The cult Heaven's Gate began in the early 1970s when Marshall Applewhite was recovering from a heart attack during which he claimed to have had a near-death experience. He came to believe that he and his nurse, Bonnie Nettles, were "the Two", that is, the two witnesses spoken of in Book of Revelation 11:3 in the Bible. After a brief and unsuccessful attempt to run an inspirational bookstore, they began traveling around the country giving talks about their belief system. As with some other New Age faiths they combined Christian doctrine (particularly the ideas of salvation and apocalypse) with the concept of evolutionary advancement and elements of science fiction, particularly travel to other worlds and dimensions. Applewhite and Nettles used a variety of aliases over the years, notably "Bo and Peep" and "Do and Ti". The group also had a variety of names. Before the name Heaven’s Gate was used and stuck, it was known as Human Individual Metamorphosis. At the time Vallée studied the group, it was called HIM (Human Individual Metamorphosis). The group re-invented and re-named itself several times and had a variety of recruitment methods. Marshall himself believed he was directly related to Jesus, meaning he was an "Evolutionary Kingdom Level Above Human".
Heaven's Gate members believed that the planet Earth was about to be recycled (wiped clean, renewed, refurbished and rejuvenated), and that the only chance to survive was to leave it immediately. While the group was formally against suicide, they defined "suicide" in their own context to mean "to turn against the Next Level when it is being offered", and believed that their "human" bodies were only vessels meant to help them on their journey.
LAKE R▲DIO - Planet Earth About to Be Recycled - 2010
Nice post. Whenever I think of Heaven's Gate I think of Nike Windrunners. That logo makes it look like an awesome 80s show.
ReplyDeleteHaha ... "Heaven's Gate airs Wednesday nights after Small Wonder."
ReplyDeletei guess i need to be more active in my pursuits as applewhite was. he had a goal and accomplished it and i'm sure status of a cult leader in ritual suicide isnt the easiest thing to accomplish. also i think suicide is generally a rejection of your environment. "to turn against the Next Level when it is being offered". what was this next level? was it the fear of another billy ray cyrus follow-up to achey breaky? also which did you watch more, 'small wonder', or 'out of this world'?
ReplyDeleteAHH I completely forgot about that one until just now. I used to watch it all the time. I had a huge crush on Maureen Flannigan!
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