correctly, believing that death is evil." “On the eve of his execution, Socrates admitted to his friends that he was full of joyful hope, because, as ancient legends say, a certain future awaits the dead. Socrates firmly hoped that during his just life, after death he would end up in the society of wise gods and famous people. Death and what follows is the reward for the pains of life. As a proper preparation for death, life is a difficult and painful business."

Death in the Middle Ages

During the European Middle Ages, the dominant view was that death was God’s punishment for the original sin of Adam and Eve. Death in itself is an evil, a misfortune, but it is overcome by faith in God, faith that Christ will save the world, and that the righteous will have a blissful existence in paradise after death.

For the early Middle Ages, a person’s attitude towards death can be defined as “tamed death.” In ancient tales and medieval novels, death appears as the natural end of the life process. A person is usually warned about his approaching death through signs (omens) or as a result of internal conviction: he is waiting for death, preparing for it. Waiting for death turns into an organized ceremony, and it is organized by the dying person himself: he convenes his closest relatives, friends, and children. Aries specifically emphasizes the presence of children at the bedside of a dying person, since subsequently, with the development of civilization, children begin to be protected in every possible way from everything connected with the image of death. Hence the concept of “tamed”, chosen by the historian: death is “tamed” not in relation to ancient pagan ideas, where it would act as “wild” and hostile, but precisely in relation to the ideas of modern man. Another feature of “tamed death” is the severe distance between the world of the dead and the world of the living, as evidenced by the facts that burial places were moved outside the boundaries of the medieval city.

In the late Middle Ages the picture changes somewhat. And although during this period the natural attitude towards death continues to dominate (death as one of the forms of interaction with nature), the emphasis is somewhat shifted. In the face of death, each person rediscovers the secret of his individuality. This connection was established in the consciousness of a person of the late Middle Ages and still occupies a strong place in the spiritual baggage of a person in Western civilization.

Along with Christian ideas about life and death in the Middle Ages, there was a very powerful layer of ideas and ideas inherited from traditionalist, patriarchal ideology. This layer is associated mainly with rural culture and is, as historical facts show, a fairly stable formation that has existed for centuries, despite the strong influence of Christian ideology and practice and had a strong influence on Christian ideas themselves. What does this layer include? It includes, first of all, a set of spells against death, predictions of the time of death, conspiracies to bring death to the enemy. All this is the legacy of the “magical death” of the era of patriarchal society. As for predictions of death, for example, in Germany the shadow of a headless man on the wall is considered a harbinger of imminent death; in Scotland, dreams in which the burial of a living person appears were used as a warning; in Ireland, it was believed that the spirit of Fetch takes the form of a person who is destined to soon leave this world and appears to his relatives, and another spirit of the dying person - Beansidhe - two nights before warns of death with a song. In European folklore, animals also play a significant role in predicting death: a black ram, a hen crowing as a rooster, etc. A lot of fortune-telling is common: in Naples it was believed that death was foreshadowed by certain outlines of pieces of wax thrown into water; in Madena they used ice crystals to tell fortunes; in Brittany, pieces of bread and butter were thrown into the fountain for the same purpose.

The process of Christianization of ideas about death does not mean the complete destruction of the magical world of pre-Christian beliefs. The process of interaction and mutual influence of both types of consciousness continues to deepen, leading to a radical change in both types. Thus, under the influence of the traditionalist image of death, a new image appears in Christianity - the passion of Christ, and then many holy martyrs. Ideas about the afterlife are changing: although images of heaven are still very rare and scarce, the image of hell absorbs a description of all the horrors accumulated in the popular consciousness over the previous centuries; The significance of purgatory is also increasing, although it is still weakly rooted in the popular consciousness. Ariès calls the structuring of ideas about the afterlife “the most important phenomenon in the history of mentality,” reflecting the affirmation of individual moral consciousness.

The knight of the early Middle Ages died in all simplicity, like the Gospel Lazarus. A man of the late Middle Ages was tempted to die as an unrighteous miser, hoping to take his goods with him even to the next world. Of course, the church warned the rich that if they were too attached to their earthly treasures, they would go to hell. But there was something comforting in this threat: the curse doomed a person to hellish torment, but did not deprive him of his treasures. The rich man, who unjustly acquired his wealth and therefore ended up in hell, is depicted on the portal in Moissac with an unchanged wallet around his neck.

In the painting by Hieronymus Bosch 9 “The Death of the Miser” in the National Gallery in Washington (See Appendix I), which could serve as an illustration for some treatise on the “art of dying,” the devil, with obvious difficulty, drags a heavy thick bag of gold onto the bed of a dying man. coins. Now the patient will be able to reach it in his mortal moment and will not forget to take it with him. Which of us “today” would think of trying to take a block of shares, a car, diamonds with us to the afterlife! The man of the Middle Ages, even in death, could not part with the goods he had acquired: when dying, he wanted to have it near him, to feel it, to hold on to it.

Never has a person loved life so much as at the end of the Middle Ages. The history of art provides indirect proof of this. People of this time, passionately attached to things, resisted the thought of destruction and disappearance. Therefore, they had to gain a new appreciation for the depiction of things, which gave them, as it were, a new life. This is how the art of still life was born - capturing motionless, frozen things dear to the human heart.

The question of attitude towards death has always had an ethical connotation. But long before the late Middle Ages, a situation arose when the confrontation between interpretations of death in European civilization reached incredible tension (the struggle between traditional Christianity and Manichaeism).

The polarity in relation to the world manifested itself in these faiths in this way: the Manichaeans considered matter, the commodity world, human flesh to be evil, and the Emptiness to be good, in contrast to Christians, who argued that God's creations cannot be bearers of the Eternal Darkness, who did not deny the meaning of the joys of the flesh life for the human soul.

“The simplest way out for the Manichaeans would have been suicide,” writes L.N. Gumilev, “but they introduced into their doctrine the doctrine of transmigration of souls. This means that death plunges the suicide into a new birth, with all the ensuing troubles. Therefore, for the sake of salvation souls were offered something else: exhaustion of the flesh either by asceticism, or by frantic revelry, collective debauchery, after which weakened matter must release the soul from its clutches. Only this goal was recognized by the Manichaeans as worthy, and as for earthly affairs, morality was naturally abolished. After all, if matter - evil, then any destruction of it is good, be it murder, lies, betrayal... Everything does not matter.

Modern attitudes towards death

A revolution in attitudes towards death, according to Aries, occurs at the beginning of the 20th century. Its origins lie in a certain mentality that was formed in the middle of the 19th century: those around them spare the patient and hide from him the severity of his condition. However, over time, the desire to protect the last moments allotted to a person in this world from vain torment takes on a different color: to protect not so much the dying person, but his loved ones, from emotional shock. Thus, death gradually becomes a shameful, forbidden subject. This trend has been intensifying since the middle of the 20th century, which is associated with a change in the place of dying. A person now passes away, as a rule, not at home, among his relatives, but in a hospital, meeting death alone. The “main character” of the drama changes again: for the 17th-18th centuries, Ariès notes the transfer of initiative from the dying person to his family, but now the “master of death” becomes the doctor, the hospital team. Death is depersonalized and analyzed. The rituals are preserved in their main features, but are devoid of drama; too open an expression of grief no longer evokes sympathy, but is perceived as a sign of either bad upbringing, or weakness, or a mental shift.

Death has always been something mysterious and incomprehensible. If in the Middle Ages “death was not perceived as a personal drama and was not generally perceived as a primarily individual act” ( Gurevich A.Ya. Death as a problem of historical anthropology: about a new direction in foreign historiography // Odysseus: Man in History. M., 1989. P. 118), then Kant believed that a person is not supposed to think about death ( Kant I. Works: In 6 vols. T. 2. M., 1965. P. 188). But Schopenhauer, who considered himself the next great philosopher after Kant, recorded the fact of man’s awareness of his mortality as the starting point in his anthropological concept.

Today's attitude towards death includes the following traits and attitudes:

1. Tolerance. Death has gotten used to it and has become an ordinary and commonplace phenomenon in the games of politicians (Chechnya), among criminals (contract killings) and “scumbags” (killing a grandmother because she did not give her drug-addicted grandson a dose). Death, therefore, goes to the periphery of consciousness, becomes invisible, subconscious, repressed. Moreover, this happens not only in the consciousness of the above-mentioned “representatives” of the human race, but also in the ordinary consciousness of the average person.

2. Manufacturability. A tolerant personal attitude towards death pushes one’s own death as such into the background, but brings forward the issues of post-death technology: funerals, money spent on them, tombstones, monuments, obituaries, etc. factors of relatives' prestige. These technologies do not lose their importance after funerals and wakes: tombstones, slabs, and monuments take several months, sometimes even years, to make.

3. The phenomenon of immortality. “People are dying around me, others are dying, but not me, my death is still far away. Death is an invention of science fiction writers.” This immortal attitude is located in the subconscious of modern man. The words of Thomas Aquinas: “We live for others, but everyone dies for himself personally,” take on an ominous meaning, which is constantly pushed “for later.” Have you ever seen people soberly reflect on their own death in the face of the death of another? This is not the case because there is no awareness of one’s own death.

4. Theatricality. There is no death as an event or empathy. As Epicurus said: “As long as we exist, there is no death, and when there is death, then we are not.” Thus, death is played out according to literary scenarios and arranged according to the scenarios. As a result, death appears to us in the form of a performance in the theater. The theatricality of death makes life itself theatrical.

5. Game character. The games that people play: business, politics, cars, weapons, women, drugs, money - all this works for win-win or suicide. Any game aimed at winning at any cost “rehearses” death. Those. either winning, like a rehearsal for death, or losing, like a “little death,” a fall down the social ladder. That. a person's death becomes a stake in his "game".

