The capabilities of people in extreme and ordinary situations. Human reserve capabilities: myth or reality (interview with the magazine “Self-Defense Without Weapons”)

Many people find themselves in extreme situations. This could be an earthquake, flood, fire, terrorism and much more.

In stressful situations, a person may become confused or become a combative person during an extreme situation. As a result, after experiencing horror and fear, the psyche suffers. A person needs the help of qualified specialists.

What are extreme situations

Sometimes adverse events occur to a person that affect the psyche. These are often called extreme situations. Simply put, this is a change in the usual living conditions.

When a critical situation occurs, a person develops fear that must be dealt with. After all, while he is present, people are not subject to themselves. Most often, strong fear occurs when a person realizes that a certain situation is life threatening. Therefore, after the experience, a person is not able to cope with himself, with his psyche. Such people need the help of a specialist.

After a terrible episode, emotions of excitement overwhelm. There is an opinion that the release of adrenaline from the body is a good thing. However, psychologists have a different point of view. After all, if something unexpected happens, for example, a fire, a person goes into shock. After a successful outcome, a heart attack, heart attack and other unfavorable outcomes are possible. Therefore, it is better to avoid such situations. The psychology of extreme situations is a problem that is very difficult to get rid of.

Kinds

Extreme situations can be unexpected and predictable. For example, natural disasters cannot be expected. These situations appear suddenly. Therefore, from surprise, a person may become confused and not have time to take the necessary measures. Extreme situations are divided into the following types.

1. By scale of distribution. This refers to the size of the territory and the consequences.

• Local situations are only in the workplace and do not extend beyond it. There may be a maximum of 10-11 injured people, no more.
• Object situations. This is a danger in the territory, but it can be eliminated on your own.
• Local situations. Only a certain city (suburb or village) suffers. An extreme situation does not go beyond the locality and is eliminated with its own means, resources and forces.
• Regional. The dangerous situation is spreading to several nearby areas. Federal services are involved in the liquidation. In a regional extreme situation, there should be no more than 500 people affected.

2. According to the pace of development.

• Unexpected and sudden (accidents, floods, earthquakes, etc.).
• Swift. This is a very fast spread. These include fires, emissions of gaseous toxic substances, etc.
• Average. Radioactive substances are released or volcanoes erupt.
• Slow. These could be droughts, epidemics, etc.

Any extreme situation poses a threat to human life.

Every disaster leaves its mark on the psyche of people. Therefore, you need to be very careful and know how to react in a certain situation.

Behavior rules

Not everyone thinks about how to behave at a certain moment. Behavior in extreme situations is very important. After all, a lot depends on it, including human life.

First of all, you need to be very calm and cool-headed. Count quickly to three and regain your breathing. Try to forget about fear and pain for now. Realistically assess your capabilities, strengths and the situation as a whole. Confusion, panic and indecision will only harm you under such circumstances.

Every person should always be prepared for unexpected danger. Then you can deal with it easier. You must know how to properly administer first aid. With good preparation, there is always the opportunity to save your life or those around you. Behavior in extreme situations must be controlled.

Survival

First of all, you must make sure that your home is safe and sound. Will you be able to stay in the house if there are hurricanes or earthquakes? Check wiring regularly. You must know for sure that in the event of a fire you will be able to get out of the trap unharmed.

Every family should have medicines for all occasions. We must not forget about bandages, iodine, and burn remedy. They are not needed every day, but sometimes they are simply necessary. Survival in extreme situations is a very important factor for every person.

If you have a car, it should always be ready to go. Try to store fuel for such cases.

Don't forget about spare clothes, which should be kept close to your home. Perhaps in a garage or basement. It may be old, but it will keep you warm in the cold.

If every person thinks about their safety in advance, then it will be much easier to survive in any extreme conditions.

Actions

What should a person do in extreme situations? Not everyone will be able to answer this question. One hundred to note. that extreme situations with people happen every day, so it is necessary to know the answer to this question in advance.

If a person finds a suspicious device in a public place, then it cannot be picked up, but must be reported to the police. Even anonymously. Don’t be afraid to report, because if it’s not you who gets hurt, someone else will.

In any situation, you should not give in to panic. This is the most dangerous feeling. Try to pull yourself together, calm down and act according to the situation.

There is always a way out, the main thing is to use it correctly. As a rule, there are others around whom you can turn to for help. Actions in extreme situations must be lightning fast. After all, life depends on it. If you understand that you are not able to cope, shout as long as you can so that you are heard. It is clear that not everyone will help, but at least one person will respond to your misfortune.

Memo to citizens

Every citizen needs help in extreme situations. For this purpose, there is a reminder that does not allow you to forget how to act in case of unforeseen incidents.

If you realize that something has happened to the electricity, for example, the meter is cracking or a light bulb is blinking incorrectly, then immediately turn off the power to the apartment. After all, unwanted emergency situations may occur. At the same time, it is advisable to turn off the gas and water. After this, do not hesitate to call a repairman or emergency service.

It often happens that people do not attach importance to certain little things. Because of this, fires, explosions, etc. occur. Therefore, your documents should be in one place and preferably closer to the exit. In case of danger, you must take them with you. This is the first thing that should come to a person's mind.

Money and necessary things should also be not too far from the exit. In stressful and extreme situations, there is not always time to run around the apartment and pack your bags. Therefore, it is necessary to think in advance that dangerous incidents can occur at any time. You should always remember the rules in extreme situations that can help.

Extreme natural situations

It’s not only in an apartment that danger can overtake a person. There is also plenty of extreme sports in nature. Therefore, a person must be prepared for anything.

For example, you may find yourself in very uncomfortable weather conditions - severe frost and snow. The best solution is to survive the cold. You can build a small cave.

Know that snow is an excellent heat insulator. Therefore, thanks to the snow cave you can wait out the cold.

Never go without water in hot weather. It is very dangerous. After all, when you want to drink, and there is no water nearby, you will be ready to do anything if only they give you a sip of a soft drink. Without water, as we know, a person cannot live long.

In natural extreme situations, you can save yourself. However, you should always remember to take precautions. Emergencies can strike a person at any time.

Adaptation

A person can get used to any living conditions. Even in the modern world, not everyone can make full use of water, electricity and gas. Therefore, you can also adapt to extreme situations.

Before you get used to dangerous or unusual conditions, you need to prepare yourself mentally. To do this, read about the unknown area where you are going to go. Try to master the necessary skills.

It is very important to prepare yourself psychologically. If you doubt it, maybe it’s not time to take risks yet? An extreme life situation should not break you. Just be positive.

To make it easier for you to adapt to extreme situations, take care of food, water and warm clothing. Without the basic necessities it is much harder to survive.

Consequences

People who find themselves in extreme situations need help. Each of them has a mental disorder. The consequences vary for people. Some try to forget themselves and find solace in alcohol, others become drug addicts, and still others choose to commit suicide. They all need the help of qualified specialists who will lead a person out of this state.

Psychologists will help you relieve stress, fear and return to normal life. These people cannot be condemned, because none of them is to blame for what happened. Getting rid of memories is not easy at all. If you witness a similar situation, then do not turn away from such people, but try to help them return to a past life where they were calm and comfortable.

Every day, many people need to communicate with doctors such as psychologists or neurologists. After stress, a person ceases to exist and begins to live one day at a time. To make it easier to get through difficult days, psychologists advise:

• Do not panic;
• Remain calm in any situation;
• Practice self-hypnosis more often;
• Get plenty of rest;
• Spend as much time as possible with friends and relatives;
• Don't be alone.

When you see something scary in front of you, try to avoid tears and panic, and look for a way out of the current situation.

If a person who has experienced severe stress turns to a specialist, it will be easier for him to overcome the current problem. The psychology of extreme situations is very serious, so you need to pay attention to it first.

Conclusion

Each person reacts differently to stressful situations. Some will do everything possible to escape, others will begin to panic. It all depends on the individual person. Everyone's psyche is different. Therefore, one cannot blame those people who give up. After all, they are not to blame for their weakness. There are some extreme situations factors. These are exactly what every person should remember.

In stressful situations, a person’s body becomes exhausted, which is where many other diseases appear. In order to avoid undesirable consequences in the future, you need to seek help from specialists who will help restore the nervous system and return to your previous problem-free life.

People have always been interested in what lies beyond ordinary perception, in what is inaccessible to the majority. However, along with interest, there was also fear due to the lack of reliable information and the unknown. Recently, paranormal or unusual abilities of people have become the subject of social and scientific research, philistine gossip and newspaper publications. What kind of abilities are these? Where do they come from?
Despite the fact that the human body has already been well studied by doctors and scientists, mysteries still remain that are beyond our understanding. There are many amazing cases that happened to ordinary people and were published in the press. Some events simply cannot be explained by modern science.

So, perhaps the most famous case occurred when a mother was walking with her little son and got distracted. The child ran out onto the road and was hit by a car. Seeing this picture, the baby’s mother rushed to his aid and lifted the car. It is this case that in our time is most often described by scientists as proof that the human body has hidden abilities.

Another fairly famous incident occurred during the war. The pilot's steering became jammed due to a bolt caught in the mechanism. Fearing death, the pilot began to pull the handle with all his strength and miraculously was able to right the plane. After landing, the mechanics carefully examined the controls and found a sheared bolt. As a result of the examination, it turned out that in order to cut such a bolt, a force of 500 kilograms would be required.

One man was walking through the forest and accidentally came across a sleeping bear. Out of fear, he grabbed a log lying nearby and rushed to run towards the nearby village. When the danger was over, he threw the log to the ground, caught his breath and looked at it. It turned out to be a huge tree trunk, which he later could not drag alone from the road. The man could not even explain to himself why he grabbed this log.

But such incredible stories happen not only when it comes to one’s own salvation.

There is another case. When the child fell out of the 7th floor window, his mother managed to grab him with one hand, and with the other she held on to the brick of the cornice, with only two fingers - the index and middle. She held on like that until the rescuers arrived, and then with difficulty they unclenched her fingers.

A 70-year-old woman carried her 40-year-old son, who was involved in an accident, for 13 kilometers on her back, never stopping or lowering him to the ground.

Some researchers claim that a person uses only 10% of his abilities. And this applies to both the body and the brain.

The hypnologist Vul demonstrated an amazing ability - he had the ability to suggest at a distance. Wool sent a letter by mail, in which the word was written in his handwriting: “Sleep!” If the patient had already been to see this doctor before, then upon receiving the letter he immediately fell asleep.

The French pop artist Michel Lotito had an amazing ability - he can eat anything he sees. When he was still a child, he “ate” a TV, and from the age of 15 he began to entertain people for money, eating rubber, glass and metal. Because Michel ate the plane (although it took about 2 years to eat it), he was included in the Guinness Book of Records. Biologist K. Richardson can spend an entire night in a cage with lions. For unknown reasons, the lions accept Richardson as one of their own. Thai Ngoc from Vietnam has not slept at all since 1973 - it started after he had a fever.

The phenomenon of Monica Tejada.

