Perhaps only those who understand how fragile life is know how precious it is. Once, when I was attending a conference in Britain, the BBC was interviewing participants. At this time, they were talking with a really dying woman.

She was afraid because Everyday life I didn't think death was real. Now she knew it. And she wanted to tell those who survived her only one thing: take life and death seriously.

Take life seriously...

There was an article in a newspaper about a Tibetan spiritual teacher. He was asked the question, “Does it not seem fair that for the sins in past lives, which I know nothing about, I suffer today in this life?” And the teacher replied: “Can you cancel it, young man?” - "Not".

“But you have a good chance to make your next life normal if you start behaving normally in this one.”

To this one could add: “Yes, and it is also in your power to make this life happy. After all...

At night, before you fall asleep, do this 15-minute meditation. This is death meditation. Lie down and relax. Feel like you are dying and that you cannot move your body because you are dead. Create the feeling that you are disappearing from the body.

Do this for 10-15 minutes and in a week you will feel it. As you meditate in this way, fall asleep. Don't destroy it. Let meditation turn into sleep. And if sleep overcomes you, enter into it.

In the morning, the moment you feel awake, don't...

It is strange, of course, that the notion of death as "the land from which no traveler returns" is so widespread among us and so firmly rooted in our minds. We need only remember that in all countries of the world and at all times of which we know anything at all, travelers constantly returned from that world, and it becomes very difficult for us to explain the popularity of this out of the ordinary delusion.

It is true that these startlingly misconceptions are more...

The ending.

A touch to personal freedom, awareness of it, will arise in you only if you feel the temporality of existence, the temporality of the current personality. Temporality. You must understand. This is the detail most often overlooked by those who are interested in spiritual processes.

But the fact remains. The speed of cognition depends on the level of consciousness with which we come here. Each of us carries something that can be defined as "potentiality". We all have qualities...

The concept of death began to excite a person since he realized himself Homo sapiens, that is, a reasonable man, that is, he began to bury his dead. Man is the only living being on earth who knows about death, but is not yet fully aware of its significance.

Death is realized only by those lives that have self-consciousness, and unfortunately misunderstood only by human beings.

What is there behind the veil, if there is another life or everything ends here? These...

Both are true. When I call death the greatest of all truths, I draw your attention to the fact that the phenomenon of death has a great reality in this life - in what we call "life" and understand by "life"; in terms of the human personality, which consists of what I describe as "I".

This person will die; what we call "life" will also die. Death is inevitable. Of course, you will die, and I will die, and this life will also be destroyed, turned to dust, erased. When I call death...

We are constantly asked this question about life in the afterlife: "Will we find our friends and recognize them?". Of course, yes, because they will not change any more than we do; why not recognize them then? Attachment remains, attracting people to each other, but in the astral world it becomes stronger.

It is also true that if a loved one has left the earth for a long time, he may already rise above the astral plane. In this case, we need to wait and we will reach this level to join it...

The Christian understanding of life, death and immortality comes from the Old Testament position: "The day of death is better than the day of birth" (Ecclesiastes) and the New Testament preaching of Christ: "... I have the keys to hell and death." The divine-human essence of Christianity is manifested in the fact that the immortality of the individual as an integral being is conceivable only through the resurrection. The path to it is opened by the atoning sacrifice of Christ through the cross and resurrection. This is the sphere of mystery and miracle, because a person is taken out of the sphere of action of natural-cosmic forces and elements, and becomes as a person face to face with God, who is also a person. The goal of human life is deification, movement towards eternal life. Without realizing this, earthly life turns into a dream, an empty and idle dream, soap bubble. In essence, it is preparation for eternal life, which is not far off for everyone. That is why it is said in the Gospel: "Be ready: for at what hour you do not think, the Son of Man will come." So that life does not turn, according to M.Yu. Lermontov, “into an empty and stupid joke”, one must always remember the hour of death. This is not a tragedy, but a transition to another world, where myriads of souls, good and evil, already live, and where each new one enters for joy or torment. According to the figurative expression of one of the Orthodox hierarchs: "A dying person is a setting luminary, the dawn of which is already shining over another world." Death does not destroy the body, but its corruption, and therefore it is not the end, but the beginning of eternal life.

Evangelist Luke defined the essence of the Christian approach to life and death in this way: “God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. For he is alive.” Christianity categorically condemns suicide, since a person does not belong to himself, his life and death are "in the will of God."

Islam about matters of life and death

To the question of a man: “Will I be taken alive when I die?”, Allah gives the answer: “Will not a man remember that we created him earlier, but he was nothing?”. Unlike Christianity, earthly life is regarded highly in Islam. Islam proceeds from the fact that man was created by the will of the almighty Allah, who is first of all merciful. However, on the last day, everything will be destroyed and the dead will be resurrected and brought before Allah for the final judgment. belief afterlife is necessary, because in this case a person will evaluate his actions and deeds from the point of view of personal interest in the sense of an eternal perspective.

The destruction of the entire universe on the day of justice implies the creation of a new perfect world. A “record” of deeds and thoughts, even the most secret, will be presented about each person, and an appropriate sentence will be pronounced. Thus, the principle of the supremacy of the laws of morality and reason over physical laws will triumph. Morally pure man cannot be in a humiliated position, as is the case in real world. Islam categorically forbids suicide.

The descriptions of heaven and hell in the Quran are full of vivid details, so that the righteous can be fully satisfied, and the sinners get what they deserve. It is impossible to ask Allah about the hour of death, since only he has knowledge of this, and "what you need to know - maybe the hour is already close."

Attitude towards life and death in Buddhism

The attitude towards death and immortality in Buddhism is significantly different from Christian and Muslim. The Buddha himself refuses to answer the questions: is he who knows the truth immortal or is he mortal?, and also: can the knower be mortal or immortal at the same time? In essence, only one kind of “wonderful immortality” is recognized - nirvana, as the embodiment of the rot-transcendent Superexistence, the Absolute Beginning, which has no attributes.

Since personality is understood as the sum of drachmas, which are in a constant stream of reincarnation, this implies the absurdity, the meaninglessness of the chain of natural births. The Drahmapada states that "being born again and again is sad." The way out is the path of gaining nirvana, breaking through the chain of endless rebirths and achieving enlightenment, a blissful "island" located in the depths of a person's heart, where "they do not own anything" and "thrive for nothing." famous symbol nirvana - the extinguishing of the ever-trembling fire of life - well expresses the essence of the Buddhist understanding of death and immortality. As the Buddha said: “One day of the life of a man who has seen the immortal path is better than a hundred years of the life of a man who has not seen the higher life.”

