Heaven's Gate - A Defence
On Good Friday 1997, the mortal remains of 39 members of the "Heaven's Gate" cult were
discovered in an outlying ranch near San Diego, USA. Examination revealed that it was a case
of a planned mass suicide, everything left very neat and tidy, and that the bodies, all male, had
been castrated some time previously. The event sent a shudder through spiritual Internet - the
cult members were in business as Web designers and on their Website (see
Bookmarks for URL)
they left accounts of their philosophy,
one "exit press release" and three "exit statements" by students explaining why they had chosen
this course of action. To oversimplify brutally, they saw their human bodies as physical manifestations
of a spiritual self and the suicide as a quick return to the "level above human". In addition their
spiritual destiny was linked with the appearance in our heavens of the "Hale-Bopp" comet and they
expected in some way to return to their masters on a vehicle accompanying that comet. The castrations
could variously be seen as an attempt to free themselves from the burden of their sexuality or as a
demonstration of their intention not to reproduce their physical bodies or "vehicles" as they saw them.
Ignoring for a minute the psychological backgrounds which brought them,
and not others, to this particular situation it might be interesting to
examine their opinions at their face value:
1. Suicide
If you start from the premiss (as one may) that the existence of
consciousness is not a consequence of the possession of a physical body,
but that the consciousness (soul, spirit whatever) has a separate
existence in some way or other and the body is a "vehicle",
then everything is possible, just depends which model you choose.
The vedantist? christian? The Tenth Insight? All are just models and
it seems difficult to obtain authoritative evidence about any one being
more accurate than another. They have chosen a particular model and
followed it to its logical conclusion - but the problem is embryonic in
the other models too - if life is eternal and our present physical
existence is coupled with suffering, why not choose for an early
departure? (Shakespeare lovers will recall Hamlet's deliberations on
this theme) Not for me, i'm committed to choosing life, whatever the
circumstances. But i defend their right ...
2. Comet
Again to quote Hamlet, there are more things in heaven and earth...
Could be, could be. And there's been a lot of revelatory experience
going the rounds lately - why not influenced by some astronomic
event? The experience may be the same, the interpretation is limited
by the wisdom and cultural background of those undergoing it. I find
their extremely specific scenario highly improbable, but it's
no worse than a lot of the others.
3. Castration
Going back to the idea of the body as a temporary repository of the soul
or whatever, it's obvious that a certain amount of sexual activity is
needed to maintain the supply of bodies, but after that is accomplished
the sexual drives do tend to get in the way of normal daily life and the
pursuit of serious spiritual goals, sometimes with disastrous consequences.
I have contemplated chemical castration (by default in my case as i'm
dependent on hormone supplements) but decided here, too, to choose life.
Conclusion
The faster the society (seen as individuals) spiritually develops, the
greater the cultural lag between perceived wisdom and ordinary everyday
"reality", and the more risk of drop-outs who can't bridge this gap.
It seems to me there's a job here for all of us, especially those who have ever floundered
somewhere in this gap, to build bridges with words and ideas that will
overcome the isolation suffered by those with more imagination than
social skills. Their Website is quite articulate in expressing a coherent
and self-consistent picture of things as they see them - i think the
picture is wrong, and lament the terrible consequences, but what to offer
in its place?
PIERS
Clement
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Version 1 13-April-1997
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