Colonel Voropaev's training camp is the name of the drink. In memory of Gennady Voropaev

“Where no one returns from!” This has been true for many, many centuries. Yes, maybe this is true even now, if you find fault with the construction of the phrase. “From there” they sometimes began to return. If it's fast. If skillfully. And when we learned, it turned out that the elements of the phenomenon that people are making noise and writing about have been around us for a long time, but we haven’t seen them. Psychotherapist Andrei Vladimirovich Gnezdilov, whom I know, who is still alive, told me and then wrote about this “strange” phenomenon, in which he partially participated - however, not in the “strange”, but in its quite ordinary side. They operated on a middle-aged woman (judging by the fact that her mother was alive and had a schoolgirl daughter). This woman had almost no reason to die from the operation. And yet, clinical death developed on the operating table. The patient was brought back to life, and she knew nothing about her short “death”. And when she woke up, she told about an amazing dream. She dreamed that she left her body, was somewhere above, saw her body lying, doctors around it and realized that, most likely, she died. I became scared for the mother and daughter - she did not warn them about the operation, she wanted to tell them when everything was over. And, thinking about her family, she suddenly found herself at home. My daughter tried on a blue polka dot dress. A neighbor came in and said: “Lyusenka would like this.” Lyusenka is she, present here and invisible. Everything is calm, peaceful at home - and now she is back in the operating room, waking up.

The psychotherapist suggested going to “Lyusenka’s” home to calm down the family. The offer was greeted with gratitude, and he immediately left. The surprise of mother and daughter knew no bounds when he mentioned the blue dress and the neighbor. They could not understand how he knew about events that “according to all the laws of nature” he could not know about. Who told him?! I started with a story about this domestic miracle of ours - as something closer to me personally. I know A.V. His story is about events that are easily verifiable. Similar descriptions in the books of Moody, Kalinovsky and others are widely known. They are determined depending on whether it is a phenomenon being described or something more understandable to us, with our purely materialistic past. In the form: “to maintain innocence and acquire capital.” In the first case - as “exit from the body” (what? - no need for new terminology - let it be - the soul!). In the second case - as a change in the state of consciousness, or, according to the new terminology of L.I. Spivak, change in mental state.

It must be said that when Moody and others began to describe the phenomena that develop during clinical death, there was a sharp change in attitude towards them.
Unexpectedly, many were not surprised by what was written. They themselves or their loved ones experienced this “leaving the body” with the opportunity to observe events taking place here or in distant places, but they carefully hid this from outsiders, considering what they observed, firstly, to be unique, and secondly, the kind of deviation with which it is very easy to end up in a psychiatric hospital, from where, as it was in recent times, getting out is harder than getting in. And the “stigma” will remain, which, as you know, only artists are not afraid of. For them, this is something like a medal for emotionality, in the field of their activity - in a true or well-imitated version - necessary. Now from there, “from where no one returns,” a whole army of people has returned, and something like 10% (according to different statistics, the numbers are different) describe fairly similar “dreams,” and what gives credibility to the phenomenon is (1) what the subject describes in in his “dream” events that actually happened, but which he could not see, and (2) the fact of the similarity of dreams seen by the dead and the living in different parts of the earth, at least in standard version. It should be emphasized that patients were interviewed different people, which also (3) increases the reliability of similar events.

So, no one was surprised. Most scientists, especially scientists involved in the objective study of what can be recorded and measured in a living organism, do not usually touch on this topic publicly, and in private conversations, when they try to talk about this topic, they talk about quackery, fraud, etc.
One English scientist, whom I valued for the clarity of his research, harshly “cut off”: “What I cannot register and measure does not exist.” Truly, the world of people changes less than the world surrounding nature. Icarus at least dreamed, but the rest... And many centuries passed before distances became shorter in time due to the fact that not only people, but masses of people fly. True, not on their own wings, not like birds, but on winged and non-winged vehicles much, much heavier than air. (“They made me laugh,” they would have said in some pre-technological times.)

Also, most of the most diverse specialists prefer not to see these phenomena, not to hear about them. And they need to be studied for so many reasons, and ideological ones are not in the first place here, far from being the first. First of all - although not in all cases of resuscitation, but not exclusively rarely - the phenomenon is detected. For people separated by seas and continents, the picture of “memories” and “dreams” turns out to be not only general outline, and sometimes similar in typical details. It is impressive when the “resurrected” talk about what they saw, what actually happened. But, lying on the operating table, under no circumstances could they see the described events, which sometimes occurred even at a certain spatial distance from the operating room. A similar phenomenon (and perhaps one and the same) can be observed, and just as infrequently, during childbirth (L.I. Spivak, D.L. Spivak, laboratory staff).

In population studies, the phenomenon appears in 6-10% of women giving birth. The woman feels herself outside her body for some time, observing what is happening from the outside. Those women who have experienced this condition unanimously (!) claim that it is characterized not only by a feeling of leaving the body, but also by the complete disappearance of pain for the period of this exit and observation of everything that is happening and what is being done to the body. What is this? Short “clinical deaths” during childbirth? A phenomenon not necessarily associated with “death”? Most likely - the latter. The phenomenon now, after studies conducted independently of each other in different clinics, needs not “one more” or “many more” studies, but analysis. When analyzing a phenomenon, it should not be the last thing that a person talks about what he saw and heard not on the “name” of the body, but on the “name” of the soul, separated from the body. But the body does not react, it is clinically dead. Who thinks (sees, hears) when a person is alive?

