Attitude towards life and death. Fear has the ability to very quickly “infect” everything around, filling the atmosphere with its “subtle vibrations”, each of which is as deadly as the poison of the viper

General characteristics of work

Relevance of the study

There is now a growing awareness that the spiritual dimension of human experience is a legitimate area of inquiry 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 humanity faces 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 personality as a person’s creative search for his purpose, agreement with himself, and the actualization of his capabilities. The life path of an individual is associated with the passage of various critical situations, which, according to E. Yeomans, “can be designated as stages of destruction, when some of our natural ways of seeing the world, knowing ourselves and relating to the environment occur.”

The most powerful critical situations of an individual are those associated with awareness of one’s own mortality (incurable illness, participation in combat, etc.) or confrontation with the death of another (experience of the loss of a loved one). However, in the existential-humanistic paradigm, any critical situation can be considered as a kind of “confrontation with death.” Moreover, death in this context is understood as a transformative process, the rejection of old, familiar ways of being and the selection and improvement of new ones that are more adequate to the changed conditions.

A critical situation is experienced by individuals in different ways. On the one hand, it can have a destructive effect, increasing anxiety and depression, feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, which can lead to a life crisis. And 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 towards life, death, himself and values, which forms various life strategies that help a person get out of a critical situation. Everything noted above allows us to talk about the need for psychological assistance to persons in a critical life situation.

However, an analysis of the literature shows that at the present stage of development of psychology, despite social relevance and practical orientation, the theory of crises is not sufficiently developed - its own system of categories has not been developed, the connection of the concepts used with academic psychological concepts has not been clarified, and 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, systematicity, complexity (K.A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, B.G. Ananyev, L.I. Antsyferova, L.S. Vygotsky, V. N. Panferov, S.L. Rubinstein), ideas about the life path as an individual system for solving such existential problems as life - death, freedom - responsibility, loneliness - communication, meaning - the meaninglessness of life (,), personality as a subject life path and the system of object-evaluative and selective relations to reality (K.A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, B.G. Ananyev, L.I. Antsyferova, I.B. Kartseva, A.F. Lazursky, V.N. Myasishchev, S. L.L. Rubinstein), individual 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 is to find out the individual’s attitude to life and death and their relationship in various critical situations.

Hypothesis lies in the assumption that a person’s attitude towards life and death includes rational and emotional components that interact differently in various critical situations, which determines life strategies for coping with them.

Particular hypotheses:

Rational and emotional components of attitudes towards life and death have varying degrees of expression in critical situations.
The attitude towards life and death in various critical situations has both general and specific features.

Tasks:

Conduct a theoretical analysis of philosophical and psychological literature on the subject of research.
Select and develop diagnostic methods that are adequate to the goals and hypothesis of the study.
Identify the emotional and rational components of attitudes towards life and death in critical situations.
To study the relationship between attitudes towards life and death in various critical situations - imprisonment, participation in hostilities and cancer.
Determine general and specific features of attitudes towards life and death.

Object of study: men 20 - 45 years old, prisoners in prison (35 people), women 35 - 60 years old with cancer (36 people), men 18 - 25 years old, who took part in hostilities in "hot spots" and were wounded (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 interrelation and influence on life strategies for coping with critical situations.

Research methods were selected in accordance with the basic principles and ideas of existential-humanistic psychology; to identify the desire for meaning, the questionnaire “Meaning in Life Orientations” (adapted by D.N. Leontiev) was used; the locus of control was the questionnaire “Level subjective control"J. Rotter, assessing the richness of one's life path - the methodology "Assessing five years of life" by E.I. Golovachi and A.A. Kronik, recording personal changes in a group of women with cancer - scale personal growth, the degree of acceptance of the elements of life - the author’s methodology “Acceptance”; attitudes towards life and death - author's questionnaire.

For statistical data processing, correlation, factor and comparative analysis were used using the STATISTICA application 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 towards life and death as:

Attitude to life - acceptance of life, life as growth, life as consumption, non-acceptance of life, ontological security, self-acceptance, responsibility, desire for growth;.
Attitude towards death - acceptance of death, death as a transition to another state, death as an absolute end, non-acceptance of death, fear.
Vision of meaning - the presence and absence of meaning in life and death. This typology allows us to identify a system of relationships of an individual to himself, others, life and death, and also defines a set of psychological characteristics inherent in an individual in various critical situations and helping him to cope with them.

Practical significance of the study determined by the possibility of using the results obtained in group and individual psychological helping clients who are in a critical life situation or experiencing post-traumatic stress. Psychotherapeutic work in these areas requires knowledge of how death and, accordingly, one’s own life in such states are understood, 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 preparation 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 submitted for defense:

The relationship between the rational and emotional components of the attitude towards life and death in critical situations determines 8 life strategies for coping with them. “Striving for growth”, “Searching for the meaning of life”, “Love of life”. "Fear of Life", "Seizure of Life", "Fear of Change", "Self-Deprecation" and "Hedonism".
In coping with a critical situation, two main directions can be distinguished related to the individual’s attitude to this situation - “A critical situation as an opportunity for growth” and “A critical situation as suffering.”

