Alchemy, the philosopher's stone and the elixir of immortality. Elixirs of immortality: from the past to the present day

Since ancient times, people have dreamed of immortality. These dreams are reflected in numerous myths and legends of the peoples of the whole world.

The search for ways to achieve immortality is narrated in the oldest of

extant Sumero-Babylonian epic. Clay tablets with legends about

Gilgamesh are dated by scientists around the 3rd millennium BC, and on

They have notes that these are copies from an older original.

The Sumerian epic tells that in the domain of the god of wisdom Enki, the island of Dilmun rose from the waves of the Lower Sea, which was inhabited by a tribe of immortals. Outwardly, they resembled people, but they possessed eternal life. They did not know what sickness and old age were. There were no widows or widowers among them. They did not know what a headache and eye diseases were. The woman reached old age, but remained young and fresh. The man grew older and older, but did not feel like an old man.

But such a life was not enjoyed by people, but by the gods. Doomed to illness and deprivation, old age and death - this is what distinguished people from the gods, but it was difficult to come to terms with this. That is why the goal of the wanderings of the hero of the Babylonian epic Gilgamesh was the acquisition of immortality. Gilgamesh, ruler of the city of Uruk (XXVIII V. BC B.C.), was the son of the immortal goddess Ninsun and mortal husband Lugalbanda. He was two-thirds god and only one-third man, but even this third became fatal for him, and he had to leave the earth sooner or later. In search of immortality, Gilgamesh was inspired by the death of his beloved friend Enkidu.

And Gilgamesh went in search of his ancestor Utnapishtim, to whom, together with his wife, the only one among people, the gods granted eternal life. He hoped to learn from the immortal ancestor the secrets of gaining immortality. After long wanderings and adventures, Gilgamesh finally managed to find Utnapishtim.

“Oh, Utnapishtim!” he exclaimed. “If you have become immortal, then perhaps the gods will grant me eternal life? "Don't be deceived," replied Utnapishtim. "The gods will not gather for advice for you. Many people have pleased the gods, but apart from me and my wife, no one has been rewarded with eternal life."

Nevertheless, he gave Gilgamesh one chance to achieve immortality: "However, you can test your strength. If you manage to overcome sleep, perhaps you will succeed

conquer death. Try not to sleep for six days and seven nights!" But what does immortality mean without eternal youth! And then Utnapishtim advised Gilgamesh to sink to the bottom of the sea and pick the thorny thorn growing there, which is fraught with juice that refreshes strength and rejuvenates the body. Gilgamesh managed to get this talisman."Carefully he took care of the magic bush, which holds the secret of youth. He decided to bring it to Uruk and let the most decrepit old man taste its juice. If he becomes younger, then he himself will taste from the wonderful plant and regain his youthful strength.

Having crossed the great sea, and coming to the shore, Gilgamesh saw a pool, folded

of white stone and filled with fresh water. He wanted to plunge into the water and wash the sweat and dust off his tired body. But while he was plunging into the pool, a cunning snake crawled out of the hole and in an instant stole the magic bush, hiding with it in the bowels of the earth. Gilgamesh wept bitterly. He realized the futility of his efforts. Understood,

that not to avert his impending old age and not to postpone the hour of death, predetermined for him by the gods. With bitterness in his heart, he returned to his city of Uruk and humbly began to expect a terrible and inevitable end.

The serpent that stole the hard-won immortality from Gilgamesh appears more than once in the myths of different peoples. This is a prototype of that biblical serpent-tempter, which, having seduced Adam and Eve to taste the fruits of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, also deprived them of immortality.

It is interesting to note that already in the Sumerian era, the achievement of immortality was associated with the acquisition of eternal youth. They continued to dream about it in the era of antiquity. As proof of this, one can refer to the very characteristic myth of the goddess of the dawn, Eos, and her beloved Typhon.

Pink-fingered Eos, the goddess of dawn, fell in love with the beautiful son of the Trojan king Typhon. To never part with her beloved, she begged the Olympic gods to grant him immortality. The insidious gods gave Typhon immortality, but ... did not grant eternal youth. Typhon lived a long time. His head turned white, his body melted and shrank, his laughter sounded less and less. Youth has disappeared in the crowns of slender cypresses and the love of Eos has cooled. Once the ruddy Eos locked her bedroom with her pink fingers and Typhon in it. Found another bed. And Typhon, withered and wrinkled, turned into a cricket and chirps there and now. The wise myth of Typhon will in many ways become the leitmotif of our reflections on the search for immortality. “We talk all the time about prolonging life,” writes the famous Russian scientist L. N. Gumilyov, “but in essence, they are engaged in prolonging old age. And this is not such a great pleasure. life is renewed...

Therefore, in the myths of most peoples, immortality has always been associated with eternal youth.

According to the myths of ancient China, the tree of immortality grew on Mount Kunlun. The fruit ripened on it, and the one who ate it lived forever. It, like other trees that give longevity, blossomed and bore fruit only once in several thousand years. A potion of immortality was prepared from these fruits, which was kept by the goddess Sivanmu, the Lady of the West. The lucky one who swallowed it could live forever. But getting to the top of Mount Kunlun, where the goddess Xiwangmu lived, was not easy. The foot of the mountain was surrounded by the abyss of the Zhoshui-Weak water river. It was enough for a feather to fall on the water, and it immediately sank, and a boat with people even more so. Kunlun was surrounded by fire-breathing mountains. The fire in them burned without ceasing day and night, and everything that got there burned down. Not a single person achieved the cherished goal, and only the arrow Yi managed to overcome all obstacles and receive the potion of immortality from the goddess Si-vanmu. Stretching out an arrow And a gourd with a magic potion, Lady of the West

said: "This is enough for you and your wife to receive immortality. If one person accepts all the contents, then he can ascend to heaven and become a deity. If two people drink it, they will become immortal on earth."

Shooter Yi's wife, the beautiful and treacherous Wu Chang'e, decided to deceive her husband and, stealing a gourd from him, took all the magic potion alone to become a goddess.

Becoming a goddess, Wu Chang'e settled on the moon in a cold and deserted lunar

palace. There was only a white hare, who all year round grinds potion in a mortar

immortality. And the longer Wu Chang'e lived in the moon palace, the sadder her loneliness became. Her thoughts often returned to the world of people. Wu Chang'e repented, she really wanted to return home, admit her guilt, and ask her husband for forgiveness. But all was in vain, and she had no choice but to live forever in the lunar palace, never descending to earth.

Only many years later, another person appeared on the moon, just like Wu Chang'e, who once aspired to immortality. It was Wu Gang, who was sent by the gods to moon palace cut down a cinnamon tree: he cut down a tree, and it grew back together, and he did not manage to cut it down for ages ...

In ancient Chinese myths and legends, a lot of attention is paid to the search for various potions and elixirs of immortality. So, it was said that far in the West, near the sacred mountain Kunlun, on which the tree of immortality grows (the fruits of which only one shooter Yi could get), there lived six shamans who collected magical herbs near the tree and prepared the elixir of immortality from them.

It was also told about the magic mushroom jouzhi, which brought people a long life and put off old age. Wu Cheng'en, in Journey to the West, refers to these mushrooms as ginseng fruits and describes how the swine-like Zhu Bajie ate them.