6. No one is equal in the face of death. Inequality in dying is determined by the presence of capital - social, economic and political. The death of a lonely homeless person in a heating main and the death of the first president of Russia are different deaths. People die in accordance with the capital and hierarchy that existed before death.

Today's Western society is ashamed of death, more ashamed than afraid, and in most cases behaves as if death does not exist. This can be seen even by turning to Internet search engines, which give on average eight times fewer links to the word “death” than to the word “life.” One of the few exceptions is the popularity in the West of the ideas of natural death and the “correctly” lived previous period.

Today we live in a society that pushes away death, forcing people to die alone. Meanwhile, death is something that should prepare us, emotionally and spiritually, to see the world in our respective perspective. The dying person thus becomes the center of a necessary and useful drama, an important part of the study of life. Hospitals sometimes help to close the individual off from living connection with family and friends, making it more difficult to end a life due to the lack of expressions of love.

Alas, as the modern French chansonnier Georges Brassans sang: “Today, death is not the same, we ourselves are all not the same, and we have no time to think about duty and beauty.”

Today's death model is defined by the popular word "privacy", which has become even stricter and more demanding than before. And next to this comes the desire to protect the dying person from his own emotions, hiding his condition from him until the last moment. Doctors are also invited, and in some countries even obliged, to participate in this loving lie.

Fortunately, the above applies to the so-called Western civilization, and some other cultures provide us with examples of a different cultural attitude towards death.

Over the modern civilized world there is a sentiment that death is a simple transition to a better world: to a happy home where we will again find our disappeared loved ones when our time comes, and from where they, in turn, come to visit us. Thus, the comfort of life in the West is simply projected onto the afterlife. In addition, every fourth resident of Central Europe believes in the transmigration of souls.

Europeans readily believe in reincarnation, as if they want to give themselves “a chance to try again.” During the last forty years the doctrine of transmigration has spread throughout the Western world because it seems so attractive to those minds that refuse to look into the "eyes of death." If we change our place of residence, profession, or spouse so easily, then why not assume that our lives will change? Although from the point of view of Christian theologians (both Catholic and Orthodox), salvation is possible for both body and soul, which is why Eastern doctrines about the transmigration of souls do not seem necessary.

One of the eternal questions to which humanity does not have a clear answer is what awaits us after death?

Ask this question to the people around you and you will get different answers. They will depend on what the person believes. And regardless of faith, many are afraid of death. They don’t try to simply acknowledge the very fact of its existence. But only our physical body dies, and the soul is eternal.

There was never a time when neither you nor I existed. And in the future, none of us will cease to exist.

Bhagavad Gita. Chapter two. Soul in the world of matter.

Why are so many people afraid of death?

Because they relate their “I” only to the physical body. They forget that in each of them there is an immortal, eternal soul. They don’t know what happens during dying and after it. This fear is generated by our ego, which accepts only what can be proven through experience. Is it possible to find out what death is and whether there is an afterlife “without harm to health”?

All over the world there are a sufficient number of documented stories of people who have gone through clinical death.

Scientists are on the verge of proving life after death

An unexpected experiment was carried out in September 2013. at the English Hospital in Southampton. Doctors recorded testimonies of patients who experienced clinical death. The head of the research group, cardiologist Sam Parnia, shared the results:

“From the early days of my medical career I was interested in the problem of “disembodied sensations.” In addition, some of my patients experienced clinical death. Gradually, I collected more and more stories from those who claimed that they flew over their own body in a coma. However, there was no scientific evidence of such information. And I decided to find an opportunity to test her in a hospital setting.

For the first time in history, a medical facility was specially refurbished. In particular, in the wards and operating rooms, we hung thick boards with colored drawings from the ceiling. And most importantly, they began to carefully record, down to the seconds, everything that happens with each patient.

From the moment his heart stopped, his pulse and breathing stopped. And in those cases when the heart was then able to start and the patient began to regain consciousness, we immediately wrote down everything he did and said.

All the behavior and all the words, gestures of each patient. Now our knowledge of “disembodied sensations” is much more systematized and complete than before.”

Almost a third of patients clearly and clearly remember themselves in a coma. At the same time, no one saw the drawings on the boards!

Sam and his colleagues came to the following conclusions:

“From a scientific point of view, the success is considerable. General sensations have been established among people who seem to crossed the threshold of the “other world”. They suddenly begin to understand everything. Completely freed from pain. They feel pleasure, comfort, even bliss. They see their dead relatives and friends. They are enveloped in a soft and very pleasant light. There is an atmosphere of extraordinary kindness around.”

When asked whether the experiment participants believed that they had visited “another world,” Sam replied:

“Yes, and although this world was somewhat mystical for them, it still existed. As a rule, patients reached a gate or some other place in the tunnel from where there is no turning back and where they need to decide whether to return...

And you know, almost everyone now has a completely different perception of life. It has changed because man has passed through a moment of blissful spiritual existence. Almost all of my students admitted that no longer afraid of death, although they do not want to die.

The transition to another world turned out to be an extraordinary and pleasant experience. After the hospital, many began working in charitable organizations.”

The experiment is currently ongoing. A further 25 UK hospitals are joining the study.

The memory of the soul is immortal

There is a soul, and it does not die with the body. Dr Parnia's confidence is shared by the UK's leading medical luminary. The famous professor of neurology from Oxford, the author of works translated into many languages, Peter Fenis rejects the opinion of the majority of scientists on the planet.

They believe that the body, ceasing its functions, releases certain chemicals that, passing through the brain, actually cause extraordinary sensations in a person.

“The brain does not have time to carry out the ‘closing procedure’,” says Professor Fenis.

“For example, during a heart attack, a person sometimes loses consciousness at lightning speed. Along with consciousness, memory also goes away. So how can we discuss episodes that people cannot remember? But since they clearly talk about what happened to them when their brain activity was turned off, therefore, there is a soul, spirit or something else that allows you to be in consciousness outside the body.”

What happens after you die?

The physical body is not the only one we have. In addition to it, there are several thin bodies assembled according to the matryoshka principle. The subtle level closest to us is called the ether or astral. We simultaneously exist in both the material world and the spiritual. In order to maintain life in the physical body, we need food and drink, in order to maintain vital energy in our astral body, we need communication with the Universe and with the surrounding material world.

Death ends the existence of the densest of all our bodies, and the astral body's connection with reality is severed. The astral body, freed from the physical shell, is transported into a different quality - into the soul. And the soul has a connection only with the Universe. This process is described in sufficient detail by people who have experienced clinical death.

Naturally, they do not describe its last stage, because they only get to the level closest to the material substance, their astral body has not yet lost contact with the physical body and they are not fully aware of the fact of death. The transportation of the astral body into the soul is called the second death. After this, the soul goes to another world. Once there, the soul discovers that it consists of different levels intended for souls of varying degrees of development.

When the death of the physical body occurs, the subtle bodies begin to gradually separate. Subtle bodies also have different densities, and, accordingly, different amounts of time are required for their disintegration.

On the third day after the physical, the etheric body, which is called the aura, disintegrates.

After nine days the emotional body disintegrates, after forty days the mental body. The body of spirit, soul, experience - casual - goes into the space between lives.

By suffering greatly for our departed loved ones, we thereby prevent their subtle bodies from dying at the right time. Thin shells get stuck where they shouldn't be. Therefore, you need to let them go, thanking them for all the experiences they have lived together.

Is it possible to consciously look beyond life?

Just as a person dresses in new clothes, discarding the old and worn ones, so the soul is embodied in a new body, leaving behind the old and lost strength.

Bhagavad Gita. Chapter 2. Soul in the material world.

Each of us has lived more than one life, and this experience is stored in our memory.

You can remember your past life right now!

It will help you with this meditation, which will send you into your memory storage and open the door to a past life.

Every soul has a different experience of dying. And it can be remembered.

Why remember the experience of dying in past lives? To look at this stage differently. To understand what actually happens at the moment of dying and after it. Finally, to stop being afraid of death.

At the Institute of Reincarnation, you can gain the experience of dying using simple techniques. For those in whom the fear of death is too strong, there is a safety technique that allows you to painlessly view the process of the soul leaving the body.

Here are some testimonials from students about their experiences with dying.

Kononuchenko Irina, first year student at the Institute of Reincarnation:

I watched several deaths in different bodies: female and male.

After natural death in a female incarnation (I’m 75 years old), my soul did not want to ascend to the World of Souls. I was left waiting for mine your soul mate- a husband who still lives. During his lifetime he was an important person and close friend to me.

It felt like we lived in perfect harmony. I died first, the Soul exited through the third eye area. Understanding my husband’s grief after “my death,” I wanted to support him with my invisible presence, and I didn’t want to leave myself. After some time, when both “got used to it and got used to it” in the new state, I went up to the World of Souls and waited for him there.

After natural death in the body of a man (harmonious incarnation), the Soul easily said goodbye to the body and ascended to the world of Souls. There was a feeling of a mission accomplished, a lesson successfully completed, a feeling of satisfaction. It took place immediately meeting with the Mentor and discussion of life.

In case of violent death (I am a man dying on the battlefield from a wound), the Soul leaves the body through the chest area, where the wound is. Until the moment of death, life flashed before my eyes. I’m 45 years old, I have a wife, children... I really want to see them and hold them close.. and here I am... it’s unclear where and how... and alone. Tears in the eyes, regret about the “unlived” life. After leaving the body, it is not easy for the Soul; it is again met by Helping Angels.

Without additional energetic reconfiguration, I (the soul) cannot independently free myself from the burden of incarnation (thoughts, emotions, feelings). A “capsule-centrifuge” is imagined, where through strong rotation-acceleration there is an increase in frequencies and “separation” from the experience of embodiment.

Marina Kana, 1st year student at the Institute of Reincarnation:

In total, I went through 7 dying experiences, three of them violent. I will describe one of them.

