The Spirit of Hope — The Wisdom of Prometheus
An egregore is defined as an occult concept representing a “thoughtform” or “collective group mind”, an autonomous psychic entity made up of, and influencing, the thoughts of a group of people.
In his excellent book on the subject — Egregores: The Occult Entities That Watch Over Human Destiny — Mark Stavish speaks about the fact that throughout history, the will of the collective has become its own self perpetuating animal, its own psychic entity…demanding both sacrifice and adulation in return for the protection and preservation of its adherents.
Religion — the dogmatic belief that the only path that is true is the one we are on — is an egregore.
Patriotism — the dogmatic belief that the best country in the world is the one we live in — is an egregore.
Scientism — the dogmatic belief that science holds the answers to every question in the universe — is an egregore.
Capitalism — the dogmatic belief that the free market should determine whether an idea is worth receiving money or not — is an egregore.
In fact, pretty much anything that creates a level of zeal in the minds of its followers — protecting their ideology by attacking those that question it — is going to be an egregore. Even those who follow a particular sports team fall under the psychic influence of this collective group mind.
Make no mistake, this isn’t to say that belonging to an egregore is a bad thing. Some of the greatest movements in history — such as the fight against racial discrimination — have been due to the collective will of the people. They can promote things like community, compassion and consideration for other people.
When things are good, egregores create a ‘bubble of protection’ around their followers. But to those from the outside, that bubble is seen as brainwashing. And because an egregore seeks to both feed and feed on our thoughts, its incredibly hard to break free from its influence unless we take drastic action. You could almost consider the psychic attachment of an egregore to being under the influence of a drug.
When you hear people talk about how the financial markets and the economy is driven by ‘animal spirits’, what they are really saying is that the financial market is an egregore that is driven by the collective thoughtform of the people who participate in it. This is why economic stimulus measures diminish in effectiveness the more they are used — an egregore that is feeding on self-perpetuating fear isn’t going respond at all to something that it has already seen before, just as an egregore that is feeding on self-perpetuating optimism isn’t going to respond to those that continually predict a recession.
What is more important than the size of the measure is the shock of the measure — like diving into a pool that you expected to be warm, only to find its ice cold. It doesn’t matter if you dive in from 10 meters or 1 meter…you’re still getting out of the water as quickly as you can.
How do you know if you are under the influence of an egregore? And how do you break free from it? Well, the traditional method was to burn everything related to it with fire until it turns to ash.
In our modern world, it means turning off your television, or deleting your Facebook account, or getting rid of your smartphone. Completely cutting yourself off from the subject at hand. If you feel as though a weight has been lifted from your shoulders after two or three days, you will know that you’ve been a part of an egregore.
It’s only at that time that you can rationally examine what you are a part of and ask the following questions:
- What benefit does this egregore bring me? This can be something as simple as emotional response, or it could be physical or mental rewards. Romantic relationships are a classic example of an egregore that delivers all three.
- What benefit does it bring to other people who are involved in it? Once you can look at things from a distance, you start to see the forest from the trees. Sometimes we are so caught up in a particular event, particularly current affairs crises, that we fail to see the big picture of who benefits the most from whipping up emotions such as fear and anxiety.
- Is the reward worth the sacrifice? All egregores require the giving up of some form of individuality for the protection of the group. But there is a stark difference between the totalitarianism of an oppressive government in a single party state compared to handing out flyers canvassing for the party that best meets your ideals in a democracy.
After this analysis, it becomes a personal decision whether you rejoin the egregore, find a new one or, if you go down the path of historical figures like Alexander the Great, Isaac Newton or Dr. Martin Luther King…create one of your own.
This brings us to an important point. What happens when one egregore has an ideology that clashes with the will of another?
To put it simply, it’s whichever one that controls the narrative of the situation.
This is why propaganda is so vital in communist regimes — in order to suppress the underlying will of the egregore of democracy, they will appeal to the egregores of nationalism, civic duty and fear of the police state.
But if the egregore of democracy became so strong, so powerful, that it dominated the narrative of that particular country, with its believers willing to die for the cause…then the communist regime would crumble into the dust without firing a single shot.
Hermes Trismegistus said that God is an immortal man, and man is a mortal god. That means that our thoughts control the reality we create for ourselves through the power of Mind.
The reason why the world is how it is, is because we’ve allowed others — governments, media, religious organisations, science — to do the thinking for us. And look where we are. Can you honestly say that you’re happy with your lot in life?
It’s high time we changed the narrative and took the ability to think for ourselves back.