In Ge Hong's book "Bao Pu-tzu" in the chapter "Drugs of Immortality" it is stated that the wonderful jouzhi mushrooms are none other than dwarfs seven to eight inches tall. The meeting with them is not to be missed. It is necessary, with the help of sorcery, to silently go around them from behind with a hobbled gait and grab them. Then it is necessary to tear off the whole skin from the dwarf and swallow it. Soon after that, one can hope to ascend to heaven in broad daylight.

In many extraordinary countries beyond the seas, according to Chinese myths, there lived people who possessed immortality or longevity. For example, in the east, in the country of Tszyu-nytszygo - the Land of Nobles, long-term people lived, who ate steamed mujin flowers - red, purple and white. In the southern wasteland lived the black people of the immortals - Busimin. This country had a mountain

Yuanqiu - Round hill. On the mountain grew the tree of immortality ganmu - "sweet tree". It was enough to eat its fruit to become immortal. Chiquan, the Red Spring, flowed under the mountain. A sip of water from this source gave longevity. Therefore, people lived there, not knowing death. In the Western Wasteland was the country of Sanmyanybi - the Country of three-faced and one-armed. According to legend, they were immortal. There was also the country of Huzhen, whose inhabitants were with human faces and fish bodies and could rise to heaven and descend to earth. They either lived indefinitely or were immortal.

The most curious country where the immortals lived can be considered the country of Wuqi - the Country of people without offspring in the Northwestern Desert. People in this country were not divided into men and women. After death, their bodies were buried in the ground, but their hearts continued to beat. After one hundred and twenty years, they came to life and went outside to enjoy the joys of life again. Their life was followed by death, death followed by life, and death itself was a long sleep, so they can be considered immortal. The country of Wuqi prospered, although its inhabitants had no offspring.

But most famous country immortals were five sacred mountains: Duyu, Yuantseyao, Fanghu, Inch-zhou and, especially, Penglai.

These mountains floated in the East Sea and were supported by fifteen huge

black turtles - three for each floating mountain. On the tops of these sacred

floating mountains rose golden palaces with stairs of white jade. Immortals lived in these palaces. Everywhere there grew jade and pearl trees, from which fruits ripened that tasted good, and those who ate them became immortal. On one of these islands, according to legend, there is a source of jade-colored wine. The drinker of this wine gains immortality.

When people on earth learned that not far from the sea rise so beautiful and mysterious mountains, whose inhabitants have a medicine that gives immortality, many wanted to visit there. This legend eventually became known to the rulers and rulers, who began to equip large ships one after another, supplied them with

food and sent the Taoists to the sea to the sacred mountains, trying by any means to get the world's greatest treasure - the potion of immortality. This magical elixir was tried to be obtained during the Warring States period (IV-III centuries BC) by Wei-wang and Xuan-wang, the rulers of the Qi kingdom, Zhas-wang, the ruler of the Yan kingdom, Qin Shihuang-di - the First Qin emperor ( 259-210 BC), the Han emperor Wu-di (141-88 BC) and many, many others. But all to no avail. They all died like ordinary people, without having obtained the potion of immortality and without even seeing the outlines of the sacred mountains.

The famous Chinese historian Sima Qian (135-86 BC) wrote in his Historical Notes:

"From the time of the sovereigns of Wei-wang, Xuan-wang and Yan Zhao-wang were sent

in the sea people to find the sacred mountains of Penglai, Fangzhang and Yingzhou. According to legend, they are in Bohai, and whoever gets there will find the saints and the medicine of immortality there. From a distance they are like clouds, but when you get close, the mountains go into the water; you want to swim, but the wind drives away; so no one got to the mountains. There was no one among the rulers who would not dream of them."

The most prepared expeditions in search of the islands of the immortals were equipped during the reign of Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi (259-210 BC). It was the emperor who united the country and began the construction of the Great Chinese wall, which protected the Celestial Empire from nomads. A flotilla of twenty huge ships under the command of Su Shu, carrying three thousand young men and women, as well as a large number of various workers, servants and artisans, was sent by Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi to the East Sea to the islands of immortality.

Days, weeks, months passed. There was no news from Su She. The emperor spent many hours on the shore, peering at the obscure horizon. But the ships never returned. It was rumored that the expedition of Su She did find the islands of the immortals and, having drunk the magical elixir of immortality, all 3,000 of its participants remained forever on the wonderful islands, not wanting to return to the Celestial Empire. Chinese historians, on the other hand, took a slightly different view. In one of the old chronicles we read: "Su Shs set sail, but discovered lands remarkable for their peacefulness and fertility. There he settled down, became king and did not come back."

The most ancient legends of many nations mentioned the "elixir of immortality" that the gods ate. IN different countries it was called by different names. The gods of the ancient Greeks used ambrosia, which gives eternal life, the Indian gods - amrita, the gods of the Iranians - haoma, the gods ancient egypt- the water of immortality.

Imitating the gods, people also tried to prepare the elixir of immortality. In many old books appeared recipes for this magical

elixir. So, in the book of Ge Hong "Bao Pu-tzu" in the chapter "Xian-yaonyan" - "Drugs

immortality" there are many recipes for making this elixir. It was recommended to take a toad that has lived for ten thousand years, and a bat that has lived for a thousand years, dry them in the shade, crush them into powder and take them inside - then you can live up to forty thousand years.

And here is the recipe from the ancient Persian text: “You need to take a red-haired and freckled person and feed him with fruits for up to 30 years, then lower him into a stone vessel with honey and other compounds, enclose this vessel in hoops and hermetically seal it. After 120 years, his body will turn into mummy." After that, the contents of the vessel, including what became the mummy, could be taken as a means of prolonging life.

The recipe for the elixir of immortality, compiled by the personal physician of Pope Boniface VIII (1294-1303), has come down to us: "it is necessary to mix gold, pearls, sapphires, emeralds, rubies, topazes, white and red corals, ivory, sandalwood, deer heart , aloe root, musk and amber."

One French scientist of the 15th century, in search of a life elixir, boiled 200 eggs, separated the whites from the yolks and, mixing them with water, distilled them many times, hoping in this way to extract the desired substance of life.

Many Chinese emperors were fond of searching for the potion of immortality. Wudi, the emperor of the Han Dynasty (ruled from 141 to 88 BC), surrounded himself with magicians and sorcerers, who were supposed to make the slave compositions and secret drugs by him alone. Wudi dreamed of finding the miraculous dew that the immortals allegedly ate, or getting wonderful peaches, after tasting which one can join eternal life.

Another Chinese emperor, Xuanzong (713-756) went to his royal ancestors much ahead of schedule only because he had the imprudence to take the elixir of immortality made by his court physician.

It is said that during the Han Dynasty, Prince Liu An was in Huainan,

fascinated by the doctrine of the immortals. He understood the doctrine of Tao (the Way) to such an extent that

He made the pills of immortality himself, took one, and ascended to heaven in broad daylight. He left his pills at home in an earthen bowl, they were pecked by chickens and eaten by dogs and disappeared in an instant.

Only from the sky came the clucking and yelping of dogs in the clouds. This legend

curious, but that's all. After all, from the "Historical Notes" of Sima Qian it is known that

Huainan prince Liu An committed suicide because someone denounced him, accusing him of treason. He was afraid of punishment and cut his throat.

But did anyone really manage to discover the secrets of the elixir of immortality? In all likelihood, of course not. However, in history, from time to time, mysterious individuals appeared who allegedly managed to enter the doors of immortality.