It is well known that any descriptions that are exactly the same or very similar in the texts of different persons often then begin to be disputed, and quibbles about an overestimated, underestimated or simply unsuccessful assessment of the facts can serve as devastating evidence of the unreliability of a whole chain of events that certainly took place. Chronicles of wars and years of peace widely used by historians. Letters and material “evidence” of events are used... And a more or less truthful or custom-made, more or less false, history of the country, continent, family is written. And at the same time, how those who did not want to accept the evidence of facts neglected them or denied them, very clearly shows the attitude towards the Gospel.<…>

“Leaving the body” - is it really the exit of the soul or the phenomenon of a dying brain, dying not only clinically, but also biologically? It's really very difficult question. And it seems to me that an approximate answer to it can be taken from other amazing, strange phenomena"Through the Looking Glass". As you know, some people - and here Vanga is no exception, but a rather bright individual of this plane - talk about contacts with the departed, with those who have been gone for a long time. If this phenomenon is also confirmed, then, despite the lack of continuity of now very difficult, although not impossible observations, the only thing that can be said - for now - is that what is told when leaving clinical death is not a short-term the phenomenon of a dying brain, and, most likely, a transitional state, which is criticized by Father Anthony (USA) as a denial of everything that was previously written in the sacred books about life after the physical death of the body (heaven, hell, ordeal).

Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose) discusses this topic in much more detail. He gives a historical excursion about the subject, from which one can see that for the Church this is not news at all, far from news. But in his interpretation he is close to Father Anthony... We should discuss the issue in more detail with educated clergy - maybe we won’t reach agreement, but I think that both sides will benefit from this discussion. Such a person will definitely be found, if I’m not mistaken, he almost was... In Sergiev Posad, recently, in 1998. He found me himself and promised to come. I came. I met scientists who observe mental phenomena during childbirth. He promised to think about it. Many scientists have an unimportant character - Academician V.N. was certainly right. Chernigovsky, who said that “science is not made by angels.” Academician Vladimir Aleksandrovich Negovsky, our, and not only ours, leading resuscitator is no exception. Explodes easily.

I don't know how he will react to what I write here. Did he interview the patients he brought back to life? Did he believe them? And did they say anything to him? He doesn’t really encourage gullibility! And yet it is to him, along with the very few foreign fans of the revival, that we owe the lives of now, probably, many, many thousands of people - when returning “from there”, and the opportunity to study, and then understand what is happening at least with some of those dying after death. The corruption of the body is well known. What about the soul? There is an answer to this in the holy books. But is there now a “worldly” answer, some kind of answer, if not scientific, but at least close to scientific, at least opening the way to research?

Assuming that leaving the body is not only and not so much a cerebral as an organismal phenomenon, we nevertheless - and primarily on the basis of the ideas of Professor Leonid Ivanovich Spivak - undertook a physiological study of the brain before and after childbirth. A great specialist not only in recording various ultra-slow physiological processes and electroencephalograms, but also in detecting their subtlest changes, S.G. Danko seemed to have sensed brain changes that correlated with the development of the “leaving the body” phenomenon. Probably, other indicators can be used for this purpose, but the use of these has already produced interesting results. This means - or, more precisely, - perhaps the phenomenon is actually preceded by an altered mental condition.

Although in this study - an altered state of the brain. But, as you know... I could meet with an “ace” - and to begin with, I only needed generally recognized “aces”, the reproduction of phenomena of which, willy-nilly, I had to accept enough a large number persons I could meet in America with a certain Andersen, about whom two journalists wrote in the book “We Are Not Dying.” The famous television journalist V. Pozner talked with him and arranged a meeting with me. I just needed to understand whether I was dealing with an experienced charlatan like the gypsies (“Let me tell you fortune; you have a friend, don’t trust her”), a person with an altered state of consciousness, or a person of phenomenal abilities, truly connected by a thread with the inhabitants (?) "Through the Looking Glass". I watched a video of Andersen’s conversation with Posner. This is a fast-talking man, constantly drawing something, about 35-40 years old. Much of what he told Posner, later, during Posner’s conversation with his wife, turned out to be true - they were talking about his wife’s previously deceased relatives who “came to the meeting.”

My meeting with Andersen was scheduled. It did not take place because a person whom I have every reason to trust, Archpriest Gennady, sharply objected to it. Since the tragic death of my husband, which followed even more tragic death his son from his first marriage, by that time had passed less than a year, and I was hardly balanced enough not to turn this meeting into an attempt at conversation with them. If the conversation with Vanga took place against the background of true scientific interest, with a favorable personal and social background, then the conversation with Andersen would obviously turn into a personal one. It’s good that I didn’t meet him then - after everything that happened to me, I would hardly have survived this ordeal. And at the same time, as a researcher, it’s a pity. I don’t see that sufficiently serious scientists are interested in this phenomenon for me to believe in it “from their hands.” A personal, thoughtful meeting is needed - apparently, a young scientist, not an orthodox, polyglot, would be most suitable for this purpose. There is such a person, and he is directly related to the problem of states of consciousness.

Why is his meeting with Andersen necessary? To phenomenologically fill another blank spot in “Through the Looking Glass.” And stretch the thread from the soul to the phase of clinical death, i.e. state, in time corresponding to the life of the dying brain until the phase of biological death, in order to have, albeit descriptive, but modern confirmation of its longevity (immortality) or cut it off! People like Andersen do not belong specifically to the 20th century. Rather, on the contrary, different individuals have claimed to have such capabilities in all centuries. Indeed, almost all such phenomena are involved in a disproportionately large dose of quackery. The spiritualistic seances ridiculed by L.N. are well known. Tolstoy in “The Fruits of Enlightenment.”

