Why Die? The Immortalist Philosophy, with Herb Bowie, by Julia Griffin

It seemed appropriate, in a magazine devoted to "growing old," to discuss the philosophy of the immortalists, a group who consider that growing old is not necessary.

Immortalists believe that the physical body can theoretically be maintained and regenerated so that a youthful and healthful vitality is always apparent — and that physical immortality can be attained in this lifetime.

In this fascinating article, Julia Griffin reports on her research into immortalist philosophy, then presents her interview with Herb Bowie, author of Why Die? A Beginner's Guide to Living Forever.

So when . . . this mortal shall put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory." I Corinthians, 15:54-55.
Babaji is allegedly a deathless guru who bears no signs of age, appearing to be about twenty-five years old and radiating a perceptible glow.[1] In Paramahansa Yogananda's book Autobiography of a Yogi, the author relates the appearance to him of the immortal Babaji "in the flesh," and says that it was from Babaji that he learned kriya yoga and understood that he had been chosen to reveal this discipline to the Western world.

Immortalists point to Babaji and to Hindu and Tibetan tradition as a source to support their claim that immortals have existed throughout time.

According to the Bible, Christ also emphasized that his immortality was "in the flesh," not just in spirit. Christ says, "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have."[2]

The "death wish"
Integral to all immortalist thought is the belief that human beings can live as long as they want to live, and that death is simply a belief taken into the mind and embraced by the ego as we observe death in our environment and about us. In this view, death is a cultural concept that we are taught throughout our lives. Because we know no better or do not know how to resist the power of this cultural belief, we move unerringly toward death and decay.

Further, as we know, many spiritual beliefs glorify death as a form of eternal rest and peace, seeing life on Earth as nothing but preparation for Heaven.

Immortalists ask whether these ideas are really valid. Do we really have to work on Earth to gain salvation in Heaven? If so, how is it that this work must always be completed in a hundred years or less? Does earthly work never extend beyond this time?[3]

Because immortalists perceive that our beliefs and the ideas that we focus on create our experience, they refer to our cultural belief in death as a "death wish." By believing that death and aging are innevitable, they say, we are in effect wishing these experiences upon ourselves. Through belief, our consciousness limits our perception of time, of our body, and of our lifespan. This limitation of mind, immortalists feel, is the single greatest obstacle to immortality.[4]

Becoming an immortalist
There are several different schools of thought about immortality, and they range from the belief that the body can be regenerated through scientific methods, such as diet, supplements, and scientific advances, to the belief that the body can attain immortality through specific spiritual exercises. There are also immortalists who combine the two streams of thought.[5]

One group of immortalist who call themselves Extropians challenge the idea that aging and death are scientifically inevitable. They believe that humanity is in a "transitory stage in the evolutionary development of intelligence . . . If man is going to extend himself through space, why not through time?"[6]

Robert Coon, writing on physical immortality, says, "In the old age we were wrongly taught that Liberty is obtained by escaping from matter. In this New Aeon we are witnessing the spiritual Liberation of matter."[7] In other words, transfiguration in this age occurs by renewing the material body, not by escaping from it.

Pathways to immortality
The 13 keys

Here are Robert Coon's 13 keys to immortality:

Establish a relationship with the truth. Meditate to find truth within your own heart.

Develop your True Will, or find out what your own True Will is.[8]

Pray for peace for the Earth, and for the peace of a united body and soul.

Focus on birth, not death. Bless the birth of every living individual, and radiate thankfulness toward the time of your own birth. Begin to think about the birth of every being on the planet, as opposed to their death.

Think daily about your own immortal nature. Ask yourself what is the Immortal Self, and begin to trust that. Similarly, look to see the immortal within others.

Use your energy for creative work: poetry, music, dancing, and other art forms.

Unite your spiritual powers. Learn to direct them through an Open Heart. Develop Compassion. Extend this compassion toward all creatures. Immortality cannot be built upon the death of others.

Purify mind, heart, body, and spirit. Train the senses to perceive the Immortal One within one's self.

Develop gratitude. Learn to radiate it toward others. Find the blessing that exists in the moment.

Master the three basic energies of praise, love, and gratitude. The frequency of the body is quickened through these energies.

Meditate on what life would be like through Life Abundant, if there were a society or culture built on the premise of physical immortality.

Ask to be an agent of the Divine Plan of creating physical immortality.

In committing to working toward your own physical immortality using the previous twelve steps, keep a diary, and make a record of each step toward immortality that you have successfully made.