Approbation of research results: the main theoretical principles were presented at scientific and methodological seminars for graduate students, meetings of the Department of Psychological Assistance of the Russian State Pedagogical University named after A.I. Herzen, in the SSS of the Institute of Biology and Human Psychology, as well as through publications and speeches at scientific-practical, scientific-methodological and interuniversity conferences (Tsarskoye Selo Readings - 1999, Ananyev 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 research results were presented at seminars International school counseling, psychotherapy and leading groups at the Institute of Psychotherapy and Counseling "Harmony", on their basis a psychological training program "In search of oneself: the gift of accepting change" was developed, 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, a conclusion, a bibliography, including 157 sources, including 10 in foreign languages, appendices. The dissertation is presented on 195 pages, includes 7 tables and 25 figures.

Main content of the work

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

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

First chapter"An existential-psychological approach to the problem of life and death" is dedicated to theoretical analysis problems of attitude to life and death in 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 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 collective consciousness and attitude towards death, according to such scientists as F. Aries, M. Vovel, O. Thibault, L.-V. Tom, P. Shanu 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 two main concepts were formed: belief in the immortality of the soul (this concept in a transformed form entered Christianity) and acceptance of the absolute finitude of life, a call for “the courage to be.” These concepts in one form or another have passed through the entire history of civilization, revealing the diverse aspects of man’s attitude to life and death not only in different eras, but also in different cultures.

Unlike 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 strove 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., etc.) tried to smooth out such a dichotomy in the understanding of life and death, considering death as the last opportunity through which existence can achieve its highest form, and man - a deeper authentic being.

The final change in attitudes towards death occurred already in the 20th century, in which, according to many historians, the attitude towards life and death was completely deformed, and positive and negative accents in the assessment of these phenomena shifted. The tendency to oust death from the collective consciousness, gradually increasing, reaches its apogee in our time, when, according to F. Aries. society behaves “as if no one dies at all and the death of an individual does not make any hole in the structure of society.” F. Aries called this attitude towards death “inverted death.”

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

In the second paragraph ideas about 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 “picked up” from the hands of philosophy the image of death, which by that time had become confusing, rejected and completely separated from life. This “inheritance” 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 purpose of all human life were understood in these directions mechanistically.

3. Freud's landmark discoveries in the field of depth psychology attracted many brilliant thinkers to further research, 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 ideas of humanistic and transpersonal approaches to personality. Their works were an important step in understanding the path of life 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.

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

In the third paragraph a critical situation is considered as a model of a confrontation with death, an understanding of the crisis and critical situation is given by foreign and domestic psychologists, the importance of critical situations for the development of personality is considered. It is noted that although the problems of crisis and critical situations have always been in the field of view of psychological thinking, crisis theory appeared relatively recently as an independent discipline. The understanding of the crisis by such foreign psychologists as R. Assagioli, S. and K. Grof, T. and E. Yeomans, D. Thayarst, K. Jung is described, and 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 become a turning point in a person's life; lead to a crisis. Any crisis contains both positive and negative components. The negative component is that a person in a critical situation is characterized by being overwhelmed with unresolved problems, a feeling of hopelessness, helplessness, and experiencing life as a “dead end.” But a crisis is not only a “threat of disaster,” but also an opportunity for change, a transition to a new stage of personal development, a source of strength, and this is its positive aspect. Thus, the nature of the crisis is described as transformative, since it simultaneously brings not only the rejection of old, familiar ways of being, but also the search and improvement of new ones.

In Russian psychology, critical situations and associated personal changes were considered in the structure of the life nougat of the individual by K. A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, B. G. Ananyev, L.I. Antsyferova, V.F. Vasilyuk, T.E. Kartseva, S.L. Rubinstein. Currently, among domestic authors, the problem of crisis situations is developed in the most detail by F.E. Vasilyuk, considering the crisis in the structure of a critical situation.

Analysis of the literature allows us to give working definitions of a critical situation and crisis. A critical situation is a situation in which a subject cannot realize the basic needs of his life and which confronts him with the need to change his way of being (attitude towards himself, others, life and death). A crisis is a person’s reaction to a critical situation, which is expressed in the person’s inability 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 become a crisis situation for an individual (that is, leading to a crisis), which depends on the adaptive capabilities of the individual.

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

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 a confrontation with death as a critical situation is inherently ambivalent on the one hand, it can have a destructive effect on the individual (expressed in an increased fear of death), and on the other hand, it can 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, W. Frankl, E. Fromm, I. Yalom, etc., possible personal reactions to encounters with death. Possible mechanisms for suppressing the fear of death are also considered, ranging from the desire for power to depression or increased sexual activity.

Chapter two“Methods and organization of research” is devoted to methods and organization of research into the attitude towards life and death of persons in a critical life situation.

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

At the second stage (1997 - 1999) various options critical situations - imprisonment, participation in hostilities and cancer. Next, a study was conducted of the attitude to life and death of persons in these critical situations.

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

In the second paragraph provides a description of the surveyed sample, which includes prisoners in prison, military personnel injured during hostilities in “hot spots” and women with cancer.

Serving a sentence in prison is a strong experience for most people psychological stress, which is due to the characteristics 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 (suspects and accused) held in pre-trial detention center No. 6 of the Main Directorate of 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 was 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 cancer 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 a number of 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 surgery.

Our study also took part in conscript soldiers who were treated for their injuries at the S.M. Military Medical Academy. Kirov. All of them took part in hostilities on the territory of Chechnya and Dagestan for from 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. were used. Leontyev, J. Rotter, E.I. Golovakha and A.A. Kronika, as well as the author’s methods for identifying attitudes towards life and death.

In the third chapter“Results of a study of an individual’s attitude to life and death in a critical situation” provides the results of the study and their interpretation. The data described in the first three paragraphs were obtained from samples of prisoners, military personnel, and cancer patients, respectively, and were 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 galaxies reflecting the interconnections of these ideas.