However, if the reality of the still far from clear processes observed during clinical death is gradually accepted, why immediately deny the possibility of prolonging the existence of something that, having separated from the body during clinical death, does not die along with the body? The exit of something (soul?) from the body - with all subsequent processes - was observed by this time by a much larger number of people than is required to prove the existence of a newly discovered physical particle. Her existence was considered for a long time proven if someone else, far or close to the first, sees it under the same experimental conditions.<…>

In the context of the main idea of ​​this chapter, I want to emphasize that if previously science was opposed to religion (but, by the way, not vice versa; if you look through the works of past centuries, you will see that even the execution of Giordano Bruno was, in essence, not so much a fight against his teachings, as much as a struggle with himself), then now, although by inertia or consciously all this is still happening, science has entered that phase when it often confirms, directly or indirectly, at least a number of provisions of religion and its history, which during the infancy of science were not accepted or could only be accepted on faith. Here I will again have to begin the narration in the first person - both in connection with the nature of our work, studying the functioning of the living human brain, and in connection with the fact that long life, and especially for last years, I had a chance to see and hear, partly together with a third-party witness, a person very close to me - Raisa Vasilievna Volskaya (hereinafter - R.V.). I name names here because what I'm going to talk about is quite unusual. And it is directly related to the state of the soul in the phase of biological death.<…>

I know how dangerous it is to move into this “Through the Looking Glass”. I know how to calmly remain on the broad road of science, how in this case the “citation index” increases and how the danger of troubles is reduced - in the form of devastating, destructive criticism, sometimes with unforeseen threats and even actions. But it seems to me that on earth everyone, to the best of his ability, must fulfill his duty. And the events that happened to me after realizing the “wall” in science leave me no choice. I tried to get a “ban”, although it didn’t seem to those speaking to me - it seemed that I was persuading them to “go along” or proving the advisability of studying “Through the Looking Glass”. Much later than the time when I realized my sense of duty in the study of “Through the Looking Glass,” I, as already mentioned, received serious approval from Metropolitan John of St. Petersburg and Ladoga for this kind of work. By the way, the time has already come to prepare the “reporting” meeting - although there are not very many facts yet, there are just facts. But he is no longer there... What changed my attitude towards “Through the Looking Glass”, turning it from an interest that could be held back, into a duty that I, who have studied the laws of brain function all my life, must fulfill?

Many years ago - now twenty-five - I entered new family, fearing nothing and not taking into account the possibility of pitfalls. Although they could have been seen in advance. But it was not the pitfalls and not everything obvious that was the reason for significant changes in my condition, but the entire way of life. I, accustomed from my distant youth to boundless, unaccountable freedom, have already mature age got it: being late home is a small tragedy, being too late is a disaster. I perceived this as a huge inconvenience, then as oppression, then as a difficulty of a high order. Gradually, I learned to get away from this not only rationally, but also emotionally at my desk (previously it was just part of my schedule), accordingly I wrote a lot during this time, but freedom was in my blood, and all the warmth that I had for the first time in my life received, did not compensate (on an organismal, and not just a mental level) for the loss of freedom. Hypertension increased. I swallowed pills and sat at my desk. And very gradually an unusual drowsiness began to creep up on me, which, unfortunately, developed irresistibly and, as a rule, very inopportunely. At this time, it seemed to me that I had adapted to a new way of life for me. There is an assumption that adelfan - the drug that I literally devoured in order to think and write - literally kills the brain’s optimal resistance to stress, and then Pavlovian protective inhibition “comes out”, and sleep is one of its manifestations.

My life became especially difficult when being late home coincided with newspaper harassment, of which I was the object, to the great horror of my family, who took it seriously. Bullying in 1989-1990 I wasn’t the only one who was subjected to it, but I probably would have survived the bullying easier if it weren’t for the dramatic reaction to it at home, the demand: “If this (and, Lord, what?) is wrong, prove it, speak out.” I had to fight, and again it required strength, action, emotion. The main thing is effort and time. Sleep literally began to overwhelm me as soon as I entered home. And it seemed: a little more - and I would fall asleep and not wake up... I really didn’t want this then - a huge matter, the Castle of our Dreams, in the creation of which I was still very much needed, depended significantly on me. And I had to “run”, finish what seemed to me - and later turned out to be - very important. I was missing some 2-3 weeks, but at the same time the confidence that I was approaching the physical end grew stronger.

My husband, on the contrary, felt good, he kept telling me: “Quit your useless business, and you will rest, you will be like me.” This is in the evenings. And in the morning he was again a warm friend - and his support was enough for several hours of work and a very unusual and very offensive defense. Now, looking back, remembering, I think: come on, did all this happen? Were there any threats of physical destruction? Articles in newspapers - with open and “closed” authorship of my previously closest friends? But all this - then very difficult - turned out to be a trifle compared to what followed after all this... Everything is in comparison. When there were days left before the issue was resolved and I began to hope for rest and even assume that I would survive, my husband’s son from his first marriage suddenly committed suicide, and that same night, unable to bear it, my husband died. The son was infinitely loved and very difficult. A handsome, capable doctor, married, with a son. Drugs...

The husband could not go to his son - he had no strength. I had already encountered this earlier, when Alik (late son) was dying of sepsis - his husband was with him once for no more than one or two minutes. Together with the doctors, we went against fate - and after several almost dying, we pulled him out. I participated in this both as a doctor and as close person, and how she “procured” super-scarce drugs. This time Alik was dead. Ivan Ilyich (my husband) was almost calm at first. There were three of us - the driver, my employee R.V. and I. “Let the strangers go away.” I asked again: “Driver?” - "Yes". - “And Raisa Vasilievna?” - “Let it stay.” And he brought us sliced ​​watermelon. I think he was only gradually becoming emotionally aware of what he already knew. After half an hour or an hour - it’s hard for me to say how much time passed - the husband almost calmly said that he would go to bed. I lay down and after 4-5 hours we urgently called the doctors, but the doctors could not help. Looking back, I understand that I could have saved him only by putting him in intensive care immediately upon arrival from Alik. However, nothing foreshadowed the terrible ending. Both R.V. and I. thought: let him sleep longer, he needs strength...

