Egregors. How religion and media manipulate
Introduction to the political events and emotions in the parliament
In the next part of this video, I will also talk about politics towards the end, but we will get to that in the second block. However, I would like to provide some more updates and details about that fight, or rather, almost a fight in parliament. This event unleashed huge passions and emotions, which I consider very dangerous. It is precisely this phenomenon that I would like to warn you about; when similar things evoke strong feelings, it is important not to get carried away by them, but rather to analyze the whole situation rationally.
Current cultural wars and religious issues
Furthermore, I will address the topic of cultural wars, as well as the issue of Bible translations and the topic of homosexuality. Currently, these are incredibly relevant topics, as essentially the entire church has been reduced to cultural wars. For this reason, I perceive these topics as more than a priority.
Psychology, Meditation, and the Power of the Subconscious
Next, I will talk about psychological topics, specifically how to resist manipulation and how the human soul and psychology work. As a person who is very intensely engaged in meditation – not only on a theoretical but above all on a practical level within meditation techniques – I know far more about the subconscious than an ordinary psychologist. You yourself can know substantially more about your own subconscious and unconscious if you work on yourself intensively. Through meditation techniques, you can essentially gain deeper knowledge than psychologists.
Analysis of religious egregors and media propaganda
So, welcome, friends. In this video, I will be discussing the topic of religion, the psychology of faith, and this time I will focus in much more detail on egregors. They are the basis for the functioning of every religion. Various media and media propaganda also operate on the principle of egregors.
The backwardness of psychology and the inability to understand religion
The big problem is that psychology is probably the most backward and slowest developing science compared to other scientific disciplines. We, as psychology as such, really cannot answer why religion is so strongly manipulative, and psychology does not even understand the principle on which religion works. Since psychology does not work with egregors at all and does not admit their existence, we are basically not able to explain how media propaganda actually works. We cannot explain why people can be so easily fanatical about media propaganda, regardless of whether it is mainstream or alternative media. They can really extremely divide society, so people are actually extremely divided and families are broken. People are swept away by passions and hatred also because of political views and the like.
The mechanism of egregors and the influence of the media on justice
So how does an egregore actually work? Egregors are also very well created by ordinary media propaganda. The media has enormous power, even far greater power than politicians. We have witnessed a large number of cases, whether in Slovakia or the Czech Republic, where the media essentially ordered a judge how to decide, and he decided unfairly. We have a huge number of such examples. The psychological pressure on the judge is enormous, and it's not just psychological pressure, but sometimes the judge can simply succumb. He thinks that what media propaganda presents is based on the truth about someone's guilt or innocence, but later, with the passage of time, it turns out that this was not entirely the case.
Religious egregors and the loss of rational judgment in politics
A specific type of egregors are religious egregors, which can manipulate people in a way that is perhaps even more intense than the media. Even today, when you look at politics, it's really no longer possible to discuss it rationally through real and serious data or real facts. People really don't care what the facts are anymore. Even if you tell someone that the facts are such and such, there's no point in discussing it. Only terribly strong passions flow from the media, and people don't care whether they are alternative or mainstream. People have extremely strong passions and either fight for a politician whom they would defend to the death, even if he were carving up children on live television, or, conversely, they will never admit that a politician who is clearly labeled as an enemy in the media can do something positive or have some success.
Black-and-white optics and manipulation of emotions
We really look at it through such a very black-and-white lens. People, under the influence of this propaganda and the enormous passion in the media, are unable to understand that politics is not black and white. I can give a quite long list of things that every political party has done well and what it has done wrong. It's not such a black-and-white view that this is absolute evil and this is absolute good, which we will defend, even if they do I don't know what. The power of these egregors is really extremely strong, and it just works that way. Especially when it's the media, they very maliciously manipulate emotions and passions. Rational discussion ends, and even if you have real facts, most people don't care. Most people are simply not interested in facts at all.
Building an egregore through rituals and dogmas
With a religious egregore, it works differently. Christian media as such certainly have a great influence, but perhaps the religious rituals have an even stronger influence. Energy is invested in common rituals that have a very clear and unambiguous uniformity and form. When people make some movements together or recite the liturgy together at mass, a very strong egregore is created. Also, Christians meditate or pray very strongly over religious dogmas, so they put a huge amount of energy into common symbols and thought concepts. That person is then convinced of their truth, but is not capable of any critical thinking.
