I had to meet people who survived clinical death, they were different in age, education, profession. But doctors who shared their revelations were not among them. Therefore, Dr. Eben's book about his personal afterlife experience, published this fall, I could not ignore. Wrote an article about Alexander Eben in the newspaper "Life". And today I'm posting it in a more complete form. In the photo - Dr. Eben.
"In the next world, bliss awaits us"
The revelations of people who returned from the other world are recognized as a scientific fact
Neurosurgeon Alexander Eben, coming out of a coma, said that he was in paradise
The belief that life continues after death, ancient as the world, has finally been replaced by knowledge. Doctor of Medical Sciences Alexander Eben, a neurosurgeon with 25 years of experience, who personally experienced clinical death, publicly stated:
Life goes on even after death, I visited Paradise!
Before, before his afterlife experience, the doctor Alexander Eben did not believe in the stories of patients who had been in the next world. Like the vast majority of physicians, he considered the post-mortem experience to be hallucinations. Until he experienced it himself.
Early on the morning of November 10, Alexander woke up with a severe headache. He was taken to a Virginia hospital in the United States, where he worked, already unconscious. The diagnosis was quickly made - bacterial meningitis.
For a week, the doctor was between life and death, the cortex of his brain, which is responsible for thoughts and emotions, ceased to function. Such patients are called "vegetable". In the intensive care unit lay a living corpse connected to an artificial respiration apparatus. The brain no longer showed signs of life, his soul was thrown away like a cracked nut. And flew far, far away!
The doctor came out of a coma only on the seventh day, when colleagues were about to declare death and disconnect the body from vital systems. The awakened Dr. Eben was as shocked as they were. But not by the fact that he, almost a dead man, returned to life, but by the amazing knowledge and experience that he acquired in the next world.
Revelations
Medicine, with its current level of knowledge, cannot admit that during a deep coma I was even in a limited consciousness, - says Dr. Eben. - And the fact that I made a very bright journey in those seven days was considered impossible from the point of view of science. But all this was with me - the cortex of my brain turned off, but the consciousness went to another, much big universe which I never knew existed.
According to Alexander, afterworld incomparably more and better than that in which our body lives. This is how he describes the experience, calling it Paradise:
I saw transparent, shimmering creatures flying across the sky, leaving long, line-like trails behind them. These creatures made amazing sounds, like a beautiful song, in this way they expressed the joy and grace that overwhelmed them.
One such angelic being, a young woman, joined Dr. Eben. She had dark blue eyes, golden brown braided hair, and high cheekbones. The woman's clothes were simple, but beautiful and bright - pale blue, blue and peach.
Her gaze was full of love, above all those shades of love that we have on earth. She spoke to me without words, her messages passed through me like the wind. My senses were sharpened - I knew that everything around me was true. She said that everything I loved and cherished would stay with me forever, that I had nothing to fear. She said she would show me many things, but in the end I will return to earth. I asked - where am I and why am I here?
The answer came instantly, like an explosion of light, color, love and beauty that pierced me like a wave. I received an answer - en entered me instantly, I could without special efforts understand concepts that would have taken years to comprehend in Earth years. The main thing from this knowledge is that our life does not end with death, an exciting journey and eternal bliss awaits us.
The angel woman led the doctor into "a huge void where it was completely dark, but there was a sense of infinity, and it was very pleasant at the same time." Alexander believes that this inky black sphere, "which radiated an extraordinary light," was the home of God.
The doctor began to write down his impressions of the experience immediately after his recovery, on the advice of his eldest son, more than 20 thousand words of revelations. This autumn, exactly four years after his return from the other world, Dr. Eben finally published his revelations - he called the book "Proof of Paradise. Journey of a neurosurgeon to the afterlife."
I am not a preacher, but a scientist, - Alexander notes. - But at a deep level, now I am very different from the person I used to be, because I saw new picture reality. I am well aware of how unusually, incredibly my revelations are perceived. If anyone, even a doctor, had told me this before, I would have considered it all a delusion. But my journey to the other world is an event as objective for me, as real as my wedding, as the birth of my two sons. Now I know that our emotions, our love, have great importance for the universe, but our soul is eternal. I intend to dedicate the rest of my earthly life to the mission of exploring the true nature of consciousness, its relationship to the physical brain. The brain is not a producer of consciousness, but only an instrument for the soul, a shell in which it exists. My wife, Holly, believed in my post-mortem experience, while colleagues expressed polite disbelief. They immediately understood me in the church - when I first entered the temple after a coma, I experienced the same emotions when I saw the turns and the portrait of Jesus. I know that we are all loved by God and he will accept each of us as a son ...
The ice of rejection by medical colleagues of the revelations of Dr. Eben, even so, finally cracked. Renowned anesthesiologist Professor Stuart Hameroff recently unveiled his theory, confirming the post-mortem experience of Dr. Eben. According to her, the existence of consciousness in the universe has been constant since the Big Bang. And the death of an organism does not mean the death of the information stored in the brain, which continues to "flow in the Universe." This explains the fact of the stories of people who survived after clinical death, about " White light' or 'tunnel'. Information, our life experience, which determines the personality, is not destroyed, but scattered in the Universe in the form of quanta. It can be considered a soul.
returned
The revelations of Dr. Eben are in many ways similar to the memories of other people who have experienced clinical death. I had a chance to meet some of them, their stories were credible. First of all, by the fact that they radically changed their attitude to life, became deeply spiritual and moral. Here are their words describing what they experienced in the next world:
Boris Pilipchuk, former policeman:
“I felt very good. I saw an extraordinary light. He was bright, but soft, warmth, calmness, joy and peace emanated from him. This light filled me with such delight that it is impossible to express in words!”
