If there is no God, then who controls human life and everything in general? Who controls a person's life? Why do we know nothing about our subtle body?

In the recently released film Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, after a viral epidemic, humans and apes begin to fight for dominance on our planet. According to the plot of the film, a new virus destroyed most people, and turned monkeys into higher intelligent primates.

Although this is just a movie, after watching it, many viewers had a question - can this happen in real life? Scientists are sure that the idea of the film is far-fetched and not realistic. Even if we assume that a virus appears that can destroy 95 percent of the population, and at the same time the monkeys become significantly wiser, the surviving people will still significantly exceed the number of primates.

Ian Zalasiewicz, a paleobiologist at the University of Leicester, believes that it would be very difficult for other species to fight with humans for dominance on our planet.

Over the course of several million years of evolution, modern humans have already displaced several species of other intelligent primates, such as Neanderthals and Homo flores. Even if we assume that humanity will die as a result of an epidemic, war or climate change, it will take many millions of years for a new dominant species to develop.

Who can dominate the Earth?

This new type of intelligent life could be rats or pigs. Rats are already smart enough to have a highly developed social structure. After a few million years of evolution, rats could take the place of humans and rule our planet. Pigs may also, after several million years of evolution, have sufficient intelligence to become the dominant species of life on Earth.

However, Yang believes that the biggest threat to humanity is not any type of naturally developing life, but artificial intelligence.

Recently, researchers reported that an electronic machine, exhibiting human-like behavior, passed the Turing test. This test is carried out with the participation of two people and a computer. One of the test participants interacts with the machine and another person. Based on the answers received, the participant must determine who exactly he is talking to, a person or a machine. The computer's job is to mislead people into making bad choices, and that's what happened! Moreover, scientists predict that in the not too distant year 2045, machine intelligence will fully reach the level of human thinking.

Hidden Rulers

Professor Robert Sternberg is confident that bacteria, not humans, are dominant on Earth. He says: “It only seems to humanity that we are in charge. In fact, most of our own weight is made up of bacteria. In addition, unlike us, bacteria reproduce and mutate much faster. They appeared long before people, and will exist after our disappearance.”

As it turns out, bacteria are not the only contenders for world domination.

Entomologist Mark Moffett believes ants already control the planet. The total weight of ants already today exceeds the total weight of humanity. To wage war, ants, just like people, use traditional military rules and strategies, seize enemy territory and protect their rear. An individual ant is part of a collective mind. This can be compared to the neurons of our brain - individually, ants simply perform their functions, but when they unite, they can solve the most complex problems.

William Shakespeare

The desire to control your life is very commendable. It is inherent in many truly intelligent people who understand what opportunities they have in this life and strive to make the most of these opportunities. Another thing is the ability to manage your life, which few people already have, because in order to manage your life competently, you need to solve several difficult problems, primarily of a psychological nature. And since you, dear readers, have shown interest in this topic, I conclude that you are ready to solve these problems. In this article, I will tell you how to manage your life so that it is largely under your control and you are completely happy with it. When a person takes control of his life, he quickly transforms and becomes interesting, cheerful, and purposeful. And what is especially important is that a person who has taken control of his life begins to feel like a human being, and not a pathetic grain of sand on which nothing in this world ever depends. In fact, a lot depends on each of us, especially our own lives. So let's learn how to fully control it.

Interest

From my point of view, the most important thing that helps a person manage his life is interest in such management. This world is full of people who do not want to take responsibility for their lives, who are accustomed to what is called going with the flow and who like to refer to circumstances if something does not work out for them. They, both in their own words and in reality, do not decide anything in their lives and prefer that other people make all the decisions for them. What this leads to is known - a person loses his personality and turns into a tool in the wrong hands. It is incredibly difficult to turn an irresponsible person into a responsible one, and in some cases it is completely pointless to do this, but it is possible to arouse a person’s interest in managing his life by pointing out the obvious benefits of such management, and then he will also have a desire to manage it.

How to generate this interest? How to show a person the benefits of the responsibility for his life that he needs to take upon himself in order to begin to manage his life? Here I think we all need to understand the main thing that, by and large, no one really needs us in this life. Of course, each of us has certain achievements in life and people can value us for certain of our qualities, for our, so to speak, usefulness. But in general, if we do not take into account our individual merits, which very quickly become a thing of the past, then few people need us so much as to take care of us. And this means that we ourselves must be able to take care of ourselves if we don’t give a damn about ourselves.