Girl, Ancient Rus'. I was born into a large peasant family, I live in unity with nature, I love spinning with my friends, singing songs, walking in the forest and fields, helping my parents with housework, and babysitting my younger brothers and sisters. Men are not interested, the physical side of love is not clear. The guy was wooing her, but she was afraid of him.

I saw how she was carrying water on a yoke; he blocked the road and pestered: “You’ll still be mine!” To prevent others from getting married, I started a rumor that I was not of this world. And I’m glad, I don’t need anyone, I told my parents that I wouldn’t get married.

She did not live long, she died at 28, she was not married. She died of a severe fever, lay in the heat and was delirious, all wet, her hair matted from sweat. The mother sits nearby, sighs, wipes him with a wet cloth, and gives him water to drink from a wooden ladle. The soul flies out of the head, as if it is being pushed out from within, when the mother comes out into the hallway.

The soul looks down on the body, no regrets. The mother comes in and starts crying. Then the father comes running to the screams, shakes his fists at the sky, shouts to the dark icon in the corner of the hut: “What have you done!” The kids huddled together, quiet and scared. The soul leaves calmly, no one is sorry.

Then the soul seems to be drawn into a funnel and flies upward towards the light. The outline is similar to clouds of steam, next to them are the same clouds, circling, intertwining, rushing upward. Fun and easy! She knows that she lived her life as she planned. In the World of Souls, the beloved soul meets laughing (this is an incorrect husband from previous life). She understands why she passed away early - it became no longer interesting to live, knowing that he was not incarnated, she strove for him faster.

Simonova Olga, 1st year student at the Institute of Reincarnation

All my deaths were similar. Separation from the body and smoothly rising above it... and then just as smoothly upward above the Earth. Mostly these are dying of natural causes in old age.

One thing I saw was violent (cutting off the head), but I saw it outside the body, as if from the outside, and did not feel any tragedy. On the contrary, relief and gratitude to the executioner. Life was aimless, a female embodiment. The woman wanted to commit suicide in her youth because she was left without parents. She was saved, but even then she lost the meaning in life and was never able to restore it... Therefore, she accepted violent death as a benefit for her.

Understanding that life continues after death gives true joy from existing here-and-now. The physical body is only a temporary conductor for the soul. And death is natural for him. This should be accepted. To live without fear before death.

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Ideas about the afterlife exist among absolutely all peoples of the Earth. And the Eastern Slavs are no exception here. Moreover, these ideas are connected not only and not so much with the question “what will happen to me after death,” but with the fact that a person with a mythological consciousness is in daily contact with the other world: the worlds of the living and the dead in his mind are connected, and the boundaries between them open from time to time.

About the soul

The mythological ideas of the Slavs were influenced by Christianity over time, but their basis was preserved in the folk tradition. About the soul they said that the male soul is “full”, since God himself breathed it into Adam. The female soul is half from Adam. However, the difference exists not only based on gender: Christians have bright souls, while the unbaptized have dark souls. Of all the animals, only the bear has a real soul - it looks like a puppy.

In a curious way, people answered the old Christian question about at what point a person has a soul (at the moment of conception, childbirth, or at some stage of fetal development). East Slavic tradition says: the moment when a child began to move in the womb means that God breathed a soul into him. It was believed that food steam from food was food for the human soul.

G.I. Semiradsky. Funeral of a noble Russian

As for contact with the other world, here are just a few examples. Belarusians believed that the howling wind in the chimney was a request from the soul of a deceased relative for remembrance. In some Russian dialects, a butterfly is called a darling, since there was an idea of ​​​​the incarnation of the soul into a night butterfly or moth. And among Ukrainians it is forbidden to drive away a flying fly from a dead person - this is his soul. It's a similar story with birds. This is where, for example, comes the custom of scattering grain on graves in the first 40 days after a person’s death.

There are also beliefs that talk about the transformation of the souls of the dead into snakes. They said that during one wedding, when the guests began to dance in a circle, a snake crawled into the center - the “soul” of the groom’s father.

If a person died young, his soul will sprout on the grave as a tree, flowers or grass. Therefore, it was believed that it was forbidden to pick flowers and cut down trees in cemeteries. And in one Russian lament they addressed the deceased: “Will you grow on herbs, will you fade on flowers?” In general, the Eastern Slavs have many legends about trees that grew on the grave or from the blood of a murdered person. Among them there are tales that tell how a pipe or pipe made from such wood tells about a murderer. People also believed that during sleep the soul was able to leave the body for a short time.

V.M. Vasnetsov. Trizna for Oleg

Death and “that” world

As for the perception of death, normal death (we will talk about “abnormal” death separately), the Eastern Slavs considered it the return of the soul “home” from the world of the living, where it was “visiting.” Hence the perception of the coffin as a house for the deceased and the tradition of putting in the coffin what the deceased did not part with during his lifetime. And if the child died, then they put a thread, which was used to previously measure the father’s height, so that the child would know how tall he should grow in the next world. There were other similar customs.

The afterlife, the other world, is the opposite of the world of the living. The world of the living is located on the right, in the east or south, and order reigns in it. The underworld is located on the left, in the west or north, there is no time and life, there is darkness and eternal night.

Ancient pagan ideas, unlike Christian ones, depict the world as divided precisely into the world of the dead and the living, and not into heaven and hell. In this sense, the pagan understanding of sin is interesting. A sinful person is one who violates everyday and ritual rules of behavior. Such a person is capable of bringing misfortune not only to himself, but also to the entire society in which he lives. But a suicide and someone who died as a result of an accident do not differ in the pagan consciousness, unlike the Christian one. Their deaths are equally “wrong”, since the person did not live out the full time allotted to him. From now on he will not be able to go to another world, he is a “hostage” dead man.

The idea of ​​birds as embodied souls, as well as ideas about the other world, are reflected in the legends of Iria. Iriy is an underground, sometimes overseas country to which the souls of the dead are sent. Birds fly there and snakes crawl away in the fall and return from there in the spring.

And we will add that the relationship between the two worlds was determined among the Eastern Slavs after Christianization by various calendar and family rituals, the meaning of which was to obtain benefits and reduce harm from deceased ancestors.

As a manuscript

GANINA Natalya Viktorovna

As a manuscript

GANINA Natalya Viktorovna

Evolution of ideas about the afterlife (religious and mythological aspect)

24.00.01 - theory and history of culture

The dissertation was completed at the Department of Cultural History of the Moscow State University of Culture and Arts

Scientific supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy, Professor

Grinenko Galina Valentinovna Official opponents - Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor

Savelyev Yuri Sergeevich,

Candidate of Cultural Studies, Associate Professor

Poletaeva Marina Andreevna

The leading organization is the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow State University. M.V. PM Monosova

onny council D 210.010.04 at the Moscow State University of Culture and Arts at the address: 141406, Moscow region, Khimki-b, st. Library, 7. Building No. 2. Dissertation Defense Hall (room 218).

The dissertation can be found in the scientific library of the Moscow State University of Culture and Arts.

The defense will take place in 2005 at a dissertation meeting

Scientific secretary of the dissertation candidate of philosophical sciences, associate professor

I. General characteristics of the dissertation

The relevance of research. Problems of cultural genesis undoubtedly occupy a very important place in modern cultural studies. Analysis of the general patterns of cultural evolution and the characteristics of the development of specific cultures, problems of interaction and mutual influence of different cultures, the general typology of cultures and their specific classification based on identified characteristics, etc. can be considered both in terms of the study of entire cultures of individual peoples and historical eras, and in the aspect of the development of certain phenomena of spiritual and material culture.

Certain ideas about the afterlife have existed throughout almost the entire history of mankind, but, as analysis shows, throughout the history of culture not only they themselves have changed, but also the role they played in spiritual culture. Therefore, the question of their evolution and its connection with the general development of culture seems important and relevant for the history and theory of culture.

No matter how any scientist views the possibility of an afterlife, he cannot help but admit that this problem remains relevant at the present time for all believers, and these are the overwhelming majority on earth today. This alone is enough to attract the attention of cultural scientists to this topic. Ideas about the afterlife inherent in a particular culture (like the rest of the complex of religious views) are important for cultural scientists also because they allow us to better understand other spheres of spiritual and material culture, for example, such as literature, fine arts, architecture and etc. The study of this topic allows us to get closer to the original meaning of many rituals and customs that arose in ancient times, the original meaning of which has been lost or changed in such a way that it has become incomprehensible to modern people. Thanks to such research, it becomes possible to trace not only the transformation of these customs themselves over time, but also changes in attitudes towards them in different cultures.

There is also no doubt that our understanding of any system of religious beliefs will be incomplete without a deep study of myths about the afterlife. Mythological ideas are an integral part of the life of various ethnic groups and play a vital role in shaping the worldview of every person. Mythology is the most important component of any culture; it arose in the era of the primitive world and continues to exist to this day (although at different times its meaning and the role it played in spiritual culture were different). Myths are one of the ways of understanding the world, which depends on the specific natural, social and historical conditions of the emergence of the myths themselves. They provide extensive material to any researcher. In the most diverse cultures, the afterlife has always represented some distant, other world, opposing the world of the living. An important role in the complex of myths about the afterlife is played by stories about travel to the “other” world and the return of living characters from it. These stories explained the presence of

people of knowledge about the laws of existence in the afterlife. Analysis of this topic allows us to establish an extremely interesting fact from a cultural point of view: in the teachings about the afterlife, a number of common features can be traced even among peoples who have not had cultural contacts. This alone makes this topic worthy of detailed and comprehensive cultural analysis.

In addition, it should be noted that ideas about the afterlife are widely reflected in the artistic culture of mankind, and many works of art of past eras cannot be adequately understood without knowledge of the corresponding religious and mythological ideas.

