Conspirituality

“It’s much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong," wrote Richard Feynman. But does curiosity end where awareness cuts off? Derek explores the positive and negative sides of the spiritual search, especially in light of the burgeoning eco-spiritual movement.

I’m “spiritual but not religious.” Here’s what that means for a physicist

How to hold onto a sense of wonder 

‘Big Earth energy’: A new era of nature spirituality is here

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To celebrate book launch month, we started a little “takeaway” series two weeks ago. First, Derek led us through “Science and Sensibility,” in which he shared some really good practices for science literacy, along with examples of how conspirituality maximizes social stress and struggling medical systems to exploit wellness consumers.

Last week, Julian addressed the aching questions asked by those in love with the positive gifts of contemplative practice, but who now see the cognitive fallacies and naive psychology at play in many spiritual communities.

This week, Matthew sets pseudoscience and spiritual bypassing into the social context of cultic relationships, reviewing some of the tortured dynamics we monitored during COVID, laying out a few cult-resistant hygiene rules, some pointers on avoiding stigmatization, and asking tough questions about where the whole cult discourse thing is going in this parasocial era.

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The exiled cult leader, the MAGA mastermind, the Chinese con-artist billionaire, and the CCP. Insatiable dragons, all. Each claims to be at war with evil, as their fiery propaganda melts the minds of far-right media consumers. Julian connects the dots on these overlapping stories of life in the “Dharma-ending times.”

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We've spent three years tracking the slide from online wellness influencer to red-pilled conspiracy promoter, from yoga and breath work teacher to anti-vax ivermectin slinger, from vegan raw chocolate aficionado to anti-immigrant, transphobic, election denial. Turns out, the roots of this phenomenon run deep.

Along the way we've gotten a lot of praise, plenty of pushback, and a slew of sincere and heartbroken questions about what may be left for those in love with the positive gifts of contemplative practice and community, who now see the pitfalls we've pointed out. We speak to these today.

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From Ron DeSantis's anti-woke presidential campaign to Bari Weiss's FAIR war on woke, the concept of "wokeness" has become an ideal devil in right-wing and right-leaning politics—even if (or especially because) no one can really define it. But as Derek discusses, a recent deep dive into FAIR shows, anti-woke crusaders are suffering from internal conflicts and coming up with troubling non-solutions, while monetizing their platforms along the way.

Show Notes

Is it possible to be both moderate and anti-woke?

Morning Joe: June 5, 2023

Daily Wire host defends book bans

Journalist or Heretic? | Bari Weiss | EP 175

Plandemic 3 Red Carpet moment

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How can we protect ourselves and our children from online hate and misinformation? Julian interviews Imran Ahmed about the latest work the Center for Countering Digital Hate has done on TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook ads for state-sponsored antisemitic propaganda from Iran.

Show Notes

Parents Guide to TikTok

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How did “following the science” get so confusing during the pandemic? As the publication of our book draws closer, Derek shares his best practices for science literacy, and examples of where grifters and conspiracists maximized confusion to exploit wellness consumers.

This is the first in a three-part series on what we’ve learned though writing our book and working on the podcast. Each episode is piloted by one host with commentary by the other two.

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After reviewing how Mother Marianne and Bobby Kennedy Jr are set to disrupt the race in Part 1, we turn now to  Mr. “Coronavirus is a Coronation for all,” Charles Eisenstein, has just disclosed that he’s working on Bobby’s campaign as Director of Messaging. Holy shit.

It’s like our book is so accurate that Steve Bannon fed a digital ARC into a LLM to spit out AIs of all the characters in it so he could play them like chess pieces across the 2024 electoral map.

Matthew and Julian take stock of this new stage: the routinization and institutionalization of conspirituality.

A Major Life Change - Charles Eisenstein 

https://twitter.com/jack/status/1247343782279839744

Charles Eisenstein | Zika and the Mentality of Control

Keys to the Navajo Nation’s COVID-19 Vaccination Success | Johns Hopkins | Bloomberg School of Public Health

The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible  w/Sayer Ji

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On Monday, May 29, Danielle Smith, the leader of the UCP of Alberta, seized the reigns of majority government power with the help of a right-wing antivax group called Take Back Alberta. 

Jeremy Appel, founder of The Orchard, joins Matthew for a masterclass on how things got so bad in Alberta, and how conspirituality played a key role.

Show Notes

The Orchard — Jeremy Appel

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Medical Medium, aka Anthony William, gained many of his 4.4M IG followers thanks to his declaration that celery juice can heal you from many ailments that science hasn’t figured out. William proudly displays his numerous celebrity endorsements and hundreds of anecdotal healing stories on his library-esque website. Yet when one reporter—Vanity Fair’s Dan Adler—had the audacity to report on one now-deceased confidante of William, the self-proclaimed medium went on the defense, releasing a four-part podcast series and posting on social media in a frenzy about how there’s a plot to “take down Medical Medium.”

Yes, William speaks of himself often in the third person, and wears his lack of any medical training whatsoever as a badge of honor. Today, we look at some of the most outrageous claims that he’s made and discuss the rhetorical techniques that have made him an alt-health celebrity. We’re also joined by Dan Adler to discuss his in-depth reporting on the man who claims angels give him medical advice decades ahead of modern science—and somehow gets away with it.

The Medical Medium and the True Believer

Medical Medium Survivors

Medical Medium: Miracle Healer or Quack? (The Celery Juice Guy)

Why Is Everyone Drinking Celery Juice as if It Will Save Them From Dying?

The Truth About The Celery Juice Craze

Everyone Is Drinking Celery Juice — But Is It Healthy? We Dive Into The Science Behind The Trend

Alex Ebert on Conspirituality

Matthew’s reply to Alex

Alex’s follow-up

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