One of these mysterious personalities was the philosopher of the Pythagorean school Apollonius of Tyana, the same age as Jesus Christ, who was born three years before the New Era. Apollonius of Tyana visited many countries ancient world, studied the secrets of the priests of India and Babylon, contemporaries attributed to him many miracles. After surviving ten emperors, at the age of 70, Apollonius of Tyana returned to Rome, where, by order of the emperor Domitian, he was put on trial on charges of black magic. But a miracle happened: in front of everyone, Apollonius disappeared from the crowded courtroom.

For a number of centuries it was believed that Apollonius, having managed to prepare the elixir of immortality, continues to hide among people. In the XII century, there lived a philosopher and alchemist who called himself Artephius, from whom two mysterious works, full of riddles and omissions, have come down to our time - a treatise on the philosopher's stone and an essay on ways to prolong life. Many contemporaries believed that under the name of Artephius

Apollonius of Tyana is in hiding and brought strong arguments in defense of their suspicions.

Legends attribute the achievement of complete immortality to the Jerusalem Jew Ahasuerus - the famous Eternal Jew. According to religious legends, Christ, during his way of the cross to Golgotha, in extreme exhaustion leaned against

wall of the house belonging to Ahasuerus. But the cruel Jew did not give a second to rest to Christ, who was carrying a heavy wooden cross, and drove him away. Then Christ doomed Ahasuerus to eternal wanderings, with no hope of ever finding peace or death.

And now, here and there, from century to century, a man appears, whom many identify with the personality of the immortal Ahasuerus. The Italian astrologer Guido Bonatti met him at the Spanish court in 1223.

Five years later, he is mentioned in an entry in the chronicle of the abbey of St. Alban (England). According to the words of the Armenian archbishop who visited the abbey, it is told about the meetings with Ahasuerus, who was in Armenia at that time. Allegedly, the person who pretended to be Ahasuerus well remembers the events of more than a thousand years ago, remembers the appearance of the apostles and many details of the life of those years that no one living today knows about.

In 1242, this man appears in France, then the silence of historical chronicles reigns for two and a half centuries. In 1505, Ahasuerus appears in Bohemia, a few years later he is seen in the Arab East, and in 1547 he is again in Europe, in Hamburg.

Bishop of Schleswig Paul von Eitzen (1522-1598) tells about the meeting and conversation with him in his notes. According to his testimony, this man spoke all languages ​​without the slightest accent. He led a secluded and ascetic life and had no possessions other than the dress he wore. In 1575, he was seen in Spain, here the papal legates at the Spanish court, Christopher Krause and Jacob Holstein, spoke with him. In 1599, he was seen in Vienna, from where he was heading to Poland, intending to get to Moscow. Soon he really appears in Moscow, where many allegedly also saw him and talked to him. In 1603 he

appears in Lübeck, which was witnessed by the burgomaster Kolerus, the historian and theologian Kmover and other officials. In 1604

The Eternal Jew appears in Paris, in 1633 - in Hamburg, in 1640 - in Brussels, in 1642 - in Leipzig, in 1658 - in Stamford (Great Britain).

When, at the end of the 17th century, the eternal wanderer reappeared in England,

skeptical British decided to give him an exam with

professors at Oxford and Cambridge. However, his knowledge of ancient history, V

geography of the most remote corners of the Earth, which he visited or allegedly visited,

were amazing. When he was suddenly asked a question in Arabic, he

accent answered in that language. He spoke almost every language, both European,

as well as eastern ones.

Soon this man showed up in Denmark, and then in Sweden, where traces of him again

are lost. In 1818, 1824 and 1830, he, or someone impersonating him, appears in England, and since then again disappears from view for a long time.

In the second half of the 18th century, the attention of contemporaries was attracted by two mysterious figures who allegedly owned the elixir of immortality - Count Cagliostro (1743-1795) and Count Saint-Germain (1710 (?) -1784 (?)).

Regarding Count Cagliostro, at present, most researchers

there is no doubt. It is documented that this clever adventurer was a native of Palermo, Joseph Balsamo, who from an early age became famous for various cunning tricks and machinations. He owed his knowledge of magic and alchemy to the Armenian Altotas, with whom he visited various sanctuaries in Egypt, and then practiced alchemy at the court of Pinto, the Grand Master of the Order of Malta, who had a great penchant for the mysterious sciences. Leaving Malta and parting

with Althotas, Count Cagliostro (as he began to call himself, arbitrarily assigning the title of count) began to demonstrate his magical knowledge at the royal courts of Europe and even in Russia. Probably, rumors about the miraculous elixir of immortality and eternal youth that he allegedly had at his disposal belong to this time. However, the remarkable adventurer never achieved immortality, and he died in 1795, chained to the wall of the gloomy cellar of the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome, where he was thrown by the Inquisition as a heretic, deceiving magician and freemason.

Much big secret surrounds the Count of Saint-Germain, a contemporary of Cagliostro. In the minutes of the court of the Inquisition, a story recorded from the words of Cagliostro about his visit to Saint-Germain, where he claimed to have seen a vessel in which the Count

kept the elixir of immortality. Comte Saint-Germain amazed his contemporaries with his extraordinary awareness of the past. His appearance led to amazement and confusion of elderly aristocrats, who suddenly recalled that they had already seen

this man was seen a long time ago, in childhood, in the salons of his grandmothers. And since then, they marveled, he had not changed at all in appearance.

Saint-Germain showed up suddenly, with no past. About him and about the origin of his fantastic wealth, we know as little as his contemporaries. Just as mysterious is his death, allegedly occurring in 1784 in a secluded castle in Holstein. One of his contemporaries, who knew the count, called it "an imaginary death", he wrote that none of the tombstones in the area bear the name of Saint-Germain.

Many years after this "death" acquaintances of Saint-Germain met

count in many European cities. So, Saint-Germain was present at a meeting of Freemasons in Paris a year after his "imaginary death". Three years later, in 1788, the French envoy to Venice, Count Chalon, meets Saint-Germain in St. Mark's Square and talks with him. During the years of the French Revolution, the count was allegedly identified in one of the prisons where aristocrats were kept. 30 years after the death of Saint-Germain, the elderly aristocrat Madame Genlis, who knew the count well in her youth, meets this man, who has not changed at all, on the sidelines of the Congress of Vienna. IN last years the reign of Louis Philippe, when almost none of the people who knew Saint-Germain personally were left alive, the mysterious count, still not aged at all, was met in Paris by a retired dignitary.

There are two more later reports associated with the name of Saint-Germain. He allegedly reappeared in Paris, already in 1934. And the last time - in December 1939. Since, however, by that time there were no people left who were personally acquainted with the count, these reports can hardly be considered reliable.

The strangest and most fantastic of modern reports of immortality is associated with the name of the Indian Tapasviji, who allegedly lived for 186 years (1770-1956). At the age of 50, he, being a Raja in Patiala, decided to retire to the Himalayas. After

years of exercises Tapasviji learned to immerse himself in the so-called

a state of "samadhi", when life seemed to completely leave his body, and could

do not take food or drink for a long time. One day, Tapasviji said, he met an old hermit near the foothills of the Himalayas. He ate only fruits and milk, and looked unusually energetic and cheerful. But, most surprisingly, the hermit did not speak any of the modern Indian languages, speaking only in Sanskrit - the language ancient india. It turned out that 5,000 years have passed since he came here! He managed to prolong his life to such limits allegedly thanks to a certain composition, the secret of which he owned.

