Nothing grows in a closed system (the rise of conspiracy)

Little did I know what Pandora’s box the subject of one of my recent blog posts would open. In it, I mentioned the term “great awakening” to describe some astrological placements and the subsequent revelations those times reveal. I had no idea the Qanon movement used the term (and corresponding hashtag) ‘The great awakening’ in its propaganda. When notified of this, I had a moment of panic. I certainly did not want to be associated with this group or even slightly support its dark cause. I went to edit my post immediately.

But then I paused. Was I going to have to edit every post or message now to make sure I wasn’t using language that matched that narrative? Was I going to have to do an exhaustive keyword search every time I wrote anything? On a larger scale, was I going to have to change my marketing or even how I describe what I do? I knew the political angle of QAnon (and I am not addressing that here), but what did it have to do with ‘lighworkers’, gurus, healers, counselors, coaches, chiropractors, naturopaths, spiritual teachers, astrologers, and others in the wellness arena?

Yes, I had witnessed clients, friends, and colleagues (some rather well know) begin to shift their narrative to reflect QAnon theories over the last year. While confusing, I mostly ignored it, thinking it wasn’t the norm but a choice few. Obviously, the current situation with my blog was a call to find out what the whole thing was all about. QAnon had officially entered my world.

So, I did what I do as a spiritual technician. I dove into learning just what it was all about. I read articles. Listened to podcasts. Watched YouTube videos. I researched social media and various websites.

The results were disappointing, exhausting, frustrating, confusing, but mostly terrifying. In truth, what I discovered was an exaggerated representation of simmering destructive patterns alive and well in the holistic/new age/metaphysical community.

I can expand on just what I discovered in another post. That is not the point of this one. The point of this one is to rally a bit of the truth rebel in all of us to stand up to what is a dangerous and destructive movement in a field we all respect. A movement that is the opposite of light. The opposite of love. The opposite of holism. It is sourced in fear, untruths, and hurts the very causes it proposes to save. For if we normalize toxic language, contempt, division, deceit, and fear through the guise of wisdom, we endorse and perpetuate the very behavior we claim to change.

Let me say this first, especially for those in this field. Integrity matters. Facts matters. Our past matters. Honesty matters. Humility matters. Accountability matters. Our words and actions matter. They are an extension of who we are. If we are not in alignment somewhere, we are not in alignment anywhere. No matter how we spin it. When it comes to healing professions, we ARE held to a higher standard. And we SHOULD be. Who we are is what we do. This doesn’t mean we have to be perfect. Far from it. It does mean we will spend a lot of time looking at things in ourselves we do not want to see. It also means we will be required to get comfortable being uncomfortable.

And that brings me to my first point. The inherent positivity and optimism of the holistic health movement is a powerful and insightful tool for change. It goes sideways, though, when we use it to bypass what is for what we ‘want’ it to be. Words like ‘illusion’, ‘truth’, ‘manifest’, ‘affirm’, and ‘attract’ get thrown into the mix. There is nothing inherently wrong with these words, and there are powerful messages in all. What matters is which part of us (whole or wounded) is choosing to animate them. Because wounded archetypes are not a suitable channel for the light. Spiritually, psychologically and energetically, they only tap into wounded grids of data offering wounded wisdom.

This creates a few key problems.

~It teaches us there is something wrong with being uncomfortable. Thus, we must avoid it and/or resolve it asap. Cue affirmations and the like.

~This leads to a polarity of good and bad, right and wrong, black and white thinking causing overall fear, anxiety, judgment, blame, projection, and overall mistrust.

~It puts the habitual ego entirely in charge, thereby negating any soul sight since that part of us only runs on history.

~This makes our perception rather narcissistic and self-focused. What WE want or desire, ignoring the purpose of faithful service. We become shadow magicians.

~Which tends to lead to a feeling of specialness. Power is heady stuff.

And round we go.

Can we see why things like conspiracy theories with their certainty, blame, specialness, self-focus, and polarity have a certain appeal?