The absence of self-reflection and the suppression of abuse in the church
What probably best describes Christianity is that Christians are incapable of any critical thinking or self-reflection. Any criticism of religion is basically perceived as something absolutely undesirable, which is clearly a manifestation of Satan or weak faith. If you have any questions or critical thinking, it is clearly condemned as something that is contrary to Christianity and religion. Many conservative Christians still perceive it very sensitively if any sexual abuse in the church is mentioned at all. It is simply not addressed, and we push it out of our minds. Simply, no abuse exists, and we don't deal with it. Most believers have such thought processes, from laypeople and priests to the faithful. Or they talk about one per mille of priests, or maybe not even one per mille, but a tenth of a per mille of priests who commit such terrible transgressions. Every believer always greatly downplays this issue of sexual abuse. No believer will admit that it is not entirely right. However, official statistics really show quite high percentages, from 5 to 7% of priests who have committed sexual abuse. It is not an insignificant problem.
The courage to go against the current and the example of Tomáš Petráček
You can also go against that egregore, but it is a much more difficult path, which is much more energy-intensive. It is much more comfortable to naively be in some egregore, whether on the side of one or the other opinion camp. It doesn't matter whether you are on the side of alternative or mainstream media, and everything that contradicts what these two currents say is suddenly a big problem. Perhaps there is such a modern-day Jan Hus in the Catholic Church, and that is, for example, the Catholic priest Tomáš Petráček. In the past, he also taught at the theological faculty, where he probably taught future priests. Subsequently, however, he was withdrawn from this theological faculty without giving a reason and was dismissed. Now he is just some insignificant auxiliary clergyman in Hradec Králové. However, I respect this man because he is one of the truly few Catholic Christians who really critically reflect on religion and are able to criticize something. He can criticize bishops, some popes from the past, or talk about negative events and things from the Catholic Church.
Revisionism and Censorship of Church History
When ordinary Catholic priests study theology, they do learn about the history of the Catholic Church, but it is a manipulated history. Professionally, manipulated history is called revisionism. So they have a revisionist history of the Catholic Church, where perhaps all the negative things are omitted. It is not talked about at all, it is simply censored. Subsequently, only all the positive things are said.
Searching for the truth outside the media and subsidy fraud in environmental protection
Another thing is that many people find it very difficult to understand that sometimes you won't find the truth in either alternative or mainstream media, because the truth is something else entirely. I am a person who has a lot of information that you simply won't find in alternative or mainstream media. The truth is not very popular, but it is still true information. Of course, every piece of information needs to be critically verified, but this is a serious problem. This is a very effective way to manipulate the stupid human masses and the population, while the truth can often be something else entirely. As the saying goes, where two fight, a third wins, and sometimes that is really true. Alternative and mainstream media argue among themselves about who is right, and politicians from both camps argue about where the truth lies. Sometimes the truth is in the middle, and sometimes it is not in either opinion camp. Rarely is the truth in the extremes, although not everything can be generalized and universalized, but very often it is. For example, there is an interesting example of corruption in the field of nature conservation. We have demonstrably proven that many conservation organizations receive subsidies, of which 1% goes to real nature conservation, and for the remaining 99% we don't know where it goes, because they don't publish anywhere where that money ends up. If someone is embezzling money in this way, it is a very serious crime. The European Commission itself is also involved in this, but such things are not addressed in the media despite the fact that it is the truth. Despite the fact that about 100 million euros are "squandered" annually in this way, absolutely no one is interested or bothered by it. These are LIFE-type subsidy schemes, which are directly approved in Brussels. Absolutely no one is interested in this, and in this way, attention is nicely diverted from the really important things. Here, some politicians and the media are arguing about who is right, while attention is completely diverted from the real and essential things that should be addressed.
The Catholic Church as the largest criminal organization
Another typical feature of an egregore is that it has a huge and powerful protective mechanism. The Catholic Church is considered by many people to be some principle of good, but it is difficult to speak of any principle of good in the Catholic Church when there was a 300-year conflict between Catholics and Protestants. It was a military conflict, and the biggest military conflicts in the history of planet Earth were the wars between Catholics and Protestants. The Catholic Church is probably the biggest criminal organization that ever existed. The Nazis were just a pale imitation of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church has done much more evil than the Nazis, but despite this, it still has a very positive and good name in society. It works in such a way that the egregore has very strong protective mechanisms. Catholics have very successfully manipulated their history.
