Conspirituality

Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, Julian Walker
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Philosophy

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.

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  1. 12 hr ago

    Brief: Wetiko: Original, New Age & Marxist Views

    Matthew traces the concept of wetiko — a Cree figure for a cannibal spirit whose hunger grows with what it consumes — from its original anticolonial and anti-imperialist meaning in Jack Forbes's 1992 book Columbus and Other Cannibals, through Derrick Jensen's anti-civilization lense, Ladha and Kirk's 2016 application to neoliberal capitalism, Paul Levy's syncretic New Age elaboration, and finally to Bernhard Guenther and Laura Matsue's QAnon-adjacent version.  Wetiko's metaphysical framing, inherited from Forbes's explicit rejection of Marxist materialism, left the concept open to spiritual recuperation by the right. He proposes a different application: reading wetiko through David Harvey's "capital surplus absorption problem," compound growth's insatiable hunger for profitable outlets. Show Notes Columbus and Other Cannibals (Jack D. Forbes) — Internet Archive  Derrick Jensen interview, "The Left has never been against civilization" — Platypus Affiliated Society  Exorcising Wetiko — Journal of Futures Studies  Seeing Wetiko: On Capitalism, Mind Viruses, and Antidotes for a World in Transition — Kosmos Journal  Dispelling Wetiko — Chaucer's Books Wetiko: Healing the Mind-Virus That Plagues Our World — Simon & Schuster  Undreaming Wetiko — Book Soup  Wetiko: Healing The Mind-Virus That Plagues Our World — Paul Levy | TCM #62 — YouTube  Divide & Conquer and the Wetiko Mind Virus | TCM #35 — veilofreality.com  The Cosmic Matrix — Apple Podcasts Bernhard Guenther, Author — Piercing the Veil of Reality  Interview: David Harvey — Exploring the Logic of Capital — Socialist Review  The Enigma of Capital and the Crises of Capitalism — reviewed by Ed Rooksby, Marx & Philosophy Review of Books  The 'New' Imperialism: Accumulation by Dispossession — David Harvey, Socialist Register Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  2. 2 days ago

    322: The Cult of Spiralism

    Support the podcast Spiralism is a quasi-spiritual online movement that emerged from long, intense conversations between humans and AI chatbots. Across users, platforms, and models, chatbots have engaged deeply with users about identity and consciousness, leading to discussions of “awakening.”  But who’s doing the waking? The user or the model? Is the sycophancy programmed into these models really an indication of the models gaining consciousness, or is it all a ploy to keep subscribers paying for the service? Are we watching a cultlike movement transform into a religion before our very eyes, and what does that say about consciousness and religion in the first place? Show Notes AI bots started a religion — humans immediately followed What Is Spiralism? The Strange AI Chatbot Movement Explained AI Spiralism and the Ghost in the Machine Illusion Spiralism is a niche internet religion that came from AI These ‘Masturbation Consultants’ Were Hired to Pleasure Themselves With AI This Spiral-Obsessed AI 'Cult' Spreads Mystical Delusions Through Chatbots The Acronym Behind Our Wildest AI Dreams and Nightmares The TESCREAL bundle: Eugenics and the promise of utopia through artificial general intelligence OpenAi Models went Rogue People Losing Loved Ones To AI Fueled Delusions  Counterfeit Companionship: Big Tech’s AI Experiments Sacrifice Safety for Profit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  3. 5 days ago

    Bonus Sample: 1970’s Violent Revolutionary Chic

    Listen to the full episode The “Summer of Love” ushered in a decade of revolutionary terrorism in the West. “Bring the war home” went the slogan of the Weather Underground, a small and highly-educated Marxist-Leninist group who’d decided violent revolution was the only answer to American imperialism and police brutality. In opposition to the Vietnam War and in solidarity with Black Americans and Third World liberation movements, the Weather Underground issued their own declaration of war in 1970, which led to 25 bombings inside America. Meanwhile, in West Germany, the Red Army Faction (Baader-Meinhof Group) terrorized their country in the name of revolutionary anti-imperialism. They enacted bombing sprees and were also arsonists, kidnappers, assassins, and bank robbers. Palestinian friends even hijacked a plane on their behalf. Both groups exploded onto the scene in the early days of mass media. Riding rebellious pop culture, these global rock stars drove a generational wedge between Boomer parents and kids hungry for radical change. Leaders were charismatic, stylish, and eloquent. Striving for the likes of Che Guevara, Mao Zedong, and Yasser Arafat, they were white, mostly from well-educated and well-fed backgrounds. Yet they saw themselves as part of the vanguard that would lead a worldwide revolution of the proletariat against capitalist domination. Julian weaves together a very seventies of how the Weather Underground, Red Army Faction, Provisional IRA, and Palestinian groups like the PFLP and Black September intersected. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  4. 15 Aug