Nun Antonia:
“It is brighter, more beautiful, it blooms like in spring. And the aroma is wonderful, everything is fragrant. In the soul immediately heavenly bliss came. Suddenly, something happened inside me that I had never experienced before: endless love, joy, happiness entered my heart - all at once.
Vladimir Efremov, designer:
“Consciousness did not turn off, there was a feeling of extraordinary lightness. He flew somewhere along a giant pipe. There was no horror or fear. Only bliss. All my feelings and memories were with me. My consciousness embraced everything at once at the same time, for it there was neither time nor distances.
Expert
Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Associate Professor Artem Mikheev, President of the Russian Association of Instrumental Transcommunication:
The experience of Alexander Eben is very valuable - of those doctors whom I personally know, alas, no one has experienced this, but there are a lot of confirmations of other people who have experienced clinical death. "Death" is the cessation of the functioning of the physical body and its attributes. But personality and consciousness are by nature not identical. physical body and are not its product. Consequently, after dropping the dense shell, the consciousness functions in a new environment, in another, more subtle body that is not perceived by our senses, which is confirmed scientific research. The same Dr. Eben confirms that "death is not the end of conscious existence, but only part of an endless journey."
Grigory Telnov, first published in the newspaper "Life".
Near-death experiences (NDEs) are common. Studies have shown: 4% of German and American citizens reported a similar experience. It turns out that near-death experiences were experienced by one in 25 people, and in general - more than 9 million Americans. But if you haven't heard about NDE from your friends or relatives, don't be surprised. A person tends to keep such memories to himself, as he is wary of being considered abnormal. Researchers have shared startling details of many thousands of NDEs. I recommend that those who wish to read the stories of the respondents in all their diversity, in order to get a more complete impression. In what follows, I will elaborate on what I mean by near-death experiences. I will not cite the memoirs “who returned from the other world” in their entirety - they can be easily found in many other works. Instead, I've pieced together passages from many of the messages taken from NDE research and my personal conversations to form a collage of sorts - condensed, coherent story. Please note that most respondents have experienced many elements of the NDE, but not all. For example, some leave their bodies, see how the doctors are trying to revive them, talk to several deceased relatives, and then return to their bodies without flying through the tunnel to the being of light. Notice also that most of them have difficulty putting their experiences into words. Apparently, there are simply no sufficiently close analogies in earthly life.
So, before you are a few testimonies of eyewitnesses who have been "on the other side of life."
“My whole life appeared before me in the form of a panoramic, three-dimensional image, and all events were judged by the standards of good and evil; I understood all causes and effects. And all the time I not only watched what was happening from my own point of view, but also knew the thoughts of all the participants in certain events, as if they were transferred to me. This means that I saw not only what I did or thought, but even how my thoughts and actions influenced others. It was as if an all-seeing eye had opened in me. And I also realized that the most important thing is love. I cannot say how long the review of my life and penetration into its essence continued; probably quite a long time, because I managed to see all the events. At the same time, it seemed to me that only a fraction of a second had passed, because I saw everything at the same time. Time and distance seemed to cease to exist.”
“I had never heard of near-death experiences before, and had never been interested in paranormal activity and things like that."
“Suddenly, I realized that I was hovering over the operating table and watching how people in white coats fussed over what was lying on the table. human body. Then it dawned on me that the body was my own. And I also heard the doctor say: I must have died. (He later confirmed that he had said this, and was very surprised that I heard everything. So I warned them to be careful with their expressions during operations.)”
"I was there. I was on the other side. It cannot be described in human words. Our words are too limited to give an idea."
“Everything was real, real – as real as I am now, when I sit opposite you and talk to you. And nothing will convince me otherwise.”
“I didn't have to think; I knew everything. I could go through everything. I immediately understood: there is neither time nor space here.
"I saw the most dazzling colors, which were all the more amazing because I'm colorblind."
“The pain is gone and I feel so good! I did not feel anything but peace, comfort, lightness. It seemed to me that all my troubles were gone. I have never been so calm. Never before have I felt so happy. Everything was so wonderful that I can hardly describe it.
“I was seized by a sense of peace that I had never known on earth ... An all-consuming feeling of love washed over me, not an earthly feeling with which I was quite familiar, but something else that cannot be expressed in words. I saw beauty beyond words. I looked at the majestic landscape, beautiful flowers and trees whose names I don't know. They seemed to be very far away from me, several hundred miles away, and at the same time I saw everything down to the smallest detail. Everything was far and close at the same time. All items were voluminous and a thousand times more beautiful than the places where I go on vacation in the spring.
"I was surrounded by lovers all the time supernatural beings Sveta".
“I got the impression that this is a completely different dimension. And if something was missing there, then our earthly concept of time.
"Everything was permeated with indescribable love."
"The knowledge and thoughts that passed through me were clear and pure."