The immortalist "diamond mind" meditation

The idea of the Diamond Mind is found in Tibetan, Buddhist, and alchemical writings. The Diamond Mind, or Way, is a form of meditation that is said to lead to physical immortality.[9]

Dorje Sempa is the Tibetan name for Diamond Mind. Through concentration on the Buddhic form, the mantras bring about a change in the body, just as mantras and a focus upon enlightenment bring about changes in speech and mind.

Practicing the Tibetan Diamond meditation simply consists of pronouncing "the hundred syllables." The practice supposedly leads to a state of "spontaneous awareness": the deep knowing within the Self that recognizes the sphere of enlightenment within the moment.

The words of the Diamond Mind's Hundred Syllable are:

Om Benza Sato Samaya
Manupalaya
Benza Sato Tenopa
Tishta Dri Do Me Bhawa
Suto Kayo Ma Bhawa
Supo Kayo Ma Bhawa
Anurakto Me Bhawa
Sarwa Karma Sutsa Me
Tsitam Shri Ya Kuru Hung
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ho Bhagawaen
Sarwa Tathagata
Benza Ma Me Muntsa Benzi Bhawa Bhawa Maha Samaya Sato Ah
One should pronounce the words distinctly, but at the same time it is the intent and not the sound that mainly accomplishes results.[10]

The alchemical approach to immortality

Alchemy is an ancient art that is said to have originated first in Atlantis, then in Egypt (chem or Khem was the ancient name of Egypt). Alchemy was supposedly given to mankind by Hermes, an Egyptian demigod who appeared with the teachings of the Emerald Tablets.[11]

The alchemical art is related to the understanding of nature's processes. But understanding of those processes takes place between the union of the spirit and soul — beyond the linear and goal-oriented consciousness of the ego. Because of the nature of the mystery, the alchemists say, we cannot know with the logical mind what the next movement should be toward our own metamorphosis. And so for thousands of years alchemists have advised that we follow our heart and intuition in order to learn our true direction.

Alchemy uses specialized imagery to bring about the union between the psyche and the subconscious to create the "philosopher's stone" which is the immortal body. The alchemist must learn to travel through the evolutionary process of stone, plant, animal, man, stars, and Universes. One tool of the alchemists' art is the practice of Merkaba meditation.

Extropian philosophy

Max More, Ph.D., founder of the Extropian movement, focuses on space colonization, life extension and superlongevity, cognitive enhancement, and the effect of technology on the self. The extropian philosophy is also associated with cryogenics — the possibility of extending life through freezing the body a few moments after death in hopes of thawing and re-establishing life in the body in a future time.

Extropians refer to themselves as "transhumans." They view science as a tool to overcome human biological and psychological limitations, seeing technology as "a natural extension and expression of human intellect and will, of creativity, curiosity and imagination."

To Extropians, the concept of a "natural lifetime" is viewed as an absurd acceptance of a limiting constraint. They condone such future technological transformations as genetic engineering, life-extending biosciences, neural-computer integration, neuroscience, and molecular nanotechnology.[12]

For Extropians, life extension is directed towards finding ways of slowing and halting aging, and possible repair of age-induced damage. Rather than being spending a longer time in old age, their goal is to extend our active, healthy years.[13]

One Extropian view is that the future world will be ruled not by Artificial Intelligence, but by new, post-humans who are ageless and super-intelligent.[14]

Conversation with an immortalist
Herb Bowie, who granted us the following interview, has been an immortalist for the past twenty years.

Julia: How did you became an immortalist?

Herb: My wife and I were in Los Angeles attending a "Loving Relationships Therapy" class. Immortalism was one of the ideas that was introduced in the workshop, and I became interested in it.

Julia: How do you define an immortalist?

Herb: An immortalist is someone who believes that it's possible to live forever in a physical body and maintains youth and vitality.

My own belief system is somewhere between that of the Extropians, who think that physical immortality will be the outgrowth of scientific knowledge, and of the spiritual or esoteric school, that believes you can attain immortality through spirituality.

So I do read about and try to practice new scientific advances in health care. I try to have a balanced diet, exercise, and sleep adequately. I believe in incremental immortality. In other words, maybe this year I'll find a new vitamin or supplement or exercise system that will extend my life for one or two more years.

Julia: Are you a vegetarian? Some immortalists say that you shouldn't eat anything that has been killed because of the vibratory level. What are your feelings about this?

Herb: I do eat meat. I eat organic meat and vegetables — not many chemicals or additives. I just try for a balance.

Julia: Have you ever met an immortal?

Herb: No, I haven't. I haven't met an immortal, and I don't know anyone who has.

Until recently, even if you did meet someone who claimed to be an immortal, there would have been no way to prove it. Science has only recently gotten to the point that it can measure something like that.

