What do we mean when we say that we believe something? When the QAnon Shaman got dressed on the morning of January 6, he put on his red, white, and blue face paint, his postmodern quasi-Native American horned fur hat, and grabbed the spear to which he had attached an American flag. In performance mode, this cosplay persona had already garnered him a taste of the attention that would soon increase exponentially as he became the most recognizable figure of the Capitol Riot.
In today’s Bonus, Julian argues that his costume, as well as his ritual actions on that day were also an expression of a political worldview, run through with deeply held spiritual beliefs about the world and his role in it. The history of political religion, propagandistic conspiracies, and progressive spiritual convictions may show that—far from being trivial—belief is at the heart of the American, and perhaps the human, story.
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When Jacob Chansley got dressed on the morning of January 6th, he put on his red, white, and blue face paint, his postmodern, quasi-Native American horned fur hat, and grabbed the spear to which he had attached an American flag.
Then he headed out to join his fellow warriors of light at the Capitol.
Okay, wait.
He may have had a nourishing organic breakfast first.
By the look of his lean, shirtless, Norse pagan tattooed physique, it was probably low carb.
I'm going to think out loud today about the concept of belief, more generally, and specifically about the relationship between religious or spiritual beliefs and our actions in the world.
My thesis is that beliefs are the opposite of trivial and beliefs that carry enculturated ultimate truth valences around morality, politics and spirituality have powerful implications on how we see the world and how we act upon it.
When it comes to the common pluralist objection that critiquing or debunking other people's beliefs is impolite and besides, so what if someone believes something you think is false or silly?
Live and let live.
The formulation I've come up with goes something like this.
Spiritual beliefs cannot simultaneously be too sacred to criticize, but too inconsequential to have any impact on the world.
Now, Jake Angeli, as he sometimes calls himself, held beliefs that had an impact on the world that day.
By looking at him, he certainly was in performance mode.
So we have to consider that perhaps he's just a showman looking for an audience, and his signature performance of conspirituality is incidental.
Maybe it's purely opportunistic.
Certainly his costume had already garnered him an existing fame both amongst the MAGA faithful and amongst those of us following the QAnon phenomenon.
But I think it is safe to say That the costume that would render him the most instantly recognizable figure on January 6th and his prominent role and ritual actions were also an expression of a political worldview run through with deeply held spiritual beliefs about his destined role in a global conflict of biblical proportions.
When the appointed date arrived, he put his money where his face-painted mouth was.
Later on, when he put his bullhorn where his mouth was, Jake led insurrectionists in a long and ornamented prayer to the Christian God.
Now was this merely for the photo-op and the clout?
What about when he said the following to an Austrian news outlet in the heady months prior to the insurrection?
I'm quoting here, "...as a shaman, I'm like a multidimensional or hyperdimensional being.
I'm able to perceive multiple different frequencies of light beyond my five senses, and it allows me to see into these other, higher dimensions where These entities, these pedophiles, these rapists, these murderers, these really high up people that they almost like hide in the shadows.
Nobody can see that because their third eye ain't open.
Of course, all of this could be an act.
But if so, we know now that his commitment to staying in character landed him in jail for 27 of the 41 months to which he would be later sentenced.
But here are some questions.
What do we mean when we say that we believe something?
Do our beliefs shape our worldview and our actions in the world?
Or might they exist in a kind of separate abstract compartment?
To what extent does the sacred nature of certain special beliefs predispose us to think about and act in the world in ways faithful to them?
For instance, was Martin Luther King Jr.
expressing a political worldview rooted in his religious beliefs as he pursued civil rights via the activism that would lead, eventually, to his assassination?
Was his willingness to sit in that famous Birmingham jail and to risk his life against a brutally bigoted white majority based in his metaphysical conviction?