"I met Mr. van der G., father best friend my parents. After I woke up, I told my parents about the meeting, and they replied that while I was in a coma, Mr. van der G. died and was buried. I had no way of knowing about his death."
“I saw both a dead grandmother and a man who looked at me lovingly, although I did not know him. Ten years later, on my deathbed, my mother confessed that I was born out of wedlock… My mother showed me a photograph. She had the same unknown man, which I saw more than 10 years ago.
“I flew through this black vacuum at top speed. Perhaps it can be compared to a tunnel. The darkness was so deep and impenetrable that I could see absolutely nothing; but I experienced the most wonderful, most carefree feeling that you can imagine.
“I saw a bright light, and on the way there I heard wonderful music and admired bright colors who had never seen before. The light... was like I had never seen before; it is different from everything we are used to, for example, from sunlight. It was white, extraordinarily bright, and yet one could look at it without difficulty without squinting. It is the pinnacle, the culmination of all things. Energy, especially love, warmth, beauty. I immersed myself in a feeling of boundless love.”
“... from the moment the light spoke to me, I felt really good - I understood that I was completely safe and surrounded by love. The love that emanated from him cannot be imagined or described. It was so wonderful with him! Plus, he has a sense of humor! I really, really didn't want to leave this creature."
“It became clear to me why I got cancer. And most importantly, why did I come into this world. What role did all the members of my family play in my life, where is the place of each of us in the common great plan and in general - what is the meaning of life. The clarity and insight that came to me in that state simply cannot be described.”
“I wanted to stay there ... and yet I returned. Back to the pain, to the deafening screams and slaps of the doctor. I'm beside myself with rage, just beside myself! From that moment on, the real struggle began to live my life inside my body, with all the limitations that fettered me then ... But later I realized that in fact that feeling was a blessing, because now I know that the mind and body separate and what is. My worldview has undergone a radical transformation.”
Later, when examining their NDEs from all angles, people who have experienced them immediately dismiss the assumption that what they saw was a vivid dream or hallucination. They believe they really have. That is why they are reluctant to share their memories with doctors and even with friends and family. It would be easy to say: “You have no idea what miracles I dreamed during the operation! Everything was like reality! Would you like to listen?" But they can't say that.
They believe that everything was real deed that their experience is more than just a dream. They don't like themselves. An event happened to them that radically changed their lives, but they are afraid that no one will believe them. Not knowing about the prevalence of such phenomena, they keep their memories to themselves or carefully tell about them to the closest people, kindred spirits.
Van Lommel conducted follow-up interviews with NDE patients 2 years and 8 years after the event. And everyone said that their life has changed dramatically. In this respect, they differed from control patients who had had a heart attack but without NDE. Patients who have experienced near-death experiences no longer fear death, realizing that the most basic thing in life is love. They tend to gravitate towards professions aimed at helping people and show more empathy and compassion.
Besides, material values no longer play for them like this important role. Therefore, it is sometimes uncomfortable for them to live in the earthly, material world, where it is not customary to put spiritual values in the first place.
Since ancient times, there are descriptions of examples when people managed to literally return from the other world. These examples gave rise to legends or frightened, but always excited the minds, and therefore have survived to this day.
1. Historical evidence of life after death.
The Greek philosopher and mathematician Plato was the first to describe the experience of near-death experiences. In conclusion to his work "State" Plato writes about a warrior named Er who was killed during the battle.
Unlike the bodies of the other fallen, his body remained untouched by decay for seven days. When he was already being prepared for burning on a funeral pyre, Er regained consciousness.
He told his amazing testimonies about life after death and reincarnation. He spoke about which no one has ever seen.
Er's story remains to this day the first recorded case of amazing near-death experiences.
2. Second birth.
In 1982, artist Mellen Thomas Benedict "died" of terminal cancer. Rushing through the tunnel towards the light Benedict decided he had questions and, in general, that he had not yet seen the world.
He recalls that in his incredible after-death experience, he flew through the entire solar system. He left our galaxy and traveled to other worlds where other life exists.
According to him, Benedict was transported to distant worlds and saw the past before big bang, at a time when space and time did not exist. Benedict woke up an hour and a half after he "died".
A later examination showed that his cancer had disappeared. Doctors called his recovery "spontaneous remission."
3. Grandmothers are guardian angels.
Suzanne Omeri was 11 years old when she ran across the road and was run over by a speeding car. The strong impact of the car threw her into the air. She later claimed that when she flew, saw everything in slow motion.
From the height of her flight, Omuri could see below the cars and the crowd of people who had gathered to watch the accident. Among this group, she saw her two many years ago.
They both yelled at Suzanne that she couldn't join them yet. Therefore, the whole picture began to turn back, and as a result, she landed on the road almost unscathed.
4. Meeting with an ancestor.
In 1989, Dan Piper was inside a car that crashed into a truck. Paramedics declared him dead. Piper no pulse for 90 minutes. While he was dead, he heard beautiful music and was intoxicated by wonderful aromas.
He also met with his grandfather and several other long-dead acquaintances in front of the huge gate. All his experiences were very pleasant. The meeting was interrupted when Piper began to regain consciousness.
His return to life surprised many, including those who prayed near his body at the scene of this terrible incident.