A calm and peaceful attitude towards life, death and immortality, the desire for enlightenment and liberation from evil is also characteristic of others. Eastern religions and cults. In this regard, the attitude towards suicide is changing: it is considered not so sinful as meaningless, because it does not free a person from the circle of births and deaths (samsara), but only leads to a birth in a closer incarnation. One must overcome such attachment to one's personality, for, in the words of the Buddha, "the nature of personality is continuous death." One of the wisest poets of the 20th century. W. Whitman expressed this idea in this way - you need to live "calmly smiling at Death." Getting rid of the sources of suffering, "dark actions and defilements" (selfishness, anger, pride, false views, etc.) and the power of one's "I" during life is the best way to gain immortality.

general description of work

The relevance of research

There is now a growing awareness that the spiritual dimension of human experience is a legitimate area of ​​research and study within psychological science. Modern psychology involves the formation of an idea of ​​the mental and spiritual development of the individual in the context of a transcultural and multi-level approach to solving the problems that confront humanity at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. In this regard, a special place in the system of psychological knowledge is occupied by the existential-humanistic paradigm, which considers the development and formation of a personality as a person’s creative search for his destiny, agreement with himself, and actualization of his capabilities. The life path of a person is associated with the passage of various critical situations, which, according to E. Yeomans, "can be described as stages of destruction, when there is a breaking, dying off or" positive disintegration "of some of our natural ways of seeing the world, knowing ourselves and relating to the environment."

The strongest critical situations of a person are those that are associated with awareness of one's own mortality (an incurable disease, participation in hostilities, etc.) or encounters with the death of another (experiencing the loss of a loved one). However, in the existential-humanistic paradigm, any critical situation can be viewed as a kind of "collision with death." Moreover, death in this context is understood as a transforming process, the rejection of old, familiar ways of being and the selection, improvement of new ones more adequate to the changed conditions.

A critical situation is experienced by a person in different ways. On the one hand, it can have a devastating effect, increasing anxiety and depression, feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, which can lead to a life crisis. On the other hand, to give meaning to life, to make it more complete and meaningful. In any case, a collision with a critical situation is painfully experienced by a person and changes his attitude to life, death, himself and values, which forms various life strategies that help a person get out of a critical situation. All of the above allows us to talk about the need for psychological assistance to people in a critical life situation.

However, an analysis of the literature shows that present stage development of psychology, despite the social demand and practical orientation, the theory of crises is not developed enough - its own system of categories has not been developed, the connection between the concepts used and academic psychological ideas has not been clarified, ways and mechanisms for overcoming critical situations have not been identified.

As theoretical and methodological basis dissertation research are the leading methodological principles of psychological determinism, development, unity of consciousness and activity, activity, consistency, complexity (K.A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, B.G. Ananiev, L.I. Antsyferova, L.S. Vygotsky, V. N. Panferov, S.L. Rubinshtein), ideas about the life path as an individual system for solving such existential problems as life - death, freedom - responsibility, loneliness - communication, meaning - meaninglessness of life ( , ), personality as a subject of the life path and a system of object-evaluative and selective relations to reality (K.A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, B.G. Ananiev, L.I. Antsyferova, I.B. Kartseva, A.F. Lazursky, V.N. Myasishchev, S. L. Rubinstein), coping with critical life situations, constructive and non-constructive strategies for such coping (L.I. Antsyferova, R. Assagioli, B.S. Bratus, F.E. Vasilyuk, N.V. Tarabrina, V. Frankl , E. Fromm, J. Jacobson).

Target our research - to find out the attitude of the individual to life and death and their relationship in various critical situations.

Hypothesis lies in the assumption that the attitude of the individual to life and death includes rational and emotional components that interact in different ways in various critical situations, which determines life strategies for coping with them.

Private hypotheses:

1. Rational and emotional components of the attitude to life and death have different degrees of severity in critical situations.
2. The attitude to life and death in various critical situations has both general and specific features.

Tasks:

1. Conduct a theoretical analysis of philosophical and psychological literature on the subject of research.
2. Select and develop diagnostic methods adequate to the purpose and hypothesis of the study.
3. To reveal emotional and rational components of the attitude to life and death in critical situations.
4. To study the relationship between attitudes towards life and death in various critical situations - imprisonment, participation in hostilities and cancer.
5. Determine the general and specific features of the attitude to life and death.

Object of study: men aged 20-45 years old, imprisoned in places of deprivation of liberty (35 people), women aged 35-60 years old with cancer (36 people), men aged 18-25 years old who took part in hostilities in "hot spots" and were injured (35 Human).

A total of 106 people took part in the study.

Subject of research are the emotional and rational components of attitudes towards life and death, their relationship and influence on life strategies for coping with critical situations.

Research methods were selected according to the basic principles and ideas of existential-humanistic psychology to identify the desire for meaning, the questionnaire "Meaningful orientations" (adapted by D.N. Leontiev), the locus of control - the questionnaire "Level of subjective control" by J. Rotter, assessing the saturation of one's life path - a technique "Assessment of five years of life" E.I. Golovachi and A.A. Kronika, fixing personal changes in a group of women with cancer - a scale of personal growth, the degree of acceptance of the elements of life - the author's technique "Acceptance"; attitudes towards life and death - author's questionnaire.

For statistical processing data, correlation, factorial and comparative analysis was applied using the STATISTICA software package.

Scientific novelty dissertation research is to build an empirical typology of life strategies for coping with critical situations. The personality structures these situations according to such emotional and rational components of the attitude to life and death as.

1. Attitude to life - acceptance of life, life as growth, life as consumption, non-acceptance of life, ontological security, self-acceptance, responsibility, striving for growth;
2. Attitude towards death - acceptance of death, death as a transition to another state, death as an absolute end, non-acceptance of death, fear.
3. The vision of meaning is the presence and absence of meaning in life and death. This typology makes it possible to identify the system of relations of the individual to himself, others, life and death, and also determines the complex psychological characteristics inherent in the individual in various critical situations and helping her to cope with them.

Practical significance of the study determined by the possibility of using the results obtained in group and individual psychological customer assistance who are in a critical life situation or experiencing post-traumatic stress. Psychotherapeutic work in these areas requires knowledge about how death is understood and, accordingly, one's own life in such states, as well as what personal resources and life strategies are used to cope with critical situations.