And finally, speaking about the relevance of this topic, one cannot ignore the fact that this is one of the “eternal” problems facing every person, since death will sooner or later overtake anyone, and therefore it retains its significance throughout the history of world culture.

The problem of the general evolution of ideas about the afterlife in the cultures of the world today remains insufficiently studied. There are studies covering certain areas of this process, for example, within the framework of “revealed religions”. In other works, focusing on a particular country or region, comparative mythology explores the common features of myths born in different cultures. Perhaps precisely because ideas about the afterlife are widely known, this topic has not yet attracted much attention from cultural scientists, and this type of idea has traditionally been the subject of research by ethnographers, religious scholars, historians, psychologists, etc. And there are still no cultural studies that would carry out a systematic and consistent analysis of the main body of these ideas and identify patterns of their development and change.

The degree of scientific development of the problem. Since the ongoing study of the evolution of ideas about the posthumous existence of the soul is synthetic and, in part, interdisciplinary in nature, it is necessary to touch upon the issue of the development of the problem in various disciplines.

The problem of the afterlife and the posthumous fate of the soul in different cultures at different times was addressed by such famous thinkers of different eras as A. Besant, E. P. Blavatsky, G. M. Bongard-Levin, M. Braginsky, E. A. Grantovsky, R.Graves, G.Geche, Yu.V.Knorozov, Z.Kosidovsky, I.A.Kry-velev, A.F.Losev, A.Men, Yu.N.Roerich, N.K.Roerich, E. Swedenborg, I. Steblin-Kamensky. E.B.Tylor, E.N.Temkin, E.A.Torchinov, S.A.Tokarev, D.D.Freser, M.Eliade.

In general, the ongoing research is based on general cultural studies of such authors as A. Amfitheatrov, S. Apt, A. A. Aronov, K. F. Becker, G. V. Greenenko, V. I. Vardugin, E. Wentz, Ya E. Golosovker, A. V. Germanovich, N. A. Dmitrieva, V. V. Evsyukov, N. V. Zhdanov, A. A. Ignatenko, Y. Kargamanov, N. A. Kun, Yu .Ke, L.I. Medvedko, R. Menard, V.S. Muravyov, A.A. Neihardt, A.I. Nemirovsky, D.P. Chantepie de la Saussey, I.M. Tronsky, I.N. Khlopin, L.E. Cherkassy, ​​V.G. Erman.

To analyze the development of these ideas in the context of the historical and cultural process, it turned out to be very important to turn to the works of ethnographers, culturologists, and theologians directly devoted to the development of the idea of ​​“the afterlife.”

new world" in different religions. These are the works of such researchers as V.I. Avdiev, Archbishop Averky, Bishop Alexander (Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky), G. Anagarika,

A. Akhmedov, U. Budge, V. Bauer, K. F. Becker, A. Belov, H. L. Borges, A. I. Breslavets, Bishop I. Brianchglinov, A. Bioy Casares, L. Vinnichuk, B. B. Vinogrodsky, X. von Glasenapp, S. Golovin, G. E. Grunebaum, D. Datta, I. Dumotz, V. V. Evsyukov, F. F. Zelinsky, N. V. Kalyagin, K. M. Karyagin, K. Kautsky, L .I.Klimovich, B.I.Kuznetsov, S.Yu.Lepekhov, L.Lipin, Y.Lipinskaya, A.G.T.Lopukhin, R.R.Mavlyutov, V.V.Malyavin, M.Martsinyak, N Morozov, A.F. Okulov, E.P. Ostrovskaya, M.B. Piotrovsky, S. Piotrovsky, L.E. Pomerantseva, S.M. Prozorov, A.B. Ranovich, S. Radhakrishnan, M .I.Rizhsky, Hieromonk SRose,

B.A. Rudoy, ​​S.D. Skazkina, V. Solovyov, V.V. Struve, T. Heyerdahl, E. Zeller, N.-O. Tsultem, S. Chattgrji, I. Sh. Shifman.

In the 20th century, within the framework of thanatology (“the science of death”), various perspectives on this problem were developed, but the mythological aspect was not sufficiently studied. Thus, the works of F. Ariès examine the attitude towards death and funeral rites in European culture from the times of Ancient Greece to the Modern Age, but they are not associated with the mythological background of this problem. Some connection between death and mythological ideas about it can be traced in the works of R. Moody, S. Grof, El. Kübler-Ross, J. Helifax and others. They explore the similarities between religious images and impressions of people who have experienced clinical death.

A special block of sources consists of sacred texts, such as the Bible, Koran, Avesta, Vedas, Popol Vuh, Bardo Todol, Egyptian Book of the Dead and others. In addition to canonical texts, apocryphal ones are also used; as well as myths and fairy tales containing stories about people’s “journeys” to the afterlife. Ideas about the afterlife and the posthumous existence of the soul, characteristic of a particular historical era, are contained in the works of contemporaries, which are an important source of information (for example, for Antiquity: Apollodorus, Herodotus, Pausanias, Plato, Plutarch, Strabo, Josephus, Aristophanes , Virgil, Homer, Horace, E. vripides, Aeschylus, Lucian, Sophocles, Ovid, etc.).

Due to the fact that during the Soviet period in our country the problem of death and the afterlife was simply hushed up, there are very few works by domestic authors in this area. One of the rare exceptions is the article by I.T. Frolov “On life, death and immortality. Sketches of new (real) humanism”, where the mythological aspect of the problem is practically not analyzed.

Despite the large volume and depth of works devoted to the teachings of the afterlife, the question of the evolution of these ideas in spiritual culture has been raised extremely rarely, and there is still no complete and systematic research on this topic.

The object of the study is ideas about the afterlife and the posthumous existence of the soul in the mythology of various peoples.

The subject of the study is the most general patterns and trends in the evolution of ideas about the afterlife in the history of world culture.

The purpose of the study is to, based on mythological sources, trace the evolution of ideas about the afterlife in world culture and its connection with the general evolution of culture, as well as to identify the nature and degree of interrelations and mutual influences of different cultures in this matter.

Research objectives:

Analyze the genesis and main stages in the formation of ideas about the afterlife in primitive culture;

To trace the main trends in the development of ideas about the afterlife, heaven and hell in the history of world culture, to identify the functions that these ideas perform in culture;

To identify the connection between certain pictures of the afterlife with specific belief systems of the Ancient World and the Middle Ages and the essential features of ideas about the afterlife in cultures of different types (primitive, the culture of the Ancient World, medieval, modern culture);

To trace the relationships and mutual influences of a number of the most important systems of religious beliefs on the issue of the afterlife and the posthumous existence of the soul;

Identify and analyze similarities and differences in the linear and cyclic concepts of the existence of the soul;

Analyze the innovations that arose in European culture in modern times on the issue of the afterlife (using the example of the work of Emmanuel Swedenborg);

To trace the similarities in ideas about the posthumous existence of traditional mythologies and the research of modern scientists, obtained by analyzing the impressions of people who experienced clinical death.

Methodological basis of the study. The main principle underlying this dissertation research was the principle of historicism, according to which any events and phenomena are considered in the context of historical events. The work used an evolutionary approach based on the idea of ​​development from simple to complex both of world culture itself and of specific ideas about the afterlife. Diffusionism played an important role in the study of the interaction of cultures. The last chapter also used a psychoanalytic approach, built on the interpretation of myths based on information obtained as a result of immersing a person in a trance state. A special place in the work is occupied by the principle of cultural tolerance - recognition of the equal value of everything created by different peoples, and therefore recognition of the intrinsic value of each culture.

The specific research methods used were analogy, comparative, typological, genetic and structural analysis.

The theoretical significance of the study lies in identifying and analyzing general trends in the formation and genesis of ideas about the afterlife, in identifying the relationships and mutual influences of different cultures on the issue of the ontological status and immanent characteristics of ideas about the afterlife.

nom world; in studying the role of the picture of the afterlife in solving problems of soteriology; in the analysis of the influence of ideas about posthumous existence on attitudes towards death and psychological preparation for it.

The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that, on the basis of mythological sources, it examines the process of evolution of ideas about the afterlife from primitive times to the present day:

It has been established that ideas about the afterlife did not arise immediately, but only after the emergence of animism and at a certain level of development of primitive culture. These ideas went through several stages of development. The primary characteristics of the afterlife included only its location;

It is shown that ideas about the afterlife, which in world religions are the basis of religious-compensatory and regulatory functions, did not play such a role in primitive beliefs, and in the national religions of the Ancient world they only gradually and in different cultures began to fulfill it in different ways;

It has been revealed that the linear and cyclic concepts, despite all their fundamental differences, have some similarities, for example, in the issue of finitude or infinity of the existence of the soul;

The innovations that arose in European culture in modern times on the issue of the afterlife existence of the soul are analyzed using the example of the views of Em. Svedgnborg, who considers this problem through the prism of rationalism inherent in his era;

It is shown that some ideas about the afterlife, which take place in traditional mythologies, are in a number of ways similar to the data (obtained during modern scientific research) reported by people who have experienced a state of clinical death or a trance state.

The main provisions submitted for defense;

1. As soon as death ceases to be perceived by primitive people at the level of simple animal instincts, the fact of its presence in life requires explanations, which already at this early stage undergo some evolution. Thus, the tribes at the lowest level of development (the aborigines of Australia and Tierra del Fuego) have recorded ideas according to which the soul dies along with the body. At higher levels of cultural development, a belief in its posthumous existence arises, but only among special people, such as priests and leaders (for example, Polynesians and the peoples of Oceania). At the stage of the tribal system, posthumous existence is already attributed to the souls of all people. In this regard, there is a need to develop a doctrine of the afterlife as a place where the souls of the dead live. This kind of idea received its development in the cultures of ancient civilizations and their national religions, and then in world religions.