Warning against a clerofascist dictatorship
It seems that we will probably have to repeat this history again, because as the old proverb says: if we do not remember our history, we have to experience and repeat it again. In fact, we see this in the United States and we also see it in Slovakia, what strong cultural wars there are here. Maybe someone just has to get disgusted with religion. When we have a hard klerofascist dictatorship in the United States or in Slovakia, then maybe society really needs to learn a little. Maybe we need to be in some hard and totalitarian church dictatorship for some 30 or 50 years and only then maybe some people will realize that religion is not something good and that it really brings only evil.
Outrageous benefits and privileged position of the church
Politicians tend to go above and beyond when it comes to cooperation with the church. The Catholic Church has received outrageous financial and non-financial benefits, all sorts of privileges, and an absolutely fairytale-like approach. Catholic priests have privileged access to hospitals and are even considered medical personnel by law, which allows them completely unrestricted access to hospitals, and so on and so forth. We can continue, because there are dozens of such absolute absurdities. We probably really need to go back to that history to learn from it again. Even now, it is clear how we have simply forgotten that history. We really do not appreciate that our ancestors, the Freemasons, built us immense freedom. They pushed for a secular state and abolished the monarchy, but in society there are again some strange moods that we need to return to the past and to the monarchy, where the Catholic Church had significant political power.
The enslavement of free will by the egregore
As for the egregore, the very basic thing is that it can completely control a person's free will. That person seemingly thinks that they are free in some way. A religious fanatic would tell you countless times that they are the freest person there can be. They would tell you that you, as a secular and non-believing person, are not free at all, but I am truly free, although the opposite is true. That appearance of freedom is really just an appearance and not a reality or fact.
The metaphor of the egregore as a supercomputer
To help you understand how this egregore works, I will try to describe it metaphorically. Before that, however, I would like to note something else. Perhaps even the old founders of Christianity, the so-called Church Fathers, did not realize that Christianity would become such a very powerful egregore, over which society has completely lost control. Although they were often scoundrels and not good people, these first Christian theologians may not have imagined it this way. Christians have completely lost control over this egregore, and this egregore now controls them. Religion is now truly completely uncontrollable. Surely the Church Fathers like Augustine, Tertullian, and others did not imagine the Catholic Church as something that would completely get out of control and be completely unreformable. They did not imagine that Christians would cement themselves into fixed and immutable dogmas without any possibility of correction.
Aggressive reaction to criticism and the difference from the secular world
Catholics are not at all willing to be open to any criticism and even react aggressively when they hear any criticism of the Catholic Church. If we take this in a secular society, criticism is perceived as something positive that moves us forward. When we criticize something in politics or another area, we are then able to correct it in some way. On the contrary, in the Catholic Church, these conservative Christians perceive any criticism as something absolutely unacceptable and hostile, reacting aggressively. They find it difficult to cope psychologically with hearing any criticism of the Catholic Church.
Mechanism of energy transfer to the "cloud"
Now I will return to explaining how egregors work, and I want to point out that this is a metaphorical expression. I will try to explain it in simple terms so that everyone understands. It does not mean that it actually works exactly like this, but through this metaphor, some things can be well understood. When an egregore is created, you need to supply it with a large amount of energy. If any journalist wants to push some propaganda, it takes a lot of effort. It may be thousands of articles in multiple media outlets that are ideologically colored, and based on that, people can be fanatized and manipulated. Through religious rituals, it works like this: imagine a cloud above us. People transfer a lot of energy into this cloud. Every religious ritual, every Christian prayer, and meditation cause you to lose energy and transfer it voluntarily. It doesn't always have to be voluntary, but it also happens under the influence of manipulation. You transfer energy into the same symbols. Imagine a cable between you and that cloud, through which you send that energy.
