Introduction

What's on the "other side"? This is not just a question asked by historians. And yes, for society. Religious, philosophers, anthropologists, doctors, researchers from various fields, as well as ordinary citizens, want to know. Do you go through a cold, dark tunnel to dive into warm, light waters? Do you fly, invisibly, over your own body? Are beings of light coming for us? Nothing is known, although testimonies of those who returned from the afterlife accumulate. Even with their brains apparently stationary, they were able to see visions. Scientists call the phenomenon NDE: near-death experience or near-death experience, a term coined by American psychiatrist Raymond Moody after studying more than 100 cases. Currently, scientific societies with internationally recognized publications focus on the subject.

We have always tried to establish knowledge about the absolute silence that separates being and non-being, the known and the unknown, the here and the there, the presence and the non-presence, the knowledge and the ignorance. Our ancestors believed in the action of the dead on the living. It was not a "belief" as we are used to thinking anachronistically, but a truth. Today, we know – more or less – that our dead will not return, they will have nothing to say to us and that we cannot ask them for affection, protection or advice. Our grief is no longer enchanted. It wasn't like that once.

In the past, the dead person was still alive in his grave. He received the homage of his descendants, motionless but aware. The grave would be just another residence, a dormitory cell, where he would await awakening on the Day of Judgment and which he would sometimes leave to protect or inform the living, communicating with them in a dream or by some external signal. Yes, the "other side" was right there. The dead have always been invoked to care for the living. They are the ones who wave to us, come to blow information and bring messages from the beyond. Many of us want to hear them, see them, let themselves be embraced and why not, take them… However, more important than answers about what was on the "other side", was the will to believe. Believing that there is another life, better, more peaceful. Where everything will be peace and serenity. And this will, to believe, persists.

Death and the dead have been the object of the greatest interest in contemporary societies. "Dying, a way to use it", will soon be a discussion with several guidelines: euthanasia, assisted death, dignified death, with freedom to choose. And it will lead, as in an eternal circle, to the same question: where are we going? If we are.

In addition to the dead, informants are those who can predict. Predicting is a fundamental dimension of men's lives. We all have one foot in the present and one foot in the future. Living is anticipating without ceasing, as our actions aim at a goal ahead. But only a part of that future is known. The one that informs us that the days have 24 hours, that the seasons will succeed each other and the phases of the Moon, too. But what about the rest? What will tomorrow be made of?

In order to be efficient, rise to the challenges and make good decisions, we must therefore anticipate. We appeal to those who can announce the future to us: fortune tellers, astrologers, seers. To put an end to uncertainty, but also to ensure that we are not a pawn in the hands of chance. And yes, of a coherent plan. From Antiquity to our days, we want to anticipate to ensure maximum security. And prediction has a magical power of self-fulfillment in it. Convincing yourself of a victory or a defeat is the best way to bring about its achievement.

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