                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                  INTRODUCTION
          
          
          Did  you ever wonder just how long a lifetime should  really
          be?  Or if it's possible, just barely possible that we could
          extend it a little?
          
          Sure  you  did.   We all do at one time or another  and  the
          reason  is  that  the very act of dying  (apart  from  being
          monumentally  [!] inconvenient) involves a tremendous  waste
          of experience, ability and unfulfilled potential.
          
          What  is even more to the point is that most of us have,  at
          the  very  least,  a  sneaking suspicion that  death  itself
          serves no useful biological purpose and may very well  prove
          to  be  entirely unnecessary.  Mostly, thinking along  these
          lines  is  inconsequential since we all feel,  deep  in  our
          hearts,  that we are unable to affect the issue one  way  or
          another.
          
          Push  it  a  step further.  What if it is possible  to  beat
          death?   Why should death be inevitable?  Well, that's  what
          this  book is all about.  Death is not inevitable.  It  only
          appears  that  way as a result of our lifetime conditioning.
          Perhaps  it  is,  after  all,  possible  to  side-step   the
          inevitability of death!
          
          As  I  write,  the average life span of our  kind  is  about
          seventy  years for a man (right in there with  the  biblical
          three  score  years  and ten!).  Women  outlast  their  male
          counterparts by some seven or eight years.  Nice, but hardly
          long enough to get excited about, is it?
          
          Things  could  be a lot worse, of course, and they  were  in
          times past, when living conditions left a lot to be desired.
          Measured  against our current western standards the  average
          life  span  was  considerably less!  Look at  the  following
          table.   It  will give you a better idea of just  how  short
          life  has been at different times during the history of  the
          race:
          
                    Chronology          Average Life Span
          
                    Pre-historic        18 years
                    Ancient Greece      20 years
                    Ancient Rome        22 years
                    Middle Ages         33 years
                    1750 AD             36 years
                    1900 AD             47 years
                    1939 AD             63 years
                    1949 AD             68 years
                    1988 AD             70 years
          
          
          The  above figures relate only to the western world and are,
          of  course,  averages.  They include infant deaths  and  the
          deaths  of  octogenarians and centenarians  so  the  figures
          themselves are pretty abstract!
          
          Abstract or not, they're nothing to really brag about.  Even
          when  we examine a few longevity records (of people who died
          at  an  advanced  age  and  for whom authentication  records
          exist), it's still no big deal.
          
          In  our  own time, those of us who reach their ninth  decade
          are  considered  to  have had a pretty good  run  for  their
          money.   Those  of  us who make it to our tenth  decade  are
          encountered even less frequently.
          
          Making it much past the one hundred mark, say a hundred  and
          four  or  a hundred and five is so unusual that it will  get
          you  a  visit  from a bunch of media reporters with  nothing
          better to do with their time.
          
          They  visit  the  nursing  home or  whatever  and  view  the
          chronological  celebrity.  The celebrity probably  has  some
          little  difficulty in communicating and in the  majority  of
          cases couldn't care less about the visit anyway.
          
          After  the  prescribed gushing, and talking very slowly  and
          distinctly (as well as a couple of decibels too loudly)  for
          ten minutes or so, they trundle back to their newspapers  or
          studios.   There, they will write some funny human  interest
          stories  about the celebrity and the reason that he  or  she
          has lived for such a long, long time.
          
          In fact, the celebrity hasn't the faintest idea of why he or
          she should have been so unfortunate as to go on living after
          everything and everyone meaningful has passed away.
          
          If  anything, he or she is hoping that an unkind God  didn't
          keep him, or her, alive this long  just to meet the bunch of
          idiots who conducted the interview!
          
          Any  age past a hundred and four or a hundred and five years
          is  truly  exceptional.   It  is even  more  exceptional  if
          someone,  somewhere  can notch up a hundred  and  ten  or  a
          hundred and fifteen years of living.  Doing so is guaranteed
          to catch the attention of the entire world.  At least for an
          hour  or  so.  A hundred and fifteen years of life  is  also
          about  the  maximum that the biologists will accept  as  the
          upper limit of life for the human animal.
          
          Anyhow,  let's take a look at a cross-section  of  otherwise
          normal  people who have lived, or who are reported  to  have
          lived for an abnormally long time.
          
          In  the  year  1980 the oldest living person in  the  entire
          world  was  one  Shigechiyo Izumi,  a  Japanese  citizen  of
          Kagoshima.  He was one hundred and fifteen years old in that
          year, but lived  on until February  21, 1986 when he finally 
          died at the age  of one hundred and twenty years two hundred
          and thirty seven days.

