Cults And Culture: The Indivisible Connection Between Humanity's Desire For Belonging And Purpose

In her thought-provoking essay, ''The Collusion of Cults and Culture,'' writer, speaker, and consultant, Naomi Aeon, PhD, examines society's nuanced relationship to the social construct of normality, belonging, and belief. Her insights shine a light on the messy reality of human expression and emphasize the need for open dialogue on what society considers acceptable and why. Dr. Aeon's look at this contemporary issue highlights the growing problem of polarization and division in America and other multicultural nations.

Well-known as a talented professor of Black studies with over 12 years of pedagogical experience at Harvard and Yale, Dr. Aeon is at the forefront of intriguing conversations on human behavior. She earned her PhD in a field dubbed the 'History of Consciousness' and is continuously encouraging individuals to heal division and embrace oneness.

Since leaving academia in 2012 to found EMBRACE ALCHEMY, an online learning hub offering interactive workshops and masterclasses like "Knowing Who You Are" and "Achieving Wellness," Dr. Aeon has shared her thoughts on several sociological phenomena. Her insights have been covered in outlets such as HuffPost, MindBodyGreen, Transitions Magazine, and the Black Scholar to name a few.

As Dr. Aeon has brought refreshing arguments to the forefront of the scientific community, she has reminded society of the complicated nature of identity. Whether relating to personal, cultural, or racial categories, people have never fit neatly into boxes. Their essence has overlapped the sharp lines society has tried to keep within, creating a multi-faceted picture of a single human. Dr. Aeon intimately understands the difficulty of a 'both/and' existence as a dual national with Swedish and African American heritage. Her identity becomes even more interesting when her background as an international adoptee comes into the picture. It's this unique worldview that enables Dr. Aeon to get to the root of society's maniacal and sometimes miscalculated obsession with cults.

''The Collusion of Cults and Culture'' strips back the sensationalized idea of cults to unpack the defining traits of an increasingly overused label. Experts generally describe cults as extremely devoted to unorthodox or dangerous belief systems. The word cult has been most used to describe new religious movements that rejected mainstream societal values. Since then, cults have developed into a negative pejorative sometimes used as a scapegoat for unrelated social issues.

Society now widely assumes that groups with loosely identifiable characteristics of a cult take advantage of vulnerable individuals, brainwashing them into following outlandish practices. While this has been true in many instances, people are too accustomed to attaching 'cult' and 'cult leader' unthinkingly to any group deviating from the concept of normality. Dr. Aeon expands on this point highlighting how the term has been thrown casually at fitness hubs, athleisure brands, furniture behemoths, entertainment moguls, and personal development figures.

Later in the paper, she acknowledges the recognizable similarities between cults, religions, alternative lifestyles, and new-age pathways, encouraging readers to rethink when it's appropriate to assume these groups' divestment from mainstream culture is rooted in manipulation and corruption rather than personal development or collective transformation. Dr. Aeon argues that almost all avenues to enlightenment involve recognizing the illusion society lives in and rejecting it. Following this thinking, one can witness the erroneous thinking that cancel culture has encouraged society to buy into.

"Proponents of cancel culture don't seem to notice their own hypocrisy. They see themselves as rescuers, without taking note of the fact they've morphed into villains. Fans of cancel culture feel justified in taking a retaliatory and vengeful approach to handling the things they happen not to approve of within our larger culture. Fans of cancel culture therefore insist it's nothing other than a case of "accountability culture." As if there's one, and only one, set of uniform values that peoples' words and actions should be measured by," Dr. Aeon writes.

Her remarks are cutting for many people who unconsciously distance themselves from ideas and cultures different than their own. Those who purposely avoid connecting with differing viewpoints that may endanger their strong belief in a certain ideology. Podcasts, which have become wildly popular for covering taboo topics like true crime and cults, perpetuate the unspoken implication of 'staying put' within the padded walls of mainstream society.

"It's an agenda that doesn't even come off as an agenda because it's so on the bulls-eye of what's already taken as a given," Dr. Aeon writes. "It's a restatement of what's already taken to be neutral, normal, and normative. Hence, it's an agenda that carries with it an ironic and supremely powerful undertow. It operates as a swirling eddy that—if we passively surrender to its current—will swirl us around and around, taking us nowhere. Nowhere, that is, except for stranded squarely within the cult of mainstream culture. With no one seeming to notice, much less care, that we may well be drowning there. Nowadays, anything that could ostensibly call the status quo into question is viewed through the lens of its potential to generate wayward, misguided, and outright conspiratorial thinking."

''The Collusion of Cults and Culture''doesn't endorse the behaviors of harmful groups rightfully categorized as cults. What it does condone is reflecting on how alternative ideologies can morph into a refuge from the depressing reality of mainstream culture. Once people begin examining how cults have become an escape from this suppression, society can find practical ways to protect people from cults. They will shift their judgment from the 'less traveled path' to the normative society that encourages escapism.

Within her paper, Dr. Aeon mentions OneTaste, a spiritual development group founded by thought leader, writer, and speaker Nicole Daedone. Despite being praised for empowering women to take ownership of their journey of liberation through sexual exploration, the company was quickly accused of being a cult. Dr. Aeon insinuates that OneTaste's rejection of societal norms sparked an unjustified smear campaign on the founder and the company's practices.

"The accusations against Nicole and her powerful work seem designed to kill two birds with one stone. For they are an attack on the expression of women's sexuality—on Eros itself—and they are an attack on a powerful pathway to liberation that operates unapologetically outside the box of the mainstream culture," Dr. Aeon asserts.

The points illustrated in Dr. Naomi Aeon's ''The Collusion of Cults and Culture'' encourage society to remain open-minded to community, belonging, and belief. While someone may practice something they don't, critical thinking can allow them to understand how their unconventional pursuit of personal freedom may be self-imposed.