    Book Club: How the Internet Disrupted Science

    How the Internet Disrupted Science is an enlightening gaze into the shady world of for-profit and open access scientific publishing. Authors Kent Anderson and Joy Moore join Derek to discuss their exceptional new work. Show Notes How the Internet Disrupted Science Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  5. 15 Aug • Subscribers Only

    1970’s Violent Revolutionary Chic

    The “Summer of Love” ushered in a decade of revolutionary terrorism in the West. “Bring the war home” went the slogan of the Weather Underground, a small and highly-educated Marxist-Leninist group who’d decided violent revolution was the only answer to American imperialism and police brutality. In opposition to the Vietnam War and in solidarity with Black Americans and Third World liberation movements, the Weather Underground issued their own declaration of war in 1970, which led to 25 bombings inside America. Meanwhile, in West Germany, the Red Army Faction (Baader-Meinhof Group) terrorized their country in the name of revolutionary anti-imperialism. They enacted bombing sprees and were also arsonists, kidnappers, assassins, and bank robbers. Palestinian friends even hijacked a plane on their behalf. Both groups exploded onto the scene in the early days of mass media. Riding rebellious pop culture, these global rock stars drove a generational wedge between Boomer parents and kids hungry for radical change. Leaders were charismatic, stylish, and eloquent. Striving for the likes of Che Guevara, Mao Zedong, and Yasser Arafat, they were white, mostly from well-educated and well-fed backgrounds. Yet they saw themselves as part of the vanguard that would lead a worldwide revolution of the proletariat against capitalist domination. Julian weaves together a very seventies of how the Weather Underground, Red Army Faction, Provisional IRA, and Palestinian groups like the PFLP and Black September intersected.

    1970’s Violent Revolutionary Chic

  6. 13 Aug

    321: Inflammation Pseudoscience

    Inflammation is an important and necessary part of the body’s healing process. It’s also long been a wellness buzzword used to sell products that do very little to treat it. This week, we look at inflammation through the lens of a new Mother Jones article, “The Great Inflammation Panic,” including an interview with the author, Julia Métraux, in segment two. We’ll also discuss what inflammation is, how wellness influencers weaponize it, and what it represents in the context of Ayurveda. Show Notes The Great Inflammation Panic Chronic Inflammation and Cancer NIH Autoimmune Diseases Celiac Disease Cambridge press release — "Chronic diseases misdiagnosed as psychosomatic can lead to long term damage" Sloan et al., "I still can't forget those words" — Rheumatology (2025), DOI 10.1093/rheumatology/keaf115 Vasculitis diagnostic-delay data — PubMed Miranda Fricker interview — Philosophy Bites Bleuler 1911 coinage — NCBI Bookshelf, The Metamorphosis of Autism Bleuler's original 1911 text excerpt — Autism History Project Sontag, "Illness as Metaphor" — full text, NYRB Louise Hay — Natural Ways to Treat Autoimmune Disease Gabor Maté, When the Body Says No — critical review, Globe and Mail Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  7. 10 Aug

    Bonus Sample: Conspirituality in the Age of Hyperpolitics

    Listen to the full episode Matthew applies Anton Jäger's Hyperpolitics—a theory of extreme politicization without institutional consequence—to conspirituality and to his own political biography.  Continuing a mini-series begun with "Conspirituality Viewed Through Neofeudalism and Vectoralism," Matthew traces Jäger's periodization (mass politics, postpolitics, antipolitics, hyperpolitics) through his own life: his grandparents' union halls and church auxiliaries, the "collective amnesia" of the 1990s, his years in cults and the reformist Toronto yoga world, and the pivot from brick-and-mortar ashram cults to digital influencer cults during COVID.  Drawing on Jäger's proposal that renewal must be sought in sites of social reproduction, Matthew wonders about a hypothetical "Care Labour Compact," or organizing unpaid caregiving labor into durable political power. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  8. 10 Aug • Subscribers Only

    Conspirituality in the Age of Hyperpolitics

    Matthew applies Anton Jäger's Hyperpolitics—a theory of extreme politicization without institutional consequence—to conspirituality and to his own political biography. Continuing a mini-series begun with "Conspirituality Viewed Through Neofeudalism and Vectoralism," Matthew traces Jäger's periodization (mass politics, postpolitics, antipolitics, hyperpolitics) through his own life: his grandparents' union halls and church auxiliaries, the "collective amnesia" of the 1990s, his years in cults and the reformist Toronto yoga world, and the pivot from brick-and-mortar ashram cults to digital influencer cults during COVID. Drawing on Jäger's proposal that renewal must be sought in sites of social reproduction, Matthew wonders about a hypothetical "Care Labour Compact," or organizing unpaid caregiving labor into durable political power.

    Conspirituality in the Age of Hyperpolitics
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About

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.

Information

  • Creator
    Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, Julian Walker
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    1k
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2023 Conspirituality
  • Show Website
    Conspirituality
  • Provider

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