We live in a crowded world.

As of this episode, the US Census Bureau puts the number of human lives on our pale blue

dot of a planet at around 7.9 billion.

I'm not sure I need to unpack that for you.

That's simply a lot of people.

And because of that, there are very few places we can go to truly be alone.

Our cities are congested.

Our highways and parking lots seem to be overflowing.

It boggles the mind thinking about just how many people are around us on a daily basis,

which is why our homes offer a bit of peace and escape.

At home, we feel as if we're in control.

It's a personal space where strangers aren't allowed in without invitation, where we can

let down our guard and feel safe.

Our dwelling places have been a refuge for us ever since humans gave up the nomadic hunter-gatherer

life and settled in one location.

Even still, multiple religions throughout history have taught us to believe that while

we might think we are alone, there is another world behind the thin veil of reality.

Heaven, the other world, the afterlife, we can call it whatever we want, but humans,

for the most part at least, have always believed that it's there, waiting for us.

They was in the mid-19th century, though, that some people began to propose new ideas about

it.

They claimed that, rather than being passive, this other world was active and thriving, and

...