          At the  time of writing, the oldest living human is a French
          lady, Mme. Jeanne Calment.  She  celebrated her  one hundred
          and twentieth birthday on February  21st. 1995!, her comment
          at the obligatory media interview? 'God has forgotten me!'
          
             
          The oldest person who ever lived (or at least the oldest who
          had a birthdate and a date of death that could be considered
          authentic)  was a New Hebridean native who rejoiced  in  the
          name  of Yaupa.  Yaupa died of measles in the year 1899,  at
          which time records showed that he was one hundred and thirty
          years old.
          
          History  and legend (I sometimes wonder what the  difference
          really is) mention many individuals who died at an age equal
          to or exceeding Yaupa's.
          
          One  fairly recent example was a farm laborer known as  'Old
          Parr' who lived in England in the seventeenth century.   Old
          Parr, or Thomas Parr, to give him his proper name, was  even
          older  than Shigechiyo Izumi.  He was born in the year  1483
          in  Shropshire  and he died in London, November  4th.  1635,
          aged one hundred and fifty two years.
          
          An  agricultural  laborer in his native Shropshire,  he  was
          forced  to give up working in the fields at the age  of  one
          hundred  and thirty, when his eyesight began to fail.   That
          was  about all that did fail Old Parr!  He married  for  the
          first  time when he was eighty years of age and fathered  an
          illegitimate child at the age of one hundred and  six!   Who
          says that it's all in your mind?
          
          Tom  might have fathered a couple more but unfortunately for
          him  the  Earl of Arundel heard about his extreme age.   The
          result  was  that when Tom was a sprightly one  hundred  and
          fifty  one  year old, the Earl hit upon the bright  idea  of
          presenting  Old  Parr to the court of  King  Charles  I,  in
          London.
          
          The  journey,  which  Old Parr made in a  litter,  was  very
          successful.   At  least, as far as the Earl  was  concerned.
          Tom  was  the  celebrity of the month and everyone  who  was
          anyone vied one with the other to entertain him.
          
          King Charles himself showed a personal interest and the Earl
          gained stature thereby.
          
          Unfortunately,  the sudden change of diet, from  the  frugal
          bread  and cheese plus a pint of wallop at home,to the  rich
          and varied diet of the court was too much for Old Parr.   He
          tried  to hold his end up, but it was just too rich for  his
          aged constitution and he cashed in his chips forthwith.
          
          The  Kings  personal physician examined  the  body  and  his
          probably valid opinion was that Tom would have lasted a year
          or  so  longer  had he not made the trip to London.   As  an
          aside,  the good doctor reported that the  body was  covered
          from  head  to foot with a healthy coat of soft, fine  hair.
          Maybe  that's what you get from Tom-catting around.   (Sorry
          about that!).
          
          Parr's age has never been really authenticated.  I doubt  it
          ever  will be after this time, but every effort was made  to
          prove  or  disprove Tom's real age.  There is no  reason  to
          disbelieve  contemporary accounts, but they  just  will  not
          stand up to the rigid standards of the present day.
          
          Sad,  but the Old Parr investigation simply didn't  come  up
          with  the requisite piece of paper and because of this,  his
          remarkable life-span has been consigned to legend along with
          the Unicorn and the Wyvern.
          
          Legend  is  actually a pretty good place to look  for  other
          oldsters.   Records  were pretty spotty in  and  around  the
          middle  ages  (and even later for that matter)  yet  stories
          keep  cropping  up in the contemporary and later  literature
          about  individuals  who  lived far  longer  that  Old  Parr,
          sometimes for hundreds of years longer.
          
          Of  course, they are only stories are they not?  Yet on this
          basis,  at least two of the old time Alchemists could  still
          be  alive,  even though a few hundreds of years have  passed
          since  their  birth.   There are quite  a  number  of  other
          possibilities,  but  the  following  two  examples  are   my
          favorites.
          
          The  first is Perenelle Flamel, a French seventeenth century
          Alchemist  and  the  wife  of Nicolas  Flamel,  who  was  an
          Alchemist himself.
          
          Nicolas  admitted that his wife was quite capable of  making
          the   projection  that  resulted  in  the  Elixir,  or   the
          transfiguration of the Alchemist.  He himself was reputed to
          have  changed base metals into gold and he certainly died  a
          rich man in his eighty seventh year.
          
          Not  so  Perenelle.  On the death of her husband she  simply
          vanished from the scene like the intelligent woman  she  was
          and maybe still is.
          