Our life is our business, our problem, our joy and sadness. Other people are interested in it because... Therefore, you don’t need to count on anyone, and even if this thought is not entirely accurate, I still recommend that you adopt it, telling yourself that no one cares about you. When you realize this, you will be faced with a question: should you also give up on yourself and live as you please, or would it still be better to start taking care of yourself, taking responsibility for your life? Do you understand what choice we have? We cannot manage our lives if we do not take full responsibility for it to ourselves and society, when in everything that happens to us, we must see our guilt or merit. And shifting this responsibility onto other people, most of whom are indifferent to us, is not beneficial for us, because no one will take care of us as well as we can do ourselves. In other words, you don’t need to count on the kindness of other people, their understanding, responsiveness and love. All this, of course, exists in our lives - we can be loved, appreciated, respected, some people can do good for us, but they may not do it, they may not love us or respect us. What is more in this life - good or bad, decide for yourself, we all have our own experiences that paint our lives in light or dark colors. In my opinion, we just need to appreciate everything good that is in our life, but not count on it. But you must always be prepared for anything bad, always. Therefore, a person’s interest in managing his life is to minimize all the bad things in it and increase all the good things. This is one of the interests.

Thus, from the need to take care of yourself, you will have a desire to take care of yourself, for which you will need to start managing your life, forgetting about all the external factors that affect it and taking full responsibility for everything that happens in your life to myself. There are no other people who hinder you in some way or help you in some way, there is no unfortunate fate that has befallen you, there is nothing and no one except you and your life. You either learn to cope with external circumstances, or they will cope with you. Therefore, you and only you can manage your life to the fullest, and you should start doing this if you care about yourself. There is interest in this because there are obvious benefits from managing your life. Just understand that in everything that happens to you, you can find your role, that is, what depends on you. Just think about it - everything that happens in your life is a consequence of your actions, your decisions. It seems incredible, but it's true. Therefore, regardless of everything that happens in your life against your will, you can always find levers to control your life, in any circumstances. Isn't this interesting? Is not that great? In my opinion, it’s both interesting and great, because the point is that you have power over yourself and your life - you just need to find it in each specific situation and use it. You can tell yourself - in this matter, in this matter, in this situation, these very moments depend on me, and if I make such and such a decision, take such and such actions, then I can influence a lot, I can change a lot.

So always and in everything, look for what depends on you and what you can influence - and influence it. Don’t let your life take its course - constantly make certain adjustments you need into it, and then you will quickly see and feel how much depends on you. Managing your life is interesting, profitable, pleasant.

Promises

How often do you promise someone something? How often do you keep your promises? I'm sure not often, because it's very difficult to do. But you can and should promise people a lot, because they love it, they want it, they need other people’s promises, because they need faith in these promises, because it gives them hope for a better future. Only in our case, in order to manage his life, a person must make promises not to someone else, but to himself, and be sure to keep these promises. Promise yourself something good and keep that promise, and then you will see how great it is to be honest with yourself. You know, friends, when I read books about self-development and success, I often saw many interesting and useful thoughts in them, but I rarely saw explanations of the patterns of these thoughts.

And from my point of view, it is useful for a person to know why something in life works one way and something else. That's why we don't promise ourselves to do something and then keep our promise? Why were we taught to promise something to someone and instilled with the idea that we are obliged to keep our promises to other people, but we were not taught to promise something to ourselves? I believe that the whole point is that we are simply not taught to love ourselves correctly. We are taught to serve other people, which is also necessary, but in moderation, but we are practically not taught to take care of ourselves, so we do not know how to do it correctly. A person wants to learn how to manage his life and has no idea that to do this, he needs to love and respect himself. After all, only to the one we love can we promise something and keep our promise. And if we don’t care about a person, we won’t do anything for him. And the trouble with many people is that they don’t want to do anything for themselves—they generally don’t care about themselves. How can you manage your life without having obligations to yourself? How can you control your life without controlling yourself? After all, when you make a promise to yourself and strive to fulfill it, you set a task for yourself and begin to take action to fulfill it. This is how you manage your time, your resources, your desires - you manage yourself, and in some cases, other people and circumstances. Taken together, all this management is management of your life.