5. The daughter returned her mother.
In September 2003, Amanda Cable passed out after her heart stopped. Cable left her body, but she was stopped by a girl who looks like her daughter
She was wearing a school uniform, and her hair was pulled back into a bun at the back of her head. Ruby convinced her mother to go back through the white tunnel to the gate. Ruby slammed the gate shut after Cable passed through.
When Cable regained consciousness, she saw her husband sitting by her bed. He brought a photo of Ruby's first day at school, which Cable had missed because she was in the hospital at the time.
In the photo, Ruby was wearing school uniform, and her hair is gathered in a bun at the back of her head, as Cable saw her in her visions.
6. Meeting with historical figures.
In 1976, George Rodonia was pronounced dead from being hit by a car in a car accident. His body was taken to the morgue, where it remained three days.
When the pathologist began an autopsy on George's body, he came to his senses, shocking those around him. But the stories he told after his return were even more shocking.
At the time of his death, he once again experienced some episodes of his life and met with different people. He had the ability and space.
He said that he met with historical figures and traveled back in time to the days of the Roman Empire.
7. Looking to the future.
In 1999, Dr. Mary Neal was canoeing down a mountain river when her boat capsized. Caught under water, she was without air 25 minutes until help arrives.
In her unconscious state, she had near-death experiences in which she was told the future. In this case, it would be better for her not to hear this prediction.
While she was "dead", she was told that her eldest son would die. However, no details of this prediction were given. As a result, this prediction came true: her nineteen-year-old son soon died in a car accident.
8. They didn't let me go home.
Paul Ike was three years old when he fell through the ice on the pond. When rescuers pulled him out of the water, he no pulse for 3 hours. Doctors performed resuscitation, and his heart began to beat.
Then the kid told interesting stories about how he until he got to the gate. He approached the gate and tried to enter, but a figure stopped him.
He subsequently identified the figure as his grandmother, who died before he was born, from a photograph. She sent him back, saying that his parents were waiting for him at home.
9. Healing from cancer.
In 2006, while battling terminal cancer, Anita Moyani fell into a coma. Her organs failed and her body was swollen with cancer.
In her memoirs, Anita said that she saw the doctor and her husband talking at a distance from her hospital room. She also saw her brother flying on a plane to meet her.
Both of these events were later confirmed, but Anita could not have known anything about them at the time. According to her story, she was given the choice to live or die, and Anita came back fully conscious and with a miraculous recovery.
Doctors could not find any trace of her terminal illness.
10. Meeting with an unborn child.
As three-year-old Colton Burpo lay on the operating table with a ruptured appendix, doctors no longer hoped to save his life.
Miraculously, two hours later, Colton was taken from the operating room to the ward, where he told incredible stories. It turns out that in his visions he met a little girl who called herself his sister.
Indeed, Colton's mom had a miscarriage when her daughter was due, but she didn't say anything about it to Colton.
He also spoke about a conversation he had with a man he called "dad". Colton was later able to determine from family photo that it was his paternal grandfather who died many years ago.
Translation by Tatyana Beglyak specially for the magazine "Reincarnation".
Since childhood (now I am 25 years old) I was attracted by the unknown and mystical. For about five years, I somehow secret knowledge I was sure of the existence of UFOs, ghosts, brownies.
And it didn't scare me at all. When I was 13 years old, I "met" ours. He dragged chocolates from the closet, rustled in the refrigerator, wandered around the house at night. Since I went to bed later than everyone else, all suspicions fell on me. My parents and sister did not believe me, they even laughed. True, until the dishes began to disappear. Our Kuzka returned the kitchen utensils in a way that was incomprehensible to us: in the morning, when we woke up, went out to the kitchen, all the lost items ended up on the table. This went on for three weeks. We even got used to it. And then everything went quiet.
But what happened to me in the summer of 2008, I can't explain and, to be honest, I don't try.
This happened to me in a dream. At first I heard a smooth pleasant male voice, which for some reason seemed to me insanely familiar and dear. He seemed to whisper something to me, and I realized that I should go with him.
Immediately episode: a long white street. Not even white, but the color of wet chalk. Wide, as if lined with something like a cobblestone pavement, but it is not stone or metal. Walking the road is easy. I caught myself thinking that I was not walking, but soaring, but the sound of steps was distinctly heard in my head: mine and my companion.
On both sides of the road sidewalks and one-story houses, the rows of which are broken only by intersections. All one color. Even the sky. No, it's more of a dome that looks like matte white polyethylene. My companion walks beside me and says something to me. But I do not understand the meaning of the words - I am all in thought. I want to remember everything in detail, and I dare to look into his face. With an effort I turn my head to the right - and my gaze rests on the silvery rectangular badge of his belt. He is more than half a meter taller than me! (my height is 160 cm). I see his trousers and part of his jacket, all the colors of their sky.
I don't feel like talking, and I raise my eyes to the "sky" again. "Where is the sun?" - the thought slips. “Are you dark or cold? The sun is too far away,” he seemed to answer my thought. Indeed, it was warm there: a pleasant and caressing warmth. For some reason it reminded me of my mother's hands. And the light was there, but its source was not visible, however, as well as the shadow. And yet, after what he said, I panicked. "The sun is too far away - then where am I?!" But he didn't answer me. Calmness came as suddenly as panic appeared.
I looked around again: a wide long street, low houses-barracks, a sky without sun. "Here there is not even street lamps, I thought. "Look to the left," came the reply. I looked there: a street lamp, however, does not burn. "Here's your lantern. Is it really that important to you?" his voice sounded in my head. I didn't know what to answer. He was damn right.
