Aurobindo, Sri, 150
Australian aboriginal peoples, 154
automatism, 43
Avicenna, 228
Azerbaijan, 2, 293
Babylon, 99, 114
Bacon, Francis, 230, 231, 303
Bacon, Roger, 226–27, 228
Bahamas, 123, 184–85
baicalin, 288
Bai Juyi, 237
Bainbridge, William S., 273
Balaban, Liane, 175n
ballads, 122
balneologists, 17, 106
Balzac, Honoré de, 216
baptism, 31, 46, 61, 68, 72, 98–99, 101, 153–54
Bardo Thodol, 368
Barzakh, 51
Báthory, Erzsébet, Countess, 1
Baudelaire, Charles, 2, 216
Baxter International, 344
Bayh-Dole Act, 353
Becker, Ernest, 29, 58
Bedford, James, 303, 304
Bedford Day, 303, 316
Belet, 219
Bellow, Saul, 48
Bergman, Ingmar, 59, 63, 65, 68, 72, 78
Bergson, Henri, 70, 71, 72
Best, Ben, 301, 308, 309, 311, 310–13, 314, 316
Bestiaire, Le, 122
BestLife (magazine), 165–66, 170, 171, 173, 177, 190, 220, 220n, 222
Bethesda, fountain of, 101
Beyond Imagination (Copperfield), 206
Beyond Reason (TV show), 34
Bible, 26, 31, 72, 84, 99, 101, 203, 216–17, 278, 319
Big Bang theory, 99–100, 362–63
BioMarker Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 260–61
Biopreservation, 306
bios, 101
Biotech industry, 253, 263–64, 286, 297
Blackburn, Elizabeth H., 262
Blaine, David, 110, 182
Blake, William, 158, 212, 214, 216
Blake and Tradition (Raine), 214
blessings, 45, 94
blogs, 10–11
blood, in initiation rituals, 154
blood transfusions, 1
Bloom, Harold, 15, 158
Bohr, Niels, 364
Boia, Lucian, 3
Book of Eastern Mercury, The (Jaābir ibn Hayyaān), 228
Book of Stones, The (Jābir ibn Hayyaān), 228
Book of the Silvery Water and the Starry Earth, The, 232
Boots brand, 252
Borges, Jorge Luis, 148, 216
Botox, 282, 320
Bradbury, Ray, 166, 307n
Brahmans, 102, 119
Breakfast at Tiffany’s (film), 60
Breton, André, 43
Brin, Sergey, 16, 112
Brinkley, “Doc” John Romulus, 275
Bristol-Myers Squibb, 344
Brodsky, Joseph, 337
Bronze Age Greece, 100
Brooks, Mel, 207
Brown-Séquard, Charles-Édouard, 347–49
Buddhism, 99, 365, 366–67, 368–71, 372, 373, 377
Bureau of American Ethnology, 124, 137
burial customs, 30, 102
BusinessWeek (magazine), 264
Byron, George Gordon, 17, 376
Cabot, John, 134
Caesar, Julius, 16
CALERIE (Comprehensive Assessment of Long-term Effects of Reducing Intake of Energy), 259–60
California Institute of Technology, 10
Caligula, emperor, 16
Callisthenes, 121
caloric restriction (CR), 11, 259–61
Carita brand, 252
Carrel, Alexis, 248–49, 353
Carroll, Lacey, 221, 222
Catholicism, 68–69, 73–74, 129, 251
Caucasus region, 2
Celts, 98
Chabad-Lubavitch movement, Judaism, 86, 88, 93
channeling, 35, 39, 182
Chants de Maldoror, Les (Lautréamont), 10
charitable donations, 29
Chekhov, Anton, 15
chemistry, 226, 228, 232–33, 237
Chenrezig, 99
Cherokee tribe, 124
chico longevity gene, 255
China, 116, 192, 228n, 237–45, 246, 275
Chödrön, Pema, 366–67, 368, 371
cinnabar, 226, 237–38, 239, 241, 243, 244, 245
clairvoyants, 43–44
Clarke, Arthur C., 274
Claudius, emperor, 16
Clinique brand, 252
coenzyme Q10, 251
Cole, Frank, 308
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 55, 147, 214
Colette, 248
Collins, Mark Raymond, 318–34, 330n, 335, 336, 338, 342, 344, 345–46, 349, 350, 351–52
Columbus, Christopher, 123, 136–37
Comfort, Alex, 333n
coming-of-age rituals, 154–55
Commandments, 85, 282
commemorative plaques, 29
Commodus, emperor, 16
Communism, 31
Concordia University, 57, 58, 61, 62
