A Bridge over Roiling Waters

Examining Conspirituality. Episode 2.

If you missed Episode 1, it’s here.

Thanks to the hothouse environment of Instagram and Facebook, militia members and holistic health enthusiasts have linked up. You might think of aggressive neo-fascists and Spiritual But Not Religious yogis as polar opposites. You wouldn’t think that spiritual folk who support animal rights and anti-racism could have much in common with Second Amendment enthusiasts. But aspects of each group’s worldview overlap. British researchers Charlotte Ward and David Voas found a bridge between the two. From the radical right end of the bridge travels a conviction that the unseen forces of a global cabal (the New World Order, the Illuminati, the Deep State) covertly control the mechanisms of power in government and society. From the New Spirituality side meanders a conviction that a momentous shift in consciousness is underway which will inevitably transform social life and politics. Once the two ends of the bridge connect, we have a new hybrid structure.

Ward and Voas call this “conspirituality” and see it as “a means by which political cynicism is tempered with spiritual optimism.” Conspirituality softens the hard edges of the conspiracists and broadens the focus of the spiritual-minded.

The Christian Right used to predominate in the conspiracist world. They were particularly suspicious of Eastern religions. Fundamentalists and conspiracists viewed yoga and meditative Buddhist practices as occult, probably Satanic, rituals. When mindfulness and yoga exercises were introduced for stress reduction in public schools, administrators faced parental opposition. In a Facebook post, Christopher Smith, whose sons attended public school in Georgia, wrote: “Now we can’t pray in our schools or practice Christianity but they are allowing this Far East mystical religion with crystals and chants to be practiced under the guise of stress release meditation. This is very scary.”

Smith directed people to “google ‘mindfulness indoctrination.'”

As social media became more sophisticated and integrated, conspiracy theories spread out through its various platforms. Irrational conspiracism became less focused on fundamentalist Christian eschatology and more open to allies who shared a belief in a para-normal or extra-sensory reality. New Spirituality’s tenet that “everything is connected” presented a more benign version of the “unseen forces.”

The second area of overlap between conspiracists and spiritualists is the idea that a coming transformation will set up a new paradigm for humanity. New Spirituality adherents anticipate an evolution of human consciousness that will open hearts and minds to Oneness; conspiracists are more open to a violent overthrow of existing powers on their march towards libertarian utopia. (Too harsh?)

The arch of the ideological bridge is now set; its abutments are secured with the popularization of QAnon.

A symbiosis between Trumpism and QAnon provided an impetus for the expansion of conspirituality during the 2020 presidential campaign. Trump is presented as a Savior, the mechanism through which transformation will occur. In March, Trump and “Q” began retweeting each other. Trump retweeted a Q-inflected meme on March 8 and the following day, Q issued three typically cryptic posts. Adrienne LaFrance writes,

“The first Q post shared Trump’s tweet from the night before and repeated, ‘Nothing Can Stop What Is Coming.’ The second said: ‘The Great Awakening is Worldwide.’ The third was simple: ‘GOD WINS.’”

Coming from authoritative movement leaders, these internet communications repeat and reinforce the symbolic ground of conspirituality.

Notes:

Adrienne LaFrance, The Prophecies of Q

Yanan Wang, Ga. parents, offended by ‘Far East’ religion of yoga, get ‘Namaste’ banned from the schools.

Charlotte Ward and David Voas, “The Emergence of Conspirituality.” Journal of contemporary religion 26.1 (2011): 103–121. DOI: 10.1080/13537903.2011.539846

This might be interesting (not a source for this post):

Jesse Walker, The United States of Paranoia: A Conspiracy Theory.*

And a classic:

Richard Hofstadter, The Paranoid Style in American Politics.*

*Amazon Associate link to purchase the book. I receive a referral fee.