Promise yourself something and try, or better yet, try to keep this promise, and you will see how difficult it is to do it, how difficult it is to be a disciplined, responsible, self-loyal person. But this is a necessary, worthy thing - it shows a person’s love and respect for himself. Only such a person is able to manage his life, because he can trust himself, which means he can count on himself. If you don’t want to promise yourself anything or are unable to keep the promises you make to yourself, then you won’t be able to manage your life. Just think, how can a person want other people to take care of him and love him if he does not love himself and does not take care of himself? What or who is such a person capable of managing? Yes, he is not capable of controlling anything or anyone. Maybe, of course, this does not apply to you, maybe you always keep your word to yourself, keep the promises you make to yourself, but to be sure of this, I once again urge you to make a promise to yourself to do something useful for yourself , for example, teach yourself something new and try to keep this promise. Train yourself to purposefully do something good and useful for yourself, to set clear goals in the form of promises and achieve them.

A person who promises himself something and keeps his promise undoubtedly controls his life, because he controls himself. I deliberately do not tell you about setting any specific goals, I do not particularly focus your attention on self-discipline, I do not talk too much about responsibility, only briefly touching on all these topics, because you can learn about these things without me. I'm talking about things that we all encounter in our lives and that we can all understand. It doesn’t matter how, no matter through what qualities, you will keep your promise to yourself, the main thing is that this happens, that you prove to yourself that you don’t give a damn about yourself, that you can achieve the goals you set for yourself for your own sake. In this case, some kind of discipline will certainly be required from you, you will have to set some goals for yourself, promising yourself something, and, as mentioned above, you will definitely need to take on yourself a certain responsibility for your life take. Start small, start with simple goals that you need to set for yourself and promise yourself that you will definitely achieve them. Get yourself to be committed to yourself and honest to yourself.

Fear

Some people are very scared to manage their lives, they seem to want it, understanding all the advantages that such management gives and at the same time they are afraid of not being able to cope with it, they are afraid that they will not be able to manage their lives better than other people do and in general, life itself, which develops the way it does. This fear can be very strong and therefore the interest and self-love described above may not be able to cope with it. I propose to suppress such fear with another, even stronger fear - fear of the unknown, uncertainty, helplessness, dependence, which, if a person does not control and manage his life, will completely absorb him. After all, how often do we have to worry about what we believe does not depend on us, but depends on someone else. Does this happen to you? Does it happen that you are afraid that not you, but other people will not cope with something, will do something wrong, will make a mistake in something and you will suffer from it? Now, compare these situations with those situations when you need to take the reins of your life into your own hands - are they really worse, do your own decisions and actions scare you more than the decisions and actions of others? Well, this, of course, happens, but rarely. Usually, when a person does something, he feels that he is in control of the situation and this feeling of control over the situation calms him down. But we cannot control many other people, no matter what they do. So, not managing your life, relying on other people in this matter is much worse and objectively more dangerous.

We strive to control everything by nature, in some the desire to control everything is better developed, in others it is worse, but the main thing is that it exists and if it is awakened, it will overshadow the fear of responsibility and independence, because of which people don't want to control their lives. Believe me, no uncle [or aunt] can manage your life better than you, although many people can help you do this. You may have a lot of assistants, advisers, like-minded people, friends who will help you manage your life, but only you should be the captain. You must be a leader in your life. There is no need to be afraid of this leadership; it does more good than harm. And most importantly, you will cope with it better than anyone else. There will be much less uncertainty in your life if you always strive to influence certain events in your life than when you simply go with the flow, trusting in fate. Therefore, it is not activity that one should be afraid of, but passivity; if one is not afraid of anything at all, it will not work.

Self-development

In order to manage your life as effectively as possible, you need to gradually expand your capabilities so that, as they say, a lot depends on you, and not nothing. And in order to expand your capabilities, you need to engage in self-development. A weak, stupid, sick person can control little at all, so you need to become a strong, smart, healthy and self-confident person. The wider your opportunities, thanks to your abilities, the more in your life there will be everything that you can control. Indeed, in some cases, in order to effectively manage your life, you need to be able to manage the lives of other people, that is, influence everything that happens around you, the surrounding reality. In other words, the more power you have, the easier it will be for you to manage your life. Power is a good incentive for self-development, and with it, for managing your life. Develop your mind and your body, constantly learn everything new, acquire new skills, strive for independence in the matters that are most important to you, try to rely on yourself in many ways, but also actively use human resources - put heavy, routine, uninteresting burdens on other people work that you don’t want to waste your time on or that you simply don’t understand. The main thing, friends, is your activity. When you are active and constantly strain yourself, you develop. And you will agree that it is much easier for a developed person to manage both his life and something or someone else.