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

Relationships to life and death
in various critical situations

Table 1

	Prisoners	Military personnel	Cancer patients
	*Death as a transition to another state*
Attitude to life	Accepting responsibility for yourself and your life, as well as suffering, old age, the variability of life and meaning Rejection of father and sexuality	The desire for high meaning in life, acceptance of goodness and love Less identification with the male role	Rejection of love, the present Taking responsibility, taking care of health; reliance on willpower
Meaning life	In personal growth, achievement and development	Loss of meaning in life and the desire to find it	In activity Low meaning of life
Attitude to death	Acceptance of death	Attitude becomes more meaningful Acceptance of death	Rather, non-acceptance of death.
Meaning death	In the transition to another level of spiritual development, growth	In development and growth, in transition At the logical conclusion of life	In transition to another level
	*Death as the absolute end of life*
Attitude to life	The presence of meaning and understanding of life as growth and constant movement are denied; non-acceptance of mother, variability, one’s life, responsibility, suffering Acceptance of sexuality and body Life as a super value	The understanding of life as growth is denied Acceptance of sexuality, masculinity, father and mother; acceptance of oneself in the physical, spiritual and temporal aspects; acceptance of meaning, love, responsibility, goodness	Acceptance of your femininity, yourself, husband, mother, father, your life, future; accepting old age, fears, love, change and personal growth Taking responsibility Focus on experiencing life in the present moment
Meaning life	In the richness of life, in pleasures and delights	In the “present”, in pleasures, delights	In the “present”, achievements and family relationships
Attitude to death	Rejection of death	Acceptance of death Thinking about death causes negative emotions	Awareness of its inevitability Acceptance of death
Meaning death	The meaning of death is denied	The meaning of death is denied	To its logical conclusion; peace

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

The rational element in understanding death lies in the ideas of transition to another level of development or in absolute finitude, moreover, such ideas are formed in childhood and tend to persist in mature age. 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 awareness of mortality.

Analysis of the results shows that among prisoners, the understanding of life and death is closely linked. 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 finitude deform the picture of life, introducing into it elements of an “existential vacuum” (lack of meaning in life and death, non-acceptance of oneself and one’s life, ontological insecurity). We can conclude that the idea of life as constant growth is transferred to ideas about death, which allows a person to take a responsible attitude towards everything he does and less avoid feelings regarding death. An interesting fact is that long-term serving of a sentence in places of deprivation of liberty stimulates the formation of just such a concept of life.

Statistical analysis made it possible to identify various strategies for coping with a critical situation (by strategy we mean a system of attitudes towards life and death, chosen by the individual and aimed at overcoming a critical situation):

"Striving for growth." This strategy is characterized by an understanding of life as constant growth, movement towards goals and achievements. This attitude to life is associated with taking responsibility for oneself and loved ones; the personality's focus on caring. Knowledge of one’s own mortality can strengthen the individual’s desire for further development, making the individual more inclined to accept death and have a conscious attitude towards it.
"Self-deprecation." This strategy has such features as a person’s non-acceptance of himself and his life, a feeling of ontological insecurity and a lack of meaning in life. Death in this case is perceived as a kind of deliverance from the hardships of earthly existence, but at the same time it instills a feeling of fear.
“Hedonism.” This option 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 and the acceptance of illness and suffering. The concept of death in this case can be anything.
"Love of life" This strategy is characterized by perceiving life as the highest value, which is associated with acceptance of oneself, one’s body and life path. As a result, the significance of the past increases significantly, and any changes are perceived as a threat to stability. Death is deprived of 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 confronting one’s own finitude, but also an appeal to one’s own transcendence, which is expressed in ideas about one’s own life as an endless process of growth and development, as well as in accepting responsibility. Such changes in worldview lead to the fact that many prisoners turn to religion while in prison.

The second paragraph is devoted to the peculiarities of understanding and attitude towards life and death by military personnel who took part in hostilities (see Table 1).

For conscripts who have passed through "hot spots", as well as for prisoners, it is typical to live in the present, with a tendency to receive as many positive impressions as possible, as well as future goals. They also see the meaning of life in obtaining pleasure and benefits, or in caring for the family. The attitude towards the life of military personnel 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, have great moral significance for the individual in the formation of ideas about life - goodness, love and meaning. An interesting fact is that active participation in hostilities (associated with the killing of the enemy) carries with it a tendency to destroy children's ideas about the immortality of the soul and changes the concept of death towards absolute finitude. This experience promotes avoidance of feelings associated with dying. At the same time, the concept of life changes towards a consumer attitude towards it, and the meaning of life - towards satisfying the need for a rich life with impressions and experiences. As can be seen from the results obtained, the experience of directly destroying the enemy (killing a person) deforms military personnel’s ideas about the direction of their own lives. She is deprived of her future development and “freezes” in the place of the traumatic experience. This may explain the fact that some soldiers who have passed through “hot spots” seek to return to them.

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

Obtained using various types statistical analysis, the results can be presented in the form of connections 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 similar strategies among prisoners. Let's consider those that are specific to military personnel:

“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. This worldview entails the denial of meaning in death, and the meaning of life is seen in emotional saturation. Such a person does not see the point in growth and development.
“Searching for the meaning of life” - this strategy is characterized by unclear ideas about one’s own life, the desire to find its deep meaning. Life is understood here rather as 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 individual’s ability to integrate the traumatic experience associated with military operations and the direct killing of the enemy.