But still, it is worth recognizing that all the cases described above of achieving immortality by someone are more likely to be legends. Let's stand on the firmer ground of the existing reality and analyze what means modern science has at the moment in the field of achieving practical immortality. Let's immediately put aside all methods of increasing life expectancy. Firstly, we already talked about them in the previous chapter, and secondly, they only deal with

increasing the life span of an organism, and not about the principled search for immortality.

Currently, the search for immortality is going on several diametrically

opposite directions. One of them is a brain transplant. At present, it is unconditionally proven that it is the brain that is the bearer of a person's individuality, his thinking, perception of the world, memory, awareness of himself as a person.

Already in 1963, physiologists demonstrated amazing experiments on transplanting the brain of a toad into the head of a frog. It turned out a very strange and amazing frog with the habits of a toad. Instead of jumping into the water, like other representatives of its kind, it, like a real toad, began to look for a hole in the ground in order to burrow into it.

Almost 30 years have passed since these experiments. Over the years, dozens of heart, liver and kidney transplants have been successfully carried out in humans, and the problems of tissue incompatibility of transplanted organs are beginning to be resolved. Thus, science came close to brain transplantation. Although work in this direction is being carried out quite intensively, it is difficult to say when exactly it will be possible to translate scientific experiments into practice. In any case, this time is not far off and it is quite possible that our generation will already witness a successful human brain transplant.

Therefore, theoretically, it is already possible to imagine people whose brain, and hence their personality, will pass from one body to another many times. Throwing away one after another unnecessary, aged bodies, a person will be carried away from century to century, from millennium to millennium. The life of one person, her memory will contain whole epochs of human history. However, a natural question arises - whose bodies are going to be discarded as unnecessary and exhausted, this "personality"? And who will determine the right to immortality of one person at the expense of the organisms of other people? To a lesser extent, these questions have already arisen before doctors and scientists during transplantation of donor kidneys and hearts. They will become much more acute when trying to find "donor" bodies for a brain transplant. It must be firmly grasped that despite the fact that the appearance of a person, the features of his face, the structure of the body will fully correspond to the body

"donor", his personality and self-consciousness will be determined exclusively by the transplanted brain.

This problem was anticipated by the genius of M. A. Bulgakov in the story "Dog

heart". Good dog Sharik under the influence of a transplanted pineal gland

the brain of a dead bandit and an alcoholic turns into an exact likeness

the last one. Now this question is being developed by American cinema.

Woman whose brain was irreversibly damaged in the crash gets a brain transplant

another woman whose body perished. Who is the new creature, with the appearance of the first woman and the brain of the second? How should she treat her loved ones, husband, children? This is inexhaustible material for dramatic collisions.

Perhaps in the future, scientists will be able to construct an artificial body for the brain, the guardian of personality. It will be a cyborg robot with a human brain. Thus, it is possible to achieve immortality by losing one's body. Is humanity psychologically ready for such experiments? Are you personally ready? This philosophical problem has been raised more than once in numerous science fiction novels, starting with the famous "Head of Professor Dowell" (1925) by the Soviet science fiction writer A. R. Belyaev (1894-1941).

The second way to achieve practical immortality is genetic engineering. Each cell of a living being stores in its nucleus all the genetic information necessary for the formation of a new organism. A few years ago, scientists at Oxford University in the UK conducted an interesting experiment - a new frog, an exact copy of the first, was grown from a frog epithelium cell. That's why

theoretically, in the near future, mass reproduction of absolutely identical twins, including human h, will become possible. This means that when a person turns 80 or 90 years old, it will be possible to take from him the nuclei of cells from any organ and, having grown them in cells devoid of a nucleus, get an exact biological copy this person. That is, it will be possible to completely repeat oneself, but appearing as a newborn and in a certain sense ensure one's immortality, since this operation could be repeated an unlimited number of times.

Moreover, in the future it would be theoretically possible to use not only the "living" genetic material of cells, but also "preserved", say, in the tissues of a mummy. And it will be possible to reproduce a complete biological copy of this mummy from the moment of birth. But since mummifications were mostly awarded to tyrants, the question arises - is it necessary to reproduce them again?

It is worth clarifying that all these biological copies, repeating the appearance of specific people in the smallest detail, will nevertheless be endowed with their own consciousness. It will be psychologically a completely different individual, and his memory, his joys and sorrows, love and hate, will be far from the prototype. His intellectual image will take shape under the influence of a different upbringing, education, and, finally, simply the human environment of a new generation of people. And even if we manage to recreate the new Tutankhamun, in terms of its psychological makeup it will not be an ancient

Egyptian, but our contemporary. Therefore, even here we do not achieve complete immortality. If during a brain transplant we retain a personality, but lose the body and appearance, then with genetic engineering we retain the exact likeness of a given person, but lose his personality, memory, experience, and perhaps talent.

True, the well-known Soviet scientist P. K. Anokhin put forward a hypothesis according to which the hereditary transmission of information received by a person during his life is fundamentally possible. In this case, the "copy person" will carry the memory of everything that happened to the "original", will keep it in himself as memories

his own life. Thus, it will be possible to achieve complete

individual identities. The chain of individual consciousness, passing from the body to

body, will not be interrupted. The memory of the life of the past, already grown old and not

existing bodily shells will be as uninterrupted as our memories of a day lived yesterday, a month ago or last year.

The next, and moreover, a very, very promising direction in the search for immortality is the science of cryobiology, which studies the vital activity of an organism under very low temperatures Oh.

The theorist and founder of cryogenesis (i.e. freezing) is considered to be the American professor of physics and mathematics Robert Ettinger, who published the book "The Discovery of Immortality" in the 60s, which immediately became a bestseller and won hundreds of fans of the cryogenesis method. "When someone is declared doomed,

because modern medicine is unable to help, man still alive by 99 percent, - writes R. Ettinger. - After all, it is a fact that many diseases that were once considered fatal are cured today. Keeping the body cold, you just have to wait until new knowledge and technology will help you return ... "

To date, there are convincing experimental

confirmation of cryogenization. Yugoslav scientists managed to revive rats,

chilled to 6 degrees. Surgeons at Harvard University (USA) revived

hamsters after being frozen for more than five hours. Experimenters have repeatedly revived monkeys in a supercooled

a state when the animals were no longer breathing, and the heart was not beating.

A lot of amazing facts about the return to life of frozen people have been accumulated by modern medicine. One of these cases is associated with the Japanese driver Masaru Site, who worked on a refrigerator - a car transporting chilled

products. That day, he came to Tokyo from Suzuoka to receive a shipment of ice cream. The hard trip and the heat tired the driver, and he decided to take cover from the heat and rest until he received the cargo in the back of his refrigerating machine. Time has passed. Someone noticed a car standing without a driver. When they opened it, they found the driver in it, but already "frozen". The thermometer inside showed 10 degrees below zero.

The driver's body was rushed to the nearest hospital. Doctors worked on the frozen man for several hours and revived erol According to the doctors, Saito was first poisoned by the gas that was released during the melting of dry ice, and then "froze". The life of the driver was saved by the fact that in the atmosphere of a closed van there was an increased content carbon dioxide, released during the evaporation of dry ice and a reduced oxygen content (its reserves were consumed all the time while the driver was breathing).