Conference of the Birds, The (Attar), 117, 118
confession, 58, 61, 73
Confidential Instructions for the Ascent to Perfected Immortality, 243
conquistadors, 123
Coomaraswamy, Ananda, 117
Cooper, Evan, 302
Copperfield, David, 108–13, 165–77
article proposal to, 110, 116, 148, 165, 169–74, 177, 220–21
childhood of, 195–96, 210–11
comments on magic, 195
fountain of youth and, 108–09, 123, 148, 166, 187, 202–09, 210, 220, 221, 222, 377
illusions and shows of, 109–10, 147, 166–69, 174–75, 181, 182, 182n, 191, 207
visit on Musha Cay with, 175–77, 184–211, 377
copper peptides, 251
Cornaro, Luigi, 259
Corpus Hermetica, 232
cosmic immortality, 30
Cotter, Kat, 283, 288
Coward, Noël, 1
creation narratives, 99–100
CREB1, 3
Creed of Love, Sufism, 51–52
cremation, 27, 30, 305, 306, 314, 354
Crème de la Mer brand, 252
Crowley, Aleister, 182
Crusades, 114, 115
Cryogenics Reports (magazine), 304
Cryonics Institute (CI), 301, 302, 304, 305, 308, 309, 310–13, 314, 317
Cryonics Society of California, 303
Crystal, Billy, 197
crystallomancy, 41–42
Ctesias, 120–21, 122n
Cuba, 132
Cumaean Sibyl, 18, 378
Cure of Old Age and Preservation of Youth, The (Bacon), 227
DAF genes, 260
Daft Punk, 150–51
Da Gama, Vasco, 115
Dalai Lama, 38, 99, 366
Dalí, Salvador, 87
d’Anghiera, Peter Martyr, 123
Dante, 214, 303
Daoism, 226
Darwin, Mike, 309n
Das, Dipak K., 342
Daston, Lorraine, 146–47
David, King, 86
David Copperfield’s Tales of the Impossible (Copperfield), 166–67
Dawkins, Richard, 360, 362, 364
dead spirits, communicating with, 40–44
Deagan, Kathleen, 137
De Anima (Aristotle), 372
death
acceptance of, 28–29
ambivalence about the meaning of, 15–16
ancient Egyptian beliefs about, 179–80
being frightened of, 7
belief systems and attitudes toward, 27–32
calmness before, 28
denial of, 6, 28, 224, 267, 309, 320
environment and necessity of, 7–8
feelings and experiences before, 28–29
Hindu rites for, 101–02
initiation rituals and fear of, 154–55
Jesuit reaction to, 67
mythology as layer of protection against, 102
number of daily deaths, 6
religion and attitudes toward, 31–32
search for immortality and, 20
speaking with loved ones after, 40–44
symbolic, and rebirth, 154
transformation after, 92
Death Becomes Her (film), 337
Deckers, Jeanine (Singing Nun), 129
Dee, John, 42
de Grey, Aubrey, 10, 265, 266, 278, 290–93, 294–96, 301, 302, 320–21, 332, 346, 352
Demopoulos, Harry B., 253–54
denial of death, 6, 28, 224, 267, 309, 320
Denial of Death, The (Becker), 29, 58
Depp, Johnny, 185
Descartes, René, 142, 146
de Vera, Narayan, 298
De Vita Longa (Paracelsus), 231
Dewar, James, 311
Dharmasutra of Āpastamba, 31
Dhyani Buddhas, 368–69
Diamant de Beauté brand, 252
Diamond Lil (Louella Day McConnell), 125–28, 131, 133, 134, 135, 139, 140, 145
Diana, 215
Dianetics, 307n
Dias, Bartolomeu, 115
Dickens, Charles, 210
Dickinson, Emily, 1
Dillard, Annie, 300
Dionysus, 100–101
Disney, Walt, 305
DNA, 16, 30–31, 257, 261, 339, 355–56
Doāgen, 364
“Dominique” (Singing Nun), 129
Doniger, Wendy, 102, 120, 213
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor, 23, 216
Dre, Dr., 197
dreams, 14, 18, 20–21, 40, 105, 153–54, 155, 206–07, 213, 368
Dreiser, Theodore, 128
Drops from the Fount of Life (ancient text), 117
druidism, 99
dukkha 366
During, Simon, 199
Eagleman, David, 275
