I also saw myself standing, but I could not feel it, my hand went through my body. And I didn't feel the floor... I couldn't reach the others either.

I called the doctor, but he did not respond. I realized that I was completely alone, and panic seized me."

Looking at his dead body, he wondered if he had died. "But it was hard to imagine, I was more alive than before, I felt and was aware of everything. In addition, I did not believe in the life of the soul, and this thought did not come to me."

Later, recalling his experience, Uexkul says: "The assumption that, having thrown off the body, the soul immediately knows and understands everything is wrong. I came into this new world as I left the old one. The body is not the prison of the soul, but its rightful home, and therefore the soul appears in the new world in the degree of its development and maturity that it has reached in common life with the body."

He saw how the old nurse crossed herself: "Well, the Kingdom of Heaven be to him," and suddenly he saw two angels. For some reason, he recognized one as a guardian angel, and he did not know the other. The angels took him by the hands and carried him through the walls of the ward into the street.

He then describes the ascent, the vision of "ugly creatures" ("I knew at once that this view was taken over by demons") and the appearance of light... brighter than the sun. "There is light everywhere and there are no shadows." The light was so bright that he could not see anything. "Like in the dark. And suddenly, from above, imperiously, but without anger, the words were heard: "Not ready," and a rapid downward movement began. He returned to his body. The guardian angel said: "You have heard God's decree. Come in and get ready."

Both angels became invisible. There was a feeling of embarrassment and coldness and deep sadness for what was lost. "She's always with me." He lost consciousness and woke up in the ward on a bed.

The doctors who monitored Uexkul reported that all clinical signs of death ("he was absent") were present and the state of death lasted 36 hours.

Dr. Moody and other scientists have described many similar cases. All of them say that a new existence does not begin beyond the threshold, but the previous one continues. There was no break in life, and the person began life there as he was at the moment of transition. Apparently, human life on earth is only the beginning, only a preparation for what awaits us all after the death of the body. What was begun here will continue there; Probably, some kind of responsibility and retribution for what was done during earthly life awaits. All the great religions speak of this. And, apparently, it is very important to cross the threshold in a state of malice, tranquility and peace, without taking with you a single dark stain on your conscience.

Christianity has always known this, which is why it advised everyone to confess and take communion before death. The state of the personality at the time of death is more important than the entire previous life of a person.

This is also evidenced by the Gospel account of Luke (23:32-33 and 39-43) about the robbers. Here it is: "They led two evildoers with Him to death. And when they came to a place called Skull, there they crucified Him and the evildoers, one on the right and the other on the left... One of them cursed Him and said: "If you are the Christ, save Yourself and us." The other, on the contrary, rebuked him and said: "Or do you not fear God, when you yourself are condemned to the same thing? And we are justly condemned, because we have received what is worthy according to our works; but He has done nothing wrong." And he said to Jesus, "Remember me, O Lord, when you come into your kingdom." And Jesus said to him, "Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise."

The life of the robber was bad, but repentance in the last hours before death promises a good beginning to the future existence.

Christianity has always told us this. In the Revelation of St. John the Theologian it is said: "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord... they will calm down and their deeds will follow them."

Christianity has always known and taught that man is more than meat and bones or a simple combination of chemical elements, that in addition to the body man has a soul, and that at the moment of death of the body the soul does not die, but proceeds from the body and continues to live and develop in new conditions.