Experiments in the field of cryobiology finally made it possible to decide on freezing a person. In 1973, a sensational message went around the world press: Professor D. Bedford from Los Angeles, knowing that he was dying of lung cancer, agreed to be frozen in liquid nitrogen at a temperature close to 200 degrees below zero, and returned to life, when medicine finds an effective means of combating his illness.

A few years later, a purely commercial enterprise appeared in the USA, the owners of which offered everyone the same procedure: to freeze and store

a person at his will for tens or hundreds of years. Many, many Americans wished to undergo a freezing procedure and thus go to

journey to the future.

However, at the end of the 70s, a major scandal erupted: the police found the bodies of a dozen and a half people in the stage of deep decomposition in one of the freezing centers, which, presumably, was not agreed upon when they concluded contracts for immortality. Naturally, the credibility of the idea itself was greatly undermined. It took years for everything to return to normal.

There are currently four cryogenesis centers in the United States (two in California, one each in Michigan and Florida) that store a total of 26 "frozen" Americans. There are similar centers also in France and Japan.

It should be noted that cryogenesis is a very expensive business, therefore the first 40 Frenchmen who decided to acquire a chance for immortality are millionaires. In the US, applicants must pay $125,000 to freeze the body, or $50,000 to freeze only the head.

Some practical Americans prefer the second option - both cheaper and easier to transport in case of emergency. And if the descendants are able to "unfreeze" the head, then they will certainly be able to choose the appropriate body for the preserved brain (and hence the personality).

Practical Americans noticed another interesting fact. It turns out that in order to wake up a millionaire in 300 years, it is enough to put $1,000 in the bank today. Three percent per annum in a hundred years will turn

this amount of 19,000, in two hundred - 370,000, and by the time of the supposed awakening, each such inhabitant of the refrigerator, according to calculations, will already have 7,000,000 dollars.

The journey to immortality always begins, at least officially, with clinical death. A team from the company "Trans Time" immediately takes on the client. First of all, it is necessary to provide artificial blood circulation: the oxidation process should not be interrupted. For this, special pharmacological solutions are introduced. After the body is covered with ice. Then the blood is replaced with a saline solution, to which a liquid is added with a substance that prevents the crystallization process in the body. The cooled body is then wrapped in a special sheet and lowered into ice, where its temperature drops to minus 43 degrees. It is at this point that you can proceed to the separation of the head, if that was the will of the client. Usually, the whole body is placed in a bag like a sleeping bag and lowered head down into a container filled with liquid nitrogen.

However, it should be noted that the American Cryonics Society (low

temperatures) guarantees the road only "there", but "back" - no

certain guarantees. When defrosting, such serious

problems that modern medicine is not yet able to solve. All

hope - for the achievements of medicine of the future.

When 73-year-old James Bedford, a psychology professor from Los Angeles, was frozen for the first time in history, some journalists joked: "Well, Bedford will be surprised when he remains dead!"

"The hope that someone can be brought back to life after freezing,

is tantamount to striving to get a cow out of a hamburger, ironically on this

about Arthur Rowe from New York University and adds: - When freezing

irreparable damage is done to the cells."

A different opinion is shared by Dr. Avi ben Abraham, President

American Society of Cryonics, engaged in scientific research in the field of

use of low temperatures in medicine. Death, he believes, is coming

gradually. Although the heart stops, cells, tissues and internal organs

continue to live. Another scientist, cryobiologist P. Segal, has already managed to

resuscitate hamsters after a two-hour freeze. He also got

experiment with a raccoon dog. She returned to normal temperature after the procedures that are subjected to during the cryogenization of the body of people. By the way, both scientists, and

also their family members are candidates for freezing for the sake of immortality.

The English anatomist Hunter wrote in the 18th century:

“If a person wants to give the last ten years of his life to the alternation of sleep and activity, then his life could be extended to 1000 years; by defrosting every 100 years for one year, he could always find out what happened during the time he was in anabiosis".

So, it may well be that several dozens of our contemporaries, enclosed in transparent capsules, which flow around liquid nitrogen cooled to -200 ° C, float along the waves of time into the future, towards immortality.

There are some other directions in the search for immortality. In 1976, a professor from the GDR E. Liebbert described an experiment with Mexican agave, in which he managed to increase the species limit of duration life ten times. For gerontologists dealing with the problem of aging, this experience has gone unnoticed. In 1983

An article by the Moscow scientist V. I. Gudoshnikov appeared in the collection of works of the Moscow Society of Nature Testers about experiments on rats that managed to stop development in dynamics between stages I and II of the menopause and keep the body between them for 40 days.

As a result of the analysis of these two experiments and his own experiments, Nikolai Isaev, a corresponding member of the Moscow Society of Naturalists, managed to create his own theory of increasing the species life expectancy.

The essence of the theory is as follows: in order to extend the life of any organism ten times

and more, it is enough to create and maintain "stuttering" in any place of the ontogenesis program (ie, a genetically determined scheme of development of a given organism) in the process of its implementation. We age because the body maintains

a certain level of key metabolites (waste products

organism) with activity that does not allow "stuttering" in the process of implementation

ontogeny programs. As soon as the level of key metabolites decreases (for example, in the experiment with agave, the products produced by the genetic system were removed), the body moves without slowing down to the previous, younger, stage of its life. From this previous stage, the construction of products and structures of the generative stage of life begins again. Removing products again... and so on for 90 years. As a result, the agave has increased the species life expectancy from 10 to 100 years, that is, ten times. This experience could be continued indefinitely, since there is no aging as such, because the body is in conditions where there is no material basis for aging - the key metabolites are not maintained here at the level set by nature.

To date, N. N. Isaev has practically developed and put into practice various options for the "cycling" of some plants - potatoes, maple, which make it possible to achieve species "immortality". In the future, work on

achievement of human species immortality. Its essence is to stop aging in a person at any age: for example, between 40 and 41 years. From this moment on, this organism will pass an arbitrarily long segment of its life within the specified interval.

Thus, the theoretical prerequisites for achieving species immortality of a person have been created. Another thing is that the path from successful experiments on plants to the practical implementation of this theory in humans can be very, very long.

The problem of human immortality has two main aspects: scientific and

biological and philosophical and moral. In a biological sense, as we only

what we saw, it is quite possible sooner or later with the progress of science to achieve any practical results in achieving personal immortality. Another thing is, do we need to spend energy and scientific potential to solve these problems?

At first glance, this question may seem paradoxical, although nothing

there is nothing paradoxical about it. Let's think, is humanity ready to achieve immortality?

Let's try to consider this issue from various angles, first of all - from the demographic one. According to the calculations of French demographers, in 1987 the 80 billionth human inhabitant of our planet was born since the beginning of the human race (of course, this figure is very arbitrary). Will there be a limit to the growth of mankind and at what level will its bar be set in the coming decades and centuries?

The first people, who probably numbered only a few tens of thousands,

wandered the earth in search of food, being dependent on the change of seasons, on

climate change. The first technical victories, the development of fire led to

represents an increase in the population, which 200,000 years ago approached a figure of 500,000

By 40,000 B.C. e. all continents, including America and Australia, were inhabited, and the number of people on the globe reached five million people.

By the beginning of the IV millennium BC. e. the entire population of the earth was estimated at about 50 million people. During the "age of Pericles" (5th century BC), humanity stepped over a hundred million. By the era of Charlemagne, the world's population had grown to 200 million, and by the Renaissance, to 500 million.