          Another  seventeenth century Frenchman, M. le Comte  de  St.
          Germain,  was also believed to be an Alchemist.  He  kept  a
          higher  profile than the Flamels but his origin  is  unknown
          and nothing at all is known about his early years.  Even his
          title was nothing more than a polite fiction accepted by the
          circle  in  which he moved.  It was in fact taken  from  the
          name of St. Germaine, a suburb of medieval Paris.
          
          Other than this, it is well established that the Count first
          appeared on the social scene of the French capital somewhere
          around  the year 1710, at which time he had already  reached
          maturity.
          
          He  maintained some sort of a presence in Paris until  about
          the  year 1822, at which time he must have been at  least  a
          hundred  and forty two years old.  Obviously, if  the  Count
          was  extraordinarily long-lived, it is also conceivable that
          he  was  born before the year 1680 (just a guess that  would
          put him at about thirty years old when he first 'came out').
          Perhaps even a very long time before!
          
          He was recognized at the signing of the American Declaration
          of  Independence (Ben Franklin spent a lot of time in France
          and  he and St. Germain would have been kindred souls.  Such
          a relationship would certainly have explained his presence).
          
          He  made at least one more appearance.  In the early  1960's
          he  contacted and met with one of the authors of  the  books
          'The    Morning   of   the   Magicians'   and    'Impossible
          Possibilities', Jaques Bergier and Louis Pauwels.
          
          Now  there  is really no moral to be found in the foregoing.
          They  are  just a few stories about some unusual people  who
          seem  to have lived for a long time.  In some cases, a  very
          long time!  If there is any truth to them, then the Count of
          St.  Germain  has been around for over three hundred  years!
          The  stories simply serve to underline the fact that in  all
          probability we do not have to die quite so early as  we  do.
          We could live for a lot longer.
          
          Quite  a  concept, isn't it?  Immortality.  The  ability  to
          live  forever (or at least, for a very long time)  with  the
          appearance  and  abilities  of  youth  (it's  not  such   an
          attractive proposition without it).
          
          So,  why do we die?  Why does death appear to be inevitable?
          There is absolutely no biological reason why we do not  live
          far,  far longer than we actually do.  We could, and  should
          live for a lot longer.
          
          I'll  tell  you why.  We generally shuffle off  this  mortal
          coil  after  a measly eight or nine decades because  we  are
          programmed to do so!
          
          Millions of year ago someone, or something, was forced  into
          making  a decision.  The decision was how the very primitive
          life  form that would eventually evolve into humanity  would
          better  survive as a species.  This in an environment  where
          ninety five percent of the flora and fauna spent their  time
          in  killing and eating each other one hundred percent of the
          time!
          
          Someone,  or something was faced with two possibilities.   A
          choice  between  a high rate of reproduction  combined  with
          early  maturity, or extended longevity.  Either choice would
          achieve the desired result.
          
          Someone, or something performed the equivalent of flipping a
          coin.   It came down tails and a high reproductive rate  won
          out.
          
          We don't have a high reproductive rate anymore, but we don't
          have much in the way of longevity to compensate for the loss
          either!  So, what has happened is that we are stuck with  an
          out  of date program in our chromosomes and literally,  it's
          killing us!
          
          Fortunately, what has been done once can be done again, only
          this time we have to do it to ourselves.  It is feasible for
          us  to re-program our biological computer, although we  will
          be  using genes instead of bytes.  We can reverse that  flip
          of  a  coin  and switch over to longevity.  When we  can  do
          this, immortality is available.  Have no doubts about that.
          
          The point is, what kind of immortality are we talking about?
          There is more that one kind, or at least there is more  than
          one concept of immortality and some of them are unacceptable
          to  our  western society.  Who, for example, wants  to  stay
          alive  in a body that continues to age?  Immortality has  to
          be more attractive than that.
          
          Furthermore,  we  of  the West have  developed  a  different
          cultural mindset than those of the East.  This is the result
          of  a lifetime spent within a set of established  values and
          concepts,  both  social  and  cultural  with  which  we  are
          entirely  comfortable.  Just as we are comfortable with  the
          concept  of  an  eternally youthful  immortality  that  such
          factors instill into us.  This is what we must have!
          
          It  is  different  for  us.  We cannot  empathize  with  the
          immortality of the Hindu, who anticipates re-absorption into
          the Universal Spirit after death.  Nor can we empathize with
          the  even less appealing post-mortem achievement of  Nirvana
          by  the  orthodox   Bhuddist,  which  calls  for  the  total
          extinction of personality!
          
          To  the  Western  mind  the appeal of practical  immortality
          could  very  well mean tramping down some dusty  lane  on  a
          newly  colonized  earth type planet in another  star  system
          several  hundreds  of years from now in  the  still  distant
          future.   Or perhaps undertaking some self-imposed  task  or
          responsibility  that would require several normal  lifetimes
          to achieve a particular desired result.
          
          It  could  mean that you have the choice to either become  a
          major  player in molding the continuing history of the race,
          or  standing, and living contentedly on the sidelines as  an
          observer rather than a participant.  But whatever it is,  it
          will be your choice to make.
          
          This  kind  of immortality is available in the here-and-now.
          Real  immortality.  Practical  immortality.   Once  you  can
          accept the fact that it really exists, that it really  is  a
          viable  option,  then you are almost ready to  make  both  a
          decision and a commitment.
          
          Personal  immortality  is  not a new  concept.   Since  pre-
          historic  times our society has not only been aware  of  the
          possibility,  we  have actively and consistently  sought  to
          capture  it  and, against all the odds, some of did  exactly
          that.
          
          How  did this awareness and subsequent research come to take
          place?  Well, anyone discussing the pre-historic search  for
          longer  life  is skating on pretty thin ice.   In  spite  of
          that, there are still indications and logical inference that
          such a search was taking place very early in the game.
          
          I  believe that the emergence of what is essentially  modern
          man  (Homo  Sapiens,  or  Cro-Magnon  as  he  is  frequently
          called), and the disappearance of his immediate predecessor,
          Homo  Neanderthal  which took place about and  around  forty
          thousand years or so ago, marks the beginning of the attempt
          to gain individual immortality.
          
          Neanderthal was not quite capable of executing the essential
          mental  technique,  which  is,  and  was,  supported  almost
          entirely by the facility of fluent and rapid speech.
          
          Not that Neanderthal wasn't intelligent enough to comprehend
          the  quest,  for  he  was.  It was simply  that  his  mental
          processes and response time were not quite fast enough.   On
          top  of that, his underdeveloped pharynx, which is essential
          to  the facility of speech, limited his use of language  and
          verbal  communication.  Due to these drawbacks, Neanderthal,
          while  he could communicate, was only able to do so at about
          one  seventh the speed of you or I.  Not his fault, but  the
          lack  of  these  two physical properties were sufficient  to
          ensure that he did not make the 'A' team.
          
          His  successor, Cro-Magnon, or modern man, was  sufficiently
          advanced  to  develop  not only a fluid  and  fluent  speech
          system  but  also  a  fairly sophisticated  theology  and  a
          supporting   caste  devoted  to  interfacing   between   the
          totemistic Gods and the people.  The interfacing caste  were
          the Shamans, and Shamanism was probably the social mechanism
          that enabled the discovery of the immortality technique.
          
          That  the  knowledge  or  the  search  for  immortality  did
          continue  throughout the period of time dividing pre-history
          from history is a little easier to establish.
          
          The  Egyptian  Book of the Dead is devoted  to  immortality,
          albeit the post-mortem kind.  It does, however, underline  a
          racial  awareness of immortality and although it is  devoted
          to  the  Egyptian  cult  of death it may  be  inferred  that
          immortality per se was already incorporated into  the  human
          psyche.
          
          The earliest versions, or component parts of the Book of the
          Dead date back to the immediate beginnings of the historical
          period  and  it  has  been  shown that  they  originated  in
          folklore  and legend that pre-date even that.   As  you  can
          see,  about the only literary baggage that carried  forwards
          from  the pre-historic to the historic period is a tradition
          of immortality!
          
          It  is an unfortunate fact that the majority of the Egyptian
          religions  got  sidetracked into the life after  death  type
          concept,  since  it dominated their religious  thinking  for
          thousands  of  years and produced little  of  value  in  the
          search  for  personal  physical  immortality.   Oddly,   the
          fellaheen  accepted this pie in the sky type of  immortality
          just  as easily as most of use have accepted the same  thing
          offered to us by the priesthood of the Christian religion!
          
          Actually, this sidetracking was not quite as complete as  it
          may  appear.  The  priests of the Egyptian  God  Thoth,  for
          example.  They possessed the secret of immortality and  they
          nurtured and developed it into the system that is still with
          us.   Although  one  may  imagine  that  the  knowledge  was
          concealed   not  only from the mass of believers,  but  also
          from other priestly organizations.
          
          The  first recorded awareness of mankind's knowledge of  and
          desire  for immortality dates back to about 2000 BC   That's
          about  two  thousand years on this side of the historic/pre-
          historic dividing line.
          
          An  archeological  excavation uncovered  twelve  baked  clay
          tablets,   each  covered  with  incised  cuneiform  writing.
          Translated,  the  tablets turned out to be  a  copy  of  the
          worlds first epic novel, the story of Gilgamesh.
          
          Gilgamesh  was  a tyrannical Babylonian king who  ruled  the
          city  of Erech (now Warka, Iraq) and who among other  things
          sought personal immortality.
          
          Cutting it short, it appears that Gilgamesh and his partner,
          Enkidu, were roaming ancient Iraq like a couple of early day
          knight-errants.   Enkidu  was  killed  in   one   of   their
          adventures  and Gilgamesh was left to search for immortality
          on his own.
          
          He  finally  learned  that immortality was  bestowed  by  an
          aquatic   plant  growing  in  the  sea  and  for  which   he
          immediately commenced a search.  Like all heroes,  he  found
          the  object of his search but for some reason lost the plant
          before he could eat it and become immortal.
          
          On  a more useful and practical level than eating seaweed is
          the  mythical recovery of the famous Emerald Tablet from the
          tomb   of   Hermes  Trismegistos  (thrice  blessed,  Priest,
          Philosopher and King).  It is this tablet that gives us  the
          first  recorded description of the meaning of the Alchemical
          work,  together  with  the  first written  clues  needed  to
          achieve personal and practical immortality.
          
          I  have  included a more detailed description of the Emerald
          Tablet  and the twelve Hermetic precepts which are  engraved
          upon  it,  in the chapter devoted to Alchemy.  To comprehend
          these  precepts requires some background study and a  little
          heavy  thinking,  but I believe you will agree  that  it  is
          worth it.
          
          The  Tablet, together with other indications culled  from  a
          wide  variety  of  Alchemical  texts  show  that  the  (now)
          Alchemical   technique   for   achieving   immortality   was
          discovered, researched, refined and practiced many thousands
          of  years ago. Long before its association with Alchemy.  It
          serves to re-affirm the fact that the principle involved was
          discovered very early in the history of our race.
          
          This  brings  up  another point.  It is  a  matter  of  some
          importance  to  your own progress that you  learn  never  to
          downplay  the findings of individuals who lived  in  earlier
          times than our own.  It is an unfortunate pre-disposition of
          our  kind  to  assume that intelligence  must  of  necessity
          advance hand-in-hand with technology.  This is not so.   Our
          ancestors were just as sharp as we like to think we are!
          
          Down  through  the  countless ages, men and  women  with  an
          intellectual  capability at least equal  to  our  own,  have
          devoted  a great deal of productive time and study  to  this
          most important of subjects.
          
          They  were able to evolve their own techniques, and not only
          have  these techniques withstood the acid test of time, they
          have also been shown to be remarkably similar to any of  the
          versions that were developed closer to our own era.
          
          This  similarity is not really remarkable.   The  techniques
          available to any pre-mechanistic, pre-technological cultures
          are bound to display many points of similarity.  As a matter
          of fact, the similarity is due as much to the fact that what
          really happened is that the same process was discovered  and
          re-discovered many times!
          
          Logic  alone dictates that all of these discoveries  involve
          the   science  of  the  mind  and  are  limited  to   mental
          disciplines and practices.  They have included hypnosis  and
          perhaps,  occasionally,  the  use  of  drugs.   Without  the
          technological advances of the last quarter of a  century  or
          so, there were very few other viable options.
          
          Nowadays  there  are a few more options than  has  erstwhile
          proven   to  be  the  case  and  one  of  them  is   genetic
          engineering.   In  this case the promise of  immortality  is
          based upon instrumental gene manipulation and may very  well
          prove  to  be  the method of choice sometime in the  future.
          For  the  present  however, neither  the  knowledge  or  the
          techniques  required  to  locate and  manipulate  the  genes
          controlling the aging process are available.
          
          Correction!   They are not believed to be  available!   Yet!
          But  even  if such knowledge and techniques were  to  become
          available, the tremendous cost involved is likely to  ensure
          that  anti-aging treatments will probably be limited to  the
          financial, intellectual and political elite.
          
          This is only to be expected in the society in which we live,
          so  it will hardly come as a surprise.  Fortunately, genetic
          engineering, while showing great promise, is not  and  never
          will be the only route to immortality!
          
          
          
          