The dissertation materials are used in lecture courses in the training of practical psychologists in psychological counseling, psychological assistance and correction, in the form of a special course for undergraduates in the psychology of personality and individuality, as well as in psychological training for psychology students.

The following provisions are put forward for defense:

1. The relationship between rational and emotional components of attitudes towards life and death in critical situations determines 8 life strategies for coping with them. "Striving for growth", "Search the meaning of life", "Love of life", "Fear of life", "Seizure of life", "Fear of change", "Self-deprecation" and "Hedonism".
2. In co-management with a critical situation, two main directions can be distinguished related to the attitude of the individual to this situation - "A critical situation as an opportunity for growth" and "A critical situation as suffering."

Approbation of the research results: the main theoretical provisions were reported at the scientific and methodological seminars of graduate students, meetings of the Department of Psychological Assistance of the Russian State Pedagogical University named after A.I. Herzen, at the SSS of the Institute of Biology and Human Psychology, as well as through publications and presentations at scientific-practical, scientific-methodological and interuniversity conferences (Tsarskoye Selo Readings - 1999, Ananiev Readings - 1999, Human Psychology and Ecology). The content of the dissertation was used in lecture courses on psychological counseling and in a special course on the psychology of individuality for students of the psychological and pedagogical faculty of the Russian State Pedagogical University named after A.I. Herzen. The results of the study were presented at the seminars of the International School of Counseling, Psychotherapy and Group Management at the Institute of Psychotherapy and Counseling "Harmony", on the basis of which a program was developed psychological training"In Search of Yourself: The Gift of Embracing Change", as well as in individual psychological counseling. 7 publications have been published on the research topic.

Scope and structure of work

The dissertation consists of an introduction, 3 chapters, conclusion, bibliography, including 157 sources, including 10 on foreign languages, Applications The dissertation is presented on 195 pages, includes 7 tables and 25 figures.

The main content of the work

The first chapter outlines the philosophical and psychological aspects of the problem of attitude to life and death in critical situations; the second chapter is devoted to the description of the methods and organization of the study, the third chapter presents the results of the study and their analysis. The appendices contain experimental materials and author's methods for studying the attitude to life and death of persons in various critical life situations.

In the introduction the relevance of the study is substantiated, the object, subject, hypotheses, purpose and objectives of the study are determined, the scientific novelty, practical significance and approbation of the results are reported. The provisions submitted for defense are formulated.

First chapter"Existential-psychological approach to the problem of life and death" is devoted to theoretical analysis problems of attitude to life and death in the philosophy and history of psychological science, as well as understanding the critical situation in foreign and domestic psychology. The first paragraph of this chapter analyzes the philosophical ideas about life and death from the primitive-communal stage of human development to the existential knowledge of death in the philosophy of the 19th century. It is noted that death is one of the fundamental parameters of the collective consciousness and attitude towards death, according to such scientists as F. Aries, M. Vovel, O. Thiebaud, L.-V. Thomas, P. Shan can even serve as an indicator of the level of development of civilization.

The desire to know death leads to the fact that already in ancient philosophy there are 2 main concepts: belief in the immortality of the soul (this concept entered Christianity in a transformed form) and the acceptance of the absolute finiteness of life, the call for "the courage to be." These concepts, in one form or another, passed through the entire history of civilization, revealing the diverse aspects of a person's attitude to life and death, not only in different eras, but also in different cultures.

In contrast to the Eastern study of death, where, according to P.S. Gurevich, "... proceeded from the fact that the process of dying is inevitable and is an integral part of human existence", the Western sought to overcome death leads to the fact that by the beginning of the Enlightenment, the integrity of life and death was destroyed: life began to be considered the one and only, and death turned into the force that destroys this life. Existentialists (S., J.-P., and others) tried to smooth out a similar dichotomy in the understanding of life and death, considering death as the last opportunity, thanks to which existence can reach its highest form, and man - a deeper authentic being.

The final change in the attitude towards death took place already in the 20th century, in which, according to many historians, the attitude towards life and death was completely deformed, positive and negative accents in the assessment of these phenomena shifted. The trend towards the displacement of death from the collective consciousness, gradually growing, reaches its climax in our time, when, according to F. Aries. society behaves "as if no one dies at all and the death of the individual does not make any breach in the structure of society." F. Aries called such an attitude towards death as "death inverted".

An analysis of the literature shows that people's attitudes towards death have changed along with their worldview throughout the course of the entire history of mankind. These relationships were built from the understanding of death as a natural continuation and completion of life to their complete rupture in the human mind, breeding them as two different entities, their mutual negation.

In the second paragraph views of life and death in the history of psychological science are considered, psychoanalytic and existential-humanistic approaches to understanding life and death are analyzed. Psychology at the beginning of the 20th century "caught" from the hands of philosophy the image of death, which by that time had become confusing, rejected and completely separated from life. Such a "legacy", inherited by the first concepts in psychology (behaviorism and psychoanalysis), was expressed in insufficient attention to the topic of death. Personality, organism, psyche and, accordingly, the goal of the whole human life understood in these areas mechanistically.

Epochal discoveries 3. Freud in the field depth psychology attracted to further research many brilliant thinkers, such as A. Adler, R. Assagioli, W. Reich, E. Fromm, K.-G. Jung. special attention deserve the ideas of R. Assagioli and K.-G. Jung, which, despite their psychoanalytic "roots", were the basis for the development of the ideas of humanistic and transpersonal approaches to personality. Their works were an important step in understanding the life path as an ambiguous, and sometimes dramatic process that leads a person to transformation and spiritual transformation through crises and confrontation with the dark sides of the psyche.

Unlike psychoanalysis, in the existential-humanistic paradim represented by the works of such authors as J. Bugental, A. Maslow, R. May, K. Rogers, V. Frankl, I. Yalom and others, as well as in transpersonal psychology (S and K. Grof, S. Krippner, K. Naranjo, etc.), much attention is paid to the problems of life and death. greater value. In this direction, not only is their rightful place in the system psychological knowledge and influence on the formation of personality, but also their close relationship. It is shown that the understanding of life and death at the present stage of development of psychology began to approach each other, integrating the experience of human existence more and more.