There are many such inexplicable phenomena in our world. An amazing phenomenon is demonstrated to scientists by Monica Tejada from Spain. Even metal objects bend under her gaze.

There are no tricks here. The scientists placed steel wire in a sealed glass vessel. However, this did not stop Monica from bending the solid thread into the shape of a dinosaur with a closed mouth. During this process, instruments recorded an increase in the girl’s body temperature and a decrease in her blood pressure. This combination leads doctors to a dead end. At the same time, the electroencephalograph showed biocurrents characteristic of a sleeping person. Monica has another gift - she can diagnose diseases.

In New Jersey, on the outskirts of Trenton, in the 40s, there lived a 90-year-old man named Al Herpin. There was neither a trestle bed nor a bed in his shack - Al Herpin had never slept in his entire life. The old man, who lived to that age, outlived the doctors who examined him. Al Herpin's appetite and health were good, and his mental abilities were average. Of course, after a day's work he was tired, but he could not sleep. The old man would simply sit in a chair and read until he felt rested. After regaining his physical strength, he returned to work. Doctors were unable to explain their patient’s chronic insomnia, just as they could not explain the source of his longevity.

There is a known case that occurred in a Russian village. There lived an old sick woman named Matryona. She could not hear well, could not see, and could hardly walk. One night her house caught fire. The whole village ran to the fire. Imagine the surprise of the people when they saw this old woman climbing over the high fence. Moreover, she was holding a large chest in her hands, which several men later could not lift. Where are the limits of human capabilities? And do they exist at all?

In Mexico City at the Olympic Games in 1968, an athlete named Robert Beamon was able to jump almost 9 meters. Of course, it seems impossible, but Robert's record was broken. And the record, which was set in 500 BC in Ancient Greece, looks absolutely fantastic - the athlete Fail then jumped almost 17 meters in length.

In New York in 1935, an absolutely normal-looking child was born. However, he lived only 26 days. After an autopsy, it turned out that the child had no brain. Although it is known that even the slightest damage to the cerebral cortex can lead to death.

The fact that there are people in the world who live with foreign objects in their bodies does not surprise anyone now. But an incident that occurred in one of the New York hospitals seems simply incredible. A person came to the hospital with a slight illness. Doctors conducted an examination and found more than 250 objects in his body. There were only 26 keys in the patient’s body. The man did not say where there were so many objects in his body.

An equally striking case occurred with a 12-year-old Russian boy who went to the hospital in a small town with complaints of dizziness and weakness. Upon examination, doctors discovered a bullet wound in the heart area. It is unknown how the boy received such a wound, and most importantly, how he survived. X-ray determined that the bullet was in the solar artery. The boy was urgently sent to Moscow, where the bullet was removed from his body. She made an incredible journey in the body - she punctured the lung and entered the heart, which pushed her out into the aorta. The bullet moved along the vessel until it hit the solar artery.

The famous psychiatrist and neuropathologist Cesare Lombroso had a very solid reputation in the scientific world. In his book “What After Death,” he told an incident that happened to a 14-year-old girl. She became blind, but at the same time she had a completely new and amazing ability to see.

Dr. Lombroso conducted research, which revealed that the girl sees through her left earlobe and nose. To exclude the slightest possibility of the girl’s eyes being involved, during the experiment the doctors covered them with a bandage so that peeking was completely excluded. However, despite the measures taken, the girl could easily read blindfolded and distinguish colors perfectly.

When a bright light flashed near her earlobe, she blinked, and when the doctor wanted to put his finger to the tip of her nose, she jumped back screaming that he wanted to blind her. There was an astonishing shift in the senses that affected more than just vision. When the experimenter brought a solution of ammonia to the girl’s nose, she did not react. But as soon as he brought the solution to her chin, she jerked in pain. She could smell scents with her chin.

It must be said that some people are able to completely control the abilities of their body. These include primarily Indian yogis. Perhaps the most amazing ability of yogis is that they can stop the beating of their own heart. Yogis can put themselves into a state of “death” - the heart’s work and breathing slow down, and other vital processes stop.

A yogi can remain in this state for quite a long time. So what powers are hidden in a person? Based on the above, we can assume that the capabilities of the human body are limitless. You just need to learn to control them.

Diamond tears

A woman named Hanuma, living in Africa, earned the nickname "Diamond" for her unusual ability to cry diamonds. Since childhood, Hanuma has not cried. The first time this happened was at the age of nine, when the girl peeled onions for the first time. Imagine the surprise of the girl’s parents when hard crystals began to fall from her eyes instead of tears.

The girl's father was a jeweler and, having examined the small crystals, he easily determined that they were real diamonds. The parents decided to keep Hanuma's unusual abilities a secret, and the father used his daughter's crystals to make jewelry, which was in great demand. One of the clients suspected something was wrong and submitted the diamond for examination, as a result of which it turned out that the stone was of organic origin. The girl became famous throughout the world. But scientists have not yet been able to uncover the secret of diamond tears.

Man is ice

Dutch resident Wim Hof ​​is not sensitive to any cold. Thanks to his unusual abilities, the Dutchman conquered mountain peaks in only his underwear, swam for a long time in icy water and performed many similar feats.

Doctors carried out examinations of the body of an amazing person, but the results of the studies did not show any deviations from the norm in Vim’s body after cold procedures. The Dutchman's unusual abilities allow him to feel comfortable in conditions that would be fatal for any other person.

"Perpetual motion machine"

The baby, named Ret Lamba, who is three years old, has never slept in his life. He is awake around the clock. Ret’s parents, of course, were not delighted with their son’s abilities, but most of all they were concerned about the child’s health. However, as repeated medical examinations have shown, lack of sleep does not affect Ret’s health in any way; the boy is absolutely healthy.

Recent research has cleared up the picture a little. It turned out that the brain and nervous system of the amazing child are arranged in a special way, thanks to which the boy does not need sleep, his brain rests while awake.

Man is a reptile

History knows of cases where people had the ability to replace their skin with a new one, just like reptiles do. Born in 1851 in Missouri, S. Buskirk began changing his skin as a child. The most amazing thing is that this always happened on the same day - June 27th. The skin began to become rough, and then fell off in large pieces. She came off her arms and legs like gloves or socks.

After the old skin fell off, one could see in its place young, pink and tender skin, similar to that of newborn babies. Over the course of several years, Mr. Buskirk assembled a “leather” collection.

Glowing patient

Anna Monaro, who suffered from asthma, began to look like a fluorescent lamp in 1934. During her illness, a bluish glow emanated from her chest. This phenomenon lasted for several weeks and was documented by doctors. Sometimes the color of the glow changed to red and green. No one has been able to explain this phenomenon.

One psychiatrist suggested that "the phenomenon is caused by electrical and magnetic organisms that have become quite developed in this woman's body and are therefore emitting a radiance" - in other words, another way of saying, "I don't know." Another doctor proposed the theory of electromagnetic radiation, linking it with certain chemical components found in the patient’s skin, which was close to the then fashionable theory of bioluminescence.

Dr. Protti, who made a lengthy statement regarding his observations of Signora Monaro, suggested that her poor health, together with fasting and piety, had increased the amount of sulphides in the blood. Human blood emits rays in the ultraviolet range, and sulfides can be made to luminesce by ultraviolet irradiation, which explains the glow emanating from Signora Monaro's breast (The Times, May 5, 1934).

Anna Monaro

The proposed theory did not explain the strange periodicity or localization of the bluish flashes, and soon the confused researchers fell completely silent.

Gould and Pyle's 1937 book Anomalies and Curiosities in Medicine describes the case of a woman suffering from breast cancer. The light emanating from the sore area of ​​the chest was sufficient to see the dial of a clock several feet away...

In Hareward Carrington's book Death: Its Causes and Related Phenomena, there is a mention of a child who died of indigestion. After death, the boy's body began to emit a bluish glow and spread heat. Attempts to extinguish this radiance led to nothing, but it soon stopped on its own. When the body was lifted from the bed, it was discovered that the sheet under it was burned... The only case of light emission by a practically healthy person (not counting, of course, saints) was described in the journal “English Mechanic” dated September 24, 1869:

“One American woman, going to bed, discovered a glow on the top of the fourth toe of her right foot. When she rubbed her leg, the glow increased and some unknown force pushed her fingers apart. A stench emanated from the leg, and both the light emission and the smell did not stop even when the leg was immersed in a basin of water. Even soap could not extinguish or reduce the glow. This phenomenon lasted three quarters of an hour, and was observed by the woman’s husband.”

The Church views the phenomenon of “firefly people” approvingly. Pope Benedict XIV wrote: “...It must be recognized as a fact that there is a natural flame that sometimes becomes visible around the human head, and it also seems true that sometimes fire can emanate from the whole body of a person, but not like a fire rushing upward, but rather in the form of sparks flying in all directions.”

People are lightning

The body of an ordinary person is capable of generating small amounts, but not storing electricity. However, there are people whose unusual abilities are that they can accumulate electricity within themselves, and, when appropriate, release it onto surrounding objects.

For example, the journal Prediction published an article in 1953 that talked about a baby who electrocuted doctors. For another whole day, he retained tension within himself and was dangerous to others.

But it also happens that unusual abilities awaken in people only with age. A Chinese worker in 1988 began to notice some changes in his body, but could not understand what it was until he accidentally shocked his colleague, knocking him down with a shock.

Rif Mukharyanov is one of those people who were able to survive a lightning strike.

Back in 1965, Reef was struck by ball lightning, and he miraculously survived. Over time, he began to see strange dreams, which soon began to come true - his psychic abilities began to awaken.

When he had completely recovered from his illness, his good friend fell seriously ill. The doctors did not know what to do and just shrugged, and it was then that Reef decided to take advantage of his new opportunities. Literally two weeks later, the friend stood firmly on his feet.

Living magnet

There are also people who have magnetism. The most amazing case of manifestation of magnetic abilities is the case of the American Frank McKinstry. His body was pulled towards the ground. Magnetism manifested itself especially strongly in the mornings. Frank had to move very quickly, without stopping, because his body would stick to the ground if he stopped for a couple of seconds, and then the man could no longer continue moving without outside help.

Often people do not realize that they have some unusual abilities. A resident of Germany, Erika Zur Strindberg, discovered the magnetic abilities of her body after watching a TV show that talked about the magnetism of a Russian woman, Natalia Petrasova.

Just for fun, the German woman put a spoon to her chest and it “stuck” to the woman. Then Eric was hung with almost all the cutlery to make sure he had an unusual ability.

Unusual abilities remain to be unraveled

Many scientists agree that this kind of ability is potentially inherent in every person, but they manifest themselves only in extreme situations or after severe life shocks. An example of this hypothesis is the fortuneteller Vanga, who, having lost her sight, gained the ability to foresee the future, the present of people and their past.

Also, the famous German clairvoyant Wolf Messing became the owner of his unusual abilities after spending a long time in a state of clinical death. This happened when Messing was eleven years old.

There are many cases where people, having recovered from clinical death, acquired the ability to read minds and speak in previously unknown or even dead languages. An amazing incident happened to the polar explorer pilot Grigory Popov. While repairing the plane, Gregory heard some rustling behind him, and turning around, he saw a polar bear - one of the most dangerous predators. The pilot did not have time to understand anything, as he already found himself at a two-meter height - on the wing of the plane. He climbed there in one leap.

Does every person have some hidden abilities or are they possessed only by exceptional individuals? Why were these abilities given to them? Do these people have some kind of purpose from above? Modern science is not able to provide answers to the questions posed, since they lie in a plane that is not yet within the scope of serious scientific research.

having higher results shown on control assessments?
When all the runners line up at the preliminary starting line, it is clear that almost everyone is worried and nervous. But at the same time, some turn red, while others turn pale. We know from history that when Julius Caesar selected warriors from among the recruits for his invincible legions, he first tried to properly confuse the man. Fear manifests itself in different people in different ways - in some the facial skin turns pale, while in others, on the contrary, due to the rush of blood to the skin, it turns red. Think and tell me - did Caesar try to get the pale or blushing ones into his army?
This means that there is a huge, fundamental difference between activity under normal conditions (say, in training, in a regular lesson) and the same activity, but at major competitions or at an entrance exam, on the results of which your whole life may depend.
signs such as “complex”, “difficult”, “special”, “critical”, “emergency”, “extraordinary”, “extreme”, “super-ecectremal”, “hyper-stressful”, etc. are called. It turns out that in one case the emphasis is on the characteristics of the objective conditions of activity (complicated conditions), in another on the person’s attitude to the situation that has arisen (“difficult” conditions), in the third the emphasis is on the condition that has arisen in the person (“hyper-stressful” conditions).
The very concept of extreme conditions is defined by some experts as “unfavorable for life,” others as “conditions requiring the mobilization of the body’s emergency capabilities.” It is known that anyone can run fast if there is a growling shepherd dog rushing behind them. Let's remember the story that happened in KiiTae on the eve of the Olympic Games in Tokyo. The police chased one robber and drove him into a dead end from which there was no way out. The street was surrounded on three sides by tall fences.
The police were triumphant - the thief's fate was sealed. But the thief continued to rush forward, increasing his speed
grow; They turned on the siren and the spotlight - this completely frightened the unfortunate man. Having uttered a heartbreaking scream, he took a straight run, with a push of his right leg, soared over a fence 2 m 51 cm high and disappeared. China then needed at least one gold medal at the Olympic Games. It was announced in the newspapers that if this criminal voluntarily came to the stadium in the high jump sector, then everything would be forgiven, and in addition he would be included in the Olympic team and paid a substantial monetary reward. Seven people came to the stadium. The best jumped 2 m 03 cm. This was below the Olympic standard, and just in case, the winner of these “criminal police” competitions was sent to prison.
Or another example that is closer to us. Ivan Alekseevich Bunin, at the age of 52, was vacationing in Switzerland. He lay on the green grass, on the bank of the stream with his feet towards the water and admired the clouds floating across the sky. And suddenly a snake’s head swayed before his eyes. And since childhood, Bunin was terrified of snakes. In horror, he jumped up and jumped over the stream. And the width of the stream was 2 m 94 cm. It is known that Bunin was an intelligent man, short in stature, who had never played sports in his life. I am sure that among the readers of this book there are many “cool” guys. Let them try to jump at least 2 m 50 cm. This means that people under normal conditions use only a small fraction of their potential capabilities. Extreme conditions are needed for a person to demonstrate his true capabilities. But it turns out that not all people are able to improve their results in a critical situation for their life. Some, on the contrary, get lost in a difficult situation and are not able to show even their usual results.
Psychologists know that under the influence of various psychological conditions of activity, the influence of some properties of temperament is weakened and others are strengthened. Thus, performance indicators in training sessions show virtually no connections with any property of temperament. In familiar conditions and a calm environment, each person can show everything he is capable of. But performance at competitions is negatively affected by personality traits such as anxiety and emotional excitability. These properties of temperament in competitions, differently than in training, affect other aspects of activity: the duration of concentration of attention before performing exercises, the level of aspirations, etc. change. In particular, under cipecca conditions, the motives of the same activity cause different degrees of neuropsychic stress in athletes with a strong and weak nervous system. In people with a strong nervous system and high motive activity, as a rule, the level of psychological stress is optimal, and this helps to improve their performance. A classic example of the behavior of the American sprinter and long jumper Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. After receiving a gold medal in the long jump, he began preparing for the 200-meter final. The interval between these types is 30 minutes. All athletes are under monstrous nervous tension. And Owens calmly wraps himself in a blanket and calmly goes to bed on the green grass of the stadium. Exactly 20 minutes later he wakes up and begins to confidently warm up. The sight of Owens sleeping on the eve of the most important start of his life had a devastating effect on his main competitors. For Ifflx it was a demonstration of absolute confidence in their victory.
As for athletes with a weak or unstable nervous system, with active motivation they usually experience excessive mental stress, leading to deterioration in performance. I remember how, on the eve of the national athletics championship, I, a young 20 km walker, had an ideological and educational conversation: “Tomorrow morning you have the final. The fate of the entire team fight depends on your successful performance. You have to give it your all and show everything you can do.” As a responsible person, I took the instructions I received very seriously. So, start at 8 am. You need to get up at 5 o'clock and eat well. This means you need to go to bed early to get a good night's sleep. And so I went to bed at 21.00 and could not close my eyes until 5 o’clock in the morning. No matter how much I told myself that I needed to sleep, it was all useless. The great responsibility literally crushed me. At least 20 times during the night I started and fought with imaginary opponents until the end. In the morning, completely exhausted, I was able to crawl out of bed with great difficulty. It is known that under the influence of stressful situations, the call zzzzzzz==rzzz
factors, excitation is stimulated and a dominant is formed with varying degrees of mobility of nervous processes. In a person with a strong nervous system, the dominant is stable and stable, while in athletes with a weak nervous system it is unstable and easily turns into inhibition, accompanied by a deterioration in motor capabilities. A very important role in a person’s behavior in an extreme situation is played by such qualities as temperament, sensitivity (emotional sensitivity and excitability), anxiety and activity in overcoming obstacles. Sensitivity in the broad sense of the word is an indicator of efficiency, adaptation of the individual to stressful or extreme conditions. High sensitivity is a quality opposite to the stability and stability of the mental state. Practice shows that as networking increases, the performance of a person deteriorates, especially in a critical situation (say, important competitions, exams, an unexpected attack by hooligans on the street).
It is known that almost all Olympic champions have reduced sensitivity. Why is that? Imagine that a log 30-50 cm thick lies on the ground. Will you worry, worry, worry, doubt your abilities, turn pale with fear if you are asked to walk on this log? Well, of course not. After all, the log is very wide and this walk does not pose any danger to you. What if the same log is thrown over a deep gorge, along the bottom of which a river roars in a fierce battle with huge boulders? And you will no longer be asked, but will be forced to cross the gorge on this log. Some people might die of fear just thinking about it. Before such a test, a person turns pale, sweats, and his arms and legs shake. And why all? He doesn't just want to cross this log. And he really wants it! And the more he convinces himself that “I must”, “I need to force myself”, “at any cost”, “I must”, “otherwise it’s a shame or death on sharp stones”, the less chance he has for successful completing this task. But you just have to convince yourself that there is no danger, that I have run on this log hundreds of times, that because it was raised to a greater height, it has not become thinner - you will complete the task without much difficulty. The main thing is not to look down at the boiling water and sharp rocks at the bottom

gorges. This means that in order not to be afraid, you need to really look at things, soberly assess the situation (this is not the last exam in life, if it doesn’t work out - I’ll come again, if I don’t win at these competitions - I’ll win at others, in the end, both the grade and the sports result - This is not the most important thing in life). Sometimes it’s even useful to downplay the degree of possible danger (so what’s wrong with the fact that a familiar log from childhood was thrown over an abyss, because I ran on it a hundred times while it was lying on the ground). It is no coincidence that the greatest orator of Ancient Rome, Cicero, uttered a paradoxical thought: “A good speech can only be made in front of a herd of sheep.” Therefore, everyone preparing for a public speech must treat his audience without excessive Tpeneia and excessive respect, otherwise he will only be able to shake with fear and babble nonsense. You need to look at the audience from top to bottom. Veda, you prepared, you know everything, what to be afraid of. The time has come to enlighten these “rams”. The same applies to people with speech impediments. The more a person thinks about his stuttering, the more he tries to get rid of it, the worse his speech will be. First, I need to be able to relax and convince myself that my speech impediments have no significance for life. After all, an intelligent person is not visible to the eyes. If I could then, many years ago, be able to relax the night before the start, I would have shown a good result.
According to psychological research, individuals who, due to a violation of the regulatory functions of the individual, are not able to cope with a difficult situation, show a tendency to avoid it. In particular, it was found that among people with high self-esteem there are more people who are unstable to stress than among people with adequate self-esteem. An athlete is always afraid of getting physically injured. What a shame it is to strain a tendon on the eve of a competition! But it is equally important to learn to avoid mental trauma. Indeed, in difficult conditions, it is not individual organs or systems of the body that participate in the implementation of activity, but the entire organism as a whole, although any of the systems may be subject to a predominant load. At the same time, it is necessary to take into account that the biological structures of the individual, as the personality develops, are increasingly transformed and, at the level of the developed personality, become subject to it. In a mature and developed personality, the biological functions of the body largely depend on psychological determinants. Psychologists emphasize “the subtle adaptability of the body to various emotional situations; Thus, vegetative, somatic and behavioral reactions during fear are completely different depending on whether the opportunity to avoid danger is real or not.” In sports psychology, there is data according to which “biological functions during competitions occur under the strong influence of mental factors.” But mental factors act, firstly, individually, and secondly, selectively. The autonomic nervous system, responsible for the internal functions of the body, is practically uncontrolled by consciousness. Therefore, in people with a strong, balanced and agile - sanguine temperament - in an extreme situation, “lion stress” occurs. It turns out that the more complex the situation, the more optimally, rationally and reliably such an individual acts. Here he is at the start, flushed, with eyes shining with excitement. At this time, a large amount of adrenaline, a hormone that stimulates motor activity, enters his blood. the hormone will help him to give his all and show a higher result than in quiet training work, without a large number of spectators and strict judges. And the louder the roar of the stands, the more confident such an athlete feels. Danger, as it were, spurs such a person on, forces him to act boldly, confidently, decisively. Napoleon wrote this about one of his marshals: “Ney had mental insights only among the cannonballs, in the thunder of battle; there his eye, his composure and energy were incomparable, but he did not know how to prepare his operations in the same way.” quiet office, studying the map.” But next to our hero stands his friend, who surprised everyone with his high results during training. But something is very pale, he is worried and flinches when shouting from the stands. He also wants to be first and set a record, but he has a weak nervous system and acetylcholine is released in his blood - a hormone with an effect opposite to that of adrenaline. Therefore, under the same extreme situation, a person with a weak nervous system has a completely opposite reaction - “rabbit stress” - disorganization of activity, a sharp drop in its effectiveness, passivity and general inhibition. Moreover, for a particular athlete, “bunny stress” can always

manifest themselves differently. For two false starts, he can simply be removed from the competition, he stumbles and falls, poorly tied shoes with spikes fall off, etc. After an unsuccessful finish, such an unlucky athlete, explaining his defeat, will each time find different reasons: a sudden upset stomach (called “bear sickness” - a direct consequence of stress), an old injury suddenly hurt, he started the distance too quickly and did not have the strength to finish, etc. .d. Other losers in such cases always blame their opponents - they are the ones who are bullied at the start, hit in the liver with an elbow, pushed over the edge, etc. It is interesting that if such incidents happen to a person who is confident in his abilities, then, say, a blow to the liver can only anger him and become a new incentive for a brilliant victory. Therefore, the same property of temperament - for example, anxiety (which is understood as a person’s tendency to exaggerate the physical or social danger of a situation and at the same time experience negative emotional states - fear, anxiety, worry, etc.) does not manifest itself in the same way in different people. This personality trait largely determines the intensity of the anxiety reaction in athletes on the eve of important competitions. But the whole point is that without this very anxiety there is no way to show a higher result in competitions than in training. The anxiety reaction should therefore be considered as a natural process of the body's adaptation to a stressful situation. To a certain extent, the intensity of this reaction is positive, and only excessive anxiety is undesirable and leads to deterioration in performance. Anxiety serves as a trigger for the manifestation of activity in overcoming external and internal obstacles on the way to achieving a set goal. Anxiety and excitability within varying limits contribute to the emergence of a state of mobilization, mental readiness for activity in stressful conditions, and improvement of its effectiveness.
What is important for us is not that people with a strong nervous system (and this is an innate property given to man by God) are capable of high results. These people by nature are destined for the role of winners. It is much more interesting that among very high-class athletes there are people with weakness, imbalance, inertia.
tew nervous processes, overly excitable and mentally unstable. But even such properties of the nervous system and temperament do not prevent them from achieving outstanding success in sports. This is largely facilitated by the formation of an individual style of activity, which is understood as a set of techniques and methods of activity and forms of response, determined by the typological properties of the nervous system, that allow one to achieve success in its implementation. Individual style of activity is one of the significant aspects of self-actualization - something that every person should strive for. The formation of an individual style of activity primarily occurs not through overcoming or correcting the negative aspects of temperament and properties of the nervous system, but through the effective use of their positive aspects for a given activity. Thus, the reliability of an athlete in the extreme conditions of major competitions depends not only on whether he has a strong or weak type of nervous activity, but also on how much control he has over his psyche. After all, almost any person, with proper preparation and training, has the ability to self-regulate at involuntary and voluntary levels immediately before a performance. Involuntary regulation of the pre-launch state is carried out through the implementation of certain programs, automated during the preparation process.
Conscious regulation of the pre-start state is based on the athlete’s developed ability to control its manifestations and causes, purposefully create image-representations, concentrate and switch attention to any objects, distract from the influence of negative psychogenic factors and stimuli, use verbal formulations and special techniques for. effects on muscle condition, autonomic functions and emotional arousal. Conscious regulation of the mental state can help increase the reliability of an athlete only with the daily use of a system of psychoregulatory influences (autogenic, psychoregulatory training).
So, practice shows that under the same conditions different individuals react differently, and these differences relate to both the degree of exposure to influences and the type of observed effects. So, some people note you

high resistance to stress and activity in extreme conditions, while others have low resistance. At the same time, for some, under extreme conditions, the activity improves (sometimes quite significantly, while for others it worsens to the point of failure).
This means that we can talk about two types of states associated with activity in an extreme situation: tension, which has a positive mobilizing effect on activity, and tension, which is characterized by a decrease in the stability of mental and motor functions up to the disintegration of activity.
What does the occurrence of this or that state depend on? Largely from a subjective assessment of the degree of importance, significance of a tago or other event for a particular individual. This can be called an assessment of a potential threat. According to data obtained by psychologists, a threat is a person’s anticipation of the possible negative consequences of the situation affecting him. This assumption was tested in experiments in which subjects were shown the same movie depicting accidents at a sawmill. In the first version of the experiments, subjects were simply told that the film would show accidents at a sawmill; in the second - that events are not real, but are only imitated by actors; finally, in the third case, the experimenters sought to divert the subjects’ attention from difficult episodes in the film: the audience was asked to impartially observe, for example, how clearly and convincingly the master sets out safety rules for workers. Based on the data obtained, it was concluded that in the first case, the majority of viewers experienced clearly expressed stress reactions, in the second, stress did not arise, since the events in the film were considered harmless. As for the third version of the film, if the subjects interpreted these events as dangerous and thus did not take an impartial observer position, then a stressful state arose.
The psychological specificity of states of tension, therefore, depends not on external influences, although they must be strong enough for a person, but also on the personal meaning of the purpose of the activity, assessment of the situation in which he finds himself, etc. To solve the problems arising here, the developed psi

chologists questions about the strength of motives, their hierarchy, the types of such hierarchies, the effectiveness of potential and actual motives, their awareness and unconsciousness, the dependence of the implementation of motives on time, on the distance to the goal, on the intensity of needs, on the adequacy of ways to achieve the goal, age characteristics, etc. .
However, it remains unclear to what extent the patterns established for normal conditions are preserved in difficult situations. Indeed, in situations that create a threat, all motivational processes come into play and the implementation of one of them will depend not only on its strength, place in the hierarchy, etc., but also on various situational factors, the degree of danger, etc. Thus, a person who knows that running away in conditions of physical danger is unworthy of a “real man” may, when attacked by hooligans, flee for his life, because at this moment maintaining health is more important than maintaining a good opinion of himself.
Everyone knows that in difficult conditions in a critical situation, the dynamic side (tempo, energy, intensity) of activity and behavior becomes extremely important, since it directly determines the effectiveness and reliability of a person. This means that the innate dynamic characteristics of the course of mental reactions in extreme conditions have a decisive impact on the final effectiveness of human actions. Of course, the strength of the nervous system plays an important role in the dynamics of mental states. The strength of the nervous system is a physiological prerequisite for human reliability. This factor has always been taken into account in professional selection and career guidance. Therefore, to work as an air traffic controller, pilot (and other professions that require instantaneous making of the right decision in an extreme situation), people with a strong, balanced and mobile nervous system have always been selected. This means that natural characteristics of a person limit a person’s capabilities. It is in a critical situation that their functioning can become decisive and affect the process of activity as a whole. The fact is that there are general and individual limits to the permissible intensities of biological processes, within the framework of which various kinds of biological changes occur, accompanied by the mobilization of the body’s reserves and its adaptation to the influencing stimuli. At-
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approaching these limits or exceeding them leads to various pathological changes, which are sometimes even irreversible.
The question is, can a person, not in extreme, but in the most ordinary conditions, go beyond the limits of his biological capabilities? Many amazing facts that science is not yet able to explain prove that human capabilities are truly limitless. This can only be understood through the unity and interconnection of a person’s natural properties with his properties as a person. And a person, as already mentioned, can be described not only as a biological individual, but also as a limitless field of consciousness that has unlimited experiential access to various aspects of reality without the mediation of the senses. Thus, the newspaper “Komsomolskaya Pravda” (1996, No. 44) wrote about a 56-year-old strongman from the city of Serpukhov - Anatoly Ivanovich Amodumov. Anatoly Ivanovich is short and strong, but not Stallone. If you meet him on the street, you won’t turn around. It lifts 6.5 tons from the ground. It is in principle impossible to explain how he does this, based on data from physiology, anatomy, physics, chemistry and other sciences. The limit of human biological capabilities (meaning a super strongman weighing 150 kg) cannot exceed 1.5 tons.
One day Samodumov came across Vladimir Shaposhnikov’s book “Iron Samson” - about Russian strongmen. After reading it, he was surprised that all the “heroes” stopped at 60 poods (about one thousand three hundred kilograms) in their achievements. “Why not more?” - Anatoly thought and began to solve the riddle, based on his own experience. And I also stopped at this point. When I lifted three hundred tons, it seemed that I could add another couple hundred kilograms. But he added fifty, and the bar seemed to grow into the ground. However, the training continued, and eventually the bar gave way. After this, Samodumov remained in euphoria for a month and a half. “It was an idiotic state,” he recalls. “I was absolutely happy, satisfied with everything, although I understood that from the outside I looked abnormal. When this state passed, I began to realize that in this way you can achieve a lot and get into an area hitherto unknown.”
How does Samodumov himself explain his phenomenal

results? According to him, it’s not about pumped up muscles and monstrous physical strength.
“Besides gravity, there are a lot of other phenomena in the world that we knew nothing about before and which we are just beginning to comprehend,” he says. - For example, there is an internal energy state of every living being or object. It is important to learn how to manage this state of vie. Doctors have found that if a person lifts weights, it has a beneficial effect on him: the body becomes healthier very quickly. When we lift a barbell, all our capabilities are included in the work. The energy capacity of each cell is being rebuilt. Our activities are as natural a need as eating, drinking and sleeping.
The problem with yoga and all martial arts is that... develop some centers in a person, but suppress others. Development is one-sided. We achieve harmony - this is the uniqueness of the methodology. And all our records are just the effect of self-improvement classes.”
Anatoly Ivanovich does not declare his method as a panacea for all diseases. He only cites the facts - the fifty-four-year-old patient had a purely female pathology. Doctors forbade her to carry more than five kilograms, otherwise; - intensive care unit. A very complicated operation was imminent. After six months of training in the section, this woman lifted eight centners, the need for surgery disappeared. Almost all the diseases that I tried to treat using my technique disappeared,” says Samodumov. - “Side effect” - weight loss, rejuvenation and general strengthening of the body. People who work with me stop getting sick. Even a cold, from which it is very difficult to protect yourself, occurs very easily and quickly for them... But do not immediately try to grab heavy weights to get rid of sores. Nothing will work out. It might get worse. Here, as in studies, training is based on the “teacher-student” principle. This is very important, because, according to Anatoly Ivanovich’s shackles, for the first time it is he who “charges a person with energy drawn from the Cosmos.” Without her, all classes are in vain.”
It is curious that Anatoly Ivanovich deals only with girls. He believes that girls are more open, more trusting, and more disciplined. Men question everything, they need to analyze and sort everything into categories, and trust is out of the question. In addition, the stronger sex very easily squanders hard-earned potential.
This means that a person not only in extreme conditions, but also in ordinary ones, when it is necessary to do something beyond the limits of human capabilities, can draw additional energy from an as yet unknown source. The receipt of additional energy can explain not only this, but also many other unusual results. How, for example, can a karateka break 10 concrete blocks stacked one on top of the other with his bare hand? Even if we assume that his bones and muscles are stronger than steel, this is still impossible in principle, since the power of a heavy artillery shell is needed to perform such work. Or, like a karateka extinguishing a candle behind thick glass with a wave of his hand? Moreover, sometimes such phenomenal capabilities manifest themselves in the most ordinary people who find themselves in a critical situation. After all, facts are very stubborn things.
One day, in front of one woman’s eyes, a wall collapsed on her 15-year-old son. The guy was crushed under a very heavy slab. There was no need to wait for salvation, there was no one in sight, and he was doomed. But the fragile woman did not think about the fact that only a crane could lift a slab weighing about three tons. She thought only about saving her only son and knew that no one else would do this except her. Therefore, she was able to jerk this slab and pull out her son. More well-known examples can be given. Thus, the famous yogi Sri Chen Moy, in front of numerous spectators, lifted a weight of 2 tons from the mief and above his head. From history, we can recall how 14-year-old American Lulu Hearst in 1885, standing on scales in the circus arena, lifted a chair over her head with a man sitting on it weighing 80 kg. The most surprising thing is that the scales showed only her weight. The weight lifted by an unknown force decreased to 0. Obviously, only under some exceptional conditions does a person acquire such incredible strength and acquire new, previously unprecedented capabilities. Conventionally, psychologists call these phenomena special mental states. These special conditions arise, as a rule, in extreme or, more precisely, borderline situations. These are situations of individual existence in which the individual’s self-awareness is heightened and a person involuntarily recognizes himself. More precisely, he learns something new about his essential strengths and capabilities.

According to K. Jaspers, borderline situations arise exclusively in the face of death, unrequited love or trials with an unpredictable outcome. Borderline situations encourage a person to rely on his essential strengths and serve as an important source of personal self-development. Borderline states do not have a continuous existence; they seem to intersperse into our everyday experience. Being in such a state, a person acts contrary to everything, regardless of common sense and in spite of everything. Many real facts prove the validity of this purely philosophical abstraction: for example, a person rushes to the aid of another, not only risking his life, but often without imagining whether it is even possible to save him. A man defends his dignity and masculine honor, knowing that no one will ever know about it.
Imagine that you are walking along the Voroshilovsky Bridge and before your eyes a five-year-old child hangs over the railing and quickly falls down. What to do in such a situation? All men are divided into two categories: some, without thinking about anything, jump from the bridge into the water, while others, frantically clutching the railing, are intensely thinking about something. But there is something to think about. Does it even make sense to take risks and jump down if the child has already crashed into the water and drowned? What if there are iron piles or concrete blocks sticking out of the water in this place? What if a barge comes in from the other side and I jump right onto the iron deck? Finally, it wouldn’t hurt to take off your expensive leather jacket, etc. and so on. It is clear that after such a comprehensive analysis of the current situation there will be no one to save. But on the other hand, how can a reasonable person commit reckless acts?
Some guy can boast a lot about his “coolness” and courage, but he will never go unarmed against a crowd of twenty people. After all, this is recklessness - the forces are too unequal. But why does the other person (who falls into the “real man” category) never come up with these reasonable arguments, and he, with burning eyes, runs into a crowd of twenty people? Paradoxically, such recklessness often leads to a landslide victory. There is something in the madness of the brave that puts to flight a stronger and more numerous enemy.
Masculinity is always irrational and paradoxical. Sometimes a person realizes that the action he is performing

He is not only dumb, but also senseless, but in principle he cannot do otherwise, he cannot restrain himself. Sometimes the concept of “masculinity” is wrongfully replaced by the concepts of “ideological conviction”, “moral maturity”, “moral choice in an extreme situation”, etc. But this is not entirely true, since moral choice is still controlled by consciousness, as is devotion to any ideas or ideals. And masculinity is not controlled by consciousness, logic and common sense.
In the old film about the joint military operations of Soviet and French pilots "Normandy-Niemen" one real episode is shown. One French pilot had to fly the plane to another airfield. He put a Russian mechanic in the bomb bay without a parachute. But when he took off, the pilot lost control as a result of some kind of accident. A critical situation has arisen when he cannot land the plane, nor can the mechanic help. He reports this to the ground, and he is ordered to eject. But to do so means to violate the code of a real man (“perish yourself, but help a comrade." But in this situation he is not only a man with thoughts and feelings, but also a combat unit that needs to be preserved in order to be used for its intended purpose in the next battle. He is strictly ordered to eject, but he cannot help himself .The internal code of male honor turns out to be higher than orders and even the desire to live.Finally, the mechanic on the internal intercom begs him to jump, but it explodes along with the plane.
What is the reason for such actions, if we discard all considerations of prudence and common sense? But they are not without reason (moreover, a person in such situations assures that he could not have acted differently). To say that the reason for these actions is irrational and existential means to raise the question of the nature of these reasons. Borderline states, therefore, for psychologists are a kind of “window” into a special dimension of human life - into that “existential space”, the laws of which act on a person as inexorably (it is impossible to do otherwise) as physical laws. External reasons for the reckless behavior of a person in a borderline state can be very different - religious fanaticism, political beliefs, patriotism,

just generally accepted “coolness”, but inside the same reason is at work - masculinity. It is the formed masculinity, like a tightly compressed spring (like a constantly cocked trigger), in a critical situation that instantly straightens, pushing out (or rather shooting) a man, throwing him into battle against the whole world. The moment of the “shot” cannot, in principle, be realized and critically comprehended. A person will be burned at the stake, and he, without feeling pain, will enthusiastically shout: “Glorified is the Lord!” Such masculinity has always been “like a bone in the throat” of the powerful, accustomed to doing business with obedient loyal subjects. Over the centuries, many have tried to break a courageous man, to force him to change his previous position. But even if a mountain comes at a real knight, he, putting his spear forward, will continue to shout loudly that there is no lady more beautiful and worthy than his beloved.
The Holy Inquisition operated in Europe for 300 years. What did the inquisitive thoughts of “creatively minded” inquisitors wrestle with over the centuries? How to come up with such torment, torture, such a sophisticated method of execution for a person to force him to renounce his previous (heretical) views, change his beliefs and principles. Find a way to confuse a person in such a way as to break his masculinity. Not just to make it very painful, but to split a person’s consciousness like a “rotten nut.” But it turned out that there is no such MjrKH, such torture that a courageous man, convinced that he is right, could not endure. We respect Archpriest Avvakum not for his views (views can be stupid and crazy; just like Dulcinea of ​​the ideal knight Don Quixote, a poser can turn out to be a fat, pockmarked and stupid girl), but for his courage in defending his position.
At the end of the 20th century, it would seem that they found a way to break any person, no matter how courage he possessed. We are talking about a psychotropic weapon, with the help of which specially encoded information, freely passing through the filters of consciousness, invades the subconscious and subjugates a person to someone else’s will. I don’t want to believe in this, because the spread of these weapons can kill the main thing in humanity: masculinity. It seems that this weapon can not subdue, but simply kill a courageous man. Killing is always much easier.
The author believes that true masculinity, as the core of personality, permeates not only the consciousness, but also the subconscious of a person, determining his behavior in almost any situation. I would like to tell you a story that I heard from my late grandfather many years ago. Now it is not possible to verify the authenticity of individual details of this story, but the principle itself is more important. The bottom line is this: in 1942 in Ukraine, the head of one of the regional Gestapo offices was a psychologist by training. Even before the war, in his works he wrote about man as “an animal covered with a thin film of civilization.” And since a person is essentially an animal, then such phenomena as honor, conscience, nobility, courage are all husks, empty words of morality that very quickly fly away from any person, as soon as he puts a few needles under his nails. The main thing is to be able to drive them deeper. In peacetime, he did not have the opportunity to test his views in practice, but during the war such an opportunity presented itself. Only those prisoners who had already proven themselves to be a “tough nut to crack” were selected for the experiment. As a rule, they turned out to be Red commanders, political instructors, former athletes and simply ordinary communists and patriots. The man was put in a sealed leather bag with a weight at his feet and thrown to the bottom of a deep and cold river. The bag was on a long rope, by which it could always be lifted to the surface. And a thin rope was wound around the man’s fist, passing through the neck of the bag to the surface. Imagine yourself sitting in this leather bag for 30 seconds, feel the hopelessness of the situation, feel the cold water pressing on your ears. These seconds pass very quickly, and all that remains is the crazy hope of breathing one more time, of living a little longer. Here a weak person can pull the string. The bell will ring and the bag will quickly be pulled to the surface. But our “psychologist’s” attitude was not designed for this primitive animal fear. His was thinner; a vile, as it seemed to him, scientifically based and insidious calculation. After all, when the last breath of air is spent, consciousness turns off. And when consciousness turns off, then all the attitudes developed by consciousness disappear - communist ideas, patriotism, sacred hatred of enemies, religious principles and everything else. What remains? Only animal instincts, and among them the most important is self-preservation. The bet was placed on this short period of time, when consciousness has switched off, but the body itself is still alive and can act. The dying brain sends the last signal, and the hand, against all the person’s previous beliefs, itself pulls the string. The bag containing the semi-conscious person is immediately pulled to the surface.
He immediately receives a glass of schnapps for warmth and for courage, he is dressed in a warm police uniform, given a carbine (without cartridges to begin with) and forced to participate in a mass execution in this uniform in front of everyone. You can also take a photograph of him against the background of a gallows with hanged men and give him this photograph with a dedicatory inscription from the boss himself as a souvenir. An enlightened Gestapo man wanted to put this case on the conveyor belt - you put a political officer in a bag, and you pull out a policeman. But the experiment failed. Out of hundreds of people executed, only 2 or 3 were weak and pulled the rope. But after a while they themselves committed suicide, since they could not walk on their native soil in the role of a traitor. In fact, the experiment did not fail, but confirmed once again that genuine masculinity not only permeates the entire conscious structure of the personality, but also captures the area of ​​the subconscious (and perhaps the area of ​​the unconscious, where masculinity is fixed at the level of archetypes). My grandfather also said that a report was drawn up based on the materials of the experiment and sent to headquarters. Based on this report, appropriate decisions were made. In particular, since the end of 1944, communists were no longer tortured, since a corresponding badge was placed in the personal files of prisoners, indicating that this person was a convinced communist (in the context of the problem under consideration, this meant a real man) and applying torture to him was a waste of time. Therefore, such a person is subject only to immediate destruction.
From everything we can draw one conclusion: true masculinity is not subject to all considerations of prudence and common sense. In the situation of “being a man in the face of death,” a person must throw aside all the arguments generated by modern life and act in accordance with some ancient motivational programs. It was these ancient programs that constantly pushed

men (even against their will) at the forefront of the evolutionary process.
Let's imagine that the people who suffocated in the bag somehow remained alive. How would the experienced existential state affect their personality? Would they come out of the bag the same or would there be some kind of transformation?
Practice shows that experiencing borderline states leads to a “conversion” of the individual. The person himself begins to feel different, changed. Something is revealed to him that does not allow him to lead the same way of life; he really thinks, feels and understands differently. The basic reasons for a person’s basic actions become the state discovered and experienced by him in existential experience, and not the usual motives determined by the environment. This means that the existential state experienced by a person (the reasons for which are usually hidden from us) itself becomes the cause of subsequent events.
It is important to emphasize that the influence of the social on biological processes in states of tension is carried out primarily through mental, in particular motivational and emotional components of activity, their specific content. Along with the examples just given, this can also be confirmed by works in the field of prevention and overcoming the negative effects of mental tension, which show the possibility of conscious regulation of certain vegetative processes, which leads to an increase in the functional capabilities of the physiological systems of a disabled person, their compensation and, on this basis, an increase in resistance to influencing stimulation. Moreover, we can say that under certain conditions a person can restrain the manifestations of his bodily being at their greatest tension, as if suppressing them and to a certain extent go beyond the limits of biological laws.
This means that the effect of a stressor is not limited only to its specific action, but is also determined by the psychological characteristics of a person. Thus, immediate danger to life, severe pain, which are recognized as effective stressors, may not be so in connection with the performance of a certain role or, for example, in connection with religious or ideological motives. Psychology of race
11. The burning school believes that there is a large number of studies indicating this. that the motivational, intellectual and other psychological characteristics of a person, his life experience, amount of knowledge, etc. significantly correct the influence of the objective properties of the stimulus. For example, in studies of the mental states of parachutists, it has been repeatedly shown that the degree of fear before a jump is positively correlated with a lack of self-confidence and lack of experience, in particular the ability to fight against the wind during a jump.
Even more striking confirmation is the data obtained by American psychologists. The study was conducted on recruited soldiers. Situations of a “crash” and forced landing of an aircraft were simulated. The subjects were in a twin-engine military aircraft DS-Z. Each of the passengers had a connection via headphones to the cockpit.
Before boarding, each participant in the experiment was given a brochure with instructions for 10 minutes to study - a list of necessary actions in the event of a possible disaster. In addition, as required by the regulations of the Air Force, each participant in the flight, under the control of the aircraft commander, put on a life belt and a parachute. Somewhere at an altitude of 5,000 feet, the plane, gaining altitude, began to roll. All subjects saw that one of the propellers had stopped rotating, and through headphones they learned about other problems. They were then told directly that a critical situation had arisen. The subjects, as if by chance, hear through headphones an alarming conversation between the pilot and a ground observation post, which leaves no doubt about the reality of the situation. Since the plane was flying near the airfield, the subjects could see trucks and ambulances arriving on the runway, i.e. that on the ground they clearly suspect a crash and are preparing to provide assistance. A few minutes later there was an order to prepare for splashdown in the open ocean due to the failure of the landing gear. After some time, the plane landed safely at the airfield. In general, the experimental situation was perceived as real, strong emotional experiences were observed associated with the fear of death or injury (“numb with horror”), etc. However, some of the subjects did not notice these phenomena: some of them had extensive flying experience and were able to determine the simulated nature of the danger, while others were confident in their ability to survive the “impending catastrophe” and overcome it.
This gives reason to believe that the main role in the emergence of a threat belongs not so much to the objective danger and objective opportunities to resist this danger, but to how a person perceives the situation, assesses his capabilities, i.e. subjective factor. If a person believes in himself, in his capabilities, he can handle the most difficult and extreme situations.

Academician N. BEKHTEREVA.

The seditious ideas presented in this
article - they are seditious,
but there are no others yet and,
maybe it won't.
But... Anything can happen.
N. P. Bekhtereva

Bekhtereva Natalya Petrovna is a full member (academician) of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev (1857-1927) - an outstanding Russian psychiatrist, morphologist and physiologist.

Error detector.

Test "Detection of semantic and grammatical features of speech." Histograms of the impulse activity of neurons in certain zones (Brodmann fields) of the human brain during the test.

Features of ultra-slow physiological processes that in the human brain are associated with the formation of emotional reactions and states in a patient with parkinsonism.

The twentieth century turned out to be a century of mutually enriching inventions and discoveries in a variety of fields. Modern man has gone from the ABC book to the Internet, but nevertheless cannot cope with organizing a balanced world. Its “biological” in many parts of the world, and sometimes globally, triumphs over the mind and is realized by aggression, so beneficial in small doses, as an activator of brain capabilities, so destructive in large doses. The age of scientific and technological progress and the bloody age... It seems to me that the key to the transition from the bloody age to the era (age?) of prosperity is hidden under several mechanical protections and shells, on the surface and in the depths of the human brain...

The 20th century contributed a lot of valuable information to the fundamental knowledge about the human brain. Some of this knowledge has already found application in medicine, but is used relatively little in education and training. Man as an individual already benefits from the achievements of the fundamental sciences about the brain. A person as a member of society still has little “profit” both for himself and for society, which is largely due to the conservatism of social foundations and the difficulty of forming a common language between sociology and neurophysiology. Here we mean the translation of achievements in the study of the patterns of brain function from the language of neurophysiology into a form acceptable for education and training.

Let’s try to figure out whether we are “on the path” to the mystical wisdom of “Shambhala” (the fabulous land of sages in Tibet. - Note ed.), if we are, then where? The only reliable path to the necessary and sufficient wisdom in interpersonal, personal-social and inter-societal relationships, the rational and real path to “Shambhala” lies through further knowledge of the laws of brain function. Humanity is paving the way to this knowledge through the joint efforts of neurophysiology and neuropsychology, strengthened by today's and tomorrow's technological solutions.

The twentieth century inherited and developed data and ideas about the basic mechanisms of the brain (Sechenov, Pavlov), including the human brain (Bekhterev). A comprehensive method for studying the human brain and technological progress in medicine in the twentieth century brought the most significant achievements in understanding the principles and mechanisms of the human brain. The forms of organization of brain support for human intellectual activity, the reliability of the functioning of his brain, the mechanism of stable states (health and disease) are formulated, the presence of error detection in the brain is shown, its cortical and subcortical links are described, and various mechanisms of the brain’s own protection are discovered. The significance of these discoveries for understanding the capabilities and limitations of healthy and diseased brains cannot be overestimated.

The capabilities of the brain are being intensively studied and will continue to be studied; the task of opening (or closing?) the brain code of thought processes is on the threshold. The human brain is prepared in advance for anything, it seems to live not in our century, but in the future, ahead of itself.

What do we know today about those conditions, those principles on the basis of which not only the capabilities, but also the superpowers of the human brain are realized? And what are his defense mechanisms, overprotection, and perhaps prohibitions?

Once - and in the super-accelerating race of time, perhaps a long time ago - more than thirty years ago, stimulating one of the subcortical nuclei, my colleague Vladimir Mikhailovich Smirnov saw how the patient literally before our eyes became twice as “smarter”: more than two times His memory abilities have increased. Let's put it this way: before stimulating this very specific point of the brain (I know, but I won't say which!) the patient remembered 7 + 2 (that is, within the normal range) words. And immediately after stimulation - 15 or more. The iron rule: “for each given patient, only what is indicated for him.” We didn’t know then how to “put the genie back in the bottle,” and we didn’t flirt with him, but actively pushed him to return - in the interests of the patient. And this was an artificially induced superpower of the human brain!

We have known about the superpowers of the brain for a long time. These are, first of all, the innate properties of the brain, which determine the presence in human society of those who are able to find the maximum of correct decisions in conditions of a shortage of information introduced into consciousness. Extreme cases. People of this kind are valued by society as having talents and even geniuses! A striking example of the superpowers of the brain are various creations of geniuses, the so-called high-speed counting, almost instantaneous vision of the events of a whole life in extreme situations, and much more. It is known that it is possible for individuals to learn a variety of living and dead languages, although usually 3-4 foreign languages ​​are almost the limit, and 2-3 is the optimal and sufficient number. In the life of not only talent, but also the so-called ordinary person, states of insight sometimes arise, and sometimes as a result of these insights, a lot of gold is added to the treasury of human knowledge.

In the observation of V. M. Smirnov, a kind of opposite event is given in comparison with those mentioned below, however, perhaps it also contains an answer to the question to the brain that has not yet been formulated here: what and how provides superpowers? The answer is both expected and simple: in providing intellectual superpowers, the activation of certain, and probably many, brain structures plays a crucial role. Simple, expected, but incomplete. The stimulation was short, the phenomenon “didn’t get stuck.” We were all so afraid of the possible cost of the brain for the superpowers that were so suddenly revealed. After all, they were revealed here not in real conditions of insight, but in a semi-controlled, instrumental way.

Thus, superpowers are initial (talent, genius) and can, under certain conditions of an optimal emotional regime, manifest themselves in the form of insight with a change in the time regime (speed) and in extreme situations, also, apparently, with a change in the time regime. And, what is most important in our knowledge about superpowers, they can be formed through special training, as well as in the case of setting a super-task.

Life has confronted me with a group of people who, under the leadership of V. M. Bronnikov, are learning a lot, in particular to see with their eyes closed. “Bronnikov’s boys” have received and are demonstrating their superpowers, acquired as a result of systematic long-term training, carefully revealing their abilities for alternative (direct) vision. An objective study was able to show that in the electroencephalogram (EEG) such learning manifests conditionally pathological mechanisms that work beyond the norm. “Conditionally pathological”, apparently, in the conditions of their own, special brain defense mechanisms.

The quantitative accumulation of data about the capabilities and prohibitions of the brain, about the dual unity - at least many, if not all of its mechanisms - is now on the verge of turning into quality - on the verge of obtaining the possibility of purposefully forming a conscious person. However, the transition from knowledge of the laws of nature to their rational use is not always quick, not always easy, but always thorny.

And yet, if you think about the alternatives - life in anticipation of pressing the button of a nuclear suitcase, an environmental disaster, global terrorism, you understand that, no matter how difficult this path is, it is the best: the path of forming a conscious person and, as a consequence, society and communities of conscious people. And it is possible to form a conscious person only on the basis of knowledge of the principles and mechanisms of the brain, its capabilities and superpowers, defense mechanisms and limits, as well as an understanding of the dual unity of these mechanisms.

So what are these two-pronged brain mechanisms, these two Janus faces, what are we talking about here? Superpowers and illness, protection, as a reasonable prohibition, and illness, and much, much more.

Ideally, an example of superpowers is long-lived geniuses who are able to make correct decisions based on a minimum of information entered into their consciousness and do not burn out due to the presence of adequate self-protection. But how often does a genius seem to “devour” himself, as if he is “searching” for the end. What is this? Lack of the brain’s own protection both “inside” the provision of one function and in the interaction of various functions? Or maybe it, this protection, can be formed and strengthened - especially from childhood, by recognizing the makings of intellectual superpowers in a capable child?

For many decades and even centuries, learning practically important knowledge took place through education (consolidating moral values ​​in memory) and memory training. The mystery of memory is still not solved, despite the Nobel Prizes in medicine. And the significance of the early formation of the “moral” basis of memory (although it is not called that) for society was very great; for the vast majority of children, first and then adults, the commandments turned into a hardened matrix in the brain - a fence that did not allow them to be violated, practically determining behavior person and painfully punishing the offender. The pangs of conscience (if it has formed!), the tragedy of repentance - all this, activated through error detectors, revived in the brain of the offender, together with the “terrible punishments” promised already in early childhood for breaking the commandments, in society as a whole worked stronger than judicial penalties. In real life today, many things, including “terrible punishments”, pangs of conscience, etc., to put it mildly, have been transformed, and even in the past they did not stop everyone. Disregarding the prohibitions of the memory matrix, laid down in past generations and not laid down now, a person steps towards freedom of both spirit and crime.

In the case mentioned above, memory worked primarily as a mechanism of inhibition or, if you like, as a mechanism of “local neurosis.” But if they didn’t know anything about the memory matrix in the brain, and they didn’t call it that, then memory itself, as the main mechanism that allows us to survive in health and illness, was still treated much more carefully in the old version of training than now.

From early childhood, memory forms matrices where automatisms further operate. Thus, it frees up our brain to process and use the huge information flow of the modern world, maintaining a stable state of health. But memory itself needs help, and it is especially important to help its most fragile mechanism - reading - in advance. And earlier this, apparently, was carried out with a large amount of memorization and especially difficult-to-learn prose of dead languages. Memory, having “pushed” and “pushed” everything stereotypical into automatic mode, frees everything again and again, opening up to us the enormous possibilities of the brain. The reliability of these enormous capabilities is determined by many factors, and the most important of them are daily constant training of the brain with any and every factor of novelty (indicative reflex!), the multi-link nature of brain systems, the presence of these systems in providing non-stereotypical activity not only hard, that is, permanent links, but also flexible links (variables) and much more. In the process of creating conditions for the realization of the capabilities and superpowers of the brain, the same mechanisms - and above all the basic mechanism - memory - build a palisade of protection and, in particular, protection of a person from himself, the biological in him, his negative aspirations, as well as from various emergency situations in life situations.

This is the restrictive role of the memory matrix in behavior (“thou shalt not kill”...). This is also its selective mechanism of restrictions, a mechanism for identifying errors.

What kind of error protection, restriction, prohibition mechanism is this - an error detector? We do not know whether nature gives this mechanism to a person from birth. But most likely not. The human brain develops by processing the flow (influx!) of information, adapting to the environment through trial and error. At the same time, in the learning brain, along with zones that ensure activity through activation, zones are formed that react selectively or predominantly to deviations from a favorable, “correct under given conditions” reaction to an error. These zones, judging by the subjective reaction (type of anxiety), are associated with the attributes of emotional activation entering consciousness. In human language - although error detectors are apparently not just a human mechanism - it sounds like this: “something... somewhere... is wrong, something... somewhere is wrong... ".

Until now, we have talked (including about the most important discovery of V. M. Smirnov) about the capabilities and physiological basis of superpowers. How can one create superpowers under normal conditions and is this always possible and, what is very important, permissible?

Now there is no answer to the question “is it always”? However, it is possible to evoke superpowers much more often than what happens in everyday life.

It has already been said that the brain of a genius is capable of statistically correctly solving problems with a minimum of information introduced into consciousness. This is like an ideal combination of an intuitive and logical mindset.

We see the manifestation of the brain of a genius in the super-tasks he solves - be it the “Sistine Madonna”, “Eugene Onegin” or the discovery of heterojunctions. Ease of decision-making occurs with the help of optimal activation mechanisms, mainly, apparently, of an emotional nature. They are also responsible for the joy of creativity, especially if the process is combined with the brain’s own optimal protection... And this optimal protection consists primarily of the balance of brain changes during emotions (physiologically expressed - in the spatial multidirectionality of the development of ultra-slow physiological processes of different signs in the brain) and optimal slow-wave nightly “cleansing” of the brain (you must “not throw out the baby with the bathwater” and not leave too much “garbage”)...

And yet, although memory is the basic mechanism for providing capabilities and superpowers, neither talent, nor, especially, genius can be reduced to it alone. Just remember the book by the Russian scientist-psychologist A. R. Luria “The Great Memory of a Little Man”...

Superpowers of “ordinary” people, unlike geniuses, manifest themselves - if they manifest themselves - when it is necessary to solve super-tasks. In this case, the brain is able, in the interests of optimizing its work, to use conditionally pathological mechanisms, in particular hyperactivation, naturally, with sufficient protection that prevents the powerful assistant from turning into an epileptic discharge. Life can set a super task, but it can be solved either independently or with the help of teachers, and there are solutions in this life when you can pay a high price for the result. Please do not confuse this with the infamous "the ends justify the means."

As we know from the history of religion, Jesus Christ gave sight to a blind believer, presumably by touching him. Until very recently, in attempts not to explain where it was, but at least to understand the possibility of this possibility, it was necessary to invoke the concept of so-called mental blindness - a rare hysterical state when “everything is in order, but a person does not see,” but can see the light under strong emotional stress. shaking

But now, at the very end of my life, I am sitting with Larisa at the large “meeting” table. I'm wearing a bright red wool mohair poncho, a gift from my son. "Larissa, what color are my clothes?" - “Red,” Larisa calmly answers and begins to doubt my stunned silence, “or maybe blue?” - I have a dark blue dress under the poncho. “Yes,” Larisa says further, “I still can’t always clearly determine the color and shape, I still need to practice.” Behind us are several months of very intense work by Larisa and her teachers - Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Bronnikov, his employee, doctor Lyubov Yuryevna, and from time to time - Bronnikov's beautiful daughter, 22-year-old Natasha. She can do this too... They all taught Larisa to see. I was present at almost every vision training session for the completely blind Larisa, who lost her eyes at the age of eight - and now she is 26! The blind girl adapted to life and, of course, primarily thanks to her incredibly caring father. And because she probably tried very hard, because evil fate seemed to leave her no choice.

When she was told about the opportunity to see after special training using the method of V. M. Bronnikov, neither she nor we imagined the difficulty and laboriousness of the training as a payment for the desired result.

How pretty Larisa is now! How she straightened up, cheered up, how she believes in a new future for her... Even scary! After all, she has not yet reached that amazing ability to see without the help of her eyes, which Bronnikov’s “older” students demonstrate to us. But she has already learned a lot, and this needs a special story.

People usually do not believe stories about what already exists in reality. Journalists make films, show them, tell stories. It seems (or maybe it really is) that nothing is hidden. And all the same - the overwhelming majority are cautious: “I don’t know what, but something is the trick here” or “They are peeking through the blindfold” - a blind black blindfold.

And after the amazing film about the possibilities of Bronnikov’s technique, I thought not so much about science, a scientific miracle, but about Larisa - Larisa as an unfortunate, tragically robbed girl, Larisa as a person who, in her great misfortune, has nothing to look at - there are no eyes at all .

Larisa is, as they say, a difficult case to learn. What deprived her of her sight is from the arsenal of the most terrible “horror stories”. Hence her changing psychological mood. Along with new possibilities, probably, a terrible picture of the crime comes to life in her brain, a new awareness of its tragic consequences, many years of trial and error in adapting to a changed world. But the girl’s dream did not die over these many years. “I always believed that I would see,” Larisa whispers. We examined her, Larisa, and them, “Bronnikov’s boys” (Bronnikov’s son, patients at different stages of education) using so-called objective research methods.

The electroencephalogram (EEG) and biocurrents of Larisa’s brain differ sharply from the usual EEG picture of a healthy adult. A frequent rhythm, normally barely visible (the so-called beta rhythm), is present in the girl in all leads, in all points of the brain. This is traditionally believed to reflect the predominance of excitatory processes. Well, of course, Larisa’s life is difficult and requires stress. But at first Larisa had very little alpha rhythm, the slower rhythm of healthy people associated with the visual channel. But Larisa’s EEG as a whole is not for the weak nerves of a specialist. If you didn’t know whose EEG it was, you could think about a serious brain disease - epilepsy. Larisa’s encephalogram is full of so-called epileptiform activity. However, what we see here once again emphasizes the often forgotten (golden!) rule of clinical physiology: “The EEG conclusion is one thing, but a medical diagnosis, the diagnosis of a disease, is necessarily made with its clinical manifestations.” Well, of course, plus an EEG to clarify the form of the disease. Epileptiform activity, especially the type of sharp waves and groups of sharp waves, is also a rhythm of excitation. Usually in a diseased brain. There are many of these waves in Larisa’s EEG, and occasionally an almost “local seizure” is visible, not even spreading to neighboring areas of the brain, the EEG is the “equivalent” of a seizure.

Larisa's brain is activated. And, apparently, in addition to those that we know about, we need to look for and discover new mechanisms that firmly protected Larisa’s brain for many years from the spread of pathological excitation, which alone is the main cause of the development of the disease - epilepsy. (With obligatory insufficiency of protective mechanisms or as a result of this insufficiency, of course.)

An objective study of brain biopotentials can be assessed differently. You can write: dominance of the beta rhythm and single and group sharp waves. Not scary? Yes, and in addition - the truth. It can be said differently: widespread and local epileptiform activity. Scary? Yes, and in addition, it leads somewhere away from the truth about Larisa’s brain. The absence of any manifestations of epilepsy in Larisa’s medical biography does not provide grounds for an inappropriate diagnosis of the disease. Including the many EEGs that were recorded from Larisa during the process of learning vision using the Bronnikov method. I believe that in this case it is legitimate to talk about the use of Larisa’s brain in the conditions of her life’s super task not only of ordinary excitatory processes, but also of hyperexcitation. In the EEG this is reflected by the already described combination of widespread beta activity and single and group acute (conditionally epileptiform) waves. The connection between what was observed in the EEG and Larisa’s real state was very clearly visible: the EEG was clearly dynamic, and its dynamics were dependent both on the initial EEG background and on the training sessions.

We also had ultra-slow processes, their various relationships and so-called evoked potentials in our stock of research methods. Analysis of infraslow potentials also emphasized the high dynamism, depth, and intensity of physiological changes in Larisa’s brain.

The widespread use of evoked potentials usually provides fairly reliable information about the brain inputs of signals through the sensory channels. Now, apparently, it is already possible to study Larisa’s reaction to some light signals - a reaction to bright light has already appeared in the EEG, but several months ago it seemed to us more appropriate (reliable) to obtain this kind of information from a person with good natural vision and fully trained alternative (direct) vision.

The most “advanced” student and son of teacher V.M. Bronnikov, Volodya Bronnikov, was presented with visual images (animals, furniture on the monitor) with open eyes and eyes covered with a thick, thick black bandage. The number of presentations of these signals was sufficient for statistically reliable detection of local evoked responses (evoked potential). The evoked response to visual signals presented with the eyes open showed rather trivial results: the evoked response was recorded in the posterior parts of the hemispheres. The first attempts to register evoked potentials to similar (the same) visual signals with the eyes tightly closed failed - the analysis was hampered by a huge number of artifacts, usually observed when the eyelids tremble or the eyeballs move. To eliminate these artifacts, an additional bandage was applied to Volodya’s eyes, but this time it fit tightly to the eyelids. (This is from the practice of clinical physiology.) Artifacts have disappeared. But alternative vision, vision without the participation of the eyes, also disappeared (for a while)! After a couple of days, Volodya again restored alternative vision, giving correct verbal answers with his eyes closed twice. His EEG changed in both the first and this case. However, when Volodya’s eyes were literally “bricked up” with our additional bandage, visual evoked potentials were not recorded. And Volodya continued to give correct answers to signals and correctly identified the presented objects! The EEG gave the impression that the signal entered the brain directly, changing its general state. But the entry of the signal into the brain - evoked potentials - after the restoration of alternative vision ceased to be registered. One could imagine... - as always, an explanation can be found. But this is what sharply narrowed the possibilities of “simply” explaining the disappearance of evoked potentials with eyes closed.

The fact is that after Volodya mastered alternative vision, let’s say, in complicated conditions - a regular bandage plus weak pressure on the eyeballs - evoked potentials ceased to be recorded even when examined with open eyes. According to objective methods, which we are accustomed to trust more than subjective ones, Volodya Bronnikov also seemed to use an alternative vision in conditions when it was possible to use the usual one... This statement is serious. It needs checking and rechecking. Besides Volodya, there are others who are already well trained in alternative vision. Finally, Larisa is already ripe for such research. But if this phenomenon is confirmed, we will have to think about an alternative (which channels?) transmission of visual information or about the direct flow of information into the human brain, bypassing the senses. Is it possible? The brain is fenced off from the outside world by several membranes; it is well protected from mechanical damage. However, through all these membranes we record what is happening in the brain, and the losses in signal amplitude when passing through these membranes are surprisingly small - in relation to direct recording from the brain, the signal decreases in amplitude by no more than two to three times (if it decreases at all !).

So what are we talking about here, what do the observed facts lead us to?

Physicist S. Davitaya proposed to evaluate the formation of alternative vision as a phenomenon direct vision. We are thus talking about the possibility of direct information entering the brain, bypassing the senses.

The possibility of direct activation of brain cells by environmental factors and, in particular, by electromagnetic waves in the process of therapeutic electromagnetic stimulation is easily proven by the developing effect. It can apparently be assumed that under the conditions of the super task - the formation of alternative vision - the result is actually achieved due to direct vision, direct activation of brain cells by environmental factors. However, this is now nothing more than a fragile hypothesis. Or maybe the electrical waves of the brain themselves are able to “search” the outside world? Like "radars"? Or maybe there is another explanation for all this? Need to think! And study!

What kind of protective mechanism should play a leading role in Larisa’s brain’s ability to use both normal and conditionally pathological types of activity? Many years ago, while specifically studying the epileptic brain, I came to the conclusion that not only local slow activity, reflecting changes in brain tissue, also has a protective function (as the famous English physiologist Gray Walter showed in 1953). The function of suppressing epileptogenesis is inherent in physiological processes manifested by high-voltage slow activity of the paroxysmal type. The assumption was tested: a locally sinusoidal current was applied to the area of ​​epileptogenesis, modulating these slow waves - it clearly suppressed epileptiform activity!

In epilepsy, we see this defense is no longer active enough; it is “no longer sufficient” to suppress epileptogenesis. And further, intensifying, this most important physiological defense of ours becomes a pathological phenomenon itself, turning off consciousness for an ever longer period. In every possible way to protect Larisa from unnecessary overload, we have not yet recorded her EEG sleep. This is mainly interesting to us, although it is not dangerous for Larisa - and may even be useful. According to Larisa’s EEG and by analogy with the vast international experience in the study of epileptiform activity and epilepsy, Larisa works to form vision (direct vision) through different activation mechanisms, balanced by her own physiological defense. However, it would be wrong to completely neglect the fact that in Larisa’s EEG there is a lot of single and group acute, including high-voltage, activity - here it is, as it were, “on the verge” of the physiological; and the fact that in her EEG, recorded while awake, high-voltage paroxysmal slow activity is occasionally detected - the dual mechanism of the brain, its reliable protection, is also already “on the verge” of becoming a pathological manifestation. Let me remind you here for those who are not familiar with this area of ​​our work: the appearance of sudden high-voltage slow waves in the EEG in the waking state reflects the transition of the physiological process of protection into a pathological phenomenon! In this particular case, however, it appears to still be fulfilling its essential physiological role, since there are no clinical manifestations of epilepsy.

The ability to control oneself is regarded primarily as a manifestation of adaptation. Physiologically, the realization of emotions “with little blood” (without the spread of pathological excitation) is carried out with a balance of ultra-slow processes - those that in the brain are associated with the development of emotions, and those that in the same brain limit their spread (super-slow physiological processes of a different sign). This form of defense, like the one described above, can also have its own pathological face - when intensified, the defense prevents the development of emotions, up to the appearance of conditions defined as emotional dullness. Is the protection considered by EEG not only a protection, but also a prohibition? To a certain extent and to a certain extent - yes. And first of all in relation to pathology or conditional pathology, in this case - conditional epileptogenic activity. Even here it is possible, however, with some stretching, to talk about the duality of physiological defense. Protection “from” and prohibition “on” the development of emotion is much more specific in the second defense mechanism.

As we move from a physiological process to a pathological one, its prohibitive function becomes more and more pronounced.

Both of the defense mechanisms presented here, unlike the one formed by memory, have physiological correlates, which makes them “tame” for study. Information about them is given here in connection with the conversation about Larisa, but not everything is the result of direct research; the “inhibitory” role of the error detector is not manifested in its physiological correlates, although they exist. The inhibitory properties of the error detector manifest themselves in the subjective, emotional, and then often in the behavioral and motor components. However, a potential duality of the error detection phenomenon also exists. The error detector is normally our defense, but when hyperfunctioning it causes pathological manifestations such as neurosis and obsessive states; from fear, which protects us from the often very sensitive consequences of our mistakes, to neurosis, when the detector does not “suggest” (reminds, hints!), but demands, dominates and, in extreme form, removes a person from social life.

In contrast to what was said above, everything known about memory - the most important, basic mechanism that determines the stable state of both health and illness, which largely supports the behavior of the majority of members of society within the framework of moral values, the moral “code of laws” - turns out to be the result of analysis only manifestations of human activity. As I wrote at the beginning, we - for now, at least - see only the results of the invisible work of memory; The direct physiological correlates of this critical brain mechanism are unknown.

The mechanisms of brain function must continue to be intensively studied. In my opinion, the currently known physiological laws, including those given here, should already have a place in the teaching of human studies or, more simply, the subject: “know yourself.”

During the fire, saving a lifetime’s worth of belongings, a dry, frail old woman dragged a huge chest from the second floor of the burning house. After the fire, two young guys barely managed to put it back in its original place. One polar explorer, while repairing an airplane, saw a polar bear behind him, lightly pushing him with his paw, as if inviting him to turn around. The next second the man was standing (!) on the wing of the plane. Didn’t climb on him, didn’t pull himself up, no. I was standing.

WHAT the body won’t do when it comes to life and death. Fear and the sense of self-preservation are great stimulants. They can make our spine withstand a load of 10 tons, the breathing rate will increase 4 times, instead of 35 capillaries per centimeter in a calm state, in an extreme state they will earn 3 thousand. What about our brain? It functions only at 5 - 7% of its capacity. What do the remaining 95% do and in general why does a person need such a physical and mental reserve and why not use it all the time?

No, experts say, it’s impossible. This reserve is a guarantee of our survival, the biological defense of the body, which is very carefully guarded and can be used once or twice in a lifetime to save us from death in an extreme situation, or may not be in demand at all. After all, extreme situations are also different. On the one hand, we are all now living in an extreme situation - stress, uncertainty, nervous tension. British scientists recently contacted the Association of Independent Science at Moscow State University. In their opinion, the experience of survival in our country is unique. A person does not constantly carry tons of weight and does not overheat at a temperature of 100 degrees. But no Western citizen could live long in conditions similar to ours without compromising his health. Are we wasting our reserves? Certainly. But this happens somehow imperceptibly, but if you take a situation when everything changes suddenly, unexpectedly, instantly. The threat to life is colossal, death is inevitable, and now...

WONDERS OF ENERGY

A WOMAN lifts a car with her child trapped under it. An elderly man jumps over a two-meter fence, although he was not an athlete in his younger years. There is a known case when, during a flight, a nail that came from nowhere fell under the pedal in the cockpit of an airplane and the control jammed. To save himself and the car, the pilot pressed the pedal so hard that he cut off the bolt. Where does strength come from? And the unprecedented speed of movement? Many people are capable of incredible things at such moments and manage to complete such a gigantic amount of work in a few moments, which is simply impossible to perform or repeat under normal conditions. True, people who found themselves in similar situations, when everything could be decided in a moment, testified that time seemed to stretch, slow down, allowing a person to save a life. For example, a man working on a drilling machine had his mitten lightly touch the drill, it began to tighten, and with it, naturally, his hand. A partner who was nearby at that moment later said that the worker tried to press the button with his shoulder to stop the machine, but missed. The drill continued to "slowly" rotate and twist his arm. Then the partner again slowly raised his hand and pressed the button. “The noise and roar of the workshop immediately burst in (and somehow went unnoticed)... All this took 1/8-1/9 of a second, and subjectively lasted 25-30 seconds.”

According to experts, one should not assume that people stimulated by a feeling of fear showed miracles of efficiency and repeatedly increased the speed of their movements. There are several versions of why this happens. For example, this: if there is a biofield around every person, then why not assume that in a moment of mortal danger we, without realizing it, are able to use its reserve of energy. What if the instant release of this energy leads to a change in the environment, space, even time, as in the case of the machine?

It is likely that it is to such situations that the body reacts with immediate behavior. So why can't this energy also change the environment?

THE SUBCONSCIOUS WILL SAVE

IF you adhere to this theory, then it is likely that, once having used its reserve, the body needs to restore it. At the beginning of the century, psychiatrist G. Shumkov believed that this required at least a day, and meeting danger at this time meant death. Doesn’t this explain why we suddenly don’t want to do something or go somewhere? Maybe in this way we subconsciously try to avoid danger. There is, for example, evidence of the paradoxical behavior of military men, impeccable professionals and fearless people, who suddenly, without explanation, at some point felt the categorical impossibility of fulfilling their professional duty. The regimental commander participated in battle many times and was considered a brave officer. Once, having received the order: “Tomorrow, move forward and take such and such a position,” the colonel came to the brigade infirmary and said: “I want to lie down, I can’t go to the position.” The temperature is normal, internal organs are unchanged. I slept well that night. The next day... I calmly went to the position. The question is, what was he sick with?.. And was it a manifestation of cowardice or a consequence of a sober subconscious assessment of his capabilities?

Ordinary people resort to their emergency reserve quite rarely. And if this person is healthy, the body will cope with unusual loads, but if some kind of pathology is dormant in you, they can provoke illness. Any extreme impact is stress, and stress, as a rule, leaves its mark. It is very difficult to accurately determine through experiments what the body is capable of in stressful situations. No matter what stress a person endures, it is likely that in the event of mortal danger he will develop new capabilities. In addition, each person inherits from his parents certain inclinations, the range of which can be quite large and vary by 10-20 times.

And yet, it’s nice to know that somewhere deep within you lurks unprecedented powers, that you have a colossal memory and unlimited capabilities that, in an incredibly difficult, tense situation of mortal danger, will save your life. But if in order to find out what the reserve of these possibilities is, you need to get into exactly such a situation, it would be better if it were inviolable...