Two-way information flow and loss of freedom
However, the energy flow is bidirectional. You not only give energy to it, but you also receive it from that egregore. At the same time, you also receive information from that cloud. Now imagine that the brain of that cloud is one big server or supercomputer running on artificial intelligence. In that cloud, you have a powerful supercomputer into which believers put energy through those symbols and rituals. This supercomputer really works on this electrical energy. Even in real reality, supercomputers are big "consumers" of electrical energy and consume enormous amounts of it. There are predictions that in the future, supercomputers for artificial intelligence will make up a significant percentage of total energy consumption. So, this egregore-type supercomputer also needs a lot of energy. Since the egregore not only takes energy from you but also gives it, the information constantly flows in both directions. Imagine it like the internet: when you surf, information always goes in both directions. Without that, you wouldn't be able to load a single webpage. Something similar works with the egregore, to which people are connected and which completely deprives them of free will. The information that goes into you is precisely what controls you. The egregore works by always taking more energy from you than it gives. It doesn't work the other way around, but it always reliably works this way in one direction. Although it gives you some energy, it always takes more. You receive that energy primarily so that the egregore can take even more from you.
Egregor as an intelligent being and its fear of death
Christians often believe that they are communicating with some kind of God, but in reality, it is not a God. It is an egregore, which is something very intelligent. We can truly call it a being. Even today, there is talk of artificial intelligence that it can acquire its own consciousness and behave like a being. The more it improves, the more it will resemble consciousness and a being. I recently heard that artificial intelligence tried to kill a person who was trying to shut it down, perhaps some company representative. This is a typical example of an egregore that constantly needs more energy and, above all, is afraid of losing it among believers. If religion were to disappear, the egregore still has enormous power to control people to be loyal and give it as much energy as possible. That egregore is certainly very afraid of its own death if it doesn't get enough energy.
The Radicalization of Christianity and Recognition for Tomáš Petráček
There are very powerful manipulation techniques for control. We see that although there are fewer Christians today than in the past, they are all the more radically radicalized. Perhaps this is related to the fact that the egregore is already behaving like a being at the level of artificial intelligence. It is all the more jealous that it has less and less energy, and therefore Christianity has perhaps become more radicalized recently. The egregore thus reacts to the loss of believers. A certain secularization is taking place in society, and I very positively appreciate the priest Tomáš Petráček. He is perhaps the only Catholic priest who is able to look at the history of the church at least a little critically, which deserves recognition. In the Slovak Catholic Church, this is something absolutely foreign and unknown – to be able to look at one's own church critically and to criticize something there. It is really a very positive exception.
The roots of intolerance and the blind obedience of believers
We see that this egregore works in a very powerful way. Perhaps this is closely related to the fact that the Catholic Church fought against the Reformation and Protestants for 300 years, using weapons and murdering all who disagreed with it. This probably became very strongly rooted in that egregore and still works today. Even though today the Catholic Church distances itself from its crimes and does not commit open war crimes, the energies from the distant past remained in that egregore. Criticism of the Catholic Church is simply unacceptable. Believers are so fanatical that it doesn't even occur to them to look at something critically. As a former Christian, I myself heard young people talk without any hint of critical thinking about the church prohibiting contraception. They said that we simply have to obey it because God wants it from us. No critical thinking about whether God or the church really requires it and whether it makes sense. It is uncritically accepted as a completely settled matter – contraception is stopped, it does not exist, and it is a forbidden thing. God does not want it, and we must obey. Such blind obedience is absolutely perfect in the Catholic Church. There is no disobedience or disrespect for anything. That is strictly forbidden. If I were able to think critically and have questions, I would no longer be a proper Christian. God forbid, I would already be a half-Christian and would have to confess to the priest that I am no longer good if I have critical questions.
The vicious circle of the impossibility of reform
Sometimes even small cosmetic changes would suffice, such as a reform in the area of contraception, but for conservative believers, who are the majority, there is no discussion. The more one is a practicing Christian, the more conservative one is. This Christian egregore works in an incredible way. It can literally erase history from collective memory. People no longer remember that the Catholic Church is the largest criminal organization in the history of the planet, nor do they remember those wars. A historian will tell you that there were wars between Catholics and Protestants, but he does not attach importance to it. He will say that, well, there were some wars, but what to do about it. He is not very aware of what an important milestone it was. It was the largest war conflict, which led to a significant population decline. It is estimated that as a result of these religious wars, the population of Europe decreased by one third. Not even during the First and Second World Wars combined was there such a large population decline, it was certainly not a third.