In the third paragraph critical situation is considered as a model of a collision with death, an understanding of the crisis and a critical situation by foreign and domestic psychologists is given, the significance of critical situations for the formation of a personality is considered. It is noted that although the problems of the crisis and the critical situation have always been in sight psychological thinking, as an independent discipline, the theory of crises appeared relatively recently. The understanding of the crisis by such foreign psychologists as R. Assagioli, S. and K. Grof, T. and E. Yeomans, D. Tyarst, K. Jung is described, the triggers of the crisis are revealed.

Situations that require a person to change their lifestyle, way of thinking, way of knowing and seeing the world, or attitude towards themselves and others can be described as critical. A critical situation can be a turning point in a person's life; lead to a crisis. Any crisis contains both positive and negative components. The negative component lies in the fact that a person in a critical situation is characterized by a workload of unresolved problems, a feeling of hopelessness, helplessness, experiencing life as a "dead end". But the crisis - the ego is not only a "threat of a catastrophe", but also the possibility of change, the transition to a new stage of personality development, a source of strength, and this is its positive aspect. Thus, the nature of the crisis is described as transformative, since it simultaneously carries not only the rejection of the old, familiar ways of being, but also the search for and improvement of new ones.

AT domestic psychology critical situations and personal changes associated with them were considered in the structure of the life nougat of the personality by K. A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, B.G. Ananiev, L.I. Antsyferova, V.F. Vasilyuk, T.E. Kartseva, S.L. Rubinstein. At present, among domestic authors, the problem of crisis situations is being developed in the most detail by F.E. Vasilyuk, considering the crisis in the structure of a critical situation.

An analysis of the literature allows us to give working definitions of a critical situation and a crisis. A critical situation is a situation in which the subject cannot realize the basic needs of his life and which puts him before the need to change the way of being (relationship to himself, others, life and death). A crisis is a reaction of a person to a critical situation, which is expressed in the inability of the person to resolve this situation in a short time and in the usual way; subjectively, the crisis is experienced as a "dead end". Any critical situation can potentially be a crisis for the personality (that is, leading to a crisis), which depends on the adaptive capabilities of the personality.

In domestic psychology, the commission of critical situations in a person's life is understood as a prerequisite for personal changes - the social situation of personality development is changing, roles are changing, the circle of people involved in interaction with him, the range of problems to be solved and the way of life are changing.

In the fourth paragraph the experience of a person's encounter with death as a result of critical situations is considered.

It is noted that the collision with death as a critical situation is inherently ambivalent, on the one hand, it can have a devastating effect on a person (expressed in increased fear of death), and on the other hand, give meaning to life, make it more complete and meaningful. Based on the works of R. Assagioli, J. Bugental, T. and E. Yeomans, S. Levin, A. Maslow, R. May, J. Rainwater, V. Frankl, E. Fromm, I. Yalom and others, possible reactions of the individual to the encounter with death. Also considered possible mechanisms suppression of the fear of death, ranging from the desire for power and ending with depression or increased sexual activity.

Second chapter"Methods and organization of research" is devoted to the methods and organization of the study of attitudes towards life and death of persons in a critical life situation.

In the first paragraph the stages of the study of the problem during 1995 - 2000 are disclosed. At the first stage (1995 - 1997), the goal, tasks, theoretical approaches to research. The philosophical and psychological understanding of the problems of life and death was analyzed. The representations of foreign and domestic psychological schools about the critical situation and its significance for the life path of the individual. At this stage, it was pilot study, the results of which made it possible to formulate the concept of a dissertation research and determine the methodological basis.

At the second stage (1997 - 1999), various options for critical situations were selected - imprisonment, participation in hostilities and oncological disease. Further, a study was made of the attitude to life and death of persons in these critical situations.

At the third stage (1999 - 2000) the obtained data were analyzed and summarized using quantitative correlation, factorial and comparative analysis.

In the second paragraph the surveyed sample is characterized, which includes prisoners in places of deprivation of liberty, military personnel who were injured during hostilities in "hot spots" and women with cancer.

Serving a sentence in places of deprivation of liberty is strong for most people psychological stress, which is due to the peculiarities of the penitentiary environment. Such a radical change in living conditions is a critical situation for many prisoners, which brings them face to face with questions of their own existence.

The study involved male prisoners (suspected and accused) held in pre-trial detention center No. 6 of the Main Directorate for the Execution of Punishments of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation. A total of 35 prisoners took part in the study. The age of the subjects ranged from 20 to 45 years. Most of them were convicted under Art. Art. 145, 148, 158, 161 (theft, robbery, robbery, hooliganism) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

The situation of oncological disease is undoubtedly also critical for the individual, since it is associated with a real danger to life, this is a direct collision with the possibility own death. Like any other critical situation, it actualizes whole line existential problems: the need to accept death, rethinking life, accepting responsibility, etc. The study involved 36 women with cancer (breast cancer) aged 35 to 60 years. All of them were treated after the operation.

Our study also involved conscripts who were treated with wounds at the Military Medical Academy named after S.M. Kirov. All of them took part in hostilities on the territory of Chechnya and Dagestan for 2 months to 1 year.

In the third paragraph The second chapter describes the organization and methods of studying attitudes towards life and death in critical situations. At the main stage of the study, personality tests by D.N. Leontiev, J. Rotter, E.I. Golovakhi and A.A. Kronika, as well as author's methods for identifying attitudes towards life and death.

In the third chapter"The results of the study of the attitude to life and death of a person in a critical situation" are the results of the study and their interpretation. The data described in the first three paragraphs were obtained, respectively, on samples of prisoners, military personnel and cancer patients and analyzed using quantitative, correlation and factor analysis. The dissertation contains illustrations that clearly show the features of ideas about life and death, depending on the critical situation, as well as correlation pleiades, reflecting the relationship of these ideas.

The first paragraph of this chapter is devoted to the peculiarities of understanding and attitude to life and death in a situation of deprivation of liberty (see Table 1).