In the end, I liked it there. Apparently, catching me on this thought, he began to persuade me to stay. He says that people often come here, that soon many will come to live here. And I really want to stay! But suddenly I remember my relatives, my husband, my little daughter and refuse. At that moment, a female, slightly rough voice sounds in my head: “Leave her. Her time will come. She just doesn't understand." And again the male: “You will return home. But soon you will have to settle here, and you will be able to take with you whoever you want.”
I woke up. That morning I felt such overwhelming joy, such delight as I had never felt before! Strength and energy have increased in me, it has become freer to breathe, as if a large stone has been removed from my shoulders.
Then I forgot about the strange dream. But soon everything returned. I came across a book by A. Priyma "News from the other world." The writer cited a number of testimonies of people who visited a certain city of Kuili, far from solar system planet. After reading what these people said under hypnosis, I felt both joy and horror at the same time: they were telling what I saw in a dream! But even now I don't know if I can trust myself. Maybe everything I saw was just a figment of my imagination? To be honest, I'm afraid that I really was there. After all, it is not clear why many should soon come to live on a distant planet, and what will happen to our loved ones and children if my guide still did not lie and the chosen ones come there? Some solid questions...
We continue to acquaint our readers with the program of the Spas TV channel, My Way to God, in which Priest Georgy Maksimov meets with people who have converted to Orthodoxy. The experience experienced by the guest of this edition of the program is dramatic and at the same time ... bright, because it radically changed his life, which is rapidly rushing downhill, turned to Christ. How and why Vasily ended up in the world that he experienced there how the feeling of Christ's love helped to correctly comprehend life here , is his story.
Priest George Maximov: Hello! The program "My way to God" is on the air. Today's guest, I will say right away, experienced very dramatic events in his life, which led him to God. Among people who are far from faith, there is such a saying: "No one returned from the next world." It is pronounced with the subtext that as if no one knows what awaits us after death. However, the story of our guest refutes this proverb. But before moving on to talking about his death and return, let's talk a little about the background. Vasily, am I not mistaken if I assume that you grew up, like many of our generation, in an unbelieving environment and were unfamiliar with faith?
: Yes. I was born and raised in a different era. And after the army - for me it was in 1989 - a completely different paradigm arose. Soviet Union crumbled. I had to find food somehow. Young family, the child was born. After the army, I worked a little at the factory, and then ended up in a security agency - a private security company. Now it is, of course, a slightly different structure, but then it was the guards, and at night the bandits who extorted debts. I've done a lot of bad things. Many terrible deeds. There is no blood on my hands, but everything else is enough. Therefore, I am still ashamed, although I repented. Many people died nearby. Some were planted. But, since my daughter was born at that moment, I decided to leave this path anyway. Slowly, I managed to get away without much loss. I just moved to another place, cut off all ties completely. I tried to somehow build my life, but there was no money, and I earned money anywhere: I traded, taxied in my car. I met my friends in the market. Back then it was called a "scam". He worked for three years in the markets of Moscow and the Moscow region. There he became addicted to drugs.
Father George: And how did it happen? After all, you were already an adult and probably heard that it was dangerous.
Heroin is a very clingy demon. He takes the man in his arms and does not let go. Twice is enough
: I then quarreled with my wife, lived alone in a communal apartment, where I was going to big company drug addicts. I looked at their happy faces as they injected and said, "You don't need this." It was more like, "Don't throw me into the thorn bush." And so I wanted to try it. At first it was scary. Sniffed - did not give much effect. Then he pricked himself one, two, three ... And that's it. Enough, I think, two times. Heroin is a very clingy demon. He takes the person in his arms and does not let him go. No matter how many people were treated, tried to somehow get away, get off this topic - only a few succeeded. I know only one girl who succeeded, but even then at the cost of great effort, and in the female part she has a fiasco. That is, she will not give birth. Well, the rest died. Moreover, people experienced clinical death from an overdose and then went for a new dose.
I remember an incident with my friend. We were sitting in the kitchen: me, him and his girlfriend. Pricked - he fell. He became ill and called an ambulance. Those arrived quickly. They dragged him to the landing. They opened the sternum and did a direct heart massage ... This sight is not for the faint of heart, I tell you. Pumped out. And still, it did not give him anything, and literally two months later he left us due to an overdose. Terrible things. I sat there for about a year. This is relatively small. It hits people in different ways. Some people live on heroin for 10, 15 years - I don't know why for so long. But usually a drug addict lives for 5-6 years maximum.
Father George: Your own death Was it also due to an overdose?
: Not really. Then there was such an opinion: you can drink vodka, and through alcohol you will be able to get off heroin. But, as it turned out, this is not really the case. There were May holidays, and for this purpose I drank and drank. To get off heroin. But it didn't help. I could not stand it, and on May 11, my friends and I injected ourselves in the entrance. It was in the evening, after 22:00. And vodka and heroin are death at once. I don’t know what affects what, but it’s almost immediately. And I was still high on alcohol. I remember darkness. As if consciousness collapses. Eyes close and bells ring in the ears.
Father George: That is, you have clinical death?