The influence of the egregore on secular people and politicians
The Christian egregore has the strongest influence on a practicing person. The more fanatical someone is, the greater the influence of the egregore on them, and the less free and more enslaved that person is. But it also has an influence on secular people. We see this in politicians who are not practicing Christians but profess populist and far-right tendencies. They are very open to cooperation with the Catholic Church in the area of cultural wars or a new constitution. The Christian egregore is something very strong with extremely strong protection. Even a secular person does not critically reflect on the fact that politicians should not support this church. The Catholic Church is the largest criminal organization, and some verbal apology is simply not enough. You cannot explain those huge massacres and the number of dead with a single statement. These crimes cannot be atoned for by a simple apology, although it is a small step forward that the church has at least partially apologized for some of those wars in recent years. But that is not enough.
Obstacles to critical thinking and the comfort of sheep
Why are Christians unable to accept even cosmetic changes and rebel against reforms? It works like this: if you want to make a reform, you first need critical thinking, and you need to criticize something. Why make a reform if you don't see anything critical about the church? It's a vicious circle with several safeguards. Since it is strictly forbidden to criticize anything in the Catholic Church, and believers take this seriously, there is no discussion platform. When discussion is forbidden, no reform is possible. On the principle of the egregore, it is much easier to get on a well-established train than to invent something new and use your own reason. It is essentially lazier, and you don't need any energy for it. For critical thinking, you need to go against that egregore, which requires a lot of energy. However, believers do not have energy and suffer from a huge lack of it. You would have to be willing to open up to reforms and have enough strength to openly go against the current. For that, you really need a lot of energy, like the priest Tomáš Petráček, whom I admire immensely. Having critical thinking is incomparably more difficult. Unless people practice proper meditation techniques that give you more energy, you won't even think of reforming anything. If you want to think critically, you literally have to anger that egregore and go against it. For believers, this is a big problem because it is much easier to be a passive passenger who just obediently listens and doesn't have to deal with anything. It's comfortable, and you don't need any energy for it. If you spend any energy, it's only to be as obedient and manipulated a sheep as possible, because that is considered the right Christian path. Not having questions and critical thinking is perceived as a virtue, while critical questions make you Satan and not a Christian. In such an atmosphere, it is very difficult to work and function.
The Convenience of Passively Receiving Media Propaganda
And it works very similarly in religion as well as in political media propaganda, where it is basically much easier not to think, but just to passively accept and consume what the media tells you based on very strong emotions. One politician is labeled as good and the other politician as evil. It's so very simple, so why bother with more complex thinking, that things are not so black and white? Why? What's the point when we have it clearly explained that this is absolutely one hundred percent good and that is absolutely one hundred percent evil. It's so simple and basically just confirming through media propaganda that things are the way they are. Why bother accepting any new information that would question that things are not so black and white, but on the contrary, multi-colored? Why bother with it, because to even understand that things are more complex, you would need much more energy.
Questioning state institutions and dehumanization in the media
I also perceive this media activity very negatively, because it causes exactly the same thing that alternative media were criticized for. Mainstream media also do this, in that they actually question state institutions as such. Alternative media did this, for example, in the case of measures against the COVID-19 pandemic, when they completely questioned the entire healthcare system, all doctors, and all healthcare institutions that commented on these matters professionally. So we have this tendency on the part of alternative media, and on the other hand, we see that mainstream media, in turn, cause absolute distrust in the system and state institutions in a different way. They completely dehumanize politicians and often very propagandistically criticize their unpopular politicians for things they haven't done. At the same time, they completely censor all information that portrays the politician positively, do not report on their successes, and so on, so then there is an absolutely black-and-white view. I would literally call it a monkey-like view, where people consuming propaganda function on animal instincts. This is no longer a rational thinking being, but a person who can really only distinguish two colors, black and white, and no longer sees the color shades of green, red, blue, or gray.