Relationship to life and death
in various critical situations

Tab. one

	prisoners	military personnel	cancer patients
	Death as a transition to another state
Attitude to life	Taking responsibility for yourself and your life, as well as suffering, old age, the volatility of life and meaning Rejection of the father and sexuality	Striving for high meaningfulness of life, acceptance of kindness and love Less identification with the male role	Rejection of love, real Acceptance of responsibility, health care; reliance on willpower
Meaning life	In personal growth, achievement and development	Loss of the meaning of life and the desire to find it	In activity Low meaningfulness of life
Attitude to death	acceptance of death	Attitude becomes more meaningful acceptance of death	Rather, the rejection of death.
Meaning of death	On the move to another level spiritual development, growth	In development and growth, in transition At the logical end of life	On the move to another level
	Death as the absolute end of life
Attitude to life	It denies the existence of meaning and understanding of life as growth and constant movement; rejection of the mother, variability, one's life, responsibility, suffering Acceptance of sexuality and body Life as super value	The understanding of life as growth is denied Acceptance of sexuality, masculinity, father and mother; self-acceptance in the physical, spiritual and temporal aspect; acceptance of meaning, love, responsibility, kindness	Acceptance of your femininity, yourself, husband, mother, father, your life, future; acceptance of old age, fears, love, change and personal growth Taking responsibility Orientation to experience life in this moment
Meaning life	In the saturation of life, in pleasures and delights	In the "present", in pleasures, pleasures	In the "present", achievements and family relationships
Attitude to death	Not accepting death	acceptance of death Thinking about death causes negative emotions	Awareness of its inevitability acceptance of death
Meaning of death	The meaning of death is denied	The meaning of death is denied	In a logical conclusion; at rest

So, for a person deprived of freedom, it is typical to live today, moreover, with a tendency to receive as many experiences and impressions as possible. The meaning of life is seen either in obtaining pleasures and blessings, or in helping and caring for others. The attitude towards life of prisoners includes such components as ontological security (experience of close connection with the parental family and acceptance of mother, father and childhood), identification with the male role and reliance on higher values ​​(including the meaningfulness of life and responsibility).

The rational element in the understanding of death lies in the ideas of transition to another level of development or to absolute finitude, moreover, such ideas are formed in childhood and tend to persist into adulthood. The emotional component is quite dynamic and changes with age, from fear of death to acceptance of its inevitability or, in another version, avoidance of feelings associated with the awareness of mortality.

An analysis of the results shows that the understanding of life and death among prisoners is closely related. Moreover, the idea of ​​death as a transition to another state (the concept of the immortality of the soul) turns out to be more constructive for their understanding of life, and ideas about their own finiteness deform picture of life, introducing into it elements of "existential vacuum" (lack of meaning in life and death, rejection of oneself and one's life, ontological insecurity). It can be concluded that the idea of ​​life as a constant growth is transferred to ideas about death, which allows a person to take responsibility for everything that he does and less avoid feelings about death. An interesting fact is that a long serving of a sentence in places of deprivation of liberty stimulates the formation of just such a concept of life.

Statistical analysis revealed various strategies coping with a critical situation (by strategy we mean a system of attitudes towards life and death, chosen by a person and aimed at overcoming a critical situation):

• "Striving for Growth". This strategy is characterized by an understanding of life as a constant growth, movement towards goals and achievements. Such an attitude to life is associated with taking responsibility for oneself and loved ones; care orientation of the individual. Knowledge of one's own mortality can strengthen the individual's desire for further development, due to which the individual is more prone to accepting death and a conscious attitude towards it.
• "Self-humiliation". This strategy has such features as a person's rejection of himself and his life, a sense of ontological insecurity and a lack of meaning in life. death in this case perceived as a kind of relief from hardships earthly existence, but at the same time it instills a sense of fear.
• "Hedonism". This variant is characterized by a consumerist attitude to life, in which the idea of ​​personal growth and development is denied. This approach to life is expressed in concern for one's own health, accepting illness and suffering. The concept of death in this case can be any.
• "Love of life". It is characteristic of this strategy to perceive life as the highest value, which is associated with the acceptance of oneself, one's body and one's life path. As a result, the significance of the past is greatly increased, and any changes are perceived as a threat to stability. Death loses its meaning and is understood rather as an absolute end.

Thus, the results obtained indicate the following: the restriction of freedom gives the individual not only the experience of a collision with his own finiteness, but also an appeal to his own transcendence, which is expressed in ideas about his own life as an endless process of growth and development, as well as in the acceptance of responsibility. Such changes in worldview lead to the fact that many prisoners, while in prison, turn to religion.

The second paragraph is devoted to the peculiarities of understanding and attitude to life and death by servicemen who took part in combat operations (see Table 1).

It is typical for conscripts who have passed through "hot spots", just like for prisoners, to live in the present, moreover, with a tendency to receive as much as possible positive impressions and future goals. The meaning of life is also seen by them in obtaining pleasures and benefits, or in caring for the family. The attitude towards life of servicemen is based on a sense of ontological security, identification with the male role (which is noticeably strengthened by the direct experience of destroying the enemy) and reliance on higher values.

The results show that the ideas of the immortality of the soul, laid down in childhood, are of great importance for the personality. moral significance in the formation of ideas about life - goodness, love and meaning. An interesting fact is that Active participation in combat operations (associated with the killing of the enemy) carries a tendency to destroy children's ideas about the immortality of the soul and changes the concept of death towards absolute finitude. Such an experience contributes to the avoidance of feelings associated with dying. At the same time, the concept of life changes in the direction of a consumer attitude towards it, and the meaning of life - in the direction of satisfying the need for saturation of life with impressions and experiences. As can be seen from the results obtained, the experience of direct destruction of the enemy (killing a person) deforms the military personnel's ideas about the direction of their own lives. It loses its development of the future, "freezes" in place of the traumatic experience. This may explain the fact that some soldiers who have passed through "hot spots" tend to return to them.

Passive participation in the war (not associated with the killing of the enemy and frequent military operations) leads to the formation of the concept of death as a transition with a more conscious attitude towards it and acceptance. The concept of life during this period becomes unclear, contradictory, with a tendency to search for meaning.

Received with various kinds Statistical analysis results can be presented in the form of relationships between attitudes towards life and death. They determine four life strategies in this critical situation - "Self-abasement", "Love of life", "Seizure of life" and "Search for the meaning of life". The first two strategies are similar to those in prisoners. Consider those that are specific to military personnel:

• "The capture of life" - is characterized by a sense of ontological security, as well as a strong identification with the male role, which is closely related to the experience of direct destruction of the enemy. Such a worldview entails the denial of meaning in death, and the meaning of life is seen in emotional richness. Such a person does not see the point in growth and development.
• "Search for the meaning of life" - this strategy is characterized by vague ideas about one's own life, the desire to find its deep meaning. Life is understood here rather as a constant growth, and death is seen as a transition to another level of development.

Thus, the results of the study indicate that participation in hostilities changes the attitude of military personnel to life and death. The direction of these changes will depend on the ability of the individual to integrate the traumatic experience associated with military operations and direct killing of the enemy.