Both deaths were tragic. It took me a long time to come to my senses. And physically - to the end - she did not come for many years. What can you do, also age. But what happened that directly showed me and R.V. - we are together and apart: is there a “Through the Looking Glass” here too? I don't know yet whether I have the right to write about my personal experience, - my dear friend, the priest, rector of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Pushkin, tried in every possible way to persuade me not to talk about what I experienced. But perennial research demands - tell me! So, let us remember that at the time of my personal tragedy, under the influence of various kinds, and above all social, difficulties, I was in an altered physical state, which was certainly accompanied by an altered mental state. Now that L.I. Spivak and the group he leads in my laboratory are studying altered mental states; these words are no longer scary to say. Now those who understand the issue know that an altered mental state is not the same as mental illness. Depending on the initial background, this may even be normalization, which is very important for treatment. By changing the state of consciousness, it is as if you place a person in another world, with a greater or lesser variety of phenomena, most often while maintaining the basic positions of the “real” (for the human population) world. A person either loses many sensations, or begins to hear, smell, see, feel what was closed to him earlier and, most often, if this is not specifically supported, will be closed to him later. And also most often for the benefit - for the ordinary person.

My husband did not go to the apartment where his son called from, saying goodbye before committing suicide. He asked me to go. I went with my employee R.V., but before that, unfortunately, I spent a lot of time calling the “resuscitation” to Alik. I didn’t see any “reanimation”. A young doctor and a nurse stood in front of the door; the door was not opened for them, and they were about to leave. The house where Alik lived had very good audibility, but I didn’t think about it when I arrived. I thought that either everything was over long ago (Alik spoke about potassium cyanide), or nothing had happened at all; there were the usual threats, often not realized. And therefore, I did not react to the offer to break the door and waited for the keys, which were about to be brought (and they were brought). And suddenly, 7-10 minutes after arrival, I acutely felt the smell of a corpse, which was well known to me from anatomical studies. This lasted 5-10 seconds, but I immediately appreciated the smell and told everyone around me about it: there was a dead person outside the door. No one else smelled it. When the door was opened, everything was really over, but not with potassium cyanide, but with a noose around the neck, which was put on, perhaps, when Alik heard that we had arrived, and perhaps there was talk about opening the door. He was lying on the sofa, the hinge was half open: one movement - and he could have saved himself. Or be saved. My husband called and called me. And I, like an automatic machine, having told about everything I saw, went home. The road home seemed incredibly long, endless, but when we arrived, my husband opened the door for me. And right at the door I smelled the same smell again. And again, it’s just me. After a conversation, at the end of which I.I. said that he was going to bed and went into the bedroom, both me and R.V. they heard Alik’s voice, as if muffled by something or coming from the depths: “Why do you need this Bekhtereva?” And the passionate cry-answer of I.I.: “Alik, Alik, yes for you, for you!”

Then both of us - me and R.V. - and it didn’t occur to me that it could be Alik. I was surprised how I.I. reproduced Alik’s voice, and even as if from the depths. But, analyzing this “dialogue” by I.I. In light of what happened later, I perhaps cannot completely rule out that R.V. and I. It was Alik’s voice that was heard. I was in the Lately socially “persona non grata”, and why did Alik need me? - I didn’t open the door and didn’t save Alik “in last moment", as has already happened. And really, why? We also met with all further strange and unusual things together with R.V. If I had continued to encounter strange things alone, I would have thought: no, it can’t be, I would have been sure that all of these were mirages of a sick imagination.

In order.
1. I continued to go on business trips - to Moscow, abroad. And one day, returning from Moscow, R.V. and I. We heard the footsteps of a man walking in front of the windows in the living room from right to left towards a small closet. In the space under the cabinet there was a noise reminiscent of the noise of a large top, very loud; 5-10 seconds - and it’s all over. We didn't see any "person".

2. I'm going to the bathroom to wash. R.V. stays in the living room. The distance between us is 18-20 m. When I had already left the bathroom itself, I heard steps, presumably male, moving towards the bathroom. The steps reached the bathroom. Naturally, I called out to Raisa - the steps began to move away. When I came out 6-8 minutes later, R.V. said to me: “Why did you just go out? And why didn’t they answer me?” And she added that she was sitting with her back to the “steps,” and she experienced a strange feeling: it was difficult for her to turn towards “me.” She tried to talk to “me”, but “I” did not answer. This story had a very profound effect on both of us. strong impression, the impression of someone's presence. By the way, for a long time I retained the feeling of the presence of one of the two who had gone to another world in the apartment, especially clear in the first seconds of awakening - it disappeared, but only when the “strange” phenomena ceased to be detected.

3. A large and well-made portrait of my husband hung in the bedroom. After his death, I placed flowers in front of him and told him something for a long time, often without realizing what exactly it was. R.V. often spent the night with me, and one day, when we were late visiting, entering the bedroom, I saw that I.I. she is crying in the portrait. A large tear was slowly flowing down from the right eye (three-quarter portrait). I asked R.V. look at the portrait. “Yes, he’s crying!” - she cried. This went on for several minutes. I turned on the light, turned it off - a tear slowly fell to the gap between the tip of the nose and the nostrils. And, before reaching the end of the nose, it suddenly disappeared. I.I. I really didn’t like my late arrivals, not to mention the late ones. I fit this “strange” phenomenon into “Through the Looking Glass” conditionally. I was afraid of arriving late, although, unfortunately, there was no one to be afraid of. And in this situation I could mistake some feature of the portrait for a tear. Maybe I somehow induced R.V. Yes, but why did it seem to me that the tear was moving? Because tears usually move? Here I don’t rule it out. And why is R.V. Did you also mention tears? This is already more difficult for a simple explanation.
And yet the rule is: where one can at least assume a regular mechanism, not a “looking-glass” one, accept it. And in this case it is probable.