The approaches to managing your life that I have indicated in this article are, from my point of view, decisive. I believe that it is always important, first of all, to decide what is stopping you from starting to do something and why you need to start doing something. After all, when we see the meaning in some activity, it is easier for us to start it. To manage your life you need good motivation, so a person must understand what such management will give him, what freedom and power he will gain thanks to it. A person also needs to get rid of the fear that prevents him from taking responsibility for his life and making decisions on his own, and not wanting to be led by other people. And of course, to manage your life, you need to strive to expand your capabilities in order to influence as many factors as possible that make up our life. The more developed you are, the more power you will have, and the more power you have, the wider your opportunities will be, and the wider your opportunities will be, the easier it will be for you to manage your and not only your life. And by managing your life, you, friends, can make it whatever you want.

Do you agree with the statement that everything you have in your life right now is what fits and suits you perfectly? Who controls your life?

The events and circumstances of your life, what you have now is the result.

Result of what? Of course your own actions and choices are in the past. For many years, many days, many hours, you have done something that has brought you to where you are.

If you find yourself in the forest, it means you somehow got there. They came, they arrived, they jumped into it with a parachute. That is, there is some kind of train of actions that led you to where you are.

And here you can object: “Yes, but there is something that does not depend on me! There are parents who are not chosen. There is a country and society in which you live. The climate, after all. Force majeure. I could have been carried into the forest by a hurricane like Ellie from The Wizard Emerald City!"

That's right. But if you are caught in a hurricane, then you can definitely get out of this place if you are not happy with it. Most likely you can. This will take time and effort. Possibly a lot of time and effort. But it's possible.

“Yes, but it can get carried away by a hurricane, and then I get lost and can’t get out. So not everything depends on me.”

Yep, it's a trap. It happens. And a person really may not see a way out. And indeed all the actions he does do not bear fruit. The repertoire is exhausted. What does it mean?

So the person is simply doesn't realize what he's doing wrong. Doesn't know what else can be done. Does not notice how he makes mistakes trying to get out.

But more often than not, people still make their own lives. External influences exist, but they don't completely determine your actions, right? Methodical elections in one direction or another can compensate for the influence of the environment.

In other words, if you try for a long time to walk in the right direction, you will come where you need to go even if you are tossed and tossed.

“But if everything is like this, then everyone would be successful, rich, happy and all that! If people make their own lives, then why is everyone so unhappy all around?”

Because they don't know how to go. Someone is waiting to be shown the way. Some people think that walking is too hard. Some people are afraid of possible obstacles. Someone has already settled down in the unloved but native swamp. Many try to walk, but get tired, exhausted and return back defeated.

Many people are trying to move forward, but they, like those “blown in by a hurricane,” lack knowledge about themselves and a repertoire of actions. Someone knows what needs to be done, but for some reason it doesn’t work out. Or it works, but not for long, and then he loses control over himself.

Overall, it is a matter of awareness and control. Unity with yourself. The ability to rely on yourself along the way. Listen to yourself. Understanding what you are doing, knowing your motives, the ability to realize and control your usual ways of acting.

After all, if you are used to turning only left at every intersection, is it any wonder that you walk in circles?

Awareness of what prevents you from moving is the main step towards taking control over it and gaining the ability to move as you please.

This is the goal of any therapy. Get more freedom. Gain the widest possible repertoire of actions. Gain the opportunity to make conscious choices, and not be captured by your unconscious reactions.

Yes, you make your own life. It's just that not everyone is good at it.

I understand now why a psychologist is needed?

Take this Kant, and for such evidence he would be sent to Solovki for three years!

In the novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, despite all the tinsel, there is one of the clearest and clearest proofs of the existence of the Creator and Ruler of the universe, life and man.

But here’s the question that worries me: if there is no God, then, the question arises, who controls human life and the entire order on earth in general?