In the third paragraph describes the features of understanding life and death in a situation of oncological disease (see Table 1).

The results show that among life-meaning orientations in this critical situation, tendencies to live in the future and in the present prevail. The meaning of life is seen mainly in caring for others, which reveals the features of the role of a woman and can be considered as personal resource to cope with the crisis, and also as a way of protection.

The attitude towards life of women with cancer differs in its characteristics from the attitude of men. The leader is not a sense of ontological security, but a focus on love. This confirms the well-known idea of ​​love as the main life value and the basis for the formation of a woman's personality. It is also interesting that in addition to relying on higher values ​​(meaning, responsibility, kindness), it is important for women to move towards wisdom, where male and female essence are equally significant.

The results of the study showed that the idea of ​​death as a transition to another state in cancer patients is associated with the presence of internal conflicts, with increased responsibility for their recovery. This suggests that the belief in the immortality of the soul can be used not only as an incentive to recovery, but also as a psychological defense. The concept of death as an absolute end is more constructive in the case of cancer, as it allows a woman to live in the present and accept many aspects of her life.

An analysis of the results suggests that in women with cancer, in relation to death, the system-forming component is not the rational (as in men), but the emotional component - the acceptance of death and feelings towards it. This speaks of such a feature of female psychology as the tendency to build relationships based on emotional connections, which indicates the presence of gender aspects in relation to life and death in critical situations.

The results of a study of cancer patients in women made it possible to identify the following four life strategies: "Love for life", "Striving for growth", "Fear of life" and "Fear of change". We note those that are characteristic of this sample:

• "Fear of Life" This strategy is characterized by the presence of internal contradictions in the personality structure. The concept of death as a transition acts in this case as a psychological defense.
• "Fear of change". In this strategy, the main characteristics are health care, a high level of control, rejection of the present, focus on the stability of life. Death is understood as the absolute end.

The findings suggest that accepting death is a likely element of personal growth. An uncompromising attitude towards death leads to a focus on the well-being of the body, while reducing the chances of an open relationship with the world, authenticity and life satisfaction. It can be argued that the encounter with death in a critical situation of oncological disease lowers the "fear of fear" (fears weaken) and increases tolerance for the variability of life. Personality is calm about the fact that expectations very often run counter to real achievements.

In the fourth paragraph This chapter provides a comparative analysis of the general and specific features of the attitude to life and death in various critical situations.

Analysis general trends in various samples allows us to say that in critical situations a person is faced with the need to "inventory" his ideas about life and death. Co-management with a critical situation can take place in two different, but, nevertheless, interconnected ways, depending on the attitude of the individual to this situation. We have singled out two such relationships - "A critical situation as an opportunity for growth" and "A critical situation as suffering".

In the first case, a critical situation is perceived by a person as an opportunity for a deeper, more authentic being and includes the following components: acceptance of fate, a sense of ontological security, meaningfulness of life, responsibility, striving for growth, acceptance of the spiritual and physical aspects of one's personality, tolerance for the variability of life. , as well as acceptance of feelings towards death and belief in the immortality of the soul.

In the second variant, a critical situation is perceived by a person as a punishment or redemption and is expressed in concentration on one's suffering - illness, old age, fears, evil, helplessness and loneliness. This attitude to life is associated with the idea of ​​death as the absolute end and fear in relation to it.

A comparative analysis of attitudes towards life and death, depending on the critical situation, showed that significant differences in the samples are associated with the characteristics of male and female psychology, as well as with the characteristics of the situations themselves.

Women with cancer in lesser degree feel a sense of ontological security, are more inclined to accept helplessness and loneliness, but less to accept responsibility and sexuality; they see the meaning of life in caring for others, and in relation to death they often experience negative feelings.

Military personnel differ from other samples in their greater acceptance of life, father, avoidance of feelings in relation to death, as well as the tendency to see the meaning of life in its richness.

More often than military personnel, prisoners see the meaning of life in growth and more often than cancer patients believe in the immortality of the soul.

Thus, we see that the attitude of the individual to life and death in various critical situations is connected with the attitude to this situation, its characteristic features, as well as features of male and female psychology.

The results of the study made it possible to build an empirical typology of life strategies for coping with critical situations (see Fig. 1). As we can see from the figure, the typology is based on the interrelation of such components as the attitude to life, death, as well as the vision of meaning.

Life strategies for coping with critical situations

Rice. one.

As a result of the study, we have come to the following conclusions:

1. The attitude towards life and death is a system, the main emotional and rational components of which are: the degree of acceptance of life and death, ontological security, self-acceptance, vision of meaning, responsibility, desire for growth, the idea of ​​death as a transition to another state or as an absolute end .
2. Relationships between the emotional and rational components of attitudes towards life and death determine 8 life strategies for coping with critical situations: "Desire for growth", "Search for the meaning of life", "Hedonism", "Self-abasement", "Love of life", "Fear of life" , "Fear of change" and "Capture of life". The strategies specific for prisoners are "Hedonism", for oncological patients - "Fear of life", for military personnel - "Search for the meaning of life" and "Seizure of life".
3. Critical situations change the attitude of the individual to life and death. The direction of these changes will depend on the ability of the individual to integrate the traumatic experience associated with the critical situation, as well as on the attitude towards the situation itself.
4. The attitude of a person to a critical situation is manifested either through a positive attitude towards oneself and the idea of ​​transcendence of one's own personality (in this case, a critical situation is perceived as an opportunity for growth), or through concentration on one's own suffering (in this case, a critical situation is perceived as punishment or redemption).
5. The specific features of the attitude to life and death, depending on the critical situation, are associated with the conditions of these situations, as well as with the characteristics of male and female psychology. Thus, prisoners in places of deprivation of liberty are distinguished by the appearance of the idea of ​​their own transcendence; combatants - by the desire to make the most of life and avoid feelings in relation to death, women with cancer - by focusing on suffering, caring for loved ones and fear of death.
6. Acceptance of death is a likely element of personal growth in a critical situation.

Thus, the goal has been achieved, the objectives of the study have been solved.

In custody a general analysis of the data obtained is made, the main life strategies for coping with critical situations are singled out, and prospects for further research are outlined.