Conspiracies are comfortable as they require no challenge of uncertainty. “Finally an answer!” They make us feel special. “We have the secret!” They make us feel like we belong. “Finally someone gets me!” They make us feel in control. “This is how we will make this go away!” They attempt to manage the wounded esteem we do feel. “They are the awful people NOT me”.

Giving up our soul sovereignty is a dangerous endeavor. Without our inner guidance, we are rudderless, blind, and lacking the necessities of empathy, intuition, and the other graces that link us to technical truth and needed facts. Reality becomes twisted and convenient with confirmation bias. Like a black hole of belief, the gravity is enticing, almost hypnotic in its promised new reality and fantasy thinking.

Want to know how destructive conspiracy dogma can be? Read some history, preferably Germany in the mid 1930’s. That’s a good example. It didn’t happen in a day. It took time. Like a psychic virus, fear, specialness, certainty, and wounded victim consciousness took time to snowball into the tribal atrocities of the Holocaust. Better yet, study HOW it happened. That may sound like a dramatic example, and it is meant to be. I want to illustrate how the power of one tiny shadow seed of misguided intent and contorted ‘facts’ rooted a tragedy impossible to comprehend. That is the immense power of shadow belief. And it is precisely that same fear fuel that feeds conspiracies.

In my teenage years, my mom decided to become a Jehovah’s Witness for a while. So, by default, I was too. Every week, I met with a couple of women not much older than me, and we would study the bible. I enjoyed it immensely. One of the very cool things about this flavor of religion is there is a strong emphasis on the historical accuracy and relevance of Christian teachings (a reason why Jehovah’s Witnesses do not celebrate Christmas btw). I loved learning about anything. Always the seeker, I looked forward to our weekly meetings. I would be ready with my list of endless esoteric quandaries that sometimes they could answer, and sometimes they had to take to their elders for answers. Frankly, I think they found me exhausting. As time went on, though, I began to notice a shift. My teachers began to pressure me to convert officially. This meant I would be baptized. It also meant I had to end friendships with anyone “in the world”, as well as, maintain specific requirements for witnessing, morality, marriage, my role as a woman, and employment. I also had to stop challenging the dictates of faith and accept it as the true one. I had to stop asking so many questions. When I inquired, the answer was, so I would not be persuaded off the path. To me, that was the sticking point. If ‘truth’ only exists in the polarity of its own convenience shunning any challenge, it is not truth at all. Truth is only truth if it welcomes dialectic opposition and withstands the freedom of a real debate from all senses- the scholarly, the psychological, the spiritual, the literal, and the symbolic.

Nothing good grows in a closed system- whether it is a petri dish, a family, a country, an ideology, or a mind.

Skepticism is a vital tool in this line of work, as it keeps us open to all channels of data and evolution. Our ability to question the consensus, challenge the status quo, and go against the grain is precisely why we are good at what we do. But that also doesn’t automatically make the status quo wrong. We do not need to throw out all the evolutions, inventions, and discoveries along the way. We are simply meant to add to them. To make them even better. Reality- what is showing up in our lives- is exactly where the lessons are. We do ourselves no favors attempting to bypass it.

We have been gifted both sides of the brain -the logical left and the more intuitive right- for a reason. Spirituality was never meant to propel us out of reality, but help us bridge the gap between worlds. To be an extension of grace here, we need both the linear and the creative, the reasonable, and the visionary. One side is not ‘more’ spiritual than the other. They simply offer different data. That is what holism is all about.

So, consider your sources of data- both inner and outer. Externally, find the sources of those who are literally doing the gritty work of real science, advocacy, and healing. Listen to the victims. Read medical journals and studies. Research the psychological science behind conspiracy theories. Look at all sides. At the same time, locate within which part of you is filtering any intuitive data coming through making sure it is the technical empathic intuitive self and not the wounded one. Truth is meant to bring us closer to holism, not further away from it. Fear will never be solved by more fear or secrecy or blame or projection or more shame. The truth does not need to hide in anonymity, and it doesn’t have an agenda.

It just is.

So, no. On second thought. I will not be editing my post. But I will be speaking out. As someone that does this kind of work, it is my responsibility to speak up for integrity and truth. (That is a loaded word I know, and I am choosing to claim it here). I encourage you to do the same.