Existential thoughts of the author. Comprehending death in history and modern times

Comprehending death, if one looks at it from the perspective of human history, is a relatively new phenomenon, let us say, of recent centuries. Although the problem itself – the fear of death and the search for overcoming it — arose in the culture of the “ancient civilizations” (Ancient Egypt, Sumer, India, China, the kingdom of the Nahuas (Aztec empire), etc.). In the previous very fi rst, “archaic culture,” people were not very afraid of death, because they believed in souls and spirits (it is not for nothing that this culture is also called “animistic”); here death was understood as the irrevocable departure of the soul from the body and eternal life in the land of the dead, where hunting and everything else were the same as when living in their native tribe, or even better. The modern era gave rise to a new perception of life and death, comprehended by an atheistic and rational mind. The article shows the understanding of existential phenomena in the history of culture.