Lo que el Hinduismo y el Tao dicen sobre morir: no eres quien crees que eres

You are certain of only one thing: that you exist. That there is a "you"—with your name, your face, your story—that will one day disappear. That certainty is the foundation upon which you have built your life. But thousands of years ago, in two corners of the planet separated by the highest mountains on Earth, two traditions arrived, by different paths, at the same dizzying conclusion: that "you" of which you are so certain is not entirely real. And the day you understand who you truly are, you will stop fearing death. In this fifth and final episode of the series "Face to Face with Death," we delve into the heart of Hinduism and Taoism. We discover the atman, that silent witness that—according to Indian scriptures—was never born and therefore cannot die; the idea that your personality and your body are like clothes that the soul changes, while what you truly are remains; and the unforgettable image of the wave that fears dissolving on the shore, unaware that it was always the ocean. We then crossed over to ancient China, to the Tao—the current that moves all things—and to Zhuangzi, the sage who, when his wife died, instead of weeping loudly, began to sing, because he had understood that death is only the winter that follows autumn. And finally, the most astonishing twist: modern neuroscience, studying the brain with MRI machines, has discovered that the feeling of being a solid and separate "self" is largely a construct of the brain, and that when that boundary loosens, the fear of death collapses. Three thousand years later, science stumbles upon what the wave and the river already knew. You don't need to believe in reincarnation or the Tao. Just take a look, for a few minutes, at a much lighter way of looking at your own death: discovering that you are not who you think you are. 🔔 Subscribe: This is the final episode of the series "Face to Face with Death," where we explored what five great world traditions have discovered about the one end we all share. #Hinduism #Taoism #Death #Atman #Reincarnation #Wisdom #Consciousness [Finding the self by losing the self: Neural correlates of ego-dissolution under psilocybin](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26010...) — Lebedev, A. V., Lövdén, M., Rosenthal, G., Feilding, A., Nutt, D. J. & Carhart-Harris, R. L., Human Brain Mapping, 36(8), 3137–3153 (2015). DOI: 10.1002/hbm.22833. The sense of "self" or "ego" depends on the normal functioning of certain brain networks (medial temporal lobe-cortex, salience network, interhemispheric communication); when these networks become disorganized, the subject experiences ego dissolution. Empirically, the "separate self" is largely a construct of the brain—exactly what the Hindu atman and Taoist philosophy affirm. [Psilocybin produces substantial and sustained decreases in depression and anxiety in patients with life-threatening cancer: A randomized double-blind trial](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1...) — Griffiths, R. R., Johnson, M. W., Carducci, M. A., et al., Journal of Psychopharmacology, 30(12), 1181–1197 (2016). DOI: 10.1177/0269881116675513. A randomized, double-blind trial in 51 patients with life-threatening cancer: a mystical/ego-dissolving experience resulted in large and sustained reductions (up to 6 months) in death anxiety and increases in sense of life and optimism. [Rapid and sustained symptom reduction following psilocybin treatment for anxiety and depression in patients with life-threatening cancer: a randomized controlled trial](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1...) — Ross, S., Bossis, A., Guss, J., et al., Journal of Psychopharmacology, 30(12), 1165–1180 (2016). DOI: 10.1177/0269881116675512. Randomized controlled trial (NYU): Mystical experiences of oneness and loss of the separate self mediated a rapid and lasting reduction in death anxiety and depression in patients with advanced cancer—a modern echo of the ego dissolution described in Hinduism and Taoism.