“It’s the man himself who controls,” Bezdomny hastened to angrily answer this, admittedly, not very clear question.

“Sorry,” the unknown person responded softly, “in order to manage, you need, after all, to have an accurate plan for some, at least somewhat decent, period.” Let me ask you, how can a person manage if he is not only deprived of the opportunity to draw up any plan for at least a ridiculously short period of time, well, say, a thousand years, but cannot even vouch for his own tomorrow? And, in fact,” here the unknown person turned to Berlioz, “imagine that you, for example, begin to manage, to dispose of others and yourself, in general, so to speak, to get a taste for it, and suddenly you... cough... cough... lung sarcoma... - here the foreigner smiled sweetly, as if the thought of lung sarcoma gave him pleasure, - yes, sarcoma, - he repeated the sonorous word, squinting like a cat, - and now your management is over! You are no longer interested in anyone's fate except your own. Your relatives begin to lie to you, you, sensing something is wrong, rush to learned doctors, then to charlatans, and sometimes even to fortune-tellers. Both the first and second, and the third are completely meaningless, you yourself understand. And it all ends tragically: the one who until recently believed that he was in control of something suddenly finds himself lying motionless in a wooden box, and those around him, realizing that the person lying there is no longer of any use, burn him in the oven. And it happens even worse: a person has just decided to go to Kislovodsk,” here the foreigner squinted at Berlioz, “a seemingly trivial matter, but he cannot do this either, because for some unknown reason he suddenly slips and gets hit by a tram!” Are you really going to say that he controlled himself this way? Isn’t it more correct to think that someone completely different dealt with him? - and here the stranger laughed with a strange laugh.

Interesting... Why did someone decide that someone was controlling this? Nobody controls this. It is going through its own adjustments with its own problems and global tragedies. And the death of Pompeii is not the most remarkable event here. More impressive are the ice ages, the disappearance of mastodons, the death of mammoths, etc. Everything is as it should be in a system not controlled by anyone. And it's kind of scary.
Therefore, it is psychologically more convenient for some to believe that He looks down from above and sees everything. And the task of each of us is greatly simplified: not to fool ourselves with thoughts, but to humbly demonstrate our fearfulness and goodness in order to be awarded a warmer place when the time comes. That is, you need to start pushing with your elbows here.
Isn't all this funny?

Good afternoon, Victor. Let me use your words above to ask questions and doubt your conclusions.

1) "It itself is going through its settling down…” Do you believe that all processes occur in the world without receiving any impulse or vector of development?

2) “Everything is as it should be in a place controlled by no one system." That is, you admit that there is system, but at the same time, do you not accept the idea of its creation and the choice in determining the vector of movement of this system? But here’s another thing: a system is rules and laws, which means they are a priori established by something or someone and, accordingly, it (the system) cannot be identical to chaos, right?
3) “That’s why it’s psychologically more convenient for some to believe that He looks down from above and sees everything.” Why is it convenient? Why do you think He is “above”? How do you like this thought: “He is closer to you than your carotid artery”
4) “And the task of each of us is essentially simplified: don’t fool yourself with thoughts, but obediently demonstrate your fear of God and goodness, to be honored warmer town, when the time comes." Why is it simplified? In my opinion, it is becoming frighteningly heavy! Have you tried to be “good” in your thoughts and actions every day? And, if so, is it really easy? And also, what do you mean by “goodness”? What is your measure of “goodness”? Who for you defines , what is good and what is bad? What criteria and rules do you rely on when making decisions?

5) "T. That is, you should start pushing with your elbows here.”- Absolutely right, Victor, you need to push your elbows in doing good and noble deeds here and now, then it will be too late. And excuses like “I didn’t know, didn’t understand, or I wasn’t in the mood for that, I had to run to work and earn a piece of bread, I had no time for philosophy...” will not be accepted.

6) “Isn’t all this funny?”
Why is it funny for you to do something that is considered difficult? Is it funny for someone who goes against the system of enrichment and money-grubbing, wasting his life? And do you really think that “squeezing a slave out of yourself every day” is within the power of weak and superficial people looking for cozy and digestible patterns of living life?

In what kind and noble deeds does a person become “funny”, Victor?

You and I look at these things so differently that the format of comments is in no way sufficient to talk about this in detail and in detail. Besides, if I understand correctly, you are a believer. Therefore, you cannot discuss with an atheist in any way. When discussing with an atheist, you seem to doubt. This is how I warned you.