: This is the very moment of death. Didn't feel any pain. My eyes closed softly, calmly, and I fell down, rolled down to the garbage chute. There he stayed. I only remember how literally in a moment I saw - as if from under the water and in slow motion - how a girl, one of us, runs, knocks on apartments to open the call to the ambulance - mobile phones it wasn't there then. My friend, who was nearby, Sergey, is trying to give me artificial respiration. But he probably wasn't very good at it. Then I remember that I was already lying in front of the entrance. The ambulance has arrived. The body lies. I see my body from the side. They are doing something there. And somehow it didn't matter to me. Completely uninteresting. Start pulling to the right and up. Everything is accelerating. And such an unpleasant sound, a rumble. It whirled and carried upwards along such a large pipe. My thoughts never stopped for a second.
Father George: Understanding what has come, did not frighten?
: And at first I did not have this understanding. It came later. I was getting faster and faster. Then such translucent walls, a tunnel, the flight is accelerating. There are some pictures around, it can be compared with the star images of the Hubble telescope. And there's a bright light ahead. The brightest. It's akin to an attraction in a water park, when you spiral down, go down and fall into the pool with warm water. And such a chord of some unearthly music, or something. That's when I looked at myself. Only then did I realize that I was dead. There was no regret whatsoever. I felt joy, peace, pleasure. I could see where I am. He saw my body lying in the ambulance. But somehow I don’t care about him at all. Without any contempt, without hatred, just ...
Father George: How is it something else?
I immediately knew it was him. And He is like a father. No one has ever spoken to me like this.
: Yes. That's how you go by - there is a stone on the street. Well, lies and lies. After that, I was pulled up, you know, as if a warm palm was lifting up. I felt directly waves of happiness and absolute calmness. Absolute protection. Everything around is saturated with love - such a force that it is not clear what to compare with. I was drawn as if through some clouds. How the plane takes off. Higher and higher. And a figure appeared in front of me in a dazzling radiance. She was in a long robe, in a tunic. You know, before that time I had never opened the Bible and I had never had any thoughts about God, about Christ. But then I immediately realized with all the fibers of my soul that it was He. And He is like a father. He welcomed me with a love that you don't see on Earth. Nobody ever talked to me like that. He did not reproach, did not convince, did not scold. He just showed my life. We communicated with thoughts, and every word of His was perceived as a law. Without any doubt. He spoke quietly and affectionately, and I became more and more convinced that I was monstrously wrong not only to myself, but also to my relatives, and indeed to everyone. I cried, sobbed, my heart, torn, cleared, gradually it became easier for me.
You know, such a comparison has sunk into my head: when a potter makes some kind of pot, and then his clay blank falls - and he begins to straighten it with his hands ... Just like a potter, He ruled my soul. She was so dirty ... So, He played my life like a picture before my eyes.
It is known that this happens, I later read it from the same Moody or from others who experienced this. Nothing new here. I don't invent, I don't lie. They lie, probably, to achieve some goal. I just want to talk about what I saw so that people can hear. I have already got used to the fact that many do not believe me and sometimes twist their fingers at the temple.
So. He could stop life anywhere. It's like some kind of movie. But, what is most interesting, I could go anywhere to look at myself. Feel the situation from the point of view of each of the people around me.
Father George: Understand how they perceived it?
: Yes. How can. It's like... for example, a bullet wound and a knife wound that I had, cannot be compared with how a person can be wounded with just one thrown word. And how you remember it for the rest of your life. What are the consequences of this. How to be careful in your actions. Many people think that there is only this life, and then everything, some kind of dark, hopeless something, and there is nothing. No, my friends, everyone will have to answer for what they have done. Absolutely everyone.
I realized that I need to go back to earthly life. A wife, a child flashed before my eyes
Well, so, we dismantled these pictures with Him. Then He took me by the hand, we went... I remember that there was some kind of misty substance under my feet, it constantly shimmered. brightest light. That is, there is no shadow at all, although it is difficult to imagine here. I felt translucent. Like in the movie "The Invisible Man", where he just has boundaries. And He took me by the hand and led me and enlightened me with this the brightest light. Then we ended up back at the place where we first met. And I don't remember what He asked about, but the main thing that I realized is that I need to go back to earthly life. Wife and child flashed before my eyes. By the way, by that time we had a fight and for about a year we had not lived together. In general, I realized that I need to return. I promised Him to take up his mind, to improve. The deepest sadness arose in me, and at the same time I was given to understand that we would meet again. This hope is probably still alive today. To be honest, I want to go there. Any minute.
Although, of course, what I experienced was so beautiful, it can be so bad for those who end up in hell. I was not in paradise, but, probably, in some eve of paradise. I don't know how to say it... This feeling is probably stronger than all the drugs combined on Earth and multiplied by infinity. The explosion of omniscience literally "knocked" me off my feet, perhaps. The truth only edged over me, but I felt that endless creative potential that is embedded in us. To know everything… there’s no way to retell it, just take my word for it: it’s great, we certainly won’t be bored there. It was so wonderful there. Warm, cozy. It is with Him. I felt that He was the father. real father. Not like earthly fathers ... I was not very lucky with my biological father, and with my stepfather too.
In short, it turned out that I was already returning, as it were, in the reverse order. In May, the sun sets late ... I remember that it was still sunset, and I go down. Through the foliage of the trees, through the roof of the car and into the body. My consciousness jerks back in. I take a deep breath, my ribs hurt a lot. And I grab the paramedic's hand. He has a watch, keys, money in his palm ...
