Members-only oddcast episode
Into the Chapel Perilous with Erik Davis
This is a special oddcast episode for SHWEP members only
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In a continued interview with Erik Davis, we discuss:
- the contemporary cult of q-anon (and I muse on the ways in which it is useful for thinking through ancient ‘Gnosticism’),
- the contemporary ‘pop-Gnosticism’ exemplified by The Matrix, and
- Philip K. Dick as a ‘prophetic’ writer.
Interview Bio:
Erik Davis is a researcher of many an interesting facet of the weird, modern and ancient. He has published far and wide on subjects ranging from rock journalism pieces to full-length monographs on psychedelic countercultures, technological transformations of culture and consciousness, and various aspects of modern western esotericism (among other subjects), most recently Davis 2019 (see below). His website techgnosis has its finger on the somewhat erratic pulse of a special kind of esoteric thought – you know it when you taste it – and features the long-standing Expanding Mind Podcast. He is one of the editors of The Exegesis, a monumental (or unbearable) work of on-the-fly reality-building edited from the truly copious posthumous papers of Philip K. Dick (see Works Cited below).
Works Cited in this Episode:
We discuss ‘that speech Philip K. Dick gave in France’ in the interview; this refers to a talk given at a science-fiction convention by Dick in Metz in 1977. You can watch video of said here.
- Paul on the Archons in Ephesians: 1:21: 21: Jesus is ‘Far above all principality (πασῆς ἀρχῆς), and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.’ Cf. 2:2, and e.g. John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11.
- Philip K. Dick. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. Doubleday, 1965.
- Idem. Valis. Bantam, 1981.
- Pamela Jackson, Jonathan Lethem, and Erik Davis, editors. The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston, MA, 2011.
Recommended Reading:
- Erik Davis. TechGnosis: Myth, Magic, and Mysticism in the Age of Information, Harmony Books, 1998; republished Serpent’s Tail, 2004.
- Idem. The Visionary State: A Journey through California’s Spiritual Landscape, with photographs by Michael Rauner, Chronicle Books, 2006.
- Idem. Nomad Codes: Adventures in Modern Esoterica, Yeti Books, 2010.
- Idem. High Weirdness: Drugs, Esoterica, and Visionary Experience in the Seventies, Strange Attractor/MIT Press, 2019.
Tamara Sanders
March 30, 2021
I found the idea that the Qanon stuff could be considered a form of esotericism interesting. This falls into that discussion;
From the Washington Post Magazine, QAnon’s Unexpected Roots in New Age Spirituality by Marisa Meltzer
“After the attack on the Capitol, news reports unearthed that Chansley was a founder of something called the Star Seed Academy (in a certain New Age vernacular, a star seed is a higher being). The Facebook page for the venture, before it was taken down, read: “Star Seed Academy creates leaders of the highest order! We help people to awaken, evolve and ascend! Are you ready to be a leader? Are you ready to ascend?” Recently, Chansley’s lawyer, Albert Watkins, told me in a statement that his client “is deeply spiritual. His spirituality is serving him well as he traverses the pending federal charges.” He added that Chansley has “a personal commitment to Ahimsa,” the principle (found in Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism) of doing no harm.”
Craig Brewer
January 7, 2022
Ok, totally forgot about the “Oddcast.” So now I’m catching up, especially on the members-eps. Also love Davis’ book, and I’m thrilled you’re talking to him. (I got into all of this through Plotinus in grad school and… RAW.)
I know a couple QAnon folk, and the vast variety of styles and inputs and how, not “well-read” they are, but “shotgun-random-read.” But that “subject position” he talks about seems precisely what attracts those folk to Q. It’s a way to FEEL both 100% faithful and 100% skeptical at the same time. You “believe” that the truth will come from Q or the grander conspiracy eventually, but at the same time, you get to feel superior to “lamestream media” and feel like you’re being skeptical of official sources. And at the same time, since there’s no single actual line of belief that holds everything to a consistent story, you never have to worry about it when things fall apart or predictions don’t come true. It’s not even about real politics – it’s about the reassurance you get from participating in online discussions and belonging to that community while also scratching the warring itches of faith and skepticism. (I think this is true of most any conspiracy theory, but Q has enough popular appeal and enough widespread recognition that a lot of people who would never join a cult can give it just enough credence to drop their defenses and join.)
When he says it’s not about content but about the subject position, it clicked. Reminds me of how a prof of mine used to say that every “religious” or “spiritual” position now is a negotiation with modernity. QAnon/conspiracy is a feeling, more than any specific content.
Earl Fontainelle
January 7, 2022
Indeed, Craig. I think it’s also a lot about belonging to the group that’s in the know (regardless of the fact that no one really agrees on the true state of affairs). They all agree that the archons are lying to us and almost everyone is in the group of lost souls who believe the ‘lamestream’ narrative. The archons can be anyone from the mainstream media to Illuminati Jewish bankers, it’s not really the point. The point is that ‘we’ know that ‘they’ are lying to us, and our gnōsis of this key fact is what unites us.
So it’s a feeling, but it’s also a feeling of belonging to an elect group of the ‘saved’ in a secularised reframing of salvation-theory.
Craig Brewer
January 7, 2022
Indeed.
But the lizard-people are real. Just coincidence that their existence matches up to our culture’s conspiracies-for-the-lost… 😉