- the time for the arrival of the spacecraft from the Level Above Human to take us home to 'Their World' -- in the literal Heavens.'' Heaven's Gate left no shortage of clues as to its negative thinking about the value of this worldly life. The group held fast to a gnostic religious view of the soul as a separate and superior being, temporarily inhabiting a physical form. Bodies, wrote Do, were merely ''the temporary container for the soul.'' A soul, he added, could evolve to a higher level of being, at which point it would receive a new physical form to house it. ''The final act of metamorphosis or separation from the human kingdom,'' he wrote, ''is the 'disconnect' or separation from the human physical container or body in order to be released from the human environment.'' In another document posted on its Internet site, Heaven's Gate ironically declared itself ''against suicide'' – but yet subtly left open the possibility. Yes, the group said, its members expected to exit Earth in their ''physical vehicles (bodies)'' when a spaceship arrived to take them to the ''Next Level.'' But should the forces of the world turn violently against them, it added, the group would be ''mentally prepared'' for whatever came its way. They also allude to the example of the Jews at Masada who killed themselves rather than submit to Roman legions in A.D. 73. Furthermore, the group said its understanding of suicide was not at all conventional: ''The true meaning of 'suicide' is to turn against the Next Level when it is being offered.'' In the group's thinking, a spaceship, thought to be following in Hale-Bopp's wake, would be offering just such an opportunity. In conclusion, the entire aura of the Heaven’s Gate cult seems like something straight out of a late night TV movie. Like most millennialist groups, members held a firm belief in an oncoming apocalypse and that only an elect few would achieve salvation. The spread of their doctrine...
