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Conspirituality — Philosophy
Conspirituality

Dismantling New Age cults, wellness grifters, and conspiracy-mad yogis. At best, the conspirituality movement attacks public health efforts in times of crisis. At worst, it fronts and recruits for the fever-dream of QAnon. As the alt-right and New Age horseshoe toward each other in a blur of disinformation, clear discourse, and good intentions get smothered. Charismatic influencers exploit their followers by co-opting conspiracy theories on a spectrum of intensity ranging from vaccines to child trafficking. In the process, spiritual beliefs that have nurtured creativity and meaning are transforming into memes of a quickly-globalizing paranoia. Conspirituality Podcast attempts to bring understanding to this landscape. A journalist, a cult researcher, and a philosophical skeptic discuss the stories, cognitive dissonances, and cultic dynamics tearing through the yoga, wellness, and new spirituality worlds. Mainstream outlets have noticed the problem. We crowd-source, research, analyze, and dream answers to it.

Copyright: © 2023 Conspirituality

Latest Episodes:

Bonus Sample: Swamp Creatures 3: The Pirate Palace Oct 09, 2023

Show notes

Our main character this week is the six-degrees of authoritarians—more like one or two degrees, in fact. He’s made millions playing footsie with most of the blood-thirsty kleptocrats of the last half-century. He embodies the corrupt and anti-democratic deep state history of Donald Trump’s inner circle, reaching back through the decades and across the globe.

Julian’s colorful storytelling series seeks to contextualize the Trump era and where we find ourselves now, based on the swamp creatures who worked for, enabled, and to some extent groomed him for the role.

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Special Report: Stealing Indigenous Voices in Australia (w/Tyson Yunkaporta) Oct 08, 2023

Show notes

On October 14, Australians will vote in a referendum on a simple question: should Indigenous peoples be invited to form an advisory council—a Voice—to Parliament?

It seemed like a shoe-in “Yes”—before the issue was FUBARed by a coalition of antivax, anti lockdown, Q-adjacent white sovereign citizens who believe that they are the true victims of colonization.

Professor Tyson Yunkaporta of Apalech clan joins Matthew to discuss the complexities of this history—including how some vulnerable Indigenous folks have been lured into supporting the “No” vote and providing cover for libertarian and white supremacist agendas.

Yunkaporta is the founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab at Deakin University in Melbourne AUS, author of Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World (2019) and released just this past week: Right Story, Wrong Story: Adventures in Indigenous Thinking. He’s also the host of the excellent free range podcast The Other Others.

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Show Notes

Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab at Deakin University

Conspiracy theories are derailing the Yes vote w/ Tyson Yunkaporta

Voice pamphlets: false claims and conspiracy theories distributed across Australia | Indigenous voice to parliament

How a soap opera star pushed a conspiracy theory linking the Voice to Parliament to a UN takeover

Key voice battleground South Australia is ‘leaning to no’, campaign volunteers say | Indigenous voice to parliament

View The Statement - Uluru Statement from the Heart

Aboriginal Tent Embassy — 'the guys who woke up Australia' — marks its 50th anniversary

So-Called Sovereign Settlers: Settler Conspirituality and Nativism in the Australian Anti-Vax Movement

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174: Everything is Chemistry (w/Drs Andrea Love & Jessica Steier) Oct 05, 2023

Show notes

Butcherbox Deal! Sign up today at butcherbox.com/conspirituality and use code CONSPIRITUALITY to receive ground beef for life plus $20 off your first order.

We love our scicomm episodes, because they really dig into the material heart of the conflicts this project tries to understand. What is this information chaos tearing apart public health? How do you push back against it? What does “follow the science” mean to the average voter? And how do we push back against influencers who exploit the difficulties of science and the reasonable fear that erupts when a virus is on the loose?

One answer is that we produce the best content we can, and our guests today, Drs Andrea Love and Jessica Steier have the chops. Like us, they started the popular “Unbiased Science” podcast during the pandemic in the midst of a tsunami of confusion. Only they come at it from within the sciences: Andrea is an immunologist and biologist who specializes in infectious diseases immunology, cancer immunology, and autoimmunity, while Jessica is a public health scientist who has designed and led multiple COVID-19 related research and science communication projects. This week, they tell Derek why the new COVID boosters are important, discuss the challenges of science communication in an age of misinformation, and confirm that colloidal silver and essential oils are not, in fact, immune boosters.