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

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

The attitude towards life of women with cancer differs in its characteristics from the attitude of men. The leading factor 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 development of a woman’s personality. It is also interesting that in addition to relying on higher values (meaning, responsibility, goodness), for women it is important movement to wisdom, where the 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 and increased responsibility for their recovery. This suggests that belief in the immortality of the soul can be used not only as an incentive for recovery, but also as psychological protection. 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.

Analysis of the results allows us to assert that in women with cancer, the system-forming component in relation to death is not the rational (as in men), but the emotional component - acceptance of death and feelings towards it. This indicates such a feature female psychology, as a 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 women with cancer made it possible to identify the following four life strategies: “Love of life”, “Striving for growth”, “Fear of life” and “Fear of change”. Let us 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 concern for health, a high level of control, non-acceptance of the present, and a focus on the stability of life. Death is understood as the absolute end.

The findings indicate that acceptance of death is a likely element of personal growth. An intransigent 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 satisfaction with life. It can be argued that facing death in a critical situation of cancer reduces the “fear of fear” (fears weaken) and increases tolerance to the variability of life. The individual 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 attitudes towards life and death in various critical situations.

Analysis of general trends in various samples suggests that in critical situations a person is faced with the need to “inventory” his ideas about life and death. Coping with a critical situation can take place in two different, but nevertheless interconnected ways, depending on the individual’s attitude to this situation. We have identified two such relationships - “Critical situation as an opportunity for growth” and “Critical situation as suffering”.

In the first case, a critical situation is perceived by a person as an opportunity for a deeper, more authentic existence and includes the following components: acceptance of fate, a sense of ontological security, meaningfulness of life, responsibility, desire 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 option, a critical situation is perceived by the individual as punishment or atonement and is expressed in concentration on one’s suffering - illness, old age, fears, evil, helplessness and loneliness. This attitude towards life is associated with ideas about death as an absolute end and fear of it.

A comparative analysis of attitudes towards life and death depending on the critical situation showed that significant differences between 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 experience a lesser sense of ontological security, are more inclined to accept helplessness and loneliness, but less inclined to accept responsibility and sexuality; They see the meaning of life in caring for others, and they often experience negative feelings towards death.

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

Prisoners are more likely than military personnel to see the meaning of life in growth and more often than cancer patients to believe in the immortality of the soul.

Thus, we see that a person’s attitude towards life and death in various critical situations is associated with the attitude towards this situation, its characteristic features, as well as the characteristics of male and female psychology.

The results of the study made it possible to construct 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 relationship of such components as attitudes towards life, death, and a vision of meaning.

Life strategies for coping with critical situations

Rice. 1.

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

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 .
The interrelations of the emotional and rational components of the attitude towards life and death determine 8 life strategies for coping with critical situations: “Striving for growth”, “Search for the meaning of life”, “Hedonism”, “Self-abasement”, “Love of life”, “Fear of life” , "Fear of Change" and "Seizure of Life". A strategy specific to prisoners is “Hedonism”, for cancer patients - “Fear of life”, for military personnel - “Search for the meaning of life” and “Capture of life”.
Critical situations change the individual's attitude towards life and death. The direction of these changes will depend on the individual’s ability to integrate the traumatic experience associated with a critical situation, as well as on the attitude towards the situation itself.
The individual’s attitude towards 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, the critical situation is perceived as an opportunity for growth), or through concentration on one’s own suffering (in this case, the critical situation is perceived as punishment or atonement).
Specific features of attitudes towards 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, those imprisoned are distinguished by the emergence of the idea of their own transcendence; combatants - by the desire to make the most of life and avoid feelings towards death, women with cancer - by focusing on suffering, caring for loved ones and fear of death.
Acceptance of death is a possible element of personal growth in a critical situation.

Thus, the goal has been achieved, the research objectives have been solved.

In conclusion done general analysis the obtained data, the main life strategies for coping with critical situations are highlighted, and prospects for further research are outlined.

Existential aspects of experiences during the loss of a child. / Culture for the protection of childhood. - St. Petersburg: Publishing house of the Russian State Pedagogical University named after. A.I. Herzen, 1998. pp. 36 - 38. (co-author).
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).
Resources for existential crisis in prisons. / Ananyev Readings - 1999. 40th anniversary of the creation of the country's first laboratory of industrial (engineering) psychology at St. Petersburg (Leningrad) University Abstracts scientific-practical conference October 26 - 28, 1999 / Ed. A.A. Krylova - St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg State University, 1999. - P. 140-141.
Fear of change in the process of training in psychological counseling. / Psychological and pedagogical problems of personality development in modern conditions: Abstracts of reports of the interuniversity scientific conference, St. Petersburg, May 18 - 20, 1999 - St. Petersburg: Publishing House of the Russian State Pedagogical University named after A.I. Herzen, 1999. - P. 207 - 209.
Psychological characteristics adaptation of prisoners to places of confinement. / Ananyev 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 and practical conference October 26 - 28, 1999 / Ed. A.A. Krylova - St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg State University, 1999 - P. 148 - 149 (co-author).
Psychological aspects of readaptation of persons released from prison. / III Tsarskoye Selo Readings. Scientific and theoretical interuniversity conference with international participation. Vishnyakov readings "Continuous pedagogical education: theory and practice" April 16, 1999, T 5, St. Petersburg - Boksitogorsk, Leningrad State Educational Institution, 1999 - P. 192 - 195 (co-authored).
Existential crisis and its resources among prisoners (in press).

