Where do we go when we die?

While I tend to favor the lyrics from Sentimental Man by Dismemberment Plan:

There is no heaven and there is no hell
No limbo in-between -- I think it's all a lie
Just a white light out to velvet black
and back to neutral gray -- that's all when we die

I do sometimes wonder "Is that really all there is?" and "What would heaven look like?". Well, one of my favorite sites, raptureready.com, home of the Rapture Index, an up-t0-date list that rates how close we are to the Apocalypse, can not only answer that question, but can tell me EXACTLY what my heavenly home would look like here. I adore the "Widow's Mite" and the "God-Fearing" mansions, but I'm wondering if they might require a little too much work on my part. Maybe Jesus could custom-make me a nice Craftsman bungalow like they have in Old North Durham? He could call it the "Bleeding Heart Liberal" model. I understand that I probably won't get the square footage of the "Average Christian", but I'm okay with that, as long as the windows are original. [If you're reading this JC, something like the one below would be great]


If you don't already know about the Rapture, here's a little instructional video to help you out:




Or I guess you could just ask me; I'm kind of an expert after reading through Book 6 (Assassins) of the Left Behind Series....

From the bookshelves....part 1

Here are two images from the book Life Beyond Earth by Timothy Ferris. The top is an engraving from "Monthly Discussions of All Sorts of Books, by Several Friends, " from 1697. The bottom is from 1687 from "Comical History of the States and Empires of the Worlds of the Moon and the Sun" by Cyrano de Bergerac.
In a similar vein, here are two cosmological diagrams from the 1500's. These come from The Cosmographical Glass: Renaissance Diagrams of the Universe, purchased at the incredible Museum of Jurassic Technology in LA. Also included is an illustration of one of Kepler's geometric conceptualizations.

Children of God

As anyone who knows me knows, I have a little fascination with cults. However, I have a personal tie to one particular cult, called "Jesus People", "Children of God" or "the Family". This cult was centered around a creepy character called David Berg and his consort Karen "Maria" Zerby. It began with communal living, branched into free love, "flirty fishing" (proselytizing by prostitution) and then, tragically, sexual abuse of children. The scary thing is that this cult had a few million members in its heyday and still survives now, although they have formally disavowed the sexual abuse (although are still up to some nefarious activities). I had heard of the CoG, but was reminded about their existence by my little sister's ex-boyfriend, Thor, who was born into it, and spent his childhood traveling all over Europe, busking for the group. (note 1: I feel that it is okay to use his real name since his mother has written a book, Heaven's Harlots, about her experiences and openly referenced him, with his permission. Plus, he's very open to discussion about it. note 2: I seem to keep in contact with her exes perhaps better than she does...) He recently sent us a chapter of an account his Dad is pitching for a book deal as a complement/counter to his mom's perspective, but I haven't had a chance to look at it closely. The biggest splash the cult has made was the Ricky Rodriguez murder/suicide in 2005. From his birth to "Maria" and his adopted father David Berg, he was groomed to take over cult leadership and given the name "Davidito". His childhood (and abuse) was chronicled in a grotesque child-rearing guide called "The Story of Davidito". Unsurprisingly but sadly, he was never able to recover and his abusers were never prosecuted. He finally set out on a quest to kill his mother and then himself, but instead killed one of his former nannies/abusers when he was unable to track down Maria. I read a book about his story called Jesus Freaks: A True Story of Murder and Madness on the Evangelical Edge that tells his story. It's pretty heartbreaking.

If any of this sounds interesting to you, ex-members have created a comprehensive wiki with great photo, document and video archives. The images on top are some of the weird posters from the site. Obv, not for the faint of heart.

Mount Everest

Biff and I are huge fans of PBS's series Frontline, which airs documentary programming about all different topics and then will post them for computer viewing as well. I've been really interested in Mount Everest since reading Into Thin Air in 2001, and seeing the Everest IMAX. David Breashears is a mountain climber/filmmaker who was on Everest in 1996 filming that IMAX when a storm came up that ultimately killed 15 climbers I think, including his friend and fellow guide who got stranded on the summit. Breashers returned to Everest a couple of years ago to rethink the tragedy and interview survivors in the program Storm Over Everest. We haven't really seen the tragedy narrative until this point, although Into Thin Air describes it well, you don't really realize how sublime the mountain is and how epic the journey until you see it. I personally feel like submitting Everest is the ultimate in human hubris and selfishness, especially since for every 6 who summits successfully, 1 person dies. I really feel for the family members of the climbers. However, I definitely see the fascination and understand the power of the superlative-how tempting to have scaled the highest mountain on Earth. What's especially incredible are the non-climber thrill seekers that train specifically for Everest and pay tens of thousands of dollars to risk their lives just to have that distinction.

We've since seen Breasher's other documentary called Everest: the Death Zoneabout what happens to the human body at really high altitudes (accelerated decay and cognitive loss). It's okay. There are other books about the 1996 storm, but I don't know if I have the heart to read them.