The Sanctuary

Author’s Note

At the time of writing this book, there’s nothing out there that’s been proven to slow down or arrest the aging process in humans. That’s the hard truth. But scientists are demonstrably making significant progress in figuring out why we age — and why we die. This progress is mostly due to the change — the “paradigm shift”—in approach that’s described in this book. Rather than just studying the symptoms of old age and figuring out how to deal with them, how to alleviate them, how to patch up our bodies as they fall apart in what the “deathists” consider its inescapable, preordained, and even noble descent into decrepitude, these “prolongevists” are now trying to figure out why aging happens in the first place and how to interrupt the aging process altogether, daring to believe that aging, like cancer and cardiovascular disease, can eventually be overcome, and that living longer, healthier lives wouldn’t be a bad thing.

The scientists working in this arena are facing a Herculean task: Not only do they need to contend with the most perplexing scientific issue to ever face mankind, they also need to deal with the prejudice that’s associated with the field of longevity medicine, as well as the fierce ethical debate that engulfs them at every turn. Those at the forefront of this most difficult, contentious, and worthy of fields — Aubrey de Grey, Tom Kirkwood, Michael Rose, Cynthia Kenyon, Leonard Guarente, Bruce Ames, and Barbara Hansen, to name but a few — are to be applauded and encouraged. One of them could — and, quite conceivably, will—make a discovery at some point in the future that will do nothing less than redefine humanity. This book is also dedicated to them.

For those of you interested in finding out more about this subject, I’d recommend starting with Bryan Appleyard’s eminently readable and very thorough new book How to Live Forever or Die Trying. I’d also highly recommend The Fountain of Youth, a collection of hugely insightful essays edited by Stephen Post and Robert Binstock. The Quest for Immortality, by Jay Olshansky and Bruce Carnes, is also pretty much required reading on the subject.

I’d also recommend checking out Sherwin Nuland’s take on Aubrey de Grey’s theories in his article “Do you want to live forever?” on the Web site of MIT’s Technology Review, which can be accessed at www.technologyreview.com. Also, www.futurepundit.com has a great archive on aging that’s regularly updated.

Mia’s journey to Beirut to work on the Phoenician project owes a debt of gratitude to Rick Gore and his compelling coverage of Spencer Wells and Pierre Zalloua’s work on tracing the origins of the Phoenicians. For those interested, visit https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic to check out National Geographic’s Genographic Project. You can even participate and have your origins traced.

As for the historic parts of this book, a lot has been written — and dreamed up — about the Comte de St. Germain. The eighteenth century was rich in such ciphers, and hundreds of years later, his name retains its mystique. There’s no doubt that he existed, as countless letters and diaries from the period, written by diplomats and aristocrats, will attest. They mention, for instance, that he “thoroughly understood herbs and plants, and had invented the medicines of which he constantly made use, and which prolonged his life and health.” A great deal of his legend, however, was underpinned by what is believed to be one of the great literary hoaxes, the Souvenirs de Marie-Antoinette, purportedly written by the Countess d’Adhemar in the nineteenth century, and a bestseller in its time. Was St. Germain a mystic, a possessor of great secrets, an enlightened being — in the words of one of his contemporaries, “the most enigmatical of all incomprehensibles”? Or was he just a brilliant charlatan, a cunning swindler who was able to charm and hoodwink the gullible aristocrats around him?

Much more is known, however, about Raimondo di Sangro. For the sake of this story, I’ve taken a few liberties with his life, but if you’re ever in Naples, I heartily recommend a visit to the magnificent chapel he left behind, the Capello San Severo, with its mysterious veiled statues, its bizarre iconography, and the creepy “anatomic machines” that stand guard outside his basement laboratory.

From Gilgamesh to St. Germain and on to Aubrey de Grey and the tireless pioneers working to solve this most cruel of riddles, the yearning to stick around and experience more of life is — no pun intended — as old as man. Not only do we live our lives with an awareness of our inevitable and impending deaths, but we are the only species to have — and bear the burden of — that awareness. Being aware of it, it’s only natural to want to resist it. And no matter how many obstacles and hindrances the “deathist” camp puts up, that determination will ultimately prevail. At some point in the future, frailty and senility will be postponed significantly, perhaps indefinitely.

And I don’t know about you, but I think it would be very cool to meet my daughters’ grandchildren and be fit enough to teach them to ride a bicycle one day….