1. Existential aspects of experiencing the loss of a child. / Culture on the protection of childhood. - St. Petersburg: Publishing house of the Russian State Pedagogical University im. A.I. Herzen, 1998. S. 36 - 38. (co-author).
2. Psychological assistance in acute crisis situations. / Scientific and methodological conference dedicated to the 190th anniversary of SPGUVK / Abstracts of reports - St. Petersburg, 1999. - P. 262 - 264. (co-authored).
3. Resources of an existential crisis in places of deprivation of liberty. / Ananiev Readings - 1999 scientific and practical conference October 26 - 28, 1999 / Ed. A.A. Krylova - St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg State University, 1999. - S. 140-141.
4. Fear of change in the process of training in psychological counseling. / Psychological and pedagogical problems of personality development in modern conditions: Abstracts of interuniversity reports scientific conference, St. Petersburg, May 18 - 20, 1999 - St. Petersburg: Publishing House of the Russian State Pedagogical University named after A.I. Herzen, 1999. - S. 207 - 209.
5. Psychological features of the adaptation of prisoners to places of deprivation of liberty. / Ananiev Readings - 1999. 40th anniversary of the creation of the country's first laboratory of industrial (engineering) psychology at St. Petersburg (Leningrad) University. Abstracts of the scientific-practical conference October 26 - 28, 1999 / Ed. A.A. Krylova - St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg State University, 1999 - S. 148 - 149 (co-author).
6. Psychological aspects readaptation of persons released from places of deprivation of liberty. / III Tsarskoye Selo Readings. Scientific and theoretical interuniversity conference with international participation. Vishnyakov readings "Continuing Pedagogical Education: Theory and Practice" April 16, 1999, T 5, St. Petersburg - Boksitogorsk, Leningrad State Educational Institution, 1999 - P. 192 - 195 (co-author).
7. Existential crisis and its resources in prisoners (in press).

Bakanova A.A. ,

RUSSIAN STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY IM. A. I. GERTSEN
As a manuscript
Abstract of the dissertation for the degree of candidate of psychological sciences
19 00.11. - psychology of Personality
St. Petersburg
2000

What do we know about death? In the entire centuries-old history of mankind, the topic of death has probably been one of the most common, more has been written about it than about many other things, since there was, apparently, not a single full-fledged person who would not think about what awaits sooner or later. him and what causes such intense horror. Those who could embodied their thoughts, attitudes, and fears about the imminent physical end of every human being in philosophy, religion, myth, science, and various arts. Many researchers of historical development human consciousness suggest that it was the fear of death that was driving force development of human culture.

Death was constant problem that has accompanied humanity throughout its history. Each next generation received this pain and this fear from previous generations, tried to somehow answer this question, and then passed on both the problem itself and its achievements in solving it to the next generations, who repeated a similar path.

Death is the process of ending the existence of complex biological systems which are made up of large organic molecules, the loss of their ability to self-produce and support their existence as a result of the exchange of energy and matter with the environment. The death of warm-blooded animals and humans is associated primarily with the cessation of respiration and blood circulation.

Attitude to the problem of life and death in Western culture.

In all human history, there has never been a more grandiose and geographically expanded culture than the Western. The almost absolutely dominant religion, Christianity, has several branches; how nowhere in the world are oppositions, sometimes increasing, sometimes decreasing, but always significant, between science and religion; there are dozens of philosophical directions - and all this is found both existing in the general cultural array and in national manifestations, because each culture perceives certain universal values ​​almost always through the prism of its worldview, and is in the process of interaction between its components.

Christianity is one of three world religions, and, obviously, the most massive and influential. How does the Christian religion influence a person’s worldview, his value picture of the world, the psychology of attitude to life and death? Religious (in this case, Christian) worldview and worldview has certain positive psychotherapeutic features in relation to the worldview positions of non-religious people. Christians are prone to empathy and sensitivity, they usually have a positive picture of the world, themselves and others in it (“God is almighty, and if so, he created a completely just world in which there is an opportunity for salvation for everyone”, “The Lord loves everyone and serves as an example for us”, etc.). Death, on the other hand, is perceived relatively calmly, since if a person lives in accordance with the biblical commandments, then it opens the way to paradise after physical death, that is, death, in principle, can even be desirable (this can happen when a person is in difficult and extremely difficult conditions of its existence; but even in this case, the fear of death will not be absent - it will only recede, replaced by stronger states of faith and hope, on the one hand, pain and suffering, on the other).

The psychological phenomena of faith and hope are constant companions of the religious worldview. Thus, the phenomena of faith and hope have a decisive influence on the orientation in the problem of life and death in Christian culture. A certain dependence can be traced: obviously, the more religious a person is, the more diligently and attentively he fulfills religious commandments, the greater his faith and hope for a posthumous path to paradise will be, the greater will be confidence in his life and in his actions, the more positive there will be a picture of the world (in any case, connected with an individual segment of reality, with one's life) and oneself in it.

Materialistic and agnostic worldview

Along with the Christian, in the spaces of Western culture, materialistic and agnostic worldviews are also common. What is the content of these philosophical positions? Here, victory over death is the spiritual and psychological state of a person in which he exalts himself over death, his actions and inner world proving his greater significance than she, thus immortalizing himself in his relations with the world at a value-oriented level. To do this, a person must realize the potential of his “I” to such an extent, to fulfill his life tasks(which would also, very desirable, coincide with the moral and ethical categories present in her and in society), that she would be able to comprehend her life as a correctly passed (perhaps not yet completely) path and deeply feel the justice of the victory over death and the transition to the reality that awaits her after physical death (regardless of what worldview positions a person takes).

Attitude to the problem of life and death in Muslim culture

There is a certain commonality in relation to the problem of life and death between Christianity and the moderate part of Islam. There is nothing strange in this, because the three most prominent world monotheistic religions - Christianity, Islam and Judaism - have the same spiritual and historical roots. At the same time, speaking about a certain commonality between Islam and Christianity in relation to the problem of life and death, it is necessary to note the existing differences, which, among other things, are associated with the peculiarities of the psychology of the bearers of the Muslim religion. If Christianity in its relationship with God refers to love (and in this matter it treats man more humanely in his relationship with the Absolute), then Judaism and Islam tend to put a lot of emphasis on humility and fear.