But here - 4. Behind the curtain on the window overlooking the courtyard-garden, there is a jar of water. I reach out for her, pushing the curtain aside slightly, and absentmindedly look down from my third floor into the courtyard garden of our house. Stepping off the curb, right on the melting snow, a strangely dressed man stands and - eye to eye - looks at me. I know him too well, but this simply cannot be. Never. I go to the kitchen, where R.V. should be right now, and, meeting her halfway, I ask her to look out the bedroom window.
For the first time in my life I saw the face of a living person, truly white as a sheet. It was the face of R.V. running towards me. “Natalya Petrovna! Yes, it’s Ivan Ilyich standing there! He walked towards the garage - you know, with that characteristic gait of his... Didn’t you recognize him?!” That's the thing, I found out, but in every sense I couldn’t believe my eyes.

If all this happened to me alone, such as, for example, a very vivid (“prophetic”) dream, not at all similar to an ordinary one - all this, despite all its unusualness (I have seen four such dreams in my life), could be interpreted as hallucinations against the background of my altered state of consciousness (it was because of something!). And R.V.? The state of her consciousness could also be somewhat changed, and hence the vision of events occurring “in another dimension.” Statistical analysis All this is beyond my control, but I have complete confidence in the reality of what was happening. At least in those cases when we both heard and (or) saw these “strange” phenomena separately. Steps (twice). Portrait (?). I.I. on the street under the window. After all, not only did I not tell R.V. that I saw I.I., but I also didn’t say what exactly to look at. And now, after many years, I cannot say: this did not happen. Was. But what?! Is it possible that constant thoughts about the tragedy that have occurred caused the illusion? Of course available. And R.V.? Also? It's also possible. But that’s all now, many years later, when you really want a rational explanation for “strange” phenomena...

Well, that's enough, I decided then. All this, perhaps, would be very exciting for viewers and listeners, but I felt that each “strange” phenomenon seemed to eat up part of my already broken capabilities. And I went to the hospital, a wonderful one, still beautiful then - the hospital of the Fourth Main Directorate near Moscow, where I could still go as a deputy.

The immediate cause was my falling asleep, which arose a long time ago, intensified incredibly in connection with social difficulties and the reaction to them at home, and to a certain extent persisted. The doctors were infinitely attentive, trying to find the reasons for falling asleep, but... they didn’t see the falling asleep themselves. I'm afraid that, unfortunately, great amount witnesses of these falling asleep will not prove anything to the doctors. They weren't in the hospital. The whole general regime, with wonderful water procedures, completely protected me from falling asleep, from this universal brain protection, so well presented by I.P. Pavlov and so well forgotten in the assessment of real situations. Like any physiological phenomenon, this defense has its own neurochemical language. I don't know it completely, but I think I know that after taking Adelfan Esidrex for many, many years, I didn't do much for myself. What was there to do? And the body was forced to take extreme measures - to survive. I left the hospital with mixed feelings - they treated a suffering woman and rightfully at the end of the medical history, they probably wrote: she is being discharged with improvement. I haven't seen it, but I'm almost sure. Or even more definitely - a cure (but unlikely).

I returned home, and although some things had changed in the apartment: the portrait of I.I., which I had “talked” about, was taken away from it, some things had been rearranged, my condition continued to be unstable, with attacks of melancholy and depression. A sharp improvement in my condition was brought to me by the rector of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Pushkin, Father Gennady. “Already his first “battle” with the “strange” phenomena living in my immediate environment was crowned with success, and then I had to resort to his help several more times. This is probably unexpected for the reader, but the truth is the truth; and why should I, who have been looking for (and not always finding) the truth of nature all my life, lie when it comes to myself (and, in general, also to nature)? Yes, but life has come to an end, it would be possible to remain silent. What I write here is unlikely to make me famous, but I would be in conflict with my sense of duty and conscience if I did not tell this truth. And she also didn’t tell me how the success of Father Gennady was supported by the help of my loved ones (primarily my son’s wife Tanya and granddaughter Natasha) and friends (and again, first of all, my constant friend Raisa), the help of my then very wounded soul.

And yet, what happened to me? Having gone through phases of different, often diametrically opposed, assessments of the past, I now, with rare exceptions, see both the past and the present as it appears to us - multi-striped and, of course, not white and black. With the exception of truly black streaks, some of the gray will lighten over time. So, for example, how sad it was to know that many of our relatives, after the arrest of our parents, essentially abandoned us! This streak began to brighten when we realized that this saved us from the position of hangers-on and gave us independence. And then this streak began to turn white when we learned that only staying in an orphanage saved us, and first of all the eldest, me, from wandering around the NKVD camps. Something to think about... Coincidences? Hardly.

Much is being revised now by those who look at the world with open eyes. It is important that there are scientists among them and that they do not fear live contact with the thinking clergy. Both among us and among them there are different ones. In such a sensitive issue as understanding oneself, we need the most knowledgeable, least prejudiced on both sides. This chapter cannot be called strictly scientific: what is described in it does not yet have a scientific basis, it is not yet science. The task for today was simpler - to see if there is a “Through the Looking Glass”? There is, but this must be dealt with very carefully and impartially - what is it? The personal right to place this section in the book is the very recognition of the existence of “strange” phenomena. Scientific beginning here it cannot be different for now. But some things are already being studied here too. I am referring to altered states of consciousness and their physiological correlates.

