Conspirituality: Why Spirituality and Conspiracy are Closer than You Think
A couple weeks ago, I read an Apple News article about California’s yoga and wellness community having a QAnon problem. This led me to dig even further into my curiousity surrounding conspirituality and I knew I wanted to share this with you. I want to know why a community that represents connection, love, and acceptance adopts an ideology opposite to that? In this post, I’m going to dive into what conspirituality is as a foundational whole as well as the human behavior aspect, and then I’ll share some action items and questions you can take away from this post.
The term conspirituality entered my radar after Apple News shared an article from the Los Angeles Times about California’s yoga and wellness community having a QAnon problem. Which tripped my insatiable curiosity wire. Why would a community that represents connection, love, and acceptance adopt an ideology opposite to that? What’s the human behavior aspect behind that?
I want to talk about conspirituality as a foundational whole, not about specific ideologies that grow from it per se, and am sharing what I found. Most of this episode will dive into the human behavior aspect and at the end, I’ll share some action ideas. As a disclaimer: This article isn’t here to place shame or cause division. This is meant to benefit people in three different categories. Those who are:
new to spirituality and want help navigating the woo waters better
intermediate spiritual learners who love aspects of The Spiritual but want to avoid harmful conspiratorial thinking and practices
finding themselves being swept away into practices or ideologies that don’t sit right but they can’t put a finger on why
For some, reading this information will feel uncomfortable if it contradicts an identity they’ve created. Many of us have been conditioned to identify with what we feel. It doesn’t help that the ego builds so many walls from the pain, beliefs, and emotions we experience. Contradicting information can make the walls crack or come crashing down and make a person feel vulnerable as if their identity disappeared. That’s what causes people to get defensive or argumentative.
But really we exist on a much deeper level. Walls equal limitation. Deep down most people prefer to fiercely defend their limitations instead of getting to the other side of freedom. Learning and open-mindedness get you to freedom. The more you learn the more possibilities for growth and expansion. Which is exciting.
That’s the lens I’m sharing this information from. In the hopes that it expands what we know and affords us more clarity on how to grow and expand. To break down those walls. And if this doesn't do that for you that’s ok, too.
What is Conspirituality?
Conspirituality is when spirituality intersects with conspiracy. In 2011, Charlotte Ward and David Voas wrote an article in the Journal of Contemporary Religion describing conspirituality as:
“a rapidly growing web movement expressing an ideology fuelled by political disillusionment and the popularity of alternative worldviews...It offers a broad politico-spiritual philosophy based on two core convictions, the first traditional to conspiracy theory, the second rooted in the New Age: 1) a secret group covertly controls, or is trying to control, the political and social order, and 2) humanity is undergoing a ‘paradigm shift’ in consciousness.”
People who believe this usually think the best strategy to deal, is to adopt, as Ward and Voas would say, “an awakened ‘new paradigm’ worldview.” Basically, conspirituality is alternative worldviews mixed with disillusionment and paranoia. In a 2015 article written by Egil Apsrem and Asbjorn Dyrendal, they said conspirituality is not a new or surprising phenomenon. They more or less say that for centuries cultic environments have been oversaturated with deviant belief systems and practices.
The communication channels in these cultic environments tend to be open and fluid as well as the content. Without any resulting standard or logic in place, this enables individuals to, as Apsrem and Asbjorn say, “‘travel rapidly through a variety of movements and beliefs’, thus bridging with ease what may appear on the surface as distinct discourses and practices. Political, spiritual, and (pseudo)scientific discourses all have a home here, and they easily mix. Joined by a common opposition to ‘Establishment’ discourses rather than by positively shared doctrinal content, conspiracy theory affords a common language binding the discourses together.”
I took that to mean that in a playground of zero logic or grounding anything goes. It’s common knowledge that the wellness and spirituality world has gray areas, or blurred lines if you will, of the places people will allow themselves to go. Conspirituality gives this phenomenon a name and logical thread of why this happens. The surprising thing is the three rules of conspiracism aren’t, on their own, bad like you would expect. It’s when you add paranoia to it that it becomes harmful. Let’s talk more about those three rules and learn more about the conspiracy side of conspirituality.
Conspiracy and False Promises
Cult dynamics researcher and co-host of the Conspirituality podcast Matthew Remski lays out three rules of conspiracism:
Believing the world is like a dream or a mirage, and that nothing is as it seems.
Nothing happens by accident.
Everything is connected.
What’s interesting is you can find parallels to this kind of thinking in yoga and even religion. It can provide relief, comfort, and flexibility. Journalist and writer Erin Bunch says, “But if they cross a certain line of paranoia, they can also form the backbone of conspiratorial thinking.” So it's not that believing nothing happens by accident or that everything is connected makes you a conspiracy theory supporter. It’s when paranoia enters that things can change.
She also explains that the more general attraction to conspiracies like QAnon lies in its false promises to fulfill needs. Like needing to feel contrary and know secret truths others don’t. Or the need to survive a disaster. Or to bond with people who have similar passions and anxieties.
Many people drawn to spirituality are less inclined to busy themselves with more dry fact-based stuff. They’re drawn to finding truth through feelings. But sometimes the truth isn’t intuitive. Many times it’s scientific, a bit dry, not as exciting, and much more complicated.
