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by Netizens, which added to Applewhite‘s and his followers‘ level of frustration and growing
sense of demoralization, as well as contributing to the decision to depart. They wrote, ―The
weeds have taken over the garden and truly disturbed its usefulness beyond repair—it is
time for the civilization to be recycled—‗spaded under.‘‖ The Heaven‘s Gate book (a self-
published historical rendering written primarily by Do but which also included other
documents, such as flyers, newspaper advertisements, various position papers, and
members‘ exit statements) was added to their Web site in April 1996, along with a notice
implying that this might be their last interaction with the human level (Representatives from
the Kingdom of Heaven 1996). By this time they were referring to themselves as the ―Away
Team.‖ They were completing their task and about to leave for home. In February 1997
members posted an Internet message and also left a message at the entry to their Web site
about the Hale-Bopp comet. They indicated that it was a sign of the end, the marker they
had been waiting for.
Personal Closure and Bounded Choice
Apparently at the time of his death Marshall Applewhite was suffering from severe heart
disease and had been at high risk for a heart attack (Clark 1997). Within the grapevine of
former followers, cult-watchers, and academics who studied the group, there were rumors
that Applewhite thought he had liver cancer or prostate cancer. He had told at least some of
his followers that he thought he was dying. Whatever the final decisive factor—and surely,
there were at least several—it is likely that the members of this close-knit group, who
waited so patiently over the years for the spaceship to come, and who submitted to a life of
struggle and deprivation, were ecstatic that the time had come when they were finally going
to be able to leave. Some had been waiting more than twenty years.
Ironically, the biggest draw of Ti and Do‘s belief system was related to its promise of
overcoming death. Members who joined and worked hard enough were supposed to be
saved from death. Even if they did not make it this time, their soul would be put on ice for a
later pickup. Following Ti and Do was believed to be the only way to end the cycle of
reincarnation suicide was not in that picture. Yet, in the end, Applewhite and his followers
decided the time had come and that suicide was acceptable, even though he and they
maintained that they were not dying but were going to the Next Level. In the end, he and
his followers precipitated their departure by imbibing a fatally poisonous drink. From their
video-recorded farewell statements, we can surmise that they expected to wake up aboard
a spacecraft on their way home. As Do said in his exit video, in a spirit of resolve and with a
tinge of anger in his voice:
Our cause is to let you know we are returning to life after a visitation with
death….
Suicide is separation from the Kingdom when the Kingdom has reached out
and offered life to you.
It is suicide not to leave.
It is to take life to leave.
This is not life to us. This is primitive, barbaric. This is history.
We are about to regain life.
Given the degree of dependency the followers had on Applewhite and Nettles, it is not
surprising that they chose to go with him when he was ready to exit. Perhaps the fear of
being left alone was greater than confronting the possibility that perhaps Applewhite was
wrong. One followers exit statement expressed that sentiment clearly:

Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 3, Nos. 2 &3, 2004, Page 89
I know who my Older Members, Ti and Do, are. I believe in, cleave to, trust
in, and rely totally upon them. I know my Older Member, Do, is going to his
Older Member, Ti, at this time. Once He is gone, there is nothing left here on
the face of the Earth for me, no reason to stay a moment longer.
Furthermore, I know that my graft to Them would be jeopardized if I linger
here once They have departed. I know my classmates/siblings feel the same
as I do and will be choosing to go when Do goes. I want to stay with my Next
Level family. Choosing to exit this borrowed human vehicle or body and go
home to the Next Level is an opportunity for me to demonstrate my loyalty,
commitment, love, trust, and faith in Ti and Do and the Next Level.
Ultimately, the devoted and enmeshed Heaven‘s Gate students stayed with their leader,
going wherever his decision and course of action would take them. As time wore on, the
formerly unthinkable option of death by their own doing (suicide) became an acceptable act
because it meant they could finally leave. Leaving took precedence over overcoming death.
The final promise of freedom from life on Earth was theirs at last.
To help make some sense of this picture I draw on the works of Anthony Giddens (1979,
1984) Herbert Simon (1955, 1956, 1967, 1979) Edgar Schein (1961, 1992) and Robert
Jay Lifton (1961, 1968, 1986, 1987, 1999). A closed, self-sealing system, as exemplified by
Heaven‘s Gate, holds both positive and negative aspects for its adherents. The positive, or
lure of personal salvation, must be there or no one would ever be attracted to it in the first
place. In cultic groups, this positive and negative dialectic unfolds constantly, as adherents
twist and turn to adapt to the dualistic system. Given that expressing negatives is not
allowed, members focus primarily on their positive interpretations in order to minimize their
feelings of distress as they increase their expressions and acts of faith. If a member wants
to stay with the group—this newfound family—then he or she quickly learns that engaging
the negative is counter to the system. It is through that adaptive (and sometimes coercive)
process that the adherent becomes caught in a self-sealing, cultic system in which she or he
acts, but is also acted upon.
One outcome of this process is a social-psychological state called ―personal closure‖ (Lifton,
1961). The dualistic dimensions of the self-sealing social structure create personal
boundaries around and within the person and constrict the new self, the group-identified
self. The member feels completely separated from his or her pre-group identity and cannot
imagine life outside the group. The state of personal closure is the individualized version of
the larger self-sealing system in which he or she participates and is bound by. The person
turns inward, refusing to look at or consider other ideas, beliefs, or options. The personal
closure that is the culmination of cultic life is profoundly confining because the individual is
closed to both the outside world and her or his own inner life (Lifton 1961). In this instance,
the adherent‘s value structure has been altered, or shifted, by the depth and quality of the
belief change and participation in the social processes (Zablocki 1998). When such a shift
occurs, individual choice is no longer an individual matter.
In this context, human agency (and therefore, free will) is constrained by the duality of
structure—a social-psychological state of being that I have identified as ―bounded choice‖
(Lalich 2001, 2004). The decision-making process is skewed in favor of the collectivity. In
general, organizational choices are made by the leader, for no one else is qualified or has
the authority to do so. Personal choices, if and when they arise, first of all, are formulated
within and constrained by the self-sealing framework and style of consideration, which
always puts the organization first. Second, those choices are limited and bounded by the
constriction of the member‘s thought patterns, which, once more, always put the
organization first. Choice is constrained by both external and internalized sanctions, both
real and imagined. This is the heart of the concept of bounded choice.