The attitude of Muslims to life and death is reduced to the following dogmas:

1. Allah gives life to a person.
2. He has the right to take it away at any time, not in accordance with the desires of a person.
3. A person does not have the right to end his own life of his own free will, but he can do it with his enemy, which is considered an honor, but in war and valor.
4. Life must be lived with dignity in order to go to heaven.
5. Honor is higher than life.
6. The afterlife is endless and that is what it is ultimate goal all who lived before and who live now.
7. Life is given only once.
8. Everything in this world happens according to the will of Allah”

However, modern Islam is not represented only by its moderate part. Since Islamic fundamentalism, along with which there is terrorism and religious fanaticism, is one of the greatest problems of the modern world, the bearer of an aggressive psychology with a bright expressed relationship to life and, in particular, to death (perhaps it would be more correct to say - leveling the latter), then highlighting the main strokes, aspects of it seems especially important. In principle, the corresponding fanatical psychology is not much different from the psychology of fanatics in general: blind faith in certain (religious) ideals, ready-made answers to some questions and ignoring others, a rigid, unchanging picture of the world, intolerance towards dissidents, lack of empathy for them and the appropriate attitude towards them, aggression, including directly physical, which is also associated with the inability to prove one’s life position logically, rationally.

Attitude to the problem of life and death in India

India is one of the most significant, most unique cultures of mankind, with its very long history measured over four millennia. Her cultural world is extremely stable; India has successfully restored itself even after terrible historical cataclysms and almost unbeaten withstood aggressive and dangerous foreign political forces and cultural and ideological systems. . The fact that India has long since achieved cultural, religious, philosophical, in general - ideological tolerance, tolerance towards others, deserves modern world at least respect and can be a great example for other cultures and multitudes of people.

The spiritual world of India is presented, as already mentioned, to religious and philosophical diversity. On the territory of India, such religions as Brahmanism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, etc., were created and developed. philosophical schools- lokayata, sankhya, yoga, nyaya, vaisheshika, etc.

Hinduism is a religion that claims that people share the fate of all nature, that is, birth, life, death, and after it - rebirth on Earth again, after which the cycle repeats again and again. These ideas found their direct expression in the idea of ​​reincarnation, that is, (eternal) reincarnation, called “samsara”. Hindus believe that a person's current life determines his future life, its quality, and here we see the moral component of this worldview. The system of castes fits into such a worldview very harmoniously, and it is assumed that the least worthy are embodied even in animal form.

Interestingly, even in the philosophical directions of the materialistic trend in India, the idea of ​​death or its fear is noticeably neutralized by the transitional stages of matter, that is, a person (his body) is included in the eternal circulation of matter in the world, and one can speak of death as the disappearance of a person from the point of view the views of representatives of these directions are not entirely incorrect. The attitude towards suicide is different from the views present in Christianity or Islam. Here it is not presented primarily as something forbidden or sinful. Here, suicide looks completely unpromising, it does not make sense. Indeed, if the next life of a person is determined by current actions, karma, then suicide will make next life even more painful and unhappy. Problems and suffering encountered throughout life must be endured with honor and endurance, as this makes karma more favorable, and both for future life, and for the current; suicide has the opposite effect.

The problem of death is not really really relevant in India - in the sense of the absence of a pronounced fear of it, it is largely (in comparison with other cultures, of course) accepted as appropriate and comprehended relatively calmly, and this was the case over the last millennia of Indian history.

Attitude to the problem of life and death in China and Japan

China and Japan are a whole cultural world, large, massive and unique in its scope, significance and power of influence on all of humanity.

Chinese worldview

Life is very valuable for the Chinese, and this is due to the fact that a really significant emphasis on the concepts of heaven and hell (in general, the other world or worlds) is not made in China, and the fact that Chinese culture cannot be called noticeably religious. The fear of death in a person does not have a significant “counterweight”, sufficient psychological compensation, expressed in the teachings about the other world, paradise, etc., that is, even the religious and philosophical teachings of China (not to mention other categories of culture) do not have effective remedy a noticeable neutralization (relative to, for example, Christianity or Hinduism) of the fear of death. A person values ​​his life, he holds on to it as an almost uncompensated value.

Japanese attitude

Japan is a country that in the past, twentieth century, not only rose from its knees after the defeat in the Second World War - both politically and economically - but also received the status of one of the world's economic leaders. The main existing Japanese culture religious worldviews - Shinto, Buddhism and special shape the latter is Zen.

The Shinto morality is simple: you must avoid major sins - murder, lying, adultery, etc. Since the introduction of Buddhism into Japan, the two teachings have influenced each other so strongly that in that country many elements of one can be found in the other. Buddhism in Japan has its own characteristics, which were expressed during Zen. With regard to Shinto, Buddhism offers much more hope for posthumous salvation, so it is quite obvious why many Japanese may turn to it when the phenomenon of death begins to find its active manifestation in life. On the other hand, the value of life and the experience of its many joys is not the prerogative of Buddhism, including its Japanese form - Zen; Shinto, on the other hand, places a definite and significant emphasis on these aspects of life.

Considering the problem of life and death in Japan, it is necessary to consider such a historical phenomenon as a special suicidal rite - hara-kiri, in which certain features of the Japanese attitude to life and death are manifested. Harakiri developed into its historically most famous form from the rites of the ancient tribes that existed in what is now Japan and near it on the mainland. It was from those times that a person's stomach was associated in Japan with the concept of life, and a mortal blow in rituals, as a rule, was inflicted precisely on it. According to a long tradition, along with the death of the master, his closest servants and property were also buried in his grave - in order to provide him with everything necessary for the afterlife. In order to make death easier, the servants were allowed to stab themselves.

Harakiri was mainly the prerogative of warriors and acted universal remedy a way out of almost any predicament in which the samurai found himself. As a rule, the decisive factor was the value of honor - this socio-cultural and moral and ethical phenomenon itself was, apparently, one of the determining ones in the culture of Japan - next to which life looked like a pronounced secondary phenomenon. The factor that ensured this state of affairs in society and mass psychology, was the creation of an aura of courage and celebrity, which persisted even during the next generations, around those who made themselves hara-kiri. Another decisive determinant was the influence on the psychology of people of the Zen movement, which - like Buddhism in general - promotes a complete disregard for death as such.

Having considered the attitude towards death among the main and most important cultures, we can say that it has never been the same.
Tolerance, faith and hope among Christians, fear and submission to fate among Muslims, calm attitude Hindus, the primacy of honor over life among the Japanese ...

The soul is immortal, barren, it can be saved or perish. People accept or reject these statements depending on the faith and religious statements. If there is one thing we can say with certainty, it is that we are all mortal. But to the question of what awaits us after death, representatives of different cultures answer differently. And each of us decides what he believes.