Bakanova A.A. ,

RUSSIAN STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY NAMED AFTER A. I. HERTZEN
As a manuscript
Abstract of the dissertation for the degree of candidate of psychological sciences
19 00.11. - personality psychology
Saint Petersburg
2000

Let us consider these problems in relation to three world religions - Christianity, Islam and Buddhism and the civilizations based on them.

The Christian understanding of the meaning of life, death and immortality comes from the Old Testament provision: “The day of death better than the day birth" and the New Testament commandment of Christ "... I have the keys to hell and death." The theanthropic essence of Christianity is manifested in the fact that the immortality of the individual as an integral being is conceivable only through resurrection. The path to it is opened by the atoning sacrifice of Christ through the cross and resurrection. This the sphere of mystery and miracle, for man is taken out of the sphere of action of natural-cosmic forces and elements and is placed as a person face to face with God, who is also a person.

Thus, 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, a soap bubble. In essence, it is only a preparation for eternal life, which is just around the corner for everyone. That is why it is said in the Gospel: “Be prepared: for at an hour you do not think, the Son of Man will come.” To prevent life from turning, in the words of 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. In the figurative expression of one of the moral hierarchs: “A dying person is a setting star, 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. immortality religion christian islamic

Christianity associated a different understanding of immortality with the image of the “Eternal Jew” Agasfer. When Jesus, exhausted under the weight of the cross, walked to Golgotha and wanted to rest, Ahasfer, standing among the others, said: “Go, go,” for which he was punished - he was forever denied the peace of the grave. From century to century he is doomed to wander the world, waiting for the second coming of Christ, who alone can deprive him of his hateful immortality.

The image of “mountainous” Jerusalem is associated with the absence of disease, death, hunger, cold, poverty, enmity, hatred, malice and other evils there. There is life without labor and joy without sorrow, health without weakness and honor without danger. All in blooming youth and the age of Christ are comforted by bliss, tasting the fruits of peace, love, joy and fun, and “they love each other as themselves.” Evangelist Luke defined the essence of the Christian approach to life and death this way: “God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. For with him all are alive.” Christianity categorically condemns suicide, since a person does not belong to himself, his life and death are “in the will of God.”

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

The destruction of the entire Universe on the day of the Just Judgment presupposes the creation of a completely new world. A “record” of deeds and thoughts, even the most secret ones, will be presented about each person, and an appropriate sentence will be passed. Thus, the principle of the supremacy of the laws of morality and reason over physical laws will triumph. A morally pure person cannot be in a humiliated position, as is the case in the real world. Islam strictly prohibits suicide.

The descriptions of heaven and hell in the Koran are full of vivid details, so that the righteous can be fully satisfied and the sinners get what they deserve. Paradise is the beautiful “gardens of eternity, below which flow rivers of water, milk and wine”; there are also “pure spouses”, “full-breasted peers”, as well as “black-eyed and big-eyed, decorated with bracelets of gold and pearls”. Those sitting on carpets and leaning on green cushions are walked around by “forever young boys” offering “bird meat” on golden dishes. Hell for sinners is fire and boiling water, pus and slop, the fruits of the “Zakkum” tree, similar to the head of the devil, and their destiny is “screams and roars.” It is impossible to ask Allah about the hour of death, since only he has knowledge about this, and “what has been given to you to know, perhaps the hour is already close.”

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

Buddhism did not refute the doctrine of the transmigration of souls developed by Brahmanism, i.e. the belief that after death any living creature is reborn again in the form of a new living being (human, animal, deity, spirit, etc.). However, Buddhism made significant changes to the teachings of Brahmanism. If the Brahmans argued that through rituals, sacrifices and spells that were different for each class ("varna") it was fashionable to achieve "good rebirths", i.e. to become a raja, a brahman, a rich merchant, etc., then Buddhism declared all reincarnation, all types of existence as inevitable misfortune and evil. Therefore, the highest goal of a Buddhist should be the complete cessation of rebirth and the achievement of nirvana, i.e. non-existence.

Since personality is understood as a sum of drachmas that are in a constant flow of reincarnation, this implies the absurdity and meaninglessness of the chain of natural births. The Dhammapada states that "to be born again and again is sorrowful." The way out is the path of finding nirvana, breaking through the chain of endless rebirths and achieving enlightenment, the blissful “island” located in the depths of a person’s heart, where “they own nothing” and “covet nothing.” The well-known symbol of nirvana - the extinguishing of the ever-quivering fire of life is well expressed the essence of the Buddhist understanding of death and immortality. As the Buddha said: “One day in the life of a person who has seen the immortal path is better than a hundred years of existence of a person who has not seen the higher life.”

For most people, achieving nirvana immediately, in this rebirth, is impossible. Following the path of salvation indicated by the Buddha, a living being usually has to be reincarnated again and again. But this will be the path of ascent to the “highest wisdom”, having achieved which a creature will be able to leave the “circle of existence” and complete the chain of its rebirths.

Concepts of life, death and immortality, based on a non-religious and atheistic approach to the world and man. Irreligious people and atheists are often reproached for the fact that for them earthly life is everything, and death is an insurmountable tragedy, which, in essence, makes life meaningless. L.N. Tolstoy, in his famous confession, painfully tried to find the meaning in life that would not be destroyed by the death that inevitably awaits every person.

For a believer, everything is clear here, but for an unbeliever, an alternative of three possible ways to solve this problem arises.