2. One of the features of primitive ideas about the soul is the belief in the existence of several souls in each person. This

the idea that arose in primitive society continues its development in the future - in the national religions of the Ancient World. However, in the process of the evolution of ancient religions, it loses its meaning, and in world religions people are credited with the existence of only one soul.

3. A comparative analysis of primitive culture and the culture of the Ancient World allows us to identify an important feature of the evolution of the corresponding ideas: there is a gradual transition from belief in an undifferentiated afterlife to its division into “heaven” and “hell”; and in some cases - to the emergence of different spheres within them (in the culture of Mesopotamia, this differentiation never appeared until the Persian conquest; in Egyptian mythology there was a developed doctrine of the fields of Ialu and underdeveloped ideas about the Duat; in Greek mythology, a similar division is outlined in Hades , expressed in the appearance of ideas about the Champs Elysees; and in Roman mythology, the kingdom of Orca receives a clearer division into Tartarus and Elysium; in the cultures of the peoples of the American continent, ideas about the different posthumous fate of souls and their habitats also arise). Thus, there is a clear tendency towards differentiation of the afterlife, but it is not clearly and equally expressed everywhere.

4. One of the most important characteristics of the cultures of the Ancient World are ideas about the nature of the afterlife and the reasons why the soul ends up in “heaven” or “hell.” In the early stages of the development of religious culture, the solution to this issue was directly related to the use of religious and magical procedures. But the idea is gradually being established that in the afterlife there is retribution for a person’s behavior in life. However, in the religions of the Ancient World this idea was not yet dominant, and only in the Middle Ages in such world religions as Christianity and Islam did the idea of ​​retribution become decisive. One of the modern interpretations of the idea of ​​posthumous judgment, which can be traced from the impressions of people who have experienced clinical death, is the remorse of conscience experienced by the soul at the moment of awareness of its bad deeds.

5. As the analysis of the available material has shown, in the medieval culture of Eurasia there is a gradual formation of two main concepts of the posthumous existence of the soul: in the Christian-Muslim world - linear; in the Buddhist world - cyclical. At some points they come closer: in cyclic (in Buddhism) it is possible to stop rebirths due to going to nirvana; and in the linear one, the resurrection of the dead at the end of time is assumed for a new existence. In addition, the results of the study make it possible to identify and analyze a number of other common features in the linear and cyclic concepts: cleansing the soul from sins through torment, the complex structure of the afterlife, in which different places (circles, tiers) are created for qualitatively different souls, etc. .

6. The ideas about the afterlife and the posthumous fate of the soul that developed during the Middle Ages within the framework of world religions did not undergo fundamental changes in the modern era within the teachings of the official church. But outside the canon, for example, in visions and the teachings of mystics based on them, they continue to change. The most striking concept of this kind was proposed by Em. Swedenbor-hom. His ideas reflect the features of his contemporary culture, both secular and religious.

7. Research of the 20th century (R. Moody, El. Kübler-Ross, S. Grofa, J. Helifax, etc.) allowed us to take a fresh look at the problem of human posthumous existence and the mythology associated with it. As a result, some similarities were revealed between the impressions of people who experienced clinical death and traditional religious ideas, which allows us to take a fresh look at the myths telling about death and posthumous existence.

Practical significance of the study. The results obtained in this work can be used in teaching the history of world culture, in lecture courses and seminars on religious studies, philosophy, sociology, sociology of culture, cultural anthropology, etc., as well as in the development of special courses.

Approbation of work. The dissertation was discussed at a meeting of the Department of Cultural History of the Moscow State University of Culture and Arts.

The main provisions of the dissertation are reflected in the author's publications.

The main results of the study were presented at the conference “Ethnocultural diversity and the problem of interaction of cultures”, Moscow State University of Culture and Culture, 2004.

The materials presented and analyzed in this work, as well as the conclusions and generalizations made in it, are used in teaching the theory and history of world culture at the Department of Cultural History of Moscow State University of Culture and Culture.

Structure of the dissertation. The dissertation consists of an introduction, three chapters, a conclusion and a bibliography.

II. Main content of the dissertation

The Introduction substantiates the relevance of the research topic, characterizes the degree of its scientific development, formulates the methodological foundations of the work, its purpose and objectives, defines the object and subject of the study, and highlights the provisions to be defended that characterize the scientific novelty of the work, its theoretical and practical significance.

The first chapter, “The Origin and First Stages of Development of Ideas about the Afterlife,” is devoted to the issue of the origin of belief in the existence of the soul and its posthumous fate in primitive culture, as well as the development of these ideas in the myths of the civilizations of the Ancient World.

In paragraph 1.1. “The emergence and evolution of ideas about the posthumous existence of the soul in primitive culture” examines the issue of the formation in primitive culture of belief in the existence of souls and about the “other world” as its place of residence after the death of the body.

This problem is analyzed on the basis of two types of sources: archaeological and ethnographic. Archaeological excavations are the only source of information about the most ancient stages of primitive culture (before the emergence of civilization). The main source of information on the problem that interests us is the burials, not only of the most ancient Homo sapiens, but also of the Neanderthals who existed at the same time. Ethnographic materials provide information about the beliefs of peoples of interest to us, who led a primitive way of life in modern times and now continue to lead it. Only by comparing the data of archaeological and ethnographic research can we obtain a picture that is close to reality, reflecting the process of formation of the corresponding beliefs in the Stone Age.

In modern science there are various hypotheses that explain the emergence of ideas about the soul and the afterlife. Some scientists believe that these ideas themselves initially arose, and from them grew the custom of burying the dead. Others take the opposite point of view, deriving funeral rites from instincts inherent in primitive people as well as in animals (“neatness instinct”). Ideas about the soul in this way are considered as a result of awareness of the practice of burials. At the same time, the details of some burials (“fetal position”, ocher on the surface of the body, simulating blood) indicate a belief in the possibility and even desirability of the “rebirth” of the dead, while the details of others indicate the fear of the return of the dead (tying up corpses, cutting their tendons and etc.).

The emergence and evolution of ideas about the “afterlife” into which the soul goes are undoubtedly associated with the development of abstract thinking, which makes it possible to construct a model of a sensually imperceptible “other world”.

The facts show that the belief in the existence of the soul arose in the early stages of primitive culture, and similar ideas are recorded among all the primitive peoples now known. By soul was meant a special, very subtle (often vapor-like), but at the same time material substance, the presence of which determines the life of the body, and the absence of which determines death. Many primitive tribes have myths according to which death is not the natural end of life, but is the result of someone’s mistake, deception or evil intent. Ideas of the same type are found in the myths of a number of peoples who created the civilizations of the Ancient World.

Already in primitive culture one can trace a certain evolution of ideas related to the afterlife existence of the soul. Thus, tribes at the earliest stages of development (for example, the aborigines of Australia) are characterized by the idea that after the death of the body the soul quickly dies or goes somewhere. There are no specific ideas about the afterlife here; at best, the direction where the soul goes (“to the west”, “over the sea”, “over the mountains”, to “the place where the ancestors came”, etc.) is fixed. On a higher

stages of development (for example, among the peoples of Oceania), ideas about the posthumous existence of souls appear, clearly bearing the imprint of the beginning social stratification. According to them, the souls of leaders, outstanding warriors, sorcerers, etc. continue to exist in the “other world”, while the souls of ordinary community members die soon after the death of the body. At the late stage of primitive culture (at the level of the tribal system), many tribes recorded the idea that the souls of all, or at least the majority of dead people, go to the afterlife.

Many primitive tribes have recorded the idea that each person has several souls that have different posthumous existences (for example, one remains with the body in the grave or next to it, the other flies to heaven, goes to the “world of spirits,” etc. ).

It is characteristic of the formed ideas about the “other world” that the “other world” is understood as a continuation of the earthly: the soul of the deceased leads there the same way of life as a person on earth; for normal existence it needs food and household items. The beliefs of many tribes record a close connection between the soul and the body, for example, wounds received by a person during life, or damage inflicted on a corpse, are preserved by the soul in the “other world.” There are no details about the life of souls there in myths. At this stage of development, the afterlife appears as undifferentiated.

An analysis of the primitive mythology of peoples living in different parts of the Earth shows that the evolution of views on the afterlife is generally similar, and the stages of such development generally correlate with the general level of development of specific cultures. A fundamentally new step in ideas about the afterlife was made in the civilizations of the Ancient World.

In paragraph 1.2. “The doctrine of the afterlife in the culture of Ancient Egypt” examines the evolution of ideas about the posthumous fate of the soul in ancient Egyptian civilization (IV millennium BC - 1st millennium BC). At present, it is impossible to establish what specific ideas of the ancestors of the ancient Egyptians served as the basis for the doctrine of the afterlife that developed in this culture. The currently known mythology of Ancient Egypt reflects the corresponding ideas only already at the stage of civilization. Therefore, to solve this issue, we are forced to use the method of analogy, turning to the culture of other primitive peoples, while relying on the earlier conclusion that the ideas that arose among primitive tribes were in some sense universal.

The ancient Egyptians were characterized by ideas about the existence of several souls in humans (Name, Shadow, Ah, Ba, Ka), but a developed doctrine of posthumous existence exists only regarding one type of soul - the human double Ka. It should also be noted that during the period of the Old Kingdom In Egyptian culture, ideas about the presence of such souls as Ah, Ba and Ka were recorded only among the pharaohs. But by the period of the Middle Kingdom, the belief that all people have all souls had already been established. The existence of Ka in the “other world” is associated with the preservation of the body in burial (hence the rituals of mummification) or, at least, its image (sculptural portrait), as well as the name on the grave.

le or as part of any texts. It was believed that the death of the mummy, portrait and/or name leads to the death of Ka, in addition, she could also die if she stopped receiving “nutrition” (in one form or another).