Earth (planet), 99–100, 105, 136, 149, 181, 230, 237, 289, 298, 309
Easter Island, 112, 249, 345
eccentricity, 11
Edwin Smith Papyrus, 3
Egypt, ancient, 2–3, 38n, 112, 115, 144, 179–80, 181, 192, 226n, 231–32, 276
Eiffel Tower, Paris, 189
Einstein, Albert, 12, 29, 227, 360, 361, 373, 376
electrical-shock treatments, 3
Eleusinian mysteries, 101
Eliade, Mircea, 365
elixir of life, 1, 10, 119n, 226, 228, 229–30, 238–44, 246, 251, 295, 347. See also alchemy; fountain of youth
Elixir of Life ceremony, Shambhala, 365–66, 373–74, 377
Elizabeth I, queen of England, 42
Elizondo, Salvador, 375
Ellison, Larry, 16, 330, 356
Éluard, Paul, 33
embalming practices, 2, 27, 303
embryonic cell injections, 1, 248
Emerald Tablet, 181, 232
Eminem, 197
Empedocles, 2, 372
Ending Aging (de Grey), 265, 287, 291, 301
Enlightenment (period in history), 142, 146, 224–25, 232, 356–57, 359
enlightenment (spiritual state),
Eros, 155, 178, 217–18
Esalen Institute, 149–53, 155–57, 160–61
eschatology, 98
Escobar, Caleb, 267
Esfandiary, F. M., 354
Esoteric Transmissions Concerning the Martial Thearch of the Han, 243
Esquire (magazine), 176, 222
Esselen tribe, 152
Estée Lauder, 254
Eternal Ones of the Dream, The (Roheim), 154
Ettinger, Elaine, 302, 311
Ettinger, Mae, 302, 311, 315
Ettinger, Robert, 301–02, 304, 306–07, 308, 311, 314–16
Euclid, 372
euhemerism, 121
Euhemeros, 121
Eukarion, 254
Eurynome, 99
evolution, 13, 71, 102–03, 105, 273, 357
Facebook, 11, 15
faith, 9, 12, 13, 26–27, 38, 56, 73–74, 77, 78, 80, 96, 103, 110–11, 132, 147, 227, 232, 250, 251, 274, 292, 300, 358–59, 360, 361, 362, 376
Fante, John, 15, 98
Faust (Goethe character), 225, 226
FBI, 109
FDA, 252, 340, 349
Fellini, Federico, 65
fenugreek oil, 3
Ferdinand II, king of Aragon, 126, 138, 143
Ferenczi, Sándor, 219
fetal life, 105, 218–19, 325–26
film, in spiritual life, 57, 58–59, 58n, 60, 65–66, 68, 69, 78, 205
Finkelstein, David, 345
Five Dhyani Buddhas, 368–69
Flennaugh, Robert, 221
Flett, Sharry, 76–79, 80
Flier, Jeffrey, 338, 344, 349
Flow of Mercury, 246
fog, 75
Fontana, Luigi, 261
Fontaneda, Hernando D’Escalante, 144
Fontinell, Eugene, 351
Ford, John, 65
Forms (ancient Greek doctrine), 217–18, 372
Forster, E. M., 25
fos longevity gene, 255
Foucault, Michel, 223
fountain of youth, 17
age-old stories and myths about, 20–21, 115–20, 119n
dreams of, 18
early historical accounts of, 120–23
Esalen Institute and, 149, 151–52
exploration and search for, 123–24
Florida locations for, 124, 140
healing powers of, 120, 121, 123, 124, 157
Musha Cay, Bahamas, as site of, 108–09, 110, 111, 113, 187, 202–07, 208–09, 221, 222
prevention of death with, 100–101
stories about Ponce de León’s discovery of, 124, 126–27, 130–38, 140, 143–44
symbolic meaning of, 216–17
Fountain of Youth National Archaeological Park, St. Augustine, Florida, 125–47
claims about quality and efficacy of water at, 134–35, 138–39, 138n, 141–43, 146
historical background on, 125–28, 133, 138–40
location of fountain within, 130, 135
tourism aspect of, 145–46
visit to, 128–38, 142–43
Fowles, John, 163
Frankenstein theme, 265
Fraser, Brian, 131, 132, 133, 134
Fraser, Walter B., 131, 132, 133, 134, 139–40, 146
Frazer, J. G., 235
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor, 114
free radicals, 253, 254, 256
Freud, Sigmund, 211, 218–19
Frye, Northrop, 213
Fuck Death Foundation, 9