In the 18th century, the world's population reached one billion. In 1900 it

was 1.5 billion, in 1950 - 2.5 billion people. Early 1976

population the globe reached 4 billion, and in 1987 humanity stepped over the fifth billion. What will be the fate of humanity in the near future?

Demographers are trying to make predictions. The official forecast was adopted by a special UN Population Division. This is the most optimistic hypothesis, since

it assumes that all countries will soon reach a level of fertility that ensures only the renewal of generations without increasing the number - 2.1 children per woman. If it can be assumed that developing countries, where the birth rate is gradually declining, will actually reach this level in the next century, then industrially developed countries the case is different. Their birth rate has already fallen.

below this threshold and tends to fall further. It is to be hoped that population decline will not really be felt in these countries until after the year 2000, and UN experts believe that then, for civic reasons, many couples will decide to have more children, or concerned governments will adopt

appropriate measures to stimulate the birth rate. If things go that way, the world population will stabilize by 2100 at about 11 billion people.

The massive increase in life expectancy that we discussed in the previous chapter could greatly change this UN scenario. As a result, the population of industrialized countries would begin to decline only by 2050, and the reaction of married couples to falling birth rates would appear later. Under these conditions, the European population will stabilize by 3125 at the level of 1939, and in the world there will be a significant disproportion between the population of Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe.

If the birth rate in developed countries continues to decline, reaching everywhere the modern level of Germany, if it is in developing countries, in which the population explosion will stop, and if life expectancy is limited to 75 years, humanity will disappear by the year 2400. Investigating this variant of development

of mankind, the French demographer Bourgeois-Pito believes that the world population will peak at 9.4 billion people in 2070, and then gradually disappear.

However, another course of events is also possible: a decrease in the population

developed countries will cause an influx of population from the countries of the big population explosion.

Underprivileged peoples, but on the rise of population growth,

can appropriate for themselves, by good or by force, the lands and resources of the wealthy nations, but

in decline. These latter will gradually mix with the aliens,

until they lose their individuality. They will disappear, as many have already disappeared.

nations in a similar situation.

What impact can the achievement of immortality by science have on changing the demographic picture? The most unpredictable. Considering that the issue of the impact of immortality on the population has never been seriously put on the agenda, no scientific calculations and forecasts could be found.

But, as we have seen, the achievement of personal immortality is quite possible already in the first centuries of the next millennium. And this, as yet unaccounted for, fact can make a significant correction in the demographers' forecasts we discussed. And first of all, it will have an impact not on the total population (although, over time, on it too), but on the ratio of the population of developed and developing countries. After all, it is no secret that the population of developed capitalist countries will primarily benefit from the achievements of science. It would be possible to speculate about possible ways of changing the demographic situation in the conditions of achieving species immortality of a person, but this would be redundant, since we have not yet decided the question - is personal immortality necessary and worth it to achieve.

Most likely, the immortality of people is incredibly painful and detrimental to the life of society. Progress consists in a change of generations, each generation brings something new to society. A similar idea is expressed in the following verse by Robert Rozhdestvensky:

If only people lived forever

It would be inhuman - How do you know what you're worth in life?

How to understand what risk is?

Jump into the sea?

So you won't drown.

Climb to the fire?

So you won't burn! Plow the field?

Then I can...

Gunpowder to invent?

And for what?

Would enjoy lazy arrogance

Prisoners of their immortality.

They wouldn't do anything.

Never come out of the darkness...

Perhaps the most important stimulus of life

In bitter truth

that we are mortal.

The experience of history shows that the progress of science has always overtaken the moral development of mankind. The issue of immortality is no exception. Quite

it is possible (and even very likely) that from a biological point of view, scientists will be able to solve the riddle of immortality in the coming centuries. But what will be the moral face of the generation that will have to be granted immortality? Will rapists, murderers, thieves really disappear? Most likely - no, to think otherwise would be a social utopia. So is he really worthy of immortality who took the life of his own kind? And isn't the very concept of "life imprisonment" sounding like a pun then? But the worst thing is to give someone the right to decide whether this person is worthy

live forever or not. This will inevitably lead to abuses, group, class, party, national, racial approaches, and from here it is only one step to one or another variety of fascism.

So, the question of immortality is a touchstone that may not be within the power of modern humanity.

But let's try to translate the question of immortality into a somewhat different plane. Let's assume that everyone is finally convinced that the personal immortality of all mankind is a brake on its progress, both scientific, social, and elementary biological. But there are individuals who certainly deserve immortality - outstanding scientists, artists, inventors, poets, thinkers, philosophers. And since science is already in a position to grant immortality, so let's

let's leave it only to individuals, a strictly limited number of outstanding people.

I don't want to impose my opinion on anyone. Let everyone try to determine for himself the most probable circle of these people, based on preferences, at least

the last five to seven decades. Thought? Would you like these personalities to be "more alive than all the living" not only in slogans, but also in life? Our opinions about the merits of this or that figure may vary depending on the political situation. But by granting him immortality, we can get not just a life

dictator, and (which is much more terrible and even difficult to imagine) - an immortal dictator.

Whatever philosophers say about the role of personality in history, but the era of Stalinism

ended with the death of Stalin. And God alone knows how much more "objective prerequisites" we would have to wait for to change the course of history under the ever-living comrade Stalin.

Therefore, it seems to me that one should not rush to solve the problem of personal immortality immediately. We, as we are, are not yet ready to live forever. We are for this

have not yet fully matured and, it seems, we will not yet be able to fully consciously dispose of eternity.

LITERATURE

A step towards immortality? "NTTM - Craftsman", 1990, No. 1. Yuan Ke. Myths of Ancient China. M., "Science", 1987. RederD. G. Myths and legends of ancient Mesopotamia. M., 1965.

Gumilyov L. N. No mysticism. "Youth", 1990, No. 2. There were 80 billion of us. A

how much will? "Science and Life", 1989, No. 4.

Gorbovsky A. A., Semenov Yu. S. Closed pages of history. M., Thought, 1988. Prokofiev V. 26 frozen Americans. "Labor", 1991, November 14. Mezentsev V. A. Miracles. Popular Encyclopedia. Alma-Ata, Ch. ed. Kaz.sov. encyclopedia, 1991, v. 2, book 3.

The human body is 70% water. No wonder one famous biologist figuratively called living beings "animate water." Obviously, for the health and longevity of a person, it is not indifferent what kind of water nourishes the tissues of his body.

Indeed, in recent years it has become known that water differs significantly not only in chemical impurities, but also in isotopic composition and other features. Many properties of water change, for example, if it is passed between the poles of a magnet. Water can be more biologically active, and this affects the aging process of the body. But much about the properties of water - an important component of our body - we still do not know.

In any case, today it is no longer vague legends and ancient legends, but scientific research that speaks of the influence of water on the health and life expectancy of the inhabitants of different regions of the Earth.

Where do people live longer?

It is known that the inhabitants of some Caribbean islands, such as Guadeloupe, look much younger than their European peers. When they are asked how they manage to keep their youth for a long time, the answer usually follows: “On our island, such water flows from springs that rejuvenates a person ...” The inhabitants are also distinguished by excellent health central regions Ceylon (Sri Lanka). The inhabitants of Sri Lanka consider the climate and water of mountain springs to be the cause of their health. Apparently, it was no coincidence that the ancients tried to look for life-giving water on this island.

The longevity of the highlanders and a number of peoples of the North, some scientists associate with the water they drink. This is the so-called "melt water effect", which has a beneficial effect on metabolism and thus, as it were, "rejuvenates" the body.

