Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Health Threat, by Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, and Julian Walker, seeks to define a new online religion. According to the authors, this religion combines two ideas: that the world is controlled by evil forces, and if you can see this, it’s up to you to usher in “a new spiritual paradigm” in yourself and others.
The book, which was published last week, provides a deeper understanding to why some of your friends from the CrossFit box took an early January field trip to the Capitol, or why your yoga studio may have suddenly became fixated on Dr. Fauci. It’s also a sympathetic attempt to explain why conspiratorial thinking about health and wellness is so appealing to so many people. It also provides some needed historical context of the underlying movements that gave us some of the influencers who rose to prominence during the pandemic.
One big takeaway? “I would caution against falling for anyone who offers cure-alls,” Derek Beres told GQ. “Anyone who says, ‘This one thing is going to change your life in all facets.’ That’s a big red flag.” Unfortunately, he added. “Those are the people who sell the best.”
The authors have real credibility in the new-age space. They’ve all been profoundly impacted by alternative wellness in some way, whether it was unproven homeopathic treatments for anxiety, cult leader-like yoga instructors inaccurately diagnosing them with repressed trauma, and years spent in not one, but two actual cults. The book also draws upon expert perspectives from Conspirituality, the podcast, which they launched in 2020.
The book ends on a note of hope, from the perspective of people who either lost loved ones to this conspiratorial worldview, either emotionally or literally, but made it back to the shores of reality. And it won’t make your ditch your workout routine—probably. “Often, people are like, ‘I love yoga, I get a lot from it. But now I’m seeing all this crazy Q-Anon shit. Do I have to give up yoga?’“ Beres says. “Our answer is: ‘None of us have given up yoga.’”
Ashwin Rodrigues
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