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Bonus Sample: Matt Christman & the Silence Oct 02, 2023

Show notes

On September 19, Matt Christman was hospitalized with, in the words of his colleagues on the podcast Chapo Trap House: “a sudden, severe medical emergency that will require a significant period of recovery.” His wife was scheduled to deliver their first child a few days later. Baby arrived in good health. Christman is as of this moment still hospitalized, but making some progress.

Matthew reflects on the hard left passions and despondent ecstasies of a beloved and sometimes hated dirtbag charismatic—and sends him peace and love in the silence, wherever it leads.

Show Notes

Forward Left: An Interview with Matt Christman of Chapo Trap House - CounterPunch.org

CushVlogs - YouTube

The Chapo Dilemma – Souciant

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Deep Cut: The Dalai Lama Spectacle Sep 30, 2023

Show notes

Deep Cut pulls from our bonus episode archive to unearth previous ideas that remain relevant today.

What the hell happened between the Dalai Lama and that Indian boy? The internet served up a raft of painfully inflammatory takes, so I took a month to talk with Tibetologists and review the literature on sexual abuse in Tibetan Buddhist contexts.

This is a deep, tangled dive. Content warnings apply.

Chapters:

Why cover this, and why now?
Summary
The Clip
Virality
Two Orientalisms
Outrages and Pilled Mindset
What do Tibetans and their allies say?
Kazi Adi Shakti, Thi Nguyen, Becca Williams

Deep Cut Intro Music

Single Origins — Pete Kuzma

Show Notes

Stop Sensationalizing the Dalai Lama's Innocent Interactions | A Tibetan's Perspective

རྒྱ་གར་མཐོ་སློབ་ཀྱི་བྱིས་པ་ཞིག་གིས་མཇལ་ཁ་ཞུས་པ།

Cardi B on Twitter: This world is full of predators.

The Dalai Lama is clearly pedo inclined. He wrote a statement (in third person) after we posted the clip below.

https://twitter.com/MIAuniverse/status/1645530569042956289

MIA on vaccines, vindication and her visions of Jesus: ‘People fear me for some reason’

Himalayan Community comes out with massive outpour of support for HH the Dalai Lama

https://thewalrus.ca/survivors-of-an-international-buddhist-cult-share-their-stories/

Survivors of an International Buddhist Cult Share Their Stories | The Walrus

‘Abuse of Power’ (1999) | open buddhism

Confessions of Kalu Rinpoche

‘Not The Tibetan Way’: The Dalai Lama’s Realpolitik Concerning Abusive Teachers | open buddhism

Independent: Sexual Abuse Allegations in Tibetan Buddhism

Mind & Life Institute statement on the Dalai Lama

Mongolian child named by Dalai Lama as reincarnation of Buddhism's third most important leader | Daily Mail Online

China: Dalai Lama furore reignites Tibet 'slave' controversy - BBC News

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cq4hDfaLe6d/

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cq_1L77vl2L/

Attune to the Body Cues of the Boy in the Dalai Lama Incident + Open Offer for Counseling to the Boy

https://twitter.com/LizCrokin/status/1645971419447148545

Tibetans Say the Dalai Lama’s ‘Suck My Tongue’ Viral Video Is Being Misinterpreted

Brother Lobsang commentary

“Eat my Tongue” explanation

Giaco Orofino commentary

HH Dalai Lama Archetype of Radical Innocence with Robert Thurman : On The Recent Viral Video

Kazi Adi Shakti's essay

MORAL OUTRAGE PORN C. Thi Nguyen and Bekka Williams

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173: Psychedelic Capitalism (w/Psymposia) Sep 28, 2023

Show notes

The market for psychedelics is projected to grow from $2 billion in 2020 to $10.75 billion by 2027—a growth rate that could outpace the legal US cannabis market. Many high-profile investors and celebrities are entering the space, often under the pretense of funding breakthrough mental health interventions.