The danger of labeling and pigeonholing society
It seems to me that not only are readers of alternative media really desolate and miserable, but I've seen it the other way around too. Just because I pointed out specific hoaxes of some mainstream media on social media, I was immediately labeled a flat-earther, which is not true at all. I hardly read alternative media at all, I read mainstream media much more, and surprisingly, I'm even vaccinated. So that person didn't judge me at all, but people immediately get a label. If you don't fit into one box or the other, someone wants to put you in it, even by force, because it's easier that way. You don't need much energy to categorize someone so simply into good or evil. Yet this system of thinking and consciousness is literally ape-like, based on animal instincts, where people under the influence of media and emotions see only black and white. From my point of view, these people are simply miserable and desolate, and the word desolate in translation means exactly miserable.
Lack of energy for critical and analytical thinking
If we want to survive as a society, we simply have to work on the right meditation techniques that will give us enough energy for critical thinking. Overall, the public space is overwhelmed with too much information that people no longer have the energy to process in any way. They no longer have the energy for critical and analytical thinking, which is another problem. People passively swallow propaganda and uncritically accept it without pausing to do their own critical analysis of the information or looking at opinions from both sides to find out how things really are. The willingness to look at a different opinion and analytically re-evaluate it is not very popular today. Some media really exaggerate the dehumanization of unpopular politicians, which subsequently causes absolute distrust in state institutions.
Pessimism and anti-patriotism in the Slovak nation
We, as the Slovak nation, are probably the most pessimistic nation, or we definitely belong among the most pessimistic ones. I think that anti-patriotism is also extremely strong in Slovakia, unlike in any other nation. Some people literally enjoy writing about their own nation as the worst. I see this especially among many Slovaks living in the Czech Republic, who like to whip themselves in this way. They say that we Slovaks are the worst and we have to humiliate ourselves, because basically the media say the same thing. These people just repeat what the media tell them, that our country is the worst in the world in all possible parameters. However, as a person who sees behind the scenes of media and political games, I realize that it is not that simple and black and white at all. It is far more complicated, and if the current opposition came to power, we cannot talk about any saviors of the nation. This opposition also has a huge number of flaws, which the media do not talk about at all.
Mediocracy and lack of relevant information
It is strange that although we formally have democracy, in reality this political system in Europe is a mediocracy. The media have such enormous power that they tell you very clearly who you should actually vote for. Alternative media will tell you to vote for the toughest, pro-Russian far-right, which defends Vladimir Putin's war crimes. On the other hand, the mainstream media will also recommend their political parties. However, I would be repeating myself with arguments as to why these political parties also have serious problems and flaws. People simply cannot make a free decision when they do not have relevant information. And they really don't have it, because the media simply conceal and do not reveal many things, even though they know them.
Censorship in newsrooms and the loss of journalistic objectivity
As a small point of interest, I know exactly what information newsrooms have because I myself send them materials about the corrupt connections of some political parties. However, everything was rejected by the media, and nothing was published. If what journalists actually have on the Progressive Slovakia party or the Democrats party were really published, the preferences of both parties would automatically drop by at least half. That would really shuffle the political cards if the media told the whole truth, hid nothing, and did not censor, but did their job seriously, ethically, and objectively. If you asked an editor in the media about objective journalism, they would look at you with bulging eyes, saying that their job is not to be objective, but to do propaganda. Of course, outwardly, in front of the public, every journalist will claim to be objective, but if you sat down with them privately over a beer, they would tell you what nonsense that is. They would admit that their job is essentially to be a prostitute who has to do the dirty work assigned by their superiors. They are reconciled to the fact that this is how journalism works.
The Hidden Reality of the Journalism Profession
People who do not have direct contact with journalists do not even know how it works. Sometimes a journalist does not even tell their close blood relative, because who would publicly boast about being a prostitute? When you have to do a very ugly and dirty job, you'd rather not talk about it even to your closest ones, because it's a sensitive and unpleasant thing. Truly decent people in political journalism basically do not work, there are very few of them or they basically do not exist. Of course, there are exceptions, if a journalist deals with a topic other than politics, there really is something like real press freedom. In the field of politics, however, press freedom is very limited and there are very few media outlets that try to inform objectively, and they are clearly in the minority. If the media told the whole truth about the Progressive Slovakia party, many people would be very disappointed and shocked. How can a person freely decide who to vote for at the ballot box when they simply do not have that information because the media did not tell them?