The first way is to accept the idea, which is confirmed by science and simply common sense, that complete destruction in the world is impossible even elementary particle, and conservation laws apply. Matter, energy and, it is believed, information and organization are conserved complex systems. Consequently, particles of our “I” after death will enter into the eternal cycle of existence and in this sense will be immortal. True, they will not have consciousness, the soul with which our “I” is connected. Moreover, this type of immortality is acquired by a person throughout his life. We can say in the form of a paradox: we are alive only because we die every second. Every day, red blood cells die, epithelial cells die, hair falls out, etc. Therefore, it is in principle impossible to fix life and death as absolute opposites, neither in reality nor in thoughts. These are two sides of the same coin.

The second path is the acquisition of immortality in human affairs, in the fruits of material and spiritual production, which are included in the treasury of humanity. For this, first of all, we need confidence that humanity is immortal and is pursuing a cosmic destiny in the spirit of the ideas of K.E. Tsiolkovsky and other cosmists. If self-destruction in a thermonuclear environmental catastrophe, as well as as a result of some kind of cosmic cataclysm, is realistic for humanity, then in this case the question remains open.

The third path to immortality is, as a rule, chosen by people whose scale of activity does not extend beyond the boundaries of their home and immediate environment. Without expecting eternal bliss or eternal torment, without going into the “tricks” of the mind that connects the microcosm (i.e., man) with the macrocosm, millions of people simply float in the stream of life, feeling themselves to be a part of it. Immortality for them is not in the eternal memory of blessed humanity, but in everyday affairs and worries. “It’s not difficult to believe in God. No, you have to believe in man!” - Chekhov wrote this without at all expecting that he himself would become an example of this type of attitude towards life and death.

Questionnaire “Attitudes towards life, death and crisis situations”

(A.A. Bakanova, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Practical Psychology, Leningrad State University named after A.S. Pushkin)

Purpose of the questionnaire- identifying the system of relationships of the individual to the basic existential data, himself and crisis situations.

The dissertation research “Attitude to life and death in critical life situations”, conducted by A. A. Bakapova in 1999-2000, showed that a person in a critical situation structures his attitude to life and death according to such emotional and rational components , How:

attitude towards life: acceptance of life, feeling of ontological security, self-acceptance, desire for growth, responsibility, understanding of life as growth or consumption, acceptance of the variability of life;

attitude towards death: acceptance of death, acceptance of feelings towards death, understanding of death as a transition to another state or as an absolute end;

vision of meaning: the presence or absence of meaning in life, death and critical situations;

attitude towards a critical situation: a critical situation as a danger of suffering or as an opportunity for growth.

The interconnection of these components allows, on the one hand, to identify the system of relationships of the individual to himself, others, life and death as basal existential givens, and on the other hand, it determines the complex of psychological characteristics of the individual in a critical situation and, accordingly, strategies for coping with them.

This method allows you to find out:

features of the individual’s attitude to life, death and crisis situations;

the degree of psychological maturity of the individual, the desire for self-actualization and personal growth;

the degree of elaboration and relevance of some existential problems (for example, life - death, responsibility, meaning);

possible strategies for coping with crisis situations.

Scales 1-7 are aimed at identifying attitudes towards various components of life, starting from the sense of ontological security formed in childhood, and ending with such basic parameters as acceptance of one’s life, oneself, responsibility and the desire for personal growth. All these scales reflect the degree of psychological maturity, self-actualization and humanistic orientation of the individual.

Scale 1. Acceptance of life's variability

This scale allows us to identify a person’s attitude to such a characteristic of life as variability. Acceptance of the variability of life can be considered not only as one of the indicators of an individual’s ability to cope with crisis situations, but also as one of the factors in the desire for personal growth. The life of every person is constantly filled with changes - unpredictable and unexpected situations; which are usually assessed in the categories “good, like” - “bad, don’t like.” The assessment of any situations, especially negative ones, puts them in opposition to the individual - situations begin to be perceived as obstacles and, accordingly, are overcome.

A high score on this scale indicates that the individual has developed the ability to accept the changes occurring in life, treat them more tolerantly, and therefore cope more effectively with emerging crisis situations, see in them an opportunity to gain new experience and further growth.

A low score indicates that a person is more inclined to build psychological defenses in critical situations and less sees them as an opportunity for personal growth.

Scale 2. Life as growth

This scale reflects the basic attitude of an individual to his own life, which is expressed in the positions: “I am the creator of life” or “I am the consumer of life.” The position towards one’s own life, which is formed in a person in the process of development, is manifested in his relationships with himself, the world and other people, as well as in all types of his activities, including when coping with crisis situations. This scale reveals the views of E. Fromm on human nature and A. Maslow on the satisfaction of deficiency or existential needs. A high score on this scale indicates an understanding of life as an opportunity for the realization of “existential” motives, and with low scores, life is perceived as an opportunity to satisfy “deficit” motivation.

Scale 3. Acceptance of life

The scale allows you to identify the degree to which a person accepts his own life in its temporal aspect, i.e. present, past and future. Acceptance of one's own life is closely related to a person's positive attitude towards himself, and is also an important component in the concept of life. Accepting one’s own life along its entire length from the past to the future allows a person, firstly, to see the meaning of life, secondly, to treat it as a value, and thirdly, to accept the idea of one’s own development and growth. This scale, like others, has a humanistic orientation and is one of the factors in the desire for personal growth.

Therefore, high scores on the scale indicate a person’s acceptance of his life, which is understood as meaningful, valuable, and allowing for spiritual growth.