As ancient Egyptian civilization developed, the location of the afterlife (“in the west” or “underground”) and its characteristics became more precise. This is a beautiful world, which is an improved copy of the earthly one (in relation to later religions, for example, Christianity, it can be considered a prototype of paradise). Good souls enter this world (“the kingdom of Osiris” or the “fields of Ialu”) and enjoy a happy posthumous existence there. But even in the “kingdom of Osiris” Ka continues to need food, drink, various household items, etc. In Egyptian mythology, the idea of ​​another version of the afterlife arises, which can be considered a prototype of hell. This is the Duat - a dark and infinitely deep underworld. Actually, it does not play a significant role in Egyptian beliefs and does not occupy a prominent place in mythology.

The most important innovation that became widespread in Egyptian culture (apparently starting from the era of the Middle Kingdom) is the doctrine of the posthumous judgment of the gods - a clear projection of the socio-political realities of earthly life onto the afterlife. The decision of this court determines whether the soul (Ka) will enter the kingdom of Osiris for eternal life or die, being swallowed by the monster Amt. It is significant that in later versions of the myths (the New Kingdom period) we find the idea that “bad” souls become demons in the retinue of the 6th god Set, i.e. In one form or another, the souls of all people acquire immortality. In order to safely pass through the court of the gods and get to the “fields of Ialu,” a person must maintain ritual purity during his life and be innocent of the sins listed in chapter 125 of the “Book of the Dead.” Thus, posthumous fate is here for the first time associated with the moral qualities of a person and his way of life. However, this idea, so important for world religions, had not yet become dominant in the culture of Ancient Egypt, since, according to the beliefs of the Egyptians, the decision of the court could be influenced with the help of magical rituals and special amulets.

In the complex of beliefs about the afterlife (especially starting from the Middle Kingdom), ideas about the dying and resurrecting god Osiris play an important role. When his cult was just emerging in the Old Kingdom, he was considered the god of the productive forces of nature and had nothing to do with funeral rites and beliefs. However, the annual cycle of changing seasons, when plants die in the fall and are born again in the spring, became in the worldview of the Egyptians (as well as other agricultural peoples) a symbol of the posthumous resurrection of man for a new life in the afterlife. During the Middle and Late Kingdom, Osiris becomes, first of all, the “king of the dead.” The location of the “kingdom of Osiris” underground clearly also correlates with the burials in the ground, typical of this culture.

In paragraph 13. “Ideas about the afterlife and the mythology of Ancient Mesopotamia,” ideas about the afterlife and the posthumous fate of the soul (souls) among the peoples of Ancient Mesopotamia are considered.

In the culture of the Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians and other peoples who inhabited Mesopotamia from the 4th millennium BC. and until mid. I millennium BC, the idea of

blissful afterlife. According to the myths of these peoples, the soul of the deceased enters a dark, joyless kingdom. In order for the soul to find a more or less tolerable existence there, the living must perform a number of magical rites, the most important of which is the burial of the body. If the deceased is dissatisfied with their fulfillment, he can come to earth and harm living people. Among the residents of Mesopotamia, researchers did not find faith in a posthumous court that imposes punishment for offenses committed during life. Formally, there are judges in the afterlife, but they always make the same decision.

In the mythology of the inhabitants of Mesopotamia we find descriptions of the journeys of the gods to the afterlife. It is these myths that provide the main material that allows us to reproduce the corresponding ideas about the underworld. As in Egypt, stories about the travels of the gods there are associated with the autumn-winter extinction of nature and its spring rebirth. The goddess of spring, love (and war) Innana (in the Akkadian and Babylonian version Ishtar) went to the afterlife every autumn. In her absence, plants died and animals did not bear offspring, which caused concern to the remaining gods. They helped the goddess of fertility get out of the afterlife, after which spring came. Every year people celebrated the return of the goddess and thus became involved in the actions of the gods.

Among the myths of Mesopotamia there is a story about the exile of another god, Enlil, who also symbolized fertility, into the afterlife. He manages to get out of the underground kingdom on his own with the help of deception. This myth perhaps symbolizes some weakening of the fear of death in the culture of Mesopotamia, although expressed through the story of God.

In paragraph 1.4. “Development of ideas about the afterlife in the cultures of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome” examines ancient Greek mythology, and also traces changes in views on the afterlife and posthumous existence in the mythology of Ancient Rome, which, like the culture as a whole, were greatly influenced by the Greek culture, especially since the conquest of Greece in the 2nd century. BC.

In accordance with ancient Greek ideas, the afterlife - Hades - seems gloomy and joyless, and only in later ideas did the belief in the Champs Elysees, where blessed souls live, spread. Homer's poems describe Hades as similar to the underground kingdom described in the myths of Mesopotamia.

According to a number of Greek myths, there is a court in the afterlife, where the punishment for sinners for their crimes is determined (Sisyphus, Tantalus, Danaids). However, afterlife judgment and punishment do not play a special role in ancient Greek culture: with rare exceptions, souls (shadows of the dead) who find themselves in Hades lead an equally dull existence. However, souls still strive to get to Hades, because otherwise their fates will be even more bleak: they will have to wander forever along the river bank. In order for the deceased to achieve peace, the living had to bury his body. The need for this ritual is confirmed by the fact that in 406 BC. e., during the Peloponnesian War, were carried out

Athenian strategists were awaited and executed because they did not pick up and bury the bodies of soldiers killed in the Arginus naval battle.

In the culture of Ancient Greece, an important role is played by myths telling about the goddess of fertility Demeter and her daughter Persephone, who was kidnapped and taken to his kingdom by the god of the underworld Hades. By order of the gods, who were afraid of the devastation of the earth, Persephone spends part of the year on earth (spring-summer), and the other part with her husband (autumn-winter). This Greek myth, like the myths of other ancient civilizations, reflects the connection of the fertility deity with the annual change of seasons. The myth of Adonis has a similar function.

Some myths tell about people's journeys to the afterlife: Orpheus, Odysseus, Theseus, Hercules - they all visited Hades and returned back. And if Orpheus and Odysseus come there with peaceful intentions and hope that their request will be fulfilled, then Theseus and Hercules are trying to rule there. Moreover, Hercules succeeds: he not only kidnaps the guardian of the kingdom of the dead - Kerberus, but also commits, probably, the most daring act attested in Greek mythology: he enters into a duel with Hades and wounds the king of the dead. Such ideas are directly related to significant changes in people’s worldview and the growth of their self-awareness.

In the philosophical teachings of Ancient Greece there are a variety of ideas about the fate of the human soul. Thus, among a number of elemental materialists (Anaximenes, Heraclitus, etc.) the soul is understood as the primary element (air, fire, etc.), among the atomists Democritus and Epicurus - as a collection of atoms, and after the death of the body such a soul dies. Ideas about metempsychosis (transmigration of souls) appear in idealistic teachings, for example, among the Pythagoreans, in the teachings of Socrates, Plato and the Platonists. However, they are not widely used, remaining the property of part of the intellectual elite.

The influence of ancient Greek ideas on the culture of Ancient Rome can be traced in many aspects. Thus, the Romans believed that the souls of all people, after the death of the body, strive to enter the kingdom of the dead (“the kingdom of Orcus”), which is similar in geography to Hades. As in Hades, the burial rite served as a pass there. The image and fate of the queen of the underworld - Proserpine - is close to the image and fate of the Greek Persephone, and her stay either on earth or in the underworld personifies the change of seasons. The list of Greek heroes who descended into the kingdom of the dead and returned safely from there was also supplemented in Roman mythology by the Trojan Aeneas is the ancestor of the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus.

Having crossed the river, the souls of the dead ended up in the underground kingdom of Orca, where the evil and wicked went to Tartarus, and the virtuous to Elysium. This clear distinction between the two spheres of the afterlife later had a significant influence on the formation of ideas about hell and heaven in Christianity.

In paragraph 1.5. “The culture of pre-Columbian civilizations of America and ideas about the afterlife” examines the views of the American Indians (and, above all, the Mayans and Aztecs) on the issue of the posthumous fate of man. The ideas of the indigenous population of America are a kind of standard when analyzing this problem. This is explained by the fact that the carriers of these cultures were localized on the American continent for 12-20 thousand years.

nentah. And even researchers who assume separate contacts between the peoples of the “New” and “Old World” are forced to agree that these contacts were extremely rare and irregular, which means that the corresponding influence, if there was one, was minimal. Therefore, the evolution of the mythological ideas of the American Indians can be considered as occurring practically, independently of the influence of the religions of Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece and other ancient civilizations. But at the same time, many features can be traced that bring together the ideas about the afterlife of these peoples.

An analysis of the mythology of various American Indian tribes reveals to us the path of their formation and development from ancient, practical primitive times to the myths born during the period of government. The mountain Mayans and Aztecs, whose cultural development reached the level of ancient civilizations, imagined the sky and the underworld as multi-layered: there were 13 levels in the sky, and 9 underground. They considered the afterlife a gloomy, joyless place in which all the dead live. True, there are references to the allocation of separate habitats for good and evil souls within the underworld, and the possibility of righteous souls going to heaven is even recognized. In addition, some Indians believed that the soul, before entering the afterlife, flies around a cleansing fire (similar ideas are also found in the myths of the Eurasian continent.)

In Mayan culture, there was a myth about two brothers who took a journey to the underworld. It is this myth that serves as the main source of information about the other world and the suffering that the souls of people endure there. But the brothers manage not only to outwit the masters of this world, but also to kill them. This myth echoes the Greek myth about the struggle between Hercules and Hades.

In paragraph 1.6. the results of the analysis carried out in the first chapter are summed up and the common features and features of ideas about the afterlife in the cultures examined are highlighted.