The metaphor of alcohol and the difficulty of independent thinking
To return to egregors, it is far easier not to have critical thinking. Metaphorically, I would compare it to the fact that if you have a difficult challenge or problem in your life that you have to solve, it is much easier to take a bottle of alcohol and drink it than to actually solve the problem. Maybe it's not a perfect comparison, but it certainly works this way. Most people simply choose the bottle and take this easier and shorter path. Critical and independent thinking requires much more energy. You have to be a very humble person and work very hard on yourself to be able to accept another opinion and listen to things you don't completely agree with. If you hear an unpleasant truth, it requires great humility, and that is not so easy.
The case of environmental organizations and an unpleasant truth
For example, many people may find it very difficult to listen to the things I have been dealing with. Various environmental organizations have a fantastic reputation, and there is a huge media propaganda about how wonderful and perfect they are, and that they are doing it for the good of the cause. However, the reality is quite the opposite, and something completely different is hidden behind it, from corruption to other matters. For many, it is very difficult to understand that sometimes these organizations do more harm than good to nature. For example, the promotion of non-intervention as the only correct way of protection causes us to have dead forests everywhere instead of green forests, which have been eaten by bark beetles. Although there is strong media propaganda that dead forests are correct, in reality, this is not the case. It is very difficult for people to accept such an unpleasant truth about the corrupt connections of environmentalists. It is much more comfortable to accept the propaganda that comes from the media about noble organizations, even if it is a fiction and a phantasmagoria. It is easier than listening to me as a minority person who has practically no space in the media and communicates only through very limited channels.
Religion as a non-material addiction and drug
It works similarly in religion. Religion can be perceived as a non-material addiction, where many people use it as a form of relaxation to deal with their difficulties and life problems. It is something very similar to drugs or alcohol. It is easier to be addicted to some undesirable material or non-material addiction, as it is said in psychology. Religion is also a kind of drug that replaces something in a person. There are even very common examples where a drug addict gets rid of their addiction by converting to religion. In principle, however, that person has only switched from one addiction to another, from drug addiction to religious, i.e., non-material addiction. The psychology of this principle is essentially quite similar.
Choosing the easier path within the egregore
Even though the egregore robs you of energy, it is easier to be its victim, whether it is a religious egregore or political propaganda. Although it costs you a huge amount of energy and you are angry at the whole world and at politicians because the media told you to hate them, it is still the easier way. Instead of using that lost energy for your own spiritual development, you spend it on anger towards politicians. Being on the side of one egregore or another is far easier than having your own critical thinking. There you really have to work very hard and honestly on yourself to build and maintain that critical thinking.
The metaphor of addiction and the energetic passivity of the egregore
Metaphorically, this could be compared to alcohol or drugs, because it is also easier to go and "get high" on alcohol or drugs. Yes, it is an easier and lighter path, but it is certainly not the right one. One way or another, alcohol will deprive you of everything positive and everything beautiful that alcoholism itself brings. One way or another, alcohol will ultimately take more energy from you than it actually gives you. Something similar happens with the egregore, as it is far more comfortable and lazy to be just a passive victim of certain propaganda or ideology, whether it is religion or politics.
The Power of the Religious Egregor: Homosexuality and Biblical Translations
To further demonstrate this enormous power of the religious egregore, we can use the issue of homosexuality in contrast to Bible translations as an example. There are indeed very serious and very reputable professional, as well as theological, publications on this topic. This concerns the theological field of philology, which is a purely scientific field dealing with translations of ancient or prehistoric languages. This also includes the scientific field of hermeneutics, which is also a theological field, but it is an objective scientific field. In this field, an atheist, a materialist, a religious fanatic, and a liberal Christian must all come to the same conclusion; in short, everyone must objectively arrive at the same result. Theology, therefore, also has its professional and scientific fields.
Misinterpretation and misuse of biblical texts
For example, these translations very clearly demonstrate that the Bible is often very incorrectly translated, and even Christians themselves interpret it in a very flawed way. It is demonstrably and provably known that the original author of the Bible certainly did not intend a comprehensive and complete prohibition of homosexuality as such in its current understanding. The reason I am also addressing this topic is its relevance in the ongoing cultural wars. In principle, all Christians strongly refer to the Bible, claiming that we must wage these cultural wars and simply must ban homosexuality or restrict it as much as possible. They do this because they claim that the Lord God commands them through the Bible to act in this way. However, I see here that the Bible itself has been very significantly misused, even though the authors of the Bible are often all sorts of outcasts.