Human history is filled with examples of conventional wisdom and accepted truths, based on intuition and what feels right, being dead wrong. The truth is often more complicated, less satisfying, or not intuitive.
But many people in the spiritual world make it easy for others to cross over into the conspiracy world by playing on half-truths. Authors and influencers package harmful ideologies in a palatable way using pretty graphics or fluffy words. The Spiritual and wellness industries are severely unregulated, full of people who have a lot to gain by tugging on your emotional heartstrings to make money, grow their overinflated sense of selves, and feel powerful.
Critical Spirituality
I believe when you’re aware and intentional about the information you integrate into your life you experience true freedom and expansion. It’s not all or nothing. Black or white. You can be woo-curious and open to spiritual exploration without having to buy into the paranoia or conspiracy thinking found in some groups. It’s called critical spirituality.
Jules Evans, a philosopher and research fellow at the Center for the History of the Emotions at Queen Mary, University of London, says critical spirituality is where “people can access the beneficial sides of spirituality or wellness, minus Pizzagate or the perils of 5G.” Your job is to value vetting where your information is coming from and questioning motives higher than any need for being contrary or belonging. You’re still smart, interesting, and unique if research proves you wrong. Probably more so.
Balancing the Socratic and the Ecstatic
Jules Evans, writer, speaker, and practical philosopher coined this comparison of the Socratic vs. the Ecstatic. Rational vs. non-rational thinking. There’s value to be found in the forms of non-rational thinking like dreams or intuition. They can reveal both new knowledge and heal.
But Evans does say, “However, it is crucial to balance the capacity for ecstatic/magical/mythical thinking with the capacity for critical thinking... Too much Socratic thinking without any ecstasy, and you end up with a rather dry and uninspiring worldview. Too much ecstasy without critical thinking, and you may be prone to unhealthy delusions, which you then spread, harming others.”
He continues to say that those who are so sure they’re right can fall prey to blocking things that are helpful and spreading things that are harmful. When you’re faced with new information and want to make sure it’s sound here are four questions you can ask yourself that Jules Evans recommends:
1) What’s the source? Is it a reliable media organization? Is it backed up by other reliable sources?
2) How likely is the fact? The less likely, the greater the burden of evidence.
3) Is there anything out there suggesting it’s fake? Rather than looking for evidence to support our beliefs, can we search for evidence against our beliefs?
4) Can we emotionally accept that our belief might be wrong?”
Fact vs. Opinion
To be clear about the second question, facts aren’t opinions. Saying “Well it’s how I feel” isn’t fact and doesn’t negate something proven with evidence. Even anecdotes can be dangerous. My experience with someone or something doesn't mean it’s universally true as a fact.
I only mention these because people will use feelings and anecdotes to try and convince others of the truth of what they’re saying. It’s good to be aware that neither means they’re fact or truth. Opinion is formed by a person’s world of beliefs, experiences, judgments, values, and emotions. Joe Dispenza describes emotions as, “the chemical consequences (or feedback) of past experiences.” Our perspectives and how we view the world are often formed by the past.
You don’t know the kind of beliefs, trauma, judgments, or emotions someone experiences over and over. So when someone gives you information, use those filters, those four questions, to decide if it’s true or not.
Fact is void of judgment and bias. Opinions are dripping with judgment and bias. Knowing and accepting the difference between the two is key. Just because a fact disproves or contradicts an opinion you hold doesn’t mean you’re dumb. Doesn’t mean you’re less worthy or valuable.
The ideal way to navigate the spiritual waters is to educate yourself and then consult with your intuition. The two working together to inform and expand. But denying the existence of facts and favoring opinion over facts isn’t a good habit to form when it comes to certain matters.
Taking Action
After learning about conspirituality it gave me a better framework for how to know if something is worth adopting or not. It helped me to name this gray area we all feel but can’t quite put a finger on. I tend to be very skeptical until evidence proves otherwise because of being raised to believe that if something seems too good to be true it probably is. Of course, using that mentality in healthy doses.
I do believe you can attract wonderful things into your life in abundance and quickly if you’re aligned. But if someone says they have a way you can get rich quick and it’s free my alarm bells would ring. Again that balance of the Socratic vs. Ecstatic.
As for you reading, may I suggest taking the knowledge you learned from this post and reflecting on what hit home for you? Make a list of any ideologies or practices of spirituality that you’ve tried or wanted to try and it hasn’t felt 100% right. Maybe it’s crystals or birth charts. Maybe it’s the online culture. Ask yourself why they don’t feel right and let the pen flow or let your mind wander as you walk.
Take yourself through those four questions you can ask yourself mentioned earlier. It’s ok to be honest with yourself. It’s ok to let the thoughts flow.
If you feel so inspired please share what your biggest takeaways were from this episode in the comments.
Affirmation
I stay positively planted in the present and embrace both the Socratic and ecstatic part of my being.
Writing Prompt
What ideologies or practices have I felt uncomfortable with? After hearing more about conspirituality is it that I’m afraid? Or they truly don’t feel right?
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