This is the first post in quite some time. Turns out a dissertation takes a lot of your energy and time. I defended in December and spent the past 5 months recuperating and avoiding the topic that had consumed so many years of my life. Turns out, we were only on a break and not a break-up. I am including the link to the dissertation in this post but don’t feel obligated to wade through it. I’m going to commit to a series of posts that explore the ideas in it, but in a hopefully more approachable and digestible way. As much as I would like to put the darkness of the topic behind me, our world is still firmly in the grip of the archetype at the dissertation’s core.
Let’s begin with a brief introduction to the topic. My research examined the QAnon conspiracy theory as a psychological manifestation of an exiled religious function seeking expression through alternative mythological structures. I used the symbols that cropped up in the conspiracy theory, and the overlap of themes with Christian nationalism, to try to understand why it attracted so many people from religious fundamentalism to its ideas. This series will define the religious function and explore how it overlaps with politics, faith, conspiratorial thinking, and the psyche. hopefully you will find something of interest and illumination in them. Maybe, together, we can better understand what is going on in our modern world so we can apply conscious influence.
jenniewiley.com 