Ecology of life. People: Obviously, one cannot come to faith either under someone else’s influence, or just from an emotional impulse, and especially not because of logically constructed conclusions. Spiritual path person - too much thin matter. No examples are appropriate here.

For almost two decades, Natalya Petrovna was the scientific director of the Institute of the Human Brain Russian Academy Sci. The famous researcher studied how the brain of a healthy and sick person works.

We are publishing a shortened version of the interview with the Domovoy magazine (N6 (43) June 2004) Maria Vardenga

Natalya Petrovna, I said, I need this meeting personally. A close friend of mine died; he was also a doctor, an oncoimmunologist.

IN last meeting we talked about faith. And he said: you know, the more I study science, the more I become stronger in the idea of ​​​​the divine origin of the world.” Do you agree that pain can only be overcome by faith?

I understand you, although I’m not sure of the accuracy of the question. Science, from any point of view, is not an antagonist to faith.

Another question is that science itself at some point began to oppose itself to religion. And this, from my point of view, is strange, because her current state just convinces of the veracity of the postulates set forth, for example, in the Holy Scriptures.

But did your own studies of science and such subtle matter as the human brain have anything to do with coming to God? Or was it completely independent of professional activity process?

They had to do with my usual way of analyzing events. The fact is that I am not the type of scientist who claims that what I cannot measure simply does not exist.

By the way, these are the words of one colleague I respect. To which I always object: science is the path to the stars. Road into the unknown. What, for example, in this case should be done with the documentary evidence on the basis of which the history of wars is reconstructed? Isn't confirmed evidence of the same event a reason for analysis and a serious document? I'm in in this case I am not defending the Gospel, which does not need to be defended - in this case I am talking about the very system of understanding incomprehensible, extraordinary things - such as, for example, numerous testimonies of people who saw and heard others in a state of clinical death. This phenomenon is confirmed by many patients, and the evidence is strikingly consistent when patients are interviewed by different people on different ends of the earth. Many women during childbirth experienced this state - as if temporarily leaving the body and observing themselves from the outside...

Science knows that disruption, especially cessation of the functioning of the organs of vision and hearing, necessarily leads to impairment of vision and hearing, respectively. How then can one see and hear when leaving the body? Suppose this is some state of a dying brain. But how then can we explain the invariance of statistics: only 7-10% of total number survivors clinical death remember and can talk about the “out-of-body phenomenon”...

Do you think this is proof of the postulate that “many are called, but few are chosen”?

I'm not ready to answer this yet. I just don't have it. But a scientist must first of all clearly pose questions to himself. Not afraid. Today it is obvious: the body cannot live without a soul. But whether biological death leads to the death of the soul is a question of questions. I first put it before myself during a meeting with Vanga...

Has your desire to study this phenomenon undergone any changes after your personal meeting with Vanga?

I honestly told Vanga about the research purpose of my visit. By the way, she was not at all offended by this. But after our meeting, I personally had no desire to study it.

Are you simply convinced that there are unexplored superpowers of the brain? Or did you still pose the question of the existence of an invisible reality?

I will answer you this way. Despite the fact that I have devoted my entire life to researching the human brain, it has never occurred to me to prove that its structure convinces of the origin of man from a mammal. It’s just that until a certain point this problem was outside the scope of my scientific and human interests.

You are interested in how I came to faith. This moment had nothing to do with Vanga’s personality or his studies in science. It so happened that after the trip to Vanga - it just coincided in time - I experienced a lot.

I survived the betrayal of my closest friends, persecution at the Institute of Experimental Medicine, which I then headed and where I announced my decision to leave for the new Brain Institute, and the worst thing was the death of two of my close people: my husband and his son from his first marriage. They died very tragically, almost simultaneously: Alik committed suicide, and her husband could not bear his death and died that same night. That's when I changed a lot.

In other words, only the experience of suffering led you to some new understanding of reality?

Perhaps this is so. But not the suffering itself, but the fact that this experience was completely beyond the scope of my known explanation of the world.

For example, I could not in any way find an explanation for the fact that my husband, having appeared to me in a dream, asked for help in publishing the manuscript of his book, which I had not read and which I would not have known about without his words. This was not the first such experience in my life (before my father’s arrest in 1937, I also had a dream, which was then reflected in reality), but here for the first time I thought about what was happening seriously. Of course this one new reality scarecrow. But then my friend, priest, rector in Tsarskoe Selo, Father Gennady, helped me a lot...

By the way, he strongly advised me to talk less about this kind experiences. Then I didn’t really listen to this advice and even wrote about what happened in the book - just like I was used to writing about any of my other observations. But over time, we all change! - I began to pay more attention to this advice.

You know, my childhood was during an extremely anti-religious period. In those days, for example, the magazine “Bezbozhdnik” was very popular, which told about how a dark grandmother, having cut her finger, tied it with a web, and in these cases her smart granddaughter smeared her finger with iodine. As you know, penicillin was later discovered in the web...

And for a very long time, even when I started traveling abroad, I visited churches, perceiving them exclusively as a work of art. I really liked them artistic point vision. But I couldn’t even imagine that it would ever become close to me in another sense...

And in this regard, how do you understand the Gospel saying “no one will believe except according to the will of the Creator”?

It is obvious that one cannot come to faith either under someone else’s influence, or just from an emotional impulse, and especially not because of logically constructed conclusions. The spiritual path of a person is too subtle a matter. No examples are appropriate here.