Low scores on the scale indicate a kind of “rejection” of one’s own life, exclusion of oneself from its process, non-acceptance and, consequently, internal disintegration of the individual.

Scale 4. Ontological security

This scale reveals the characteristics of child-parent relationships, the degree to which an individual accepts his childhood and parents. The concept of “ontological security” was introduced by I. Yalom and was understood by him as a primary existential feeling that provides the child with confidence and security. In adulthood, ontological security turns into interior plan, where the sense of security, which was provided in childhood by the actions and care of parents, is experienced by a mature person as psychological comfort, trust in oneself, others and the world as a whole (these ideas are reflected in the works of E. Erikson, A. Maslow, etc.). This can also be described as a feeling of “rootedness,” i.e., one’s close connection with one’s parental “roots,” the experience of one’s own life as one of the links in the chain of life of previous generations.

The importance of relationships with parents in the formation of a child’s gender-role identification has been proven by many studies and is beyond doubt. Relationships with parents and, in particular, a sense of ontological security are of great importance for the formation of moral and religious beliefs. Acceptance of parents is closely related to acceptance of oneself, one’s own life, as well as basic humanistic values (responsibility, meaning, spiritual growth). In addition, the feeling of ontological security influences the formation of the concept of death, where the relationship with the mother determines the acceptance of the idea of death and feelings towards it. Thus, the acceptance of childhood and in particular the mother not only creates a feeling of ontological security, but also acts as an important component for the formation of faith and the idea of the immortality of the soul.

High scores on this scale they say that a person feels ontological security, which is expressed not only in the acceptance of his parents and childhood, but also in the presence of basal trust, security and psychological comfort.

Low scores reflect the presence in a person’s personal experience of current unresolved childhood conflicts, as well as mistrust, insecurity and discomfort in relationships with oneself, other people and the world.

Scale 5. Self-acceptance

This scale expresses the degree to which a person accepts his Self as a unity of bodily and spiritual (psychological) aspects. Self-acceptance is one of the aspects of a person’s attitude towards himself, which can be described through an expression of trust in oneself, respect, care, understanding of one’s needs and characteristics, compassion for oneself and taking part in one’s own destiny. Deep understanding and acceptance of oneself, being one of the fundamental characteristics of self-esteem, is expressed outwardly through a similar attitude towards people - respect for the individuality of others, tolerance, recognition of their value, etc. Therefore, this characteristic is one of the factors of a harmonious personality, which not only strives for integration of all its sides, but also to the realization of existing abilities, but also to the realization of existing abilities.

High scores on the scale indicate a person’s acceptance of his individuality and, in a broader sense, a humanistic position towards himself, others and the world.

Low scores indicate internal disintegration of the personality, mismatch between its physical and spiritual aspects, and self-sacrifice.

Scale 6. Striving for growth

The scale is aimed at identifying a person’s main life aspiration: for personal growth or, conversely, for consumption and stagnation.

This scale is similar in content to scale 2, however, unlike it, it measures not ideas about life, but the specific orientation of the individual.

A high score on this scale indicates the predominant “existential” orientation of the personality, and a low one, accordingly, indicates a “deficit” orientation.

Scale 7. Responsibility

This scale determines the degree to which a person accepts responsibility for his life. It is known that the degree of acceptance of responsibility is, in the most general form, one of the existential characteristics of a person, which determines the characteristics of his life path and the resolution of existential problems, in particular, an important factor in coping with crisis situations. A high score on this scale indicates that a person accepts responsibility for his life, a low one indicates that he avoids this responsibility.

Scales 8, 10, 11 define the concept of death, which includes rational and emotional components. A person’s attitude towards this existential reality seems especially important for two main reasons.

First, the acceptance of death is central to the formation of ideas about other existential problems.

Secondly, considering a crisis situation as a situation of confrontation with death (where death is understood not only literally, but also figuratively - as psychological death), the attitude towards it becomes one of the cornerstones of a person’s choice of strategies for coping with a crisis.

Scale 8. Concept of death

This scale is aimed at identifying attitudes towards death, namely at determining one or another concept of death that exists in a person.

Many ideas about death can be divided into two large blocks: relatively speaking, “religious” and “atheistic”. The first block, called “Death as a transition,” includes those concepts that presuppose the existence of some form of life after death (the posthumous existence of the soul, the relocation of the soul to another body, the life of the soul in heaven or hell, etc.). The second option - “Death as the end” - includes those ideas that see the death of the body as the final completion of life.

High scores on this scale reflect a person’s inclination toward concepts of the first type, and low scores toward concepts of the second type.

Scale 10. Acceptance of feelings towards death

The scale allows you to identify the degree to which a person accepts his own feelings towards death. This parameter is important from the point of view of the “elaboration” of the topic of death and therefore can serve as one of the indicators of the relevance of this existential problem for a person. Acceptance of one's own feelings towards death testifies to the work done by the individual internal work, which helps to form a meaningful attitude not only towards one’s own death, but also towards life. Non-acceptance of death and one’s feelings towards it blocks the formation of not only the concept of death, but also ideas about life as an opportunity for growth. Also, avoidance of feelings does not allow the individual to learn to gain experience from crisis situations.

High scores indicate a person's acceptance of feelings towards death, as well as a meaningful attitude towards it as part of their own life.

Low scores indicate not only psychological protection against thinking about death, but are also a symbol of low reflection on existential problems, one’s life and, in particular, the experience gained from crisis situations.