I have already briefly outlined the essence of my atheism somewhere. Not to shake your faith, but only to convey my position to you, I will state it again:
“An atheist does not believe in God, does not believe in the “Day of the Great Judgment,” and, nevertheless, does not commit crimes. He has enough mental strength not to allow his imagination to wander uncontrollably in the dark outskirts of the human psyche. He does not believe in life after life. Moreover, he doesn’t need it. He has nothing to fear, and yet his moral code covers the limits of the list of ten deadly sins and other restrictions of the laws of God and man. He is happy about today, and he is not at all embarrassed by the finitude of existence. He would be most upset by eternal life or existence in some other form. He regrets, but calmly and patiently looks at the errors of believers, whose whole life often turns into a continuous demonstration of fear of God and begging for a warmer vacancy in THE WORLD. These lost ones hope achieve their goals by formally observing such ridiculous rules that could only cause a contemptuous grin from God, if he existed in any form.
This is the difference between a believer and an unbeliever."

I apologize if I upset you in any way.

A believer differs from an atheist in that he does good not because of mercantilism, but out of love and respect for the powerful and merciful Creator, who arranged everything according to his wisdom and knowledge. And he doesn’t care about the opinions of even people like you, since a devotee of God is absolutely sure: whether you need Judgment Day or not, it will take place and the Almighty will judge everyone fairly

You presented Victor very beautifully here, an atheist free from prejudice. But an atheist cannot be a complete figure, because he exists only in the presence of believers, he only denies. So you saw this article and couldn’t let it pass without your comment. The fact of the matter is that you are not so tolerant of the “misconceptions of believers.” Denial cannot be patient.

Magomed, there is no need to engage in casuistry. It turns out that if you reacted, then you are intolerant, or not tolerant enough. I may not react. Moreover, all this is useless.
But for some reason I decided to react to the “solid figure”. An atheist is such a complete figure that in order to maintain mental balance, he does not need to grovel before an imaginary phantom. This is what a believer tries to supplement (balance) his inferiority. And my tolerance lies in the fact that I don’t convince anyone. If it is easier for someone to live with this, may God be with him. Why, unnecessarily, take away a stick from a lame man and thereby disrupt his stability?
However, I confess. It happens that I am irritated by the conceit of some believers who assign high morality and decency only to themselves or only to believers. This is not only not true, it is far from true.

Atheists are extreme polytheists, because... they deify matter, endowing it with eternity, the universe with infinity, the ability to create; nature, mind - reflecting the world, like a mirror, etc. Hence the devotion to aliens, since they are consistent with Darwin's theory. However, there is a difference between the atheists of the former USSR and the USA. If in the USSR aliens were seen as a positive trend, in the USA they were seen as a negative, hostile one. This is due to the fact that in America almost everything is controlled by Jewish Jews, who are convinced that Jibrael (the Archangel Gabriel) is their enemy and has always appeared from space to earth to punish them for their sins. Those. they are latently waiting for punishment from heaven. It’s hard for them with such mental pressure and rightly so for the fact that they hit the hardest by rejecting the worship of Allah. In the former USSR there are people who are psychologically ready to accept Islam (Russians) and who want to carry out retribution...

Everything that happens in time - in the past, present and future - is nothing more than a dream. This is the innermost meaning of all Vedic scriptures.

Narada Muni, Srimad Bhagavatam, 4th canto, chapter 29

Today we'll go a little deeper into Vedic metaphysics, in order to reveal, at least to a small extent, one mysterious topic associated with subtle material reality, invisible and therefore unknown to very many people. This will help us Sankhya philosophy, which is a kind of Vedic section of metaphysics that studies subtle and gross material objects of nature. The founder of this philosophy was Krishna himself in his own form.

Today we will try to find out with you - who actually lives our life, who makes decisions, who is responsible for what kind of bodies we get in this life and in the next, in the end we will find out - who really controls our actions now. The Great One will help us a lot in this.

A very important topic is how we actually live and perceive the world around us. Most of you will probably say: we use our senses to see, hear, touch, smell and experience the sensation of touch. And indeed it is. Through the cognitive senses, a person receives information about the world around him. But here's the question: and where do we experience pleasure from contact with these objects?

