Myths and legends present essential spiritual heritage of humankind. Evolutions of worldviews are reflected in myths and legends. As a rule, in any culture of the world we can find inherent myths or parables about origin of death and mortal experiences. This universal approach suggests that once, there was a time without death. It is widespread notion in the myths that people didn’t die or, if they died - anew revived.

According to the myths, first humans were like gods. They didn’t know death, but they also didn’t know about their heaven birth. The Oceania nations have legends in which ability of people to change the skin and rejuvenate was described. By the times, people lost memory about their sky-essence and from that time, they became mortal. At the same times, myths narrate that first races of humans were completely different from contemporary people. It is steady motive in myths that first people were imperfect.

The general idea in most of the myths tells us about accidental reasons of death arising. For example, there are well known African “false massages” and “death in the roll” myths. In the first case, the God sent to people lizard with massage about death and chameleon with massage about immortality. The chameleon was very slow, that is why the lizard came first to people and brought them death. In second myth, God proposed people to choose between two rolls in one of which was death, in the other – life. According to the myth of American Indians, “Supreme Divinity” covered human mind with the mist called maya, and since the sense of world became secret and obscure to mortal people. In Toltec magic legends we can find description of the Eagle as a bird, which is perceived as emanation of absolute power, and which gifted consciousness to person by birth and devoured this consciousness when person dies.

In addition, in antiquity myths we can find the stories about two kinds of gods. Some Gods acted with the divine plan and harmony, and created people using their own image. Other Gods (they are also known as Gods-Invaders or Gods of second wave) started to fight with the first and won, after this they cardinally changed the “program” of humans, with the purpose to ease their manipulation. Especially, the theme known as the “war of Gods” was expressively described in Indian mythology. The struggle between antique God Zeus as a Ruler of Olympus and Titans, the giant essences was described broadly in the ancient Greece myths. Colorful pictures about processes of usurpation of our world by the essences from negative hierarchy, which introduced death instead of smooth energy transformation, were described by famous Russian philosopher Daniil Andreev in his book “The Rose of the World”. From the other hand, American Indians and other nations’ myths emphatically insist that people were necessary for the existence of Gods. At the same time, it was easy for Gods to manage mortality human with short memory and brief life term.

There is a strong relation in many myths between death from the one side, and knowledge and science from the other. Thus, according to American Indians myth, one of the reasons why Divinity covered people with maya, was that people were very smart. Also, this myth let us know that after death people return to their heaven, truly homeland and find right and true knowledge. Pueblo Indians suggest that after death people come back to real fatherland. According to ancient Egypt myths, dead person became Osirius, i.e. God, and the big mystery of life opens up for him.

If we read this statement in opposite direction, we could come to the conclusion: to know again and to recognize – means torecover immortality. Moreover, in myths we can meet idea about nectar or potion of immortality. Ancient Greeks called it Ambrosia, Indians know it as Soma, Iranians as Haoma, Chinese as Ce-Van-Mu. Concurrent elements of myths are the tree of life and the tree of knowledge. Very often these trees are combined in one type of a tree, as for example, in Hawaiian legends. The well known Christian religious story tells us about the fall of the humans, which also connected with the forbidden fruit of the tree. Contemporary researcher of spiritual development Drunvalo Melhizedec attracts attention to the so called “Flower of Life”, which is an ancient realization of the Absolute. He connects it with “The Tree of the Life” also known in Judaists’ cabbala and as astrology symbol.

A lot of above-mentioned are reflected in myths of Antique Greece and Rome. In Antique myths you can meet such essences as God Tinat (Thanat) who symbolized Death, Nemecida – punishment, Ker – destruction. Many of you may be heard about Pandora’s Box, which brought woe for people. This legend also came to us as the heritage of Antique myths. Such philosophers as Plato, Socrat, Pythagoras, Aristotle, Gomer were the greatest thinkers of their times. And the themes of death and immortality were not the last in their studies and mystery rituals.

One of the most famous in the mediaeval Near East was philosopher Avicenna (Ibn Sena) who practiced medicine and studied death trough postmortem examination, and as a result, during long time was not comprehended by contemporaries. But his book “The Canon of Medicine Science” became medical encyclopedia for later medieval European.

In mediaeval time, Death was also a subject of study of Alchemists and different mystery societies such as Templar or Illuminati and was equated to magic and witchcraft. Such attributes of death as skull, bones and coffin were permanent part of Masonic rituals, in which the theme of the Death was felt as personal metaphysics experience.

There are many others witnesses about death all over the world. For example, Tibetan Buddhism proposes to be familiar with the Book of Death. The book prepares people and their surrounding to transfer to the other words. Chinese culture in the person of Lao-Dze introduces us to Dao as the power of universal law of death and life.

Finally, we saw that the theme of the death and immortality existed in different doctrines over a long period. From ancient time, people attempted to develop techniques and methods of spiritual perfection, which were to approach people life and to find the answer to death. These are the Yoga techniques, Taoism, Tantric, Cabbalism, medieval Alchemists experiments and many others. Actually there are millions of ways opened, but each person should choose his/her own. We wish you to find your exclusive way to life, death and immortality.