Conspirituality

By: Derek Beres Matthew Remski Julian Walker
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  • Summary

  • 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.
    © 2023 Conspirituality
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Philosophy Science Social Sciences Spirituality
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Episodes
  • Bonus Sample: God is a Cloned Alien Love-Machine!

    Bonus Sample: God is a Cloned Alien Love-Machine!
    Apr 21 2025
    When the aliens landed, they told a young musician and wannabe race car driver that he was the chosen one, and they were the real gods. He should build them an embassy with a UFO landing pad in order to prepare humanity for their arrival. They taught him the secrets of sex meditation and cloning DNA as a way to keep switching bodies and never die. Not much in his story was original, but this was the 1970s, so free love hippies flocked to his French commune—then it all turned to shit. Somehow Claude kept landing on his feet. He took his schtick to Quebec, then Japan, and even found thousands of followers in Africa. Still no embassy, no divine alien arrival, no cloned human babies—but he kept raising funds from the gullible and living like a king with a ballerina bride 40 years his junior. For the latest installment in Roots of Conspirituality series, Julian muses on the epic tale of the Raelians. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    6 mins
  • Brief: The Cult of Crossfit

    Brief: The Cult of Crossfit
    Apr 19 2025
    When cultural and psychological anthropologist Katie Rose Hajtmanek set out to study Crossfit, she knew she had to throw herself into it fully. For seven years, she traveled to “boxes” around the world while committing herself to her local Brooklyn box. What she uncovered was a rabid fan base that deeply values community and a business model that offers a refreshing response to unfettered capitalism—as well as the misogyny, racism, and militarized Christian themes that inform this beloved and despised fitness regimen. She joins Derek to discuss her new book, The Cult of CrossFit: Christianity and the American Exercise Phenomenon. Show Notes The Cult of CrossFit: Christianity and the American Exercise Phenomenon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    36 mins
  • 253: The Politics of Abundance

    253: The Politics of Abundance
    Apr 17 2025
    "In order to have the future we want, we have to build and invent more of the things we need." That’s the central claim of Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson’s new book, Abundance. They argue that Democrat-run cities and states have suffered self-inflicted wounds that are causing a mass exodus to red states, where life is simply more affordable. To stop the bleeding, Dems need to take action on a bold new vision that cuts through red tape to improve people’s lives and address the crises in housing, climate, healthcare and politics. But many on the left are suspicious. Is this just Reaganomics wrapped up in the intellectualized language of the NY Times? Is Abundance the privileged prosperity gospel for white liberals? Show Notes The Abundance Agenda: Neoliberalism’s Rebrand Abundance: The Left Hates It Summary of Abundance Critiques Politico: False Choice Between Abundance and Antitrust Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    59 mins
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