Scale 11. Acceptance of death

This scale allows us to see whether a person accepts death as a given or seeks to avoid thinking about it, which reflects his resistance to the fact of mortality and finitude. Research shows that there is a close relationship between accepting death and accepting the variability of life, and therefore the individual’s ability to cope with various crisis situations in life.

High scores on this scale indicate that a person accepts the existence of death and strives to treat it consciously and prepare for its arrival.

Low scores indicate a desire to avoid thinking about death, and therefore the very fact of the presence of death in the experience of all living things.

Scales 9, 12, 13 reveal the presence of meaning in life, death and crisis situations. The search for meaning in ongoing events and in life in general is undoubtedly the most important process for an individual, reflecting the stages of its formation, further development, and self-actualization. The search for meaning in one’s own life and death is a characteristic of a reflective personality, striving to go beyond one’s limits, to know not only oneself, but also existence. In this context, it seems important to also explore a person’s search for the meaning of his own suffering, crisis situations, which, on the one hand, are part of life, and on the other, confront him with constant variability, impermanence, finitude and, finally, death.

Scale 9. Having meaning in life

This scale is aimed at identifying the subordination of life to a higher meaning. High scores indicate the presence of some kind of higher meaning in a person’s life, subordination to this idea, while low scores, on the contrary, indicate the absence of meaning, as well as the lack of desire to seek it.

Scale 12. Having a meaning to death

This scale reveals a person’s understanding of the meaning of death, which reflects the degree of reflection on it. There are basically several such meanings. However, what is important here is not so much what kind of meaning a person sees in death, but whether he sees this meaning at all.

High scores correspond to the presence of any ideas about the meaning of death in a person, and low scores indicate their absence.

Scale 13. Having sense in a crisis situation

This scale allows us to identify the attitude towards a crisis situation, in particular, how inclined a person is to comprehend what is happening to him, to take responsibility for finding a way out, and to integrate traumatic experiences.

High scores reveal the individual’s desire to look for meaning in the misfortunes that happen to him, which means trying to understand the “lesson”, extract positive experience, and learn something. Low scores indicate the absence of such attempts, low comprehension of crisis situations and, as a consequence, the inability to transform negative experiences into positive ones, and therefore more effectively cope with the difficulties that arise.

Scale 14. Concept of a crisis situation

The scale allows us to identify how a person understands a crisis situation and, therefore, how he relates to it and how he will act in it.

There are two directions in relation to the crisis. “A crisis situation as an opportunity” is characterized by treating it as an experience that allows a person to develop further, self-improvement, and through crises, in addition to negative ones, also gain positive experience. As our research has shown, this concept is associated with a more harmonious self-image, the desire for growth, and acceptance of one’s life and oneself. This attitude towards crisis situations will be indicated by high scores on this scale. “A crisis situation as a danger” will be characteristic of people who are focused in a crisis only on its negative aspects, losses, suffering, martyrdom. This attitude will be characterized by low scores on this scale.

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 sermon of Christ: “... I have the keys of 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 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, for 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, a soap bubble. In essence, it is preparation for eternal life, which is just around the corner for everyone. That is why it is said in the Gospel: “Be prepared: for at an hour you do not think the Son of Man will come.” To prevent life from turning, in the words of 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. In the figurative expression of one of the Orthodox hierarchs: “A dying person is a setting star, 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 this way: “God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. For his people are 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 a person’s question: “Will I be destroyed alive when I die?” Allah gives the answer: “Will not a person remember that we created him before, and he was nothing?” Unlike Christianity, earthly life in Islam is highly regarded. Islam is based on the fact that man was created by the will of almighty Allah, who is above all merciful. However, on the last day everything will be destroyed and the dead will be resurrected and brought before Allah for final judgment. Belief in an afterlife is necessary because in this case a person will evaluate his actions and actions 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 fair judgment presupposes the creation of a new perfect world. A “record” of deeds and thoughts, even the most secret ones, will be presented about each person, and an appropriate sentence will be passed. Thus, the principle of the supremacy of the laws of morality and reason over physical laws will triumph. A morally pure person cannot be in a humiliated position, as is the case in the real world. Islam strictly prohibits suicide.

The descriptions of heaven and hell in the Koran 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 about this, and “what do you need to know - maybe the hour is already close.”

Attitude to life and death in Buddhism

The attitude towards death and immortality in Buddhism differs significantly from Christian and Muslim ones. Buddha himself refuses to answer the questions: is the one 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 type of “wonderful immortality” is recognized - nirvana, as the embodiment of the transcendental Superbeing, the Absolute Beginning, which has no attributes.

Since personality is understood as a sum of drachmas that are in a constant flow of reincarnation, this implies the absurdity and meaninglessness of the chain of natural births. The Drahmmapada states that "to be born again and again is sorrowful." The way out is the path to finding 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 own nothing” and “covet nothing.” The well-known symbol of nirvana - the extinguishing of the ever-quivering fire of life - well expresses the essence of the Buddhist understanding of death and immortality. As the Buddha said: “One day in the life of a person who has seen the immortal path is better than a hundred years of existence of a person 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 other Eastern religions and cults. In this regard, the attitude towards suicide changes: it is considered not so sinful as senseless, because it does not free a person from the circle of birth and death (samsara), but only leads to 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 twentieth century. W. Whitman expressed this idea this way - you need to live “calmly smiling at Death.” Getting rid of the sources of suffering, “darkened actions and defilements” (selfishness, anger, pride, false views, etc.) and the power of one’s “I” during life is the best way to achieve immortality.