Today, the search is not conducted on distant islands or in unknown lands. They are carried out in dozens of laboratories of the largest scientific centers world, studying the properties of water and its effect on the human body.

People who were extremely anxious to lengthen their lives as much as possible were, for the most part, endowed with wealth and power. They were looking for the shortest path. And such a way seemed to exist. The most ancient traditions and legends mentioned him - this is the "elixir of immortality" that the gods ate. In different countries it was called differently. The gods of the ancient Greeks used ambrosia, which gives eternal life, the Indian gods - amrita, the gods of the Iranians - haoma. And only the gods of Ancient Egypt, showing majestic modesty, preferred water to other food of the gods. True, all the same water of immortality.

Alchemists and the elixir of immortality

Of the people, no one approached the elixir of immortality as close as the alchemists, who, however, were looking for something completely different - ways to make gold. There was a certain logic to this. Immortality is a state that is not subject to change. Isn't gold the only substance that is not subject to external influences? It is not afraid of alkalis or acids, it is not afraid of corrosion. It seemed that time itself was powerless before him. Doesn't this metal contain some principle that makes it so? And is it possible to isolate this substance from it or bring it into the human body along with gold? “Whoever takes gold inside,” says one ancient oriental text, “he will live as long as gold.” This is the traditional basis of ancient beliefs: if you eat the eyes of an eagle, you will be like an eagle, if you eat the hearts of a lion, you will be strong like a lion... Gold was an indispensable component of various versions of the elixir of immortality. A recipe compiled by the personal physician of Pope Boniface VIII has come down to us: gold, pearls, sapphires, emeralds, rubies, topazes, white and red corals, ivory, sandalwood, deer heart, aloe root, musk and ambergris should be mixed in crushed form. (We hope that prudence will deter readers from overly hasty application of the composition given here.)

ancient recipes

Another composition was not much simpler, which can be found in one ancient oriental book: “You need to take a toad that has lived for 10,000 years, and a bat that has lived for 1,000 years, dry them in the shade, grind them into powder and take them.”

And here is the recipe from the ancient Persian text: “You need to take a person, red and freckled, and feed him with fruits up to 30 years, then lower him into a stone vessel with honey and other compounds, enclose this vessel in hoops and hermetically seal it. In 120 years, his body will turn into a mummy.” After that, the contents of the vessel, including what became the mummy, could be taken as a remedy and a means of prolonging life.

Errors that germinate in every sphere of human activity, in this area bring a particularly bountiful harvest. Mention may be made in this connection of a French scholar of the 15th century. In search of the elixir of life, he boiled 2,000 eggs, separated the whites from the yolks and, mixing them with water, distilled them many times, hoping in this way to extract the desired substance of life.

The sheer senselessness of such recipes does not testify to the senselessness of the search itself. Only that which was discarded as unnecessary became known. But if we judge the history of this or that science only by unsuccessful experiments and failed discoveries, the picture will probably be about the same.

Onakhi-Taoists set as their goal the unification with the fundamental principle of the world, Tao, and the achievement of immortality. For this, special exercises and meditations served, as well as the “golden elixir” kin-tan, the recipe of which the Taoists were able to obtain from the mysterious inhabitants of the eastern islands. The legend says that the composition of the "golden elixir" included 999 components, including cinnabar, arsenic, crushed diamond, virgin sperm, mummy, incense, musk, "tears of a demon" (it is not known what was meant by this name), etc. . Organic components were dissolved in water obtained from the melting of ice delivered from the highest mountain peaks. The mixture was subjected to 999 transformations over nine years. Kin-tan could have an effect only on a person trained by special exercises; for everyone else, the drink turned out to be poison. To become immortal, one had to give up worldly desires, wealth and power. Therefore, the emperors had a choice - to remain on the throne or give up power and become immortal. The man who drank the drink turned into a crane and flew to the happy islands, where he became one of the immortal geniuses.

In one of the Taoist monasteries lived the elder Sun Ming, whose age exceeded five hundred years. It was he who visited the happy islands and learned there the recipe for the drink of immortality. If the Taoist had stayed with the geniuses, he would have gained eternal life, but Sun Ming preferred to accomplish a feat and returned to China to tell the secret of the “golden elixir” to the Taoist monks. As a result, the hero lived for a very long time, but not forever.

During the Tang Dynasty in question, Sun Ming was already deaf and blind, could hardly speak, and could not tell anything about the life of geniuses on the mysterious eastern islands.

History has not conveyed to us a single name of a representative of the imperial family who would renounce the throne and gain immortality. The Taoists did not always enjoy the patronage of the Chinese authorities. Over time, they withdrew into their communities and revealed the kin-tan recipe only to the initiates. Many tried to find out the secret of the drink from the monks. Before World War II, Hitler sent his emissaries to Tibet; what they did there is still not fully understood, perhaps they were looking for a recipe for a magical elixir.

In the mid-70s, reports appeared in the press about two Frenchmen who set out to find out an ancient secret. They went to one of the remote Chinese monasteries and kidnapped a monk. The adventurers decided to torture the Taoist to find out the recipe for the "golden elixir". He preferred to die, but did not betray the memory of Sun Ming. A few months later, the French were found dead in a hotel in Shanghai. They died in terrible agony, poisoned by a poison of unknown origin. Nearby they found a golden bottle with traces of a liquid with a strong odor. Perhaps the crooks stole an elixir made in one of the monasteries and drank it, not knowing that it would be poison for an unprepared person. The Chinese authorities were not particularly zealous in finding out the causes of death of foreigners, and the golden vessel was lost during the investigation.

Today in the People's Republic of China there is an Association of Taoist Believers. Perhaps its members know the secret of the drink of immortality.
The secret of order healers


Chronicles tell how, to maintain strength, the crusaders ground amber, mixed the powder with wine and drank it. Later, in 1525, the Master of the Order of the Crusaders presented the well-known church reformer Martin LUTHER, suffering from cholelithiasis, with a spoon carved from "white amber". One of the leaders of the Kaliningrad Institute of Amber and Regional Resources, Sergey PETROV, is convinced that even in the 12th century, medieval doctors guessed that amber activates metabolic processes in the body with a sharp increase in the release of cellular energy, and has a bactericidal effect. In Germany, a variety of varnishes and succinic acid were obtained from centuries-old resin. It is no coincidence that at one time a law was in force in the country, according to which a person convicted of stealing amber from quarries was to be executed by hanging.
Laboratory as a frontline



One must think that the Teutonic chronicles at the end of the 19th century were carefully studied by German doctors. In any case, even before the start of the First World War, pharmacies in Germany were briskly selling the Lammerwein drink. This healing potion, in which succinic acid (succinate) was dissolved in a special way, was considered almost an elixir of immortality. However, after Hitler came to power, the Nazi secret services drew attention to the stimulating properties of succinic acid and classified all work in this area. The fact is that in the 30s of the last century, German science almost completely worked for military needs. In particular, doctors were looking for means that dramatically increase the endurance of soldiers. By the way, in the USSR such a drug based on "cola" was obtained by 1943 and allowed, by taking a special half-gram tablet every 4 hours, to maintain high performance around the clock. However, it was not recommended to take such drugs for more than 36 hours.

