Quite simply, we’ve been hypnotized. And we’re OK with it.
I’m speaking in collective terms here. Not all of us have been hypnotized.
But perhaps you’ve wondered how it is that so many people you know have been taken in by COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, and perhaps monkeypox–or whatever else may come down the pike.
James Corbett has done a totally brilliant interview with Mattias Desmet, a Professor of Clinical Psychology at Ghent University in Belgium, and I can’t recommend their conversation highly enough.
Desmet has written a book called The Psychology of Totalitarianism whihch defines mass formation, how it develops, how it leads to totalitarianism, and what he believes we must do to change the conditions that makes these mass formation events possible.
Here a few of the highlights I gleaned, though this hardly does justice to the content of the interview.
As our world has become more mechanized and materialistic, people have become lonely and disconnected. They are therefore susceptible to events and hypnotic narratives that bind them together.
Our world cannot merely be defined by rationalistic science. Greater forces are in play.
Doing away with the elites in power, or throwing the bums out at election time, won’t solve the problem. It’s their mindset or world view which poses the greater threat.
To put one of Desmet’s recommendations into a godly frame of reference in my own words, we need to have a relationship with the God of the universe. We must put our faith in Christ and in God’s word.
In turn, that will help us recognize ideologies whose origin is Satan. We will develop better connection with one another. And we will have true hope.
Corbett’s incredible conversation and relevant links can be found at:
Interview 1730 – Breaking Free From Mass Formation with Mattias Desmet.