The second chapter, “Formation and development of the cyclic and linear concept of the posthumous existence of the soul,” examines the problems associated with the emergence and spread of two main concepts of the posthumous existence of the soul - cyclical and linear. The prerequisites for their emergence and the early stages of their development took place in the cultures of the Ancient World within the framework of certain national religions. However, they receive consistent theological justification only in world religions, and became widespread in the Middle Ages. This is precisely what determines the structure of this chapter, which traces the formation and development of relevant ideas from national religions to world ones, from the cultures of the Ancient World to the medieval ones.

In the cyclic concept, the soul is understood as a special substance that separates from the dead body and enters the body of the newborn. Each soul is considered to have the potential for repeated rebirth in new bodies for subsequent lives. In the linear concept, the soul is understood as a special substance that separates from the dead body and leaves for eternal existence in some area of ​​the “afterlife.”

As will be seen from further analysis, despite the contradictory nature of these two concepts, they have a number of points of contact.

In paragraph 2.1. "Formation and evolution of the cyclical concept"

The issue of the origin and development of the cyclical concept in the cultures of India and China is analyzed.

In subparagraph 2.1.1. “The Development of Vedic-Hindu Ideas about the Afterlife” examines the evolution of mythological ideas about the afterlife and the posthumous fate of the soul in ancient and medieval Indian culture within the framework of the developing national religion (Vedic religion - Brahmanism - Hinduism).

The oldest layer of Indian ideas about the afterlife, known today, is captured in the texts of the Vedas, which developed at the end of the 2nd millennium BC. - early 1st millennium BC A number of hymns of the Rig Veda speak of the human soul leaving after the death of the body to heaven in the kingdom of the gods (linear concept). The performance of certain Vedic rituals is aimed at achieving such souls a “blissful existence” in the “other world.” The doctrine of reincarnation (a cyclical concept) appears later - during the period of Brahmanism (mid-1st millennium BC), when there was a surge in intellectual activity and, as a result, the rapid development of religious and philosophical ideas. Both ideas coexisted in Indian culture for a long time, receiving their interpretation and justification in various philosophical schools.

The concept of samsara (“passing through something”, “continuous rebirth”), on the basis of which the doctrine of reincarnation or metepsychosis arises, is closely related to the concept of karma. Both of these concepts appear already in the ancient Upanishads (mid-1st millennium BC). Let us note that the doctrine of reincarnation, which occurs according to the laws of karma, allows us to logically and consistently explain all the troubles that happen to people, including innocent babies. Over time, the ideas of metempsychosis significantly replaced the more ancient Vedic ideas in Indian culture, which is associated with the spread of Buddhism and its growing influence on various movements of Hinduism.

In Hinduism, which developed in the medieval cult of India, there is a peculiar synthesis of cyclic and linear concepts. The soul of the deceased can go to heaven in heaven or in naraka underground. In the underworld there are several circles intended both for purification through torment before a new birth (analogous to purgatory in Catholicism), and for protracted torment until the end of the kalpa (analogous to Christian hell). The assessment of the life lived and, depending on it, the choice of posthumous fate is carried out by Yama - the king and judge of the dead. Born as a human, he became the first to die when Brahma created death to save the earth from overpopulation. After his death, Yama achieves immortality in the fight against the gods, who recognize that “he has become like us.” And Agni, who was the master of the afterlife, cedes it to Yama. So the first person to die becomes the “king of the dead” and the “gatherer of people.”

Myths have been preserved that tell us that the living sometimes managed to persuade Yama to return to them the beloved who had descended into his world. And the king of the Rakshasas, Ravana, went to war in the kingdom of Yama. He freed the tormented sinners,

beat the servants of the underworld, but he himself managed to escape only thanks to the intervention of Brahma.

The idea of ​​reincarnation in Hinduism left its mark not only on ideas about the soul, but also about the world as a whole. In Indian culture, there were beliefs about an infinite number of worlds, both in space and time.

In a number of orthodox philosophical schools of ancient and medieval India, another idea was developed about the possible fate of the human soul - its merging with the divine. In the materialistic school of Lokayata-Charvaka, the possibility of the posthumous existence of the soul is generally rejected.

In subparagraph 2.1.2. “The Doctrine of the Afterlife in Tibetan Buddhism (Lamaism)” traces the formation and evolution of ideas about the afterlife and the posthumous existence of the soul in Buddhism, and in particular its variant, Tibetan Buddhism.

Buddhism arose in India in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. It is in Buddhism that the concept of the cyclical existence of the soul first appears in expanded form, being associated with the Buddha’s teachings on causality, the “wheel of samsara” and the illusory nature of the bodily world. However, the cyclical concept of the existence of the soul is combined here with a linear one, since the main goal of Buddhists is to exit the “wheel of rebirth” and go to nirvana, where eternal existence is assumed. The most important feature of Buddhist ideas about the soul is its understanding as a certain combination of dharmas, the vibration of which causes various life experiences. Death is interpreted as the disintegration of a given combination, and rebirth is interpreted as the emergence of a new combination.

Within Buddhism itself, over time, many directions were formed, one of them, which arose in the Middle Ages, is Tibetan Buddhism (Lamaism). It is here that the most developed (in accordance with the general Buddhist concept) doctrine of the posthumous fate of man takes place.

According to this teaching, the soul of the deceased remains in the afterlife for a relatively short period of time - a maximum of 49 days. During this time, it breaks up into scandas (dharmas), which mix with their own kind and create a new soul. Next comes a new birth in one of the six worlds (the world of gods or heaven, the world of asuras, the world of people, the world of animals, the world of pretas and hell). The choice of the world in which the soul will be reborn depends on karma. But a new life in any of the worlds is a new turn of the wheel of samsara, which means that the soul will again face suffering. To get rid of them, you need to leave samsara and enter nirvana, where there is no place for suffering and its sources - desires. This can only be accomplished from the human world, which is why it is considered the most favorable for birth.

Refined philosophical constructs in Buddhism were not always accessible to ordinary believers, and the popular ideas of Buddhists (both Tibetan and Indian) are closer to traditional views. This is evidenced by myths telling about the journeys of living people to the afterlife. In their stories, after returning, heaven and hell appear as places where, respectively, one can taste bliss or be cleansed of sins through torment. Whereas the theology of Tibetan Buddhism claims that all the torment that a person can experience in the state “between births” is the result of the work of his imagination.

fears, which means they are generated by the fear that takes hold of people approaching death. Therefore, “Bardo Thodol” (“Tibetan Book of the Dead”) offers its own recipe for getting rid of suffering in the afterlife: you need to realize your death and understand that you have become emptiness. The result of such reflection is the belief that emptiness cannot harm emptiness

In subparagraph 2.1.3. “The Evolution of the Idea of ​​the Afterlife in the Culture of Ancient and Medieval China” analyzes the development of the Chinese mythological ideas about the afterlife and the posthumous fate of the soul.

In the culture of Ancient China, we encounter ideas about the afterlife that are generally typical of ancient cultures, so dreams are not specifically considered. Of particular interest, in our opinion, are two points: firstly, the extremely bureaucratic organization of the afterlife, which is a clear projection of the earthly social structure, and, secondly, the development in the medieval culture of China of the cyclical concept brought here by Buddhism, and the merging within a given culture of various mythological and philosophical-religious ideas (Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism).

Various layers within Chinese culture were expressed in a mixture of ancient ideas about a single underworld and later ones, describing two different afterlife kingdoms. As a result, in the medieval teachings of Taoism we are again faced with one afterlife, but with 10 tiers intended for different souls. Before entering one of the circles, the deceased must undergo a trial that determines the place of the soul in the underworld in accordance with the actions of the life lived. Through his torment in the appropriate tier, the sinner will be able to atone for his misdeeds, while the purified soul will be reborn on earth. Only suicides do not obey the law of reincarnation.

It is interesting to note that these ideas are in many ways similar to the ideas about purgatory that developed in the 11th-19th centuries. within the framework of the linear concept in Catholicism (Western and Central Europe). And, if in a comparative analysis of the medieval cultures of India and China one can talk about direct influence and borrowing, the situation is different with European culture. Here we are talking more about the parallel development of ideas.

In subparagraph 2.1.4. the results of the analysis carried out in the first part of the second chapter are summed up and the common features and features of ideas about the afterlife in the cultures examined are highlighted.

Paragraph 2.2. “The evolution of linear ideas about the posthumous existence of the soul” is devoted to the study of the patterns of development of ideas about the afterlife within the framework of the linear concept. This concept has received consistent development in two world religions - Christianity and Islam. It is well known that Christianity arose on the basis of Judaism, and Islam - Judaism and Christianity. These three religions are often combined into a single complex of “religions of Revelation.” However, Zoroastrianism played a decisive role in the formation of ideas about the afterlife in Judaism of the post-exilic period (from the 6th century BC), so the consideration begins with it.

In subparagraph 2.2.1. “The doctrine of the afterlife in Zoroastrianism” analyzes the idea of ​​the afterlife and the posthumous existence of the soul in the religious doctrine of Zoroastrianism and the culture of Ancient Persia.

Many researchers consider Zoroastrianism to be the oldest world religion. And only due to historical conditions (Alexander the Great’s conquest of Persia in the 4th BC, and then the Muslim conquest in the 7th century) its development and spread was interrupted. The emergence of Zoroastrianism dates back to the end of the 2nd - beginning of the 1st millennium BC, in the 6th century. BC. Zoroastrianism became the state religion in Ancient Persia and began to spread among the peoples conquered by the Persians. The ancient Persians were descendants of the Aryans (Irano-Aryans), therefore the Vedic religion of the Indo-Aryans and Zoroastrianism, the Vedas and the Avesta have common roots. But in the spiritual culture of these two branches of the Aryans by the middle of the 1st millennium BC. two opposing concepts of the posthumous existence of the soul are formed.