But…is that the real concern? Microdosing to help depression, anxiety, addiction, or suicidal ideation are all laudable goals. But is that what’s really happening in the psychedelics space?

Derek is joined by Psymposia co-founder, editor, and producer, Brian Normand; medicine, society, and culture research fellow, Neşe Devenot, PhD; and managing editor and harm reduction advocate, David Nickles. This far-reaching discussion about the history and future of psychedelics touches upon numerous aspects of this burgeoning industry.

Show Notes

Church of Psilomethoxin, Part 1: Sacramental Skepticism. Is the Church in Denial?

Right-Wing Psychedelia: Case Studies in Cultural Plasticity and Political Pluripotency

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Bonus Sample: A Theory of Motivation Sep 25, 2023

Show notes

We’ve spent the last three-and-a-half years criticizing a range of wellness ideas, charismatic charlatans, abusive self-styled gurus, and conspiracy theories. We’ve also discussed our own beliefs and highlighted many people and ideas that we believe are getting it right.

Derek has never really explored what motivates him on a physical and mental level despite having spent many years doing so inside of gyms and studios. This is no motivational speech, but rather an exploration of a motivational mindset, weighed against how some popular influencers position the concept. Derek uses his recent experience summiting Mt St Helens to frame the conversation.

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Brief: Russell Brand Sep 23, 2023

Show notes

In light of the recent allegations, Matthew offers a backgrounder on what we’ve learned about Brand through conspirituality and cultic studies and from his opportunistic relationships to wellness, self-help, and Kundalini Yoga. Ending with a focus on how his yoga world LARPing became a launch pad for his success as a spirituality-coded conspiracy theorist in the age of COVID.

Go to HelloFresh.com/50conspirituality and use code 50conspirituality for 50% off plus 15% off the next 2 months!

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Show Notes

Conspirituality 97: Brand Awareness

Russell Brand accused of rape, sexual assaults and abuse

Russell Brand - In Plain Sight (Dispatches) [couchtripper] - video Dailymotion

BBC and police begin inquiries as Russell Brand faces more claims

Russell Brand: BBC resists calls to release complaints filed against presenter

Russell Brand's Charismatic Bullshit - by Derek Beres

Russell Brand helps the homeless with his yoga teacher... and his new tantric tattoos | Daily Mail Online

Yogi Bhajan Turned an L.A. Yoga Studio into a Juggernaut, and Left Two Generations of Followers Reeling from Alleged Abuse

Conspirituality 36: Guru Jagat's Pandemic Brandwash

Conspirituality 37: Guru Jagat Cultjacks Kundalini Yoga

Conspirituality 64: Remembering Guru Jagat

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172: Why Always the Jews? (w/Mike Rothschild) Sep 21, 2023

Show notes

Who could be a better guide through the fever dream of modern anti-semitism—the socialism of fools—than a scrappy young scion of the House of Rothschild? How has Mike, this mysterious insider—visible on CNN but a seeming ghost in real life—used his inheritance and connections to score book deals with the Fake News Media? Will he redeem his family name?

Just joking! Author and friend of the pod Mike Rothschild is no relation to the banking family that has lived rent-free in the minds of antisemites and conspiracy theorists for over two centuries now. He is the author of 2021’s The Storm Is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of Everything. His new book out less that two years later, is Jewish Space Lasers: The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories. Mike joins us now from his summer palace in the South of France, um, actually his home office in Los Angeles to discuss the very stupid but dangerous groundswell of Jew hatred now filling our feeds.

Go to HelloFresh.com/50conspirituality and use code 50conspirituality for 50% off plus 15% off the next 2 months!

Get 50% off up to $20 and zero delivery fees on your first order when you download the DoorDash app and enter code CONSPIRITUALITY

Show Notes

Jewish Space Lasers: The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories

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Bonus Sample: You Can’t Just Take Things Away from People Sep 18, 2023

Show notes

When we deconstruct harmful ideas and beliefs—from antivax positions to reactionary social views—we will inevitably be seen or felt as attacking the relationships that people form through those views. That’s a big problem in a lonely world, and there will be blowback. What to do?

Matthew steps off the debunkery hamster wheel, and remembers an old piece of yoga advice.

Show Notes

The Religious Case Against Belief by James P. Carse

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