And how do you today, from the height of all the scientific titles and awards you have received, perceive the phrase “in the beginning was the Word”?

At the beginning of everything lies thought. Human thought. I’m not saying this to deny the materiality of the world and evolutionary theory, although I personally prefer a different view. Obviously different. If you have a brain, then - whatever you want - everything really starts with a word.

Words of the Creator. So?

I will answer this way. It is well known that creativity is the highest mode of nervous activity. Creating the visible from the invisible is always a great act, be it composing music or poetry... In your opinion, is it possible to comprehend the process of the creation of the world from this position? The whole point is that a scientist under no circumstances has the right to reject facts on the grounds that they do not fit into his worldview. From my point of view, in this case it is wiser to rethink the positions.

FROM INTERVIEWS OF DIFFERENT YEARS

About the capabilities of the brain

It always surprises me when someone tries to judge how busy the human brain is. I’ve been working with the human brain all my life, and I know all the brain research techniques, but I can’t understand who calculates it and how.

We know that the brain is structured this way: no matter what happens in it, the entire brain is necessarily activated. He plays out all the possibilities and then goes on to minimize the areas of the brain that will be involved. There is no situation when the brain does not play out options. Pavlov once proved this. We see this all the time. And this is wonderful, this is the best self-preservation mechanism of the brain.

Do you think that this “computer” located in our skull has almost inexhaustible possibilities?

- Yes, but I don’t like it when the human brain is compared to a computer. Indeed, it was created in such a way that I cannot even imagine what requirements of life could have determined the appearance of such a perfect apparatus. The brain can do so much that you never cease to be amazed.

How strange it sounds: I don’t consider myself smart...

I had a very smart mother, she went through the camp and was seriously ill. She told me: “For God’s sake, don’t be mistaken, don’t consider yourself smart. You’re just very capable.” Thanks to her, I endured the blockade and graduated from college. She, figuratively speaking, put into my head what should be - a “memory matrix”. In general, I can say this: maybe I have accumulated some life experience. I can comprehend everything related to science. And so, I don’t think I’m smart. - What recipes for improving memory could you give to our readers?

In order for your memory to be better, it needs to be exercised. Just as there are exercises to strengthen the muscles of the arms, legs, back, neck, and abdominal muscles, there are also exercises to strengthen memory. They are very simple, publicly available, and can be done in any environment.

For example, many people love to have a large number of notebooks, personal weekly journals, notebooks. Why not train your memory and try to memorize all the phone numbers of your friends and acquaintances? It’s no coincidence that children in schools used to be forced to memorize a lot of things by heart. Including memorizing without any conversational practice, the so-called " dead languages", which people have not spoken for a long time.

Cramming was generally one of the teaching methods. We always criticized it very much, and in the end we liquidated it. And along with it, they threw a good memory trainer into the trash. To train your memory, it is very useful to study some foreign language, learn at least five to ten new words every day.

ABOUT prophetic dreams

As a rule, dreams have nothing to do with the future, so dream books should not be taken seriously. But in my life there were several dreams that turned out to be prophetic. Moreover, one of them was incredibly prophetic, right down to the details. It was a dream about my mother's death. Mom was alive and well, vacationing in the south, shortly before that I received from her good letter. And in a dream, and I fell asleep during the day, I dreamed that a postman came to me with a telegram informing me that my mother had died. I’m going to a funeral, meeting people there whom I’ve never seen before, greeting them, calling them by name - it’s all in a dream. When I woke up and told my husband my dream, he said: “Do you, a brain specialist, believe in dreams?”

In short, despite the fact that I was firmly convinced that I needed to fly to my mother, I was dissuaded from this. Or rather, I allowed myself to be dissuaded. Well, ten days later everything happened exactly as it happened in my dream. And down to the smallest detail. For example, I forgot the word village council a long time ago, I simply never needed it. In a dream I was looking for the village council, and in reality I had to look for it - that’s the story. This happened to me personally, but I'm not the only one. There are many other cases of prophetic dreams and even scientific discoveries in a dream. For example, Mendeleev's discovery periodic table elements.

This cannot be explained. It’s better not to split hairs and say it straight: since this is none of the modern scientific methods cannot be explained, we will have to assume that the future is given to us in advance, that it already exists. And we can, at least in a dream, come into contact with either higher Mind, or with God - with Someone who has knowledge about this future. I would like to wait for more definite formulations, because the advances in the technological direction of brain science are so great that perhaps something else will be discovered that will shed light on this problem. published

I testify that persons trained to see without the use of the eyes are indeed able to read texts previously unknown to them and to carry out whole line other activities usually requiring vision. The results showed that the presence of any special properties in the person being trained is not required. I saw, first of all, the presence of a training system where everything time is running movement towards making the most of the body's capabilities. The formation of a new vision is quite possible for the blind. Research emphasizes its physiology for the human brain. “Bronnikov’s boys” have received and demonstrate their superpowers, acquired as a result of systematic long-term training, carefully revealing the possibility of an alternative (direct) vision.

Bekhtereva Natalya Petrovna(July 7, 1924, Leningrad - June 22, 2008, Hamburg, Germany) - supporter and popularizer visions by method Bronnikova, author of scientific research in the field of neurophysiology of the brain. Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, has scientific awards for his high contribution to the development of neurophysiology and neuroscience. Author of about 350 scientific papers in the field of human brain physiology.

Some do not classify Bekhtereva as a freak, considering her a victim of fraud.