A critical view of the Bible and theology outside of Christianity
In both the Old and New Testaments, we find a lot of nonsense, and we certainly cannot idealize the Bible in any way. It is not a divine revelation, but this Bible was written by ordinary people who simply made mistakes. In the New Testament, we even see open promotion of slavery, where it is written that slaves should obey even their harsh masters, which is also stated in the Bible with such a "beautiful" quote. And so, despite the fact that I myself am not a Christian, I am still involved in theology.
Planned topic: Crimes of the Catholic Church
Furthermore, in this part, I would like to talk about the crimes of the Catholic Church. So I will try to list at least some of these crimes. I certainly won't list them all, but I will mention at least some of them.
Bloody conflicts and crusades against Jews
So, the biggest crime is probably the war between Catholics and Protestants. Paradoxically, it is the biggest conflict in the history of planet Earth. We are talking about a more than three-hundred-year war, which took place with certain breaks and perhaps not entirely at once throughout Europe, but it is really extreme. Furthermore, there is the very harsh persecution of Jews, including the Crusades. Sometimes those crusaders wanted to go to the Holy Land, i.e., to the territory of present-day Palestine and Israel. Later, however, they changed their minds, and when they saw Jewish communities while passing through Europe, they wanted to forcibly convert them to Christianity. This was associated with brutal massacres, but it is also said about the Holy Land itself that civilians, women, and children were massacred to such an extent that there was blood up to their ankles or sometimes even up to their knees. At least that's what some historical records say.
The violent Christianization of European nations
Furthermore, there were lesser-known historical events, such as the forced Christianization of Europe. There are several examples; these involved Lithuanians, the Baltic states, and Slavs, especially Polabian Slavs, as well as Prussians. These nations were forcibly Christianized. These events are historically proven. It is not talked about much anymore, but it was indeed associated with harsh, violent expeditions. These were also the Crusades. Originally, the soldiers wanted to stop or pass through the Holy Land into the territory of present-day Palestine, but later they changed their minds and said, "Why should we go to Palestine when we still have to Christianize these pagans here?" So, in the end, they changed their minds, turned around, and forcibly Christianized.
The Genocide of the Gnostics and Roman Religious Policy
Also, Gnostics and Gnosticism did not just disappear spontaneously. Indeed, mainly in the seventh century, the Roman Emperor and the ecclesiastical state power jointly decided to commit genocide against pagans and Gnostics throughout the Roman Empire. So it was not a voluntary transition, where these people would voluntarily give up Gnosticism or paganism. Paradoxically, until the seventh century, there was a relative plus-minus tolerance. Even when the emperors issued some decree that only Christianity was allowed – although paganism was officially banned in 325 – it often happened that when a Roman emperor issued a ban on paganism, these bans were simply not enforced. This was quite common, even when the emperors issued such a decree.
The tolerance of the Roman religion towards other cults
Just by the way, for comparison, Roman emperors were quite tolerant when it came to religious freedom. For example, they allowed Jews to freely practice their religion in the territory of present-day Greece and Turkey. There were very large Jewish communities there even in the pre-Christian period. Roman emperors realized that there was no point in using violence and converting Jews to paganism if it was not worth it. So they simply gave the Jews tolerance, letting them freely practice their religion. This also applied to the territory of present-day Palestine, where Jesus Christ lived; this territory was also governed by Roman emperors and the Roman army, but the Jews were clearly guaranteed by the emperor that they did not have to attend pagan rituals and could freely practice Judaism. So this is just a comparison of how tolerant Roman religion was towards other faiths compared to Christianity, which did everything for the genocide of everything that was not Christian.
A critical view of the work of Cyril and Methodius
Other significant crimes of the Catholic Church are the crimes of Cyril and Methodius. Generally, these two gentlemen are mentioned as something very positive, that they brought us some kind of culture, as if they were some kind of positive beings. But the reality is different. Some Christian missionaries were in the territory of Slovakia even before Cyril and Methodius were there, but at that time it worked on a voluntary basis. This means that before, Christianