I would like to express my personal gratitude to Dr. M. Sabom for his moral support and permission to use the rich materials of his book. I also thank everyone who helped me write, process and publish this book.

In our homeland, after a long night, a process of spiritual rebirth has begun. I know that there are many shortcomings in my book, but I decided to publish it in the hope that a book in Russian on this topic could now be useful.

«Feci quod potii, feciunt meliore potentes». ("I did what I could, whoever can do better, let him do it").

Prelude

Before our eyes, during one or two generations, life on earth takes on a new look. Our material successes surpass any imagination, but at the same time there is a fading of spiritual life. Material enrichment with impoverishment of the spirit. The growth of knowledge with the loss of wisdom. The main reason for the new way of life is the loss of faith in everything spiritual. The Crisis of European Christian Culture. Is there hope?

This book is about the modern understanding of death. It has long been known that in order for a major scientific discovery to become the property of the broad masses of people, at least two or three generations must change. This, of course, does not refer to any small technical improvement. But if today one of the bright minds of mankind has seen and understood something new, important for the revision of our entire worldview and our way of life, then only our grandchildren or great-grandchildren will be able to master the meaning and significance of this new.

Human thinking is much more conservative and lazier than it is commonly thought. There are, of course, people with a lively mind, who think for themselves, who will be able to immediately, from the first acquaintance, assimilate new knowledge or a new idea, or at least become interested in them. But very many blindly, without thinking, accept everything that their era breathes at the present time – its scientific and social theories, its morals, ethics and beliefs. Their worldview is created by schools and universities, newspapers and magazines, popular lectures, radio and television. Feeling at the level of the epoch, they already know everything, they do not need anything new and will accept the new and unusual slowly and with difficulty, when it will be impossible not to see it.

We live in a very interesting and difficult time. Perhaps there has never been such a predominance of the material over the spiritual. The world does not stand still. Even the philosophers of ancient Greece knew that "everything flows, everything changes", but never in the past have these changes been so profound and so rapid.

Before our eyes, during one or two generations, life on earth takes on a new look. Something new is entering the world, not only people's lifestyles are changing, but people themselves are also changing. We see a phenomenal and rapid growth of material knowledge and material capabilities, the development and, one might say, the conquest of the material world by man. But along with this, spiritual values are being lost, and disregard for the spiritual world and withdrawal from it have developed and intensified. Material enrichment with impoverishment of the spirit. The growth of knowledge with the loss of wisdom.

In the shortest possible time, we mastered the powers of steam, electricity, and the hidden energy of the atom. We dominate not only the animal and plant world, but now also the world of microorganisms. Our medicine literally works wonders. We have begun space exploration. Our material successes are beyond imagination.

At the same time, there is a fading of spiritual life, indifference, and sometimes even hostility to everything spiritual. Faith is lost, sometimes completely lost, not only in God and the immortality of the soul, but also in everything that is above matter. The norms of behavior given by all great religions are becoming a thing of the past. New norms are recommended and adopted, lighter and more pleasant than those that people have lived for several millennia. People have more and more rights and fewer and fewer responsibilities.

Freedom is dying everywhere in the world – political, economic and personal. Freedom is necessary for a person to fulfill his highest spiritual creative needs. Creative freedom is not needed for the use of material goods. There are many people who do not value freedom and do not need it.

In countries that became totalitarian, one or another form of slavery was introduced openly, and often with the approval, even exultation of the majority of the population. In countries that have not yet completely lost their freedom, almost all newly adopted laws increase the dependence of the inhabitants of the country on its rulers.