Together, we can start my cult.

Once I figure out what it should be.

I think I finally figured out what kind of cult I want to start. I haven’t figured out the name yet, but it is starting to take shape enough in my head that its time to start planting the seeds of my mind virus in your head.

First, some background theorizing about cults in general. The cults that most likely come to mind when you hear the word are what I will call layer one cults. These are cults that are concerned with life’s big questions. How to live a good life, what happens after you die, the nature of the universe, the nature of humans. Some may quibble with the term “cult” and prefer “religion”, but that’s beside the point here, so I’m just going to mostly use cult because it is more fun to say.

My cult will not be a layer one cult. My cult will be a layer two cult. And really, it won’t be my cult, it will be the cult members cult, I will just get the ball rolling. So whats a layer two cult? Layer two cults are a modern phenomenon which arise organically, if not intentionally. Until I start my cult.

Basically, a layer two cult is any cult that has more narrow concerns than a proper layer one cult, but otherwise works the same way. There are numerous examples (which shall remain nameless) in society already where groups of people coalesce around ideas about how to solve various social problems, and develop a fervor for taking action that blocks out any deeper meaning traditionally dealt with by religion. The reason for being becomes solving problems downstream from the basic conundrum of life. If religion is an ocean, a layer two cult is a tide pool mistaken for an ocean.

Note that this is different from a movie or band that is called a “cult phenomenon”, because that just means there is a subculture that revolves around the weird thing, not that the people into that weird thing organize to solve meaningful issues related to it.

What I want is a cult that realizes there are deeper questions, but still organizes and focuses people around solving a problem, like religion does, just more limited and focused in scope.

The problem I want to focus on is how best to live in a world with superintellent technology trying to suck your attention toward what it wants for its own ends.

I have read books by people offering possible solutions and ideas for how to minimize the negative effects of this situation we find ourselves in, but I think it is a deeper problem and requires more organization and commitment. So we need a cult.

Johann Hari has a new book called Stolen focus which seems relevant to this project, but I have not read it yet, so I’m going to read that and hopefully get some inspiration and then I will do another post and go into more detail about how I think the cult should work. If further substack articles are necessary to get the cult going, then I guess maybe I will do some more, but at a certain point, it will be more efficient to trick you into doing the good work for me. So get ready to roll up your sleeves, and fight the robot monsters for me. I know you can do it. So brave. So brave.