Researchers of the Third Reich worked in a different direction. They, in particular, abandoned substances based on caffeine, which first invigorates, and then throws into depression. We were looking for a physiological, natural remedy for the human body and settled on succinic acid. The servicemen who took the new drug became stronger, more resilient, and acquired a "truly Aryan fighting spirit." Succinic acid increased the oxidation of fatty acids and carbohydrates, increasing the body's resistance to stress: physical, chemical, biological. The whole thing was spoiled only by a small nuance - a banal diarrhea, which, after taking the pills, covered the true Aryans.

However, this trouble was easily overcome, but the capitulation of the Reich in May 1945 prevented the Germans from completing the work.
Research during the Cold War
During the Cold War, the United States and Russia, scientists stubbornly searched for the secrets of eternal life. Some of them managed to achieve results. However, they were faced with the fact that, as it turns out, this is quite a dangerous occupation. Those scientists who approached the secret of life were waiting for inevitable death .One by one, scientists died in different situations. Some of them from heart attacks, some were killed. Someone really did not want the elixir of immortality to be officially found, perhaps the one who possessed it. All research, work, records scientists were destroyed or simply disappeared.
Now, these days, everything is becoming quite transparent and we see that the Illuminati, the world rulers, are hindering development, living standards and population on Earth. They may be right in their thinking, but they have no right to act against humanity.
Let's understand what will happen if the elixir of immortality appears.
1. In 20 years, there will be 60% fewer old people on the planet, but there will also be fewer young people. But a large number of middle-aged people will appear.
2.

The number of rich people will increase. Accordingly, the working class will stop disappearing. There will be no one to work for. This will entail famine, crisis, wars.
3. The number of people on the planet will begin to grow uncontrollably. How much will our mother Earth be able to feed? Again, hunger, wars. An increase in food production will be required. An increase in production by several thousand percent will “plant” the ecology of the planet completely. population. The ozone layer will collapse, and the Earth will turn into a second Mars.
4. An increase in the number of smart people. Nobody needs smart people. Good working hands are needed. There can be no number of bosses in relation to workers 10 to 1.
5. The resources on the planet will run out, and humanity can turn into "roaming gypsies" who, like locusts, will look for scraps of minerals and a shelter for a normal life in space.
There are quite a lot of examples, the main meaning, I think, has been conveyed.

The elixir of immortality has existed for a long time. It is owned by the initiates. These are the world elite, the smartest people on the planet. They will be granted eternal life.
All you can get is stem cells. This option, according to the Illuminati, is safe, as it involves sacrifice. Life at the expense of death. Everyone knows that now newborns are slaughtered alive and given anti-aging injections to those who are able to pay for it "pleasure." They absolutely do not care about someone else's life.
Let's live honestly, eat right, lead a healthy lifestyle, read books and watch TV less and then our short life will not be lived in vain.

SAINT GERMAINE ON THE ELIXIR OF IMMORTALITY (CONTINUED)

SAINT-GERMAINE ABOUT THE ELIXIR OF IMMORTALITY

Dreams, dreams, dreams - let them take you to sky-high distances, to magical countries, where rivers flow with jelly banks and living water, where apple trees grow with young apples, where the horse lives - the humpbacked sorcerer and the wizard, where the scientist cat still walks along the chain around. Where no one and nothing grows old, but is healthy and prosperous, loves and admires the whole life, and rejoices in it endless. That's where, in this land of Miracles and Tales, I will lead you today, my dears. Let's dream together and create this wonderful, eternally young world with all the living and immortal in it. In the meantime, let's remember what we talked about earlier. About the fact that the Soul and Spirit are immortal, that your original physical bodies were also immortal, self-regulating and self-restoring, and even self-reproducing themselves. So what's the deal? Why is it the other way around? You have already known this, my dears. The Seal of Oblivion is the reason for this. But you also learned how to shoot it yourself today without anyone's help. You just learned to remember who you are and that's it, nothing else is needed. The gods do not die and do not grow old, they live forever. So are you, you only need to believe that you are, indeed, Gods and know how to manage your whole life, and not just physical bodies. Believe and claim that Power and that Power of the Gods, which originally belongs to you, my dears. And I will give you one very powerful affirmation or Intention that penetrates your entire Multidimensional Self and makes it immediately respond to your call, to your call for help.

“I, (name) in the name of I AM THAT I AM, voluntarily here and now demand from my Multidimensional I AM PRESENCE, residing in all worlds and spaces in time and timelessness, in the manifested and unmanifested worlds, to manifest my Presence in this world , in this dimension so that my three-dimensional I could get back all that Power and that Primordial Energy that I originally possessed, receiving the Life Beginning from the Source of All That Is to reunite with Him into the One Whole.

This very powerful and effective affirmation will help you return not only your Eternal youth and beauty, but will also give you all those Divine Energies that will contribute to your Ascension and return to the One Father and Mother. And this process is not a one-time one, many eons of years will pass when, having met your Multidimensional Self, you will be able to reunite with the Source, having created many new worlds, having lived many different lives in them, and with the accumulated experience, return Home. But that's where the fun lies - diversity. All life is arranged very simply and at the same time very wisely and interestingly. Life itself should be an exciting and intriguing Game, it should bear the imprint of Magic and Fairy-tale, store in its Treasury a lot of all sorts of Mysteries and unsolved things. That's when it will be unspeakably interesting and exciting. It is for this purpose that you decided to turn Malden into the School of Mysteries and build Living Cities of Light on it, where you can hide many unsolved Mysteries and all kinds of Treasures and untold Riches, collecting them from the annals of the Universe and hiding them in the recesses of your souls and mind, so that one day take them out and give them to your children and grandchildren. And they will continue this Game, more and more complicating it, giving it fabulousness, ornateness, building all kinds of secret labyrinths in it, creating golden keys from hidden doors and Light sparkling Codes. And it will become interesting and exciting for them to live this Life, bright and colorful, eternal and endless.
Well, now let's go back to our time. Express your Intention and continue to live, expecting Miracles and Messages from your Multidimensional Selves. And as a Gift you will receive the Divine Matrix of the New Human Genome, which will completely replace in you that gene of aging and shortening of life in these bodies, which you needed during the time of the intended Duality Experiment. peace. Your Multidimensional I AM PRESENCE will solve many of the challenges you face today. It will help you completely free yourself from the old world, providing a wide scope for free access to the entire boundless Cosmic Space that exists in Eternity and Infinity.
On this, I again do not say goodbye to you, my dears, but reserve the right to lead me, dragging you into the fabulous world of rejuvenating apples and kissel shores.

Your Brother, Friend, Teacher - forever young and forever joyful Saint Germain.

ABOUT ETERNAL YOUTH AND BEAUTY

I offer you three vats,
You try the first vat, take a dip,
There you will find a gold coin at the bottom,
And come back here with her.

The second vessel with silver water,
There's silver at the bottom
Dive there boldly with your head,
That moonlight will light the way.

And in the third vat - Heavenly Light,
You can only achieve it
When you dive, you stay forever
There is no bottom in that third vat.

Make up your mind, you will find the Light to the House,
There's a beautiful love waiting for you
And do not dare, to be earthly to you,
Circles of Samsara to pass all over again.

After all, gold and silver are all perishable,
Someday it will end
And the Light of the Father - after all, he is imperishable,
Unites everyone into One.

Think before you jump into that vessel,
Fly like a free bird into the sky,
In that world Shining, Magical,
You turn yourself into Love and Light!

Saint Germain

Received by Tatyana Mironenko