funeral customs
cremation and, 27, 30, 314, 354
embalming and, 27
mummification and, 2–3, 179–80, 231
preserved bodies of leaders and, 2, 303
funerals, 21, 25–27, 32, 80
Furber, John, 346
Galison, Peter, 147
Galen, 230
Gallup polls, 28
Ganges River, 101, 119
garage music, 59
Gates, Bill, 112, 172, 277, 279
Gehenom (Gehenna), 89, 99
General Social Surveys, 6
gene-regenerating creams, 1
genetic theories of longevity, 203, 206, 220, 249–50, 254–56, 258–61, 264–65, 292, 334–35, 338–39, 342, 344–45, 354
genetics, 8, 17, 257, 258, 261
Genghis Khan, 4, 116
Gennep, Arnold van, 153
George, Saint, 118
gerocomy, 227
Geron, 264
gerontology, 8, 10, 17, 259, 265, 290, 292, 320, 332, 347–49, 347n
Gerovital-H3, 2
Gervais, Father Marc, 217, 305n
death and funeral of, 80, 376
ideas on prayer from, 59, 205
talks about immortality and life force with, 60–61, 62, 71, 72–76, 77–80, 118, 231, 366, 376, 377
as teacher, 57, 58–60, 58n
visits with, after retirement, 61–80
Gilgamesh, 19–20
Gilgul, 89, 99
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), 256, 261, 335, 340–41, 342, 346
Glenn Foundation for Medical Research, 319, 322–23, 326, 327, 328, 346, 350, 351
Glenn Symposium on Aging, 336, 337–38, 344
Global Industry Analysts, 4
gnosticism, 13, 99
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 216, 225, 225n, 281
Gogol, Nikolai, 114
Göllner, Ilona Köver (“Auntie Tiny”), 25–26, 377
Goodman, Linda, 266–67
Gospel of John, 26–27
Gospels, 114, 122
Gottschling, Dan, 339
grace, 52, 60–61, 69–70, 77, 80, 117–19
gravesites, 3, 43, 102, 242–43
gravestones (headstones), 32, 46
Gray, John, 232–33, 361
Great Pyramid, Giza, Egypt, 112
Great Wall of China, 109, 192
Greece, ancient, 42, 54, 100–101, 120–21, 154, 155, 161, 181, 213, 214, 217–18, 226n, 231–32, 357, 371–73, 376
Green Knight, 118
Gregory, Saint, 69
Greider, Carol W., 262, 264
grief, 6, 19, 20, 27–28, 225, 376
Grof, Stanislav, 160
Guarente, Leonard (“Lenny”), 255, 256, 260–61, 262–63, 333
Gucci brand, 15
Gulliver’s Travels (Swift), 266
hair mementos, 3
hair restoration methods, 3, 124, 348–49
hajjes, 49
Hakim, Albert, 87–88, 89
Halcyon Molecular, 16
Hamlet (Shakespeare), 76
Harman, Denham, 253
Harper’s (magazine), 138
Hasidic Judaism, 81–84, 86, 87–89, 93, 99, 377
Harvard Medical School, 337, 343
hatha yoga, 246
Hayflick, Leonard, 254–55, 256, 292
Hayflick limit, 257, 292
hazing, 155, 194
headstones (gravestones), 32, 46
Healthy LifeSpan Institute, 342
Heaven and Hell (Swedenborg), 216
Heaven’s Gate, 2
Hebrew language, 86, 87
Hecate, 215
Hedgpeth, Joel, 377–78
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 359
Heidegger, Martin, 21, 225–26
Heim, Albert von St. Gallen, 28
Heka, 180
HeLa cells, 258
Henning, Doug, 182–83, 182n, 197n
Heracleitus, 71
Heraclitus, 214, 378
herbalism, 240, 241, 246
heredity, 30–31
Hermes (god), 121, 231
Hermes Trismegistus, 181, 231
Herodotus, 120, 144
Herrera y Tordesillas, Antonio de, 143, 146
Hesiod, 121
hierophanies, 104–05, 107
Higgs boson, 355
Highlander movies, 265
Hinduism, 38, 42, 99, 101–02, 118–19, 122, 376
hip-hop music, 197
Historia General y Natural de las Indias (Oviedo), 143
history and historical documents
objective approach to, 146–47
Ponce de León’s journey in, 143–45
scientific approach to, 144
stories about healing waters told in, 120–23
Book of Immortality Page 48