As far as believing in immortality without proof, no one ever believed man could fly until it happened. In my mind, immortality is a concept that simply hasn't found its time.

Julia: Surrounded by death, as we all are — you see loved ones die, pets die, the seasons change — how do you continue to believe in immortality?

Herb: These things show that death does exist. But there's nothing that proves that death must exist. There is no criterion that says we must die.

But let's talk about aging for a minute. There are a number of parallel activities — for example, there are parts that wear out, like teeth, or emotional activities, like being tired — but there is no law that says we are subject to entropy, no law that says our body must wear out like mechanical devices. There's nothing biological that scientists require for aging. Some people are done when they are young, others live a relatively long time, and no one really knows why.

So I question this notion of death and aging. Why do we think that death is inevitable?

Julia: I remember vividly when my mother told me that everyone had to die — I kept asking why that was so.

Herb: Yes. And most of us, if we are honest, remember an incident when we began to believe in death. We didn't believe it previously. And yet, because of the mind-body connection, what we believe is part of what happens to our body.

I talk to people a lot about death and aging. Awareness of mortality is unique to human beings. Most of us try not to think about those things. We mainly just think about death as something that happens to other people. We try to hide from it. And so much of our life becomes death-oriented, because we are focused on trying to avoid it.

It is very difficult for most people to seriously entertain the possibility of death's happening to them. They change the subject.

You have to be willing to talk about death to consider immortality.

Julia: You say that death is a cultural concept. Can you explain that?

Herb: Sure. Watch the news or read the paper. They explain to us exactly how we age every few years. They have charts and articles about it. That doesn't make it true.

The medical profession will take certain conditions seriously if you have them when you're in your twenties. But if you have the same condition when you're in your forties or fifties, they will tell you it's "normal aging." They won't even try to help you or look for a solution.

We need to look at our beliefs and try to expose ourselves to new beliefs and thoughts. See what our culture is teaching us, and then see what we really think.

Julia: I'm interested in how you continue to have faith in the concept of immortality in our world, surrounded as we are by at least the appearance of death.

Herb: Well, I think a good example is to think about the Wright Brothers. I went to Kitty Hawk last year, and I found out that the day before the Wright Brothers flew, they tried it and crashed. They probably tried and crashed a lot, in the beginning. And everyone said — it was documented — "If God wanted man to fly, He would have given us wings."

I see immortality in the same light. For millennia, humans wanted to fly and could not, and everyone said it was impossible. But that belief was not true. Flying is possible. In the same way, people want to live forever and have not been able to do that, and everyone says it's impossible.

Just the fact that you don't believe something doesn't make it untrue. Now, we can fly everywhere. We can fly to the Moon. I think it is possible that immortality may make the same advances.

We are living longer than we thought possible a few centuries ago, just as we are flying further than we thought possible. I see immortality as a concept that hasn't found its time yet.

Everything is changing slowly. When John Glenn went back up, that was an affirmation to older people that life is changing. You don't have to be retired in your fifties or sixties. You can still do important things.

Julia: I know some people who are interested in immortality — or at least in not aging — and they will refuse to tell others their age. Do you do this?

Herb: No. I'm 51. But I know of someone who changes her age in the computer every year. She has access to the records. I think that's too much trouble. But I do understand the rationale in not telling people your age. When we receive other people's idea of what our age means, we may reflect their mentality about it.

Julia: Have you had any significant changes in your life since you became an immortalist?

Herb: I'm happier. I'm more optimistic and enthusiastic, because I don't expect my life to end. I don't expect to be bored, or to go into retirement.

Julia: Are you healthier?

Herb: You know, I've never thought of that before, but it's true. I haven't been sick very often since I became an immortalist. I am healthier. I used to be sick a lot more before I changed my beliefs.

Julia: Is there anything else you want to tell me about immortality? Any recommendations for the readers?

Herb: We didn't really discuss religion or spirituality, and those are real concerns of mine. For example, there are religious ideas that encourage us to devote our whole existence here to some afterlife. They think that it's a sin to want to extend your life, and that the afterlife is more valuable than this one. I don't agree with that.

I'm also focused on the spiritual side of immortalism. I believe in spirituality and meditation. But for some people, just working with the scientific information may be the best way, at least at the beginning.

For example, I knew someone who was two hundred pounds overweight who believed he could become an immortal through spiritual beliefs. That may be so, but he needed to think about his health. His body may not hold out long enough for him fully to take in these beliefs.

Basically, my advice would be to stay open to new ideas, to be positive, and to always question what you have been taught.