Father George: Yours?
: Yes. All from my pockets. Pockets turned inside out. I don't want to say anything bad about the ambulance workers. I myself am the son of doctors. My sister and I worked in the ambulance. I was a corpse. As it turned out, 14 minutes already. Naturally, they no longer took any resuscitation actions, they just took me to the morgue. Well, well… Anyway, I grabbed his hand. Those eyes should have been seen. I have never seen such horror before.
Father George: I can assume that in the future this person would no longer risk ransacking the dead. (Laughs.)
: Yes, there was money there ... I remember I counted out half of it to him - it was just a bottle of beer. And for the second half I bought myself a bottle of beer, sat right next to it and sat thinking to myself. The next day I woke up to a knock on the door. And I still did not understand practically what happened to me. Awareness occurred gradually over several weeks. So, I open the door: my wife is standing. We didn't see her for a year. All in all, we talked for about an hour. I dropped everything. Everything that was in that room. Closed it, and we went to her. I didn't go back there again. He cut off all the ends at once.
Cracking is the worst pain. You can't stand, you can't lie, you can't find peace at all
But heroin addiction has not gone away. By the end of the day, I felt really bad. And for the next two and a half months, I had such a diet: a bottle of vodka, diphenhydramine, tazepam, phenazepam - just to turn off completely for the duration of withdrawal. My wife is just a holy person. She was leaving me. She went to work and bought me vodka. And I lay at home. At the beginning of taking hard drugs, you don’t think about what will happen to you next, you feel good, and let the whole world wait. And when you want to end it, you find that the demon won't let you go. You no longer have veins, those that were, you "burned" a long time ago. You are all rotting, you are shaking and breaking in the literal sense of the word. Cracking is the worst pain. Not like a cut or bruise. It is rather akin to rheumatic pains, when the joints twist. But, again, a multiplied pain. And it's inside you. You will not tie, you will not attach anything. It starts to twist you. You can't stand, you can't lie down, you can't find peace at all. Plus all sorts of nightmares accompany it all. Terrible condition. And it's very easy to stop. You just need to pick up the phone, call, and in half an hour you will already be pricked, and everything is fine. But I promised to drop it.
By own will it is extremely difficult to overcome withdrawal, the support of loved ones and, of course, the desire of the patient are very important here. But the most important thing is that God help you in this matter.
Now I understand that the Lord also vouchsafed my wife to take care of me, and gave me strength. Alone, I would not have survived this.
It was a terrible summer. But I got over it. Then I stopped drinking. I won't say that I quit. After vodka, after all this “treatment”, I turned yellow sharply. An ambulance arrived and said: “Yes, you have hepatitis C. If you continue to drink, you will have cirrhosis, and hello.” I began to drink beer instead of vodka. It got even worse. In general, the case was nearing its end. Not from drugs, but from alcohol. We went to the clinic, where they code according to the Dovzhenko method. And now I have not drunk for 17 years. And it doesn't pull. I look at those who drink, and it becomes funny to me - this is just a circus. People don't understand what they are doing. I stopped drinking, and, naturally, in all these drunken companies I just get bored.
And termination drug addiction, and release from alcohol addiction It all happened after that incident. Some kind of internal directive arose, or something.
I went to work. Naturally, he stopped cheating on his wife after that moment immediately. Stopped smoking, stopped cursing
Now I understand that it is all connected with God. He puts on the right path. I went to work. Naturally, he stopped cheating on his wife after that moment immediately. I stopped smoking, I stopped cursing. It's gradual, step by step. In all my undertakings, I asked God for help. That's how he asked himself, and He always helped. By the way, a month after I turned yellow, I went back for blood tests. The diagnosis was not confirmed. I handed over still then some times - a hepatitis is not present. He just disappeared.
Father George: With all this, you did not immediately reach the Church?
: Yes. This was long haul. As if you first had to remove everything unnecessary from yourself. And the Church is already tuning, bringing to perfection. Getting rid of those dependencies that I listed above - this, I think, was only a rough adjustment, now I have to fine-tune. Fine tuning will continue until last breath. It is much more important and immeasurably more difficult than the first stage. After all, quitting smoking is much easier than quitting envying someone. Or quitting drinking is easier than stopping hating someone or forgiving someone.
I did not reach the Church right away. And at first I just read a lot about the post-mortem experience of people. He walked in some wilds: Blavatsky, Roerich ... There he searched for the truth. But I found it only when I read in the Bible: “God is love” (1 John 4:8). Orthodoxy teaches this. I have not found this in other teachings. And there, in my posthumous experience, - God is love. Absolute love. Exactly there I get it. I was protected, loved, understood. Like a son who found a father. It is Christianity that teaches that “to those who received Him, to those who believe in His name, He gave the power to become children of God” (John 1:12), “Therefore, you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Jesus Christ” (Gal. 4:7). And guided by this, I went to Church, took communion. Probably for the first time since the baptism. I was baptized in 1980; then we were in Vladimir, when everyone from Moscow was expelled for the Olympics, and there my mother baptized me in the church. Although she herself is a communist, her father is a communist. Doctors...
Father George: Just by tradition, perhaps?