The teachings of Zoroaster are distinguished from all previous religious teachings by the presence of two original gods (the god of good and light Ahura-Mazda and the god of evil and darkness Angra-Manya), as well as the division of the afterlife into two areas: heaven and hell. The heavenly abode is depicted as a bright, happy place where the righteous live; hell, gloomy and fetid, is intended for tormenting sinners. The characteristics of hell and heaven given in Zoroastrianism were included in the description of similar places in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In Zoroastrianism, the type of posthumous existence for the first time turns out to be the result of a lived life, and no magical rituals can change the fate of the soul. The souls of all the dead rush to heaven, but to do this they need to cross the bridge over the hellish abyss; not everyone can overcome it and fall down (to hell). The fate of the dead is decided by judges standing on the bridge and weighing a person’s actions in earthly life.

In Zoroastrianism, for the first time, a complex of eschatological beliefs is developed in detail: the idea of ​​a savior is put forward, or more precisely, three successively coming saviors who come to people at different times to preach divine teachings and guide them to the camp of good. For the first time, the idea of ​​the Last Judgment at the end of time appears here, after which the saviors will destroy sinners, and the righteous will be resurrected and made immortal. Thus, the doctrine of the afterlife in this religion begins to work on both compensatory and regulatory functions.

In subparagraph 2.2.2. “The evolution of the doctrine of the afterlife in the culture of ancient Jews”; ideas about posthumous existence in the mythology of Judaism are explored. Initially, the mythological ideas of the ancient Jews developed in the traditional way for all ancient cultures. In the Old Testament, in particular in the Book of Job, there are references to the afterlife; this world is in many ways similar to the Greek Hades or the Mesopotamian “kingdom of the dead.” However, there was no certainty about the existence of the soul after death, and therefore beliefs were widespread according to which punishment for sins should have occurred during the lifetime of the offender or his descendants. In the post-exilic period, under the influence of Zoroastrianism, ideas about heaven and hell, the end of the world, the Last Judgment and bodily resurrection arose and developed in Judaism. Judgment, which in most religions is supposed to occur immediately after death, among Jews

deev is postponed until this unrighteous world is destroyed. From the end of the 1st millennium BC. Messianic aspirations are also becoming widespread, according to which God’s chosen people will receive reward on earth after the coming of the Messiah.

In subparagraph 2.2.3. “The formation and development of the doctrine of the afterlife in Christian culture” traces the process of the emergence and formation of ideas about the afterlife and the posthumous fate of man in the Christian doctrine.

Christianity arose in the 1st century. based on Judaism. From the very beginning, the doctrine of the afterlife (heaven and hell) and the Last Judgment occupied the most important place in it. In various branches of Christianity there are differences on the issue of the afterlife, the main one of which is the existence of purgatory. The idea of ​​purgatory was established in Catholicism in the 11th-13th centuries, but was not recognized in Orthodoxy. Protestantism, which emerged from Catholicism in the 16th century, also rejected the idea of ​​purgatory. Common to all areas of Christianity is the belief in two afterlifes: heaven in heaven, where the righteous are blissful, and hell under the earth, where sinners are tormented. Purgatory is understood in Catholicism as a place of torment similar to hell. But if it is impossible to escape from hell, then purgatory is a place of temporary residence of the soul, a place of cleansing from sins (all but mortals) through torment. The decision on the afterlife fate of the deceased is made at a posthumous trial. But the final decision on the fate of all people will occur at the Last Judgment. At the end of time, which will be accompanied by terrible cataclysms on earth, it will be carried out by the savior Jesus Christ, who previously accepted martyrdom on the cross for the sins of people. After this, the righteous will be resurrected, and sinners will be completely destroyed.

Ancient ideas about the possibility of traveling to the kingdom of the dead were also reflected in Christian culture in the myth of the descent of the god-man into hell, from which he not only emerges himself, but also leads the Old Testament righteous from there.

The afterlife, the Last Judgment and other concepts from this area were reflected in the artistic culture of medieval Europe. In literature, the most significant work in this regard was Dante's poem "The Divine Comedy", in fine art - numerous mosaic frescoes and icons on the theme of the Last Judgment.

In subparagraph 2.2.4. “The doctrine of the afterlife in Muslim culture” reveals ideas about the afterlife and the posthumous fate of man in Islam. The formation of Islam was greatly influenced by Judaism and Christianity; in addition, in its mythology we find traces of pre-Islamic pagan beliefs. According to the teachings of Islam, there are two afterlifes: Jannam and Jahannam. Both of them are above the ground: first there are 7 tiers of jahan-nama, then 7 levels of jannama. It is impossible to get into them immediately after death, therefore, having undergone a posthumous trial, the deceased awaits the “execution of the sentence” until the time of the Last Judgment. Existence after death directly depends on the life lived, and sinners are punished even before entering jahannam. When will the end of the world come, accompanied by various catastrophes, and will appear on earth?

whole mission, people will be resurrected. They will be sent to heaven or hell, but even after that, sinners will be able to go to Jannah if they purify themselves through torment.

In Muslim culture, we also find myths about travel to the afterlife of living people, for example, the story of Muhammad, who visited both hell and heaven, where he was even granted an audience with Allah.

In subparagraph 2.2.5. The results of the analysis carried out in the second chapter are summed up and the common features and features of ideas about the afterlife in the cultures examined are highlighted.

The third chapter, “The Evolution of Ideas about the Posthumous Existence of the Soul in the Culture of Modern Times,” is devoted to modern views on the problem of posthumous existence. Fundamental changes in the culture of the New Age, based on the development of science and technology, had a significant impact on people’s consciousness, including ideas about “life after death.”

In paragraph 3.1. "Emmanuel Swedenborg and his visions of the afterlife"

The ideas about the afterlife of the Swedish naturalist and mystic of the 18th century Emmanuel Swedenborg are considered. Not being able to examine in detail in one limited work various approaches to solving the problem of posthumous existence in the modern era, we decided to highlight one of the most famous mystics - Em. Swedenborg, as he published a number of books describing his visions. His personality is also of interest due to the fact that he was a famous scientist and naturalist, and lived in a country influenced by Protestantism, although he was raised in a Catholic family. Although Swedenborg did not try to challenge traditional religious ideas, he believed that the biblical revelation was understood too literally by people, and therefore his books were aimed at trying to “adequately” explain sacred texts.

Describing the afterlife, Swedenborg does not mention the lord of evil - the Devil. He believes that such a creature simply does not exist. The devil is one of the hells in which the most evil spirits are found. There is also Satan, which refers to another hell that is before the devil, and Lucifer, in which there are spirits who dream of spreading their dominance. But the Devil, as the progenitor of evil, does not exist, which means no one except the person himself is responsible for the consequences of his life. Swedenborg does not even have such a traditional Catholic concept as purgatory. However, he describes a kind of “spirit world” in which the souls of people prepare to enter heaven or hell. But in this world, rather, the opposite process takes place - not the purification of the soul through torment, but a change in the appearance of the deceased in accordance with his inner world. From Swedenborg's visions it follows that God never created either angels or demons, they all originated from people who, after their death, go either to heaven or to hell. Swedenborg draws special attention to the fact that the Lord does not cast anyone into hell. The spirit goes where it wants, where it is drawn, and its desire is determined by the life it has lived, the choice that was made on earth, as well as the ability and desire to perceive God.

The specificity of Swedenborg's teaching is also expressed in the fact that belonging to a particular church is unimportant for posthumous fate, since every person has some kind of faith, and its commandments tell about what to do “to be pleasing to God.” This thought reflected the faith-tolerance characteristic of some branches of Protestant culture.

In paragraph 3.2. “A study of the visions of people who have experienced clinical death and their influence on modern ideas about the afterlife” examines the results of modern scientific research into the impressions of people who have been on the verge of life and death.

Throughout the 18th-20th centuries, ideas about the afterlife in world religions remained largely the same. However, in European culture at that time there was a transition from freethinking and skepticism to a natural science, predominantly atheistic and materialistic worldview. The 19th-20th centuries were a time of active secularization of public life, and in the mass consciousness, even among believers, skepticism towards church teaching about the afterlife intensified, and an increasing number of people came to the conclusion that there is nothing after death.

In such a situation, the research conducted by Dr. R. Moody among people who for some time seemed to be beyond life as a result of clinical death, as well as dying people who talked about their feelings, turned out to be revolutionary. He was able to discover about fifteen common elements in the messages of the people with whom he talked: noise, a dark tunnel, a new immaterial (“subtle”) body, a meeting with other beings, a meeting with a Luminous Being, seeing pictures of a life lived, the judgment of one’s own conscience; returning back to the body, and others.

At the same time with Dr. Moody, but independently of him, other scientists were studying the experience of “otherworldly” existence, among them Dr. E. Kübler-Ross. The results of her research generally coincide with the results of Moudi. Another scientist working in this area is Dr. S. Grof. His research made it possible to draw a parallel between near-death experiences and trance experiences.

In the light of the analysis, the similarities identified between the content of myths and the impressions of people who have been on the verge of life and death turn out to be especially important, allowing us to take a fresh look at mythological material. In turn, a new reading of myths can help psychology, anthropology and cultural studies in their study of man.

The Conclusion summarizes the work done.

The main provisions of the dissertation are reflected in the following publications of the author:

1. Ideas about the soul and the afterlife in primitive culture // Philosophical Research. - M., 2004.- No. 1. - pp. 235-239.

2. Ideas about the soul and the afterlife in the primitive era // Creative mission of culture: Sat. articles by young scientists. Issue 3 -M.: MGUKI, 2003. - pp. 15 - 18.

3. Ideas about the afterlife in the mythology of ancient peoples // Creative mission of culture: Sat. articles by young scientists. - M.: MGUKI, 2004.-S. 91-95.

4. Pictures of the afterlife in the mystical teachings of E. Swedenborg // Ethnocultural diversity and the problem of interaction of cultures. - M.; MGUKI. 2004. - pp. 64-72.