Scientific activity

Graduated from the 1st Leningrad medical school them. I. P. Pavlova (1947). Postgraduate studies at the Institute of Central Nervous Physiology of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences. She worked as a junior researcher at the Institute of Experimental Medicine of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences (1950-1954). Then (in 1954-1962) - at the Neurosurgical Institute. A. L. Polenov of the USSR Ministry of Health (having worked his way up from senior researcher to laboratory head and deputy director). Since 1962 at the Institute of Experimental Medicine of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences (head of the department of human neurophysiology, then deputy director for scientific work, and about. director, from 1970 to 1990 - director).

In 1975 she became an academician of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences (later RAMS), and in 1981 - an academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Since 1990, Bekhtereva has been the scientific director of the Institute of the Human Brain of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the head of scientific group neurophysiology of thinking, creativity and consciousness.

She was elected vice-president of the International Union of Physiological Sciences (1974-1980); vice president International organization in psychophysiology (1982-1994).

She worked as editor-in-chief of the journal “Human Physiology” of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1975-1987); international journal “International Journal of Psychophysiology” (1984-1994).

She died on the morning of June 22, 2008 in Hamburg at St. George's Hospital at the age of 83 after long illness. She was buried in the cemetery in Komarovo.

Research on the Bronnikov method

In 2002, employees of the Institute of the Human Brain of the Russian Academy of Sciences, led by N. P. Bekhtereva, conducted a study to test whether Bronnikov’s students were really able to perceive images, provided that their eyes were covered with a mask of opaque material. And to the surprise of the scientific community, some of the study's authors sensationally interpreted the experimental data as confirmation of the reality of "direct vision." As a result, only on the basis of what was demonstrated, Bekhtereva made an unambiguous conclusion about the existence of the phenomenon. Bekhtereva assessed the likelihood of falsifying the results as “insignificant,” despite the fact that such a phenomenon has not yet been officially confirmed. The results of the experiment were published in the journal Human Physiology and were later discussed at scientific seminar at the Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

On the results of the research carried out by N.P. Bekhtereva sent a letter to the president Russian Federation V.V. Putin, with a recommendation for the widespread introduction of training according to the Bronnikov method.

Natalia - neurophysiologist, granddaughter of Academician Bekhterev. The girl first suggested that God can exist, and thoughts can be material. Natalya had to go through a lot in her life: she buried her parents, her own child, her husband, and survived accusations of quackery.

Despite all this, she managed to achieve high results. She developed a unique system for restoring memory in the human brain

The girl is the author of many books. Bakhtiyarova is an academician and has been awarded many orders and awards. The state awarded the girl many state bonuses. Natalya is the first woman to study anomalous phenomena, visited the clairvoyant Vanga.

Natalia opened a school and an institute. School and university graduates work in the best hospitals around the world, conduct research, and are... the best specialists in this industry.

Childhood and adolescence

girl with early age closely related to scientific research, because her grandfather was a famous scientist, a doctor in the field of psychiatry, whom everyone knew about. On the Internet, the version of Natalya’s grandfather’s death is murder by his partner. For what reason the woman killed the old man remains a mystery to this day, but the woman has not been punished to this day.

Natasha's dad worked as an engineer. Mom was a housewife and raised two children. The family liked to stay home on weekends and get together round table. Natalya does not like active recreation.

Natasha admits that her childhood years were the most joyful in her life, until her dad was arrested. After the arrest, my father was executed, my mother was sent to a camp, children are distributed to boarding schools.

After the execution of the father, the relatives completely abandoned the children. Natalya recalls with tears in her eyes that they were simply of no use to anyone. In the orphanage, Natasha learned how cruel this world can be. The girl cried every day and remembered how good it was with mom and dad.

From that moment on, the girl began to realize that only she was responsible for her future. Her parents were no longer alive, and she worked hard to become a real specialist and earn a decent salary.

At this time, the blockade begins, despite everything, the girl continues her studies.

Labor activity

Natasha's life changed after she graduated medical University and started working as a nurse. In life, Natalya was very purposeful and amazed everyone with her perseverance.

In 1962, Natasha creates own research system. From this moment on, Natalya becomes the head of a scientific group that carries out operations in the field of neurosurgery. It must be added that this kind of operation is carried out without anesthesia and not every specialist decides to conduct this kind of experiment.

During the operation, the patient is conscious, he is asked to describe his sensations. This helps to correctly identify the affected area.

A few years later, Natalya becomes the director of neurosurgery.

Natalya is sure that The capacity of the human brain has no limits, and he will be able to exist without human body. Bakhtiyarova was a sought-after specialist, so she had many ill-wishers. Complaints were repeatedly written about the woman, but no one wanted to stop working with a specialist of this level.

Mysticism occupied a significant place in life. The girl loved to talk about prophetic dreams, which aroused the indignation of the workers. Information has repeatedly appeared in the press that Natalya turned to Vanga for help, who prophesied the death of her husband and son. The neurosurgeon is confident that the human brain has unique opportunities and can even predict the future.

Family life

The girl's father was recognized as an enemy of the state, which is why she was sent to Orphanage along with his brother.

Vsevolod Medvedev- Natalya’s first husband, worked as a physiologist.

Natasha gave birth to a son, Svyatoslav, from her beloved husband, who followed in her parents’ footsteps. The marriage did not last long, and the couple soon divorced.

Ivan Kashtelyan– Natalia’s second husband. Ivan has a son from his first marriage, whose name is Alexander. The boy was raised in the family of Natasha and Ivan. On this moment Natalya is already a grandmother, her granddaughter became a doctor in the field of psychiatry

Natalia's funeral

In 2008 Natalya is gone. At that time the woman was in Germany. The woman lived more than 80 years. She died from a serious illness that the woman’s body could not cope with. Buried famous woman near St. Petersburg.