After the first communion, I was surprised: “How can this be? And there - and here "
: Yes. Then I did not attach any importance to it. To be honest, until the age of 20 I didn’t even think about what God is - whether He exists or not. We just live, that's all. So. After that incident, probably six years passed before I came to the temple ... I began to periodically come to Communion once every three weeks. Confess, take communion. The first time I took communion, it was something unearthly. In general, I am a rather sharp person, sometimes I am rude. But here I just relaxed, and all the people seemed to me like that good angels. It lasted for about a day, I guess. And it's very similar to the feeling I had there. A similar kindred feeling. Grace. But when we partake of the Body and Blood of Christ, we become akin to Him. And after the first communion, I was surprised: “How can this be? And there - and here. Well, now, of course, this does not happen every time. And the first time it was at all ... I almost knocked off my feet in the church.
I understood a lot of interesting things when I thought about what I saw there. Those people who go to hell, they are then thrown into outer darkness. It turns out that a person who gets there after his death, he ... How sinful his soul is - she herself moves away from God. She condemns herself. The more sinful you are, the farther you are from the Light, from God. You yourself will not be able to approach Him, covered with the dirt of your thoughts and actions. It takes you further and further into pitch darkness where all your fears await you. And around Him there is no fear, only bliss. Life always ends suddenly for a person, and you will appear before Him with all the set of your deeds, and nothing can be changed there. And then you will condemn yourself and you will not allow yourself to approach the Light, for it will burn you unbearably. Like can only come into contact with like. This is not the Last Judgment, as it is often presented ...
Father George: Well, as a matter of fact, you doomsday- haven't made it yet. Because the Last Judgment will be at the end of history, when the resurrection from the dead takes place. Souls will unite with the bodies of the dead, and then people, together with their bodies, will appear at the Last Judgment. In the proper sense of the word, heaven and hell will already be after the Last Judgment. And before that, as St. Mark of Ephesus says, souls fall into a state of anticipation of the Last Judgment. And in accordance with what the soul of each person is, either they expect future torments and thereby suffer, or they expect future blessings and experience bliss from this.
: Apparently, this was a small court. own condemnation. To be honest, I've seen a lot, but I don't even want to think about angering the Lord. At least somehow. There is not even such a thought. I've done crazy things before. Now, knowing all that there maybe... how much there can be good and how bad - I can't even think about it. I could not live before without the thought of a cigarette or: “You didn’t smoke marijuana today or didn’t inject yourself - the day was wasted.” And now I gave up everything after what I found out. To be honest, I'm not a coward, but I behave like a good boy. I don't want to go there. It's scary there.
Father George: Into this outer darkness?
: Yes. Especially since it's forever. I also understood such a thing that here we have, as it were, two births. The first time we are born from our parents, and the second - after death. And in this life, when we are here, in this earthly world, we must decide who we are with and what actions we are doing. I am extremely lucky to be given another chance. God gave me new life in which I was able to understand what love is. Just time to change your mind. As said Reverend Seraphim Sarovsky: we must acquire the Holy Spirit here.
Father George: Right here on earth, because there there is no longer a choice. Regarding the birth, I remembered the words of St. Gregory of Sinai, who said: “Here, on earth, a person bears the embryo of his future life. Or eternal torment, or eternal happiness with God. And, in fact, with death, he gives birth to that eternity, which he determined by his direction of will: to what his will turned out to be directed - to God or to sin.
My consciousness was not interrupted for a second. And it confirms that we are not dying. I say this for atheists, for those who reject the Lord God
: And that's what actually inspired me to tell my story. This is all deeply personal, in principle ... Not everyone agrees to talk about themselves like that. I want to testify that the individual is indestructible. My consciousness was not interrupted for a second. And it confirms that we are not dying. This I speak for, for those who reject the Lord God. Because if here they hope for something, maybe for the prince of this world, then there he won't protect them. There they will be rewarded according to their merit. This is absolutely accurate.
And we must not only believe, but also commit good deeds. Think about it: what were you born for? Is it the most difficult biological organism on the planet created just for an empty pastime? Our life on Earth is a moment, but a very important one: it is here that we determine whether we come to Him or not. There will be no second such moment, and after death nothing can be corrected. Try, while there is time, not to do evil, ask for forgiveness from those who have offended. Do everything for the Glory of God.
Let me remind you of the two commandments that Jesus Christ brought to us. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind…” and “Love thy neighbor as thyself” (Mark 12:30, 31). If all people fulfilled these two commandments, then the whole planet Earth would be shrouded in love. And in this regard Orthodox Church is the flagship. I believe that this is the only true teaching, and it is this that leads to the afterlife. And what is this life, I was convinced in fact. Perhaps my story will help someone think about their actions, rethink their behavior. Many said: “You had hallucinations, the effects of drugs, some kind of delirium that occurs when the cerebellum falls asleep somewhere” ...
Father George: But the fact that your life has changed so radically is already evidence that it could not be just hallucinations. Because every drug addict sees hallucinations regularly, but this does not change his life. Life can only be changed by real experience. And I think the Lord showed you, let's say, in advance what can be. Because in your previous life, everything led you to a completely different place, to that very outer darkness, but the Lord, in His love, showed you in advance what awaits you, so that you could properly dispose of it. And, thank God, you really did the right thing with your second chance.
Thank you very much for your story. God bless you!