Some scientific materialists who know nothing about subtle matter and its structure will tell us that there are special receptors in our brain, and special hormones in our body that are released and react to the outside world, which gives us so-called happiness. By and large, such theories cannot be called scientific, since they are based purely on empirical methods of study (i.e., on what can be measured, touched, etc.). Such scientists only see a rough form of reality, so all their conclusions, although scientific and proven, cannot explain the process as it actually occurs. These scientists cannot explain the existence of ghosts, various entities, spirits and various objects of the subtle world, but people here and there are faced with the fact that this reality exists and even affects our world.

According to the completely complete and scientific Sankhya philosophy presented in the Vedas and in particular in the Srimad Bhagavatam, our reality consists of both gross matter and subtle matter. All the creatures described above may not have a gross body, which we perceive with the eyes, however, they have a subtle body, which can take the form of the elements of fire (luminous beings), water, as well as from combinations of both of them, or even from ether. Partially such bodies can be seen even with rough vision.

Russian nesting doll (a toy reflecting the principle of nesting several bodies of a living creature)

Our emotions, experiences, sensations, pleasures and sufferings are located in our subtle body, consisting of mind, reason and false ego. This subtle body covers the original spiritual particle and then, like a Russian nesting doll, enters the grosser body, which consists of the five gross elements (water, fire, air, earth and ether).

If a person thinks about this, he will come to understand that almost all his life activities take place in the MIND. And this is easy to prove.

Every living being experiences desires. To achieve what we want, we begin to think about the object of our desire in our minds. Also, we can go back in time and remember pictures of past days or even lives, but all this activity does not concern the gross body. When we suffer from resentment, our gross body does not participate in this process in any way, but we may lose our appetite, become weak or even get sick. When a loved one or relative dies, we begin to experience separation and suffering, and all these experiences again take place in the human mind. Thus, pleasure from communication, bitterness from parting, memory of past pleasures, their forms, desires and dreams of a future dream - represent a variety of activities that take place in our subtle body, but not in the gross.

According to the latest scientific data, in particular studying the achievements of American medicine, we can come to the conclusion that from the point of view of crude materialism, all information coming from the organs of perception is processed by the brain. In particular, scientists have discovered and proven that the sensation of pleasure and pain in our physical body is concentrated entirely in the work of the brain. Thus, using the example of a rare disease in a girl after an accident, a strange phenomenon was discovered: all the organs of her body are working properly, but she constantly feels acute pain. This sensation of pain is generated by brain impulses to provide warning to the living being that an organ of the body is not functioning properly. However, in the case of this girl, this system failed: impulses are sent, but the organs are in perfect order. In exactly the same way, the brain contains and transmits the necessary impulses that are responsible for the pleasure of the body. True, if scientists were not such materialists and could look a little deeper, they would be able to understand that the physical gross impulses of the brain, most of which remain beyond full understanding for scientists, are just a rough projection of the activity of the subtle body, which is located in the ether and through this, the subtlest form of matter, connects with the gross body. Thus, after analyzing the activity of the gross sense organs of the human body, one can come to the understanding that almost all of our activity (pain, sensation, perception, pleasure, etc.) takes place 80% in our mind, or in our subtle body, and the gross the senses are just some impersonal instrument that connects the work of our mind with the grosser reality of the specific conditions of the material world.

Why don't we know anything about our subtle body?

If we have come to the conclusion that to a greater extent our life takes place in the subtle body, a reasonable question arises: why don't we know anything about this?

This mantra consists of the most powerful names of God. These names are of an immaterial nature and are identical to God himself. When a person pronounces the name of God, his illusion gradually begins to dissipate. And when he pronounces the holy name of God, all his subtle shells of mind, intelligence and ego dissolve. Then a person begins to see the world as God himself sees it. His mind becomes spiritualized, and his activities in the material body become sanctified by devotional service to God.

In some cases, if a living being utters the Holy Name of God in a pure impulse of the Soul - even its rough shell is destroyed and the soul immediately returns to the spiritual world. This is what happened to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's puppy.

Therefore chanting Hare Krishna mantras cannot be compared with ordinary fruitive activities, religiosity or piety. Its nature is such that when it comes into contact with you, it almost instantly purifies a person’s mind and returns the sleeping soul to its original activity, activity in the loving service of God.