Jamie Wheal - Recapture the Rapture: Rethinking God, Sex, and Death in a World Thats Lost Its Mind

To Julie, mea alpha et omega

Take it slowly. This book is dangerous!

Dr. Seuss

Out of such chaos, of such contradiction

We learn that we are neither devils nor divines...

When we come to it

We must confess that we are the possible

We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world

That is when, and only when

We come to it.

Maya Angelou, A Brave and Startling Truth (flown into space on the NASA Orion mission)

Slowly over the past century, and now suddenly, all at once, were suffering a collapse in Meaning. We used to find faith and comfort in organized religion, but fewer people than ever subscribe to those beliefs anymore. We can call that traditional system Meaning 1.0 and it offered salvation to the elect. Those who believed were saved. Those who didnt werent. Harsh but fair.

For the past few hundred years, weve been trying a different experimentone based not on salvation but inclusion. That was the promise of global liberalismthe idea that markets, democracy, and civil rights would bring us into a world where everyone, not just the elect, were entitled to a fair shot at the good life.

Except that hasnt worked out too well either. Unprecedented economic disparity, global crises, and environmental degradation have revealed that many of those promises were hollow. We can call this modern experiment Meaning 2.0 and it offered inclusion to the masses. Accept the rules, play the game, and your turn will come soon enough. Promising in theory, partial in practice.

As both Meaning 1.0 and Meaning 2.0 have collapsed, were experiencing a global crisis. And into that vacuum have rushed a host of beliefs that threaten the fabric of civilization. Around the world, among believers and nonbelievers alike, we are finding ourselves in the grip of Rapture Ideologies.

At their heart, Rapture Ideologies share four key beliefs:

• the world as we know it is broken and unsavable.
• there is a point in the near future where everything is going to change.
• on the other side of that inflection point, everyone we value will be saved/redeemed.
• so lets get there as fast as possible, without much concern for the world were leaving behind.

This is increasingly a problem for all of us. Its vital we regain control of the stories were telling because they are shaping the future were creating. To do that, we have to remember our deepest inspiration, heal our pain and apathy, and connect to each other like never before. If we dont, the Rapturists will have the last word on how this all goes down. If we do, we can remake a world that works for all of us.

* * *

For anyone who might be passingly concerned by this possibility but then thinks, That may be the case on the extremes, but cooler heads prevail in the Wall Street Journal, Economist, TED Talk world we live inthink again. Rapture philosophers are all around us. Wearing hoodies and Brooks Brothers suits as often as sackcloth and ashes. Proclaiming The Singularity Is Near as often as warning that The End Is Nigh. Scrutinizing lines of computer code as often as ancient texts. Youve just got to know what youre looking for.

In all the buzz predicting the Next Big Thing, few possibilities have captured our imaginations like the reboot of the space race. The New York Times recently reported that were on the cusp of a watershed moment in space travel and that trips [to Mars] could begin as soon as 2024. Beyond the livestream rocket launches and the excitement of early-bird tickets for the bravest billionaires, theres a more serious question that rarely gets asked of the would-be space colonizers: Are we sure?

Mars isnt where were from. Its a long way off, and wildly hostile to human habitation. Solving for both of those problemsdistance and survivabilityis a monumental effort. Why, if we could marshal the technical expertise, capital, and drive to pull off this historic feat, wouldnt we deploy those same resources to fix the place we already live? The place were actually from?

In two words: Rapture Ideology. It may be in a different wrapper from the religious versions we dimly remember from school. But its the same underlying structure. Only this one isnt based on dusty scripture. It doesnt hinge on an ultimate showdown between Good and Evil. Its a Rapture Ideology nonetheless. Call it the Techno-Utopian Rapture. And it follows that same four-stage framework exactly.

• The world as we know it is doomed (not because of sin this time, but because of overconsumption).
• Theres an inflection point coming soon (geopolitical/ecosystemic collapse, not the coming of the Four Horsemen).
• On the Other Side, our people will be looked after (the Singularity/Mars Colonies for the best and brightestAtlas Shrugged in space).
• So lets prepare for that eventuality as fast as possible and never mind the collateral damage (build space stations and luxury bunkers rather than solve for global crises like food, water, energy, or climate).

When questioned about the obvious trade-offs and challenges of Mars, advocates, ranging from the late Stephen Hawking to Elon Musk, prove this out: Mars colonization represents the best hope to ensure the future of our species as we exhaust the resources of our home planet, Musk has said. Spreading out, Hawking agreed, may be the only thing that saves us from ourselves.

When we hear comments like that, instead of sounding alarms and sparking widespread debate on our future, we go fuzzy. Were unable to grasp the severity of what were actually talking about. We fondly remember Neil Armstrongs one giant leap for mankind. Star Treks theme to boldly go where no man has gone before hums in our heads. We think back to the Jetsons and jetpacks and wonder if this is the moment when all of that science fiction finally becomes science fact. It seems so cool and familiar that we gloss over exactly how this would go down.

Lets say that Hawking and Musk are right. Theyre both brilliant, think deeply about subjects that most of us will never wrap our heads around, routinely solve impossible problems, and have access to the highest-quality research in the world: Neither holds much hope for our species surviving beyond the end of this century unless we come up with a radical Plan B. That conclusion alone should stop us in our tracks.

But lets go further. Within the next couple of decades we actually do establish a colony on Mars that can serve as a forward operating base for humanitys future. Then what?

One thing is certain. There wont be enough seats on the Good Ship Lollipop for all eight billion of us. And that highlights the most seductive and destructive part of all Rapture Ideologies. No matter how statistically unlikely, we secretly believe well personally score a ticket to ride. Against all odds, we imagine that we are one of the saved, not one of those Left Behind. Imagine how high the bar will be to nab a ticket off the Late Great Planet Earth. It will make those helicopters leaving the U.S. embassy during the fall of Saigon look like a warm-up.

* * *

We might not say it in mixed company, but after 9/11, the 2008 Financial Crisis, the rise of populism, and the coronavirus pandemic, weve all been thinking a lot more about the unthinkable. As far back as 2012, National Geographic launched a reality show called Doomsday Preppers about people getting ready for a time described in casually terrifying acronyms like WROL (without rule of law) WTSHTF (when the shit hits the fan) during the EOTWAWKI (End of the World as We Know It).

Its first episode racked up over four million viewers (nearly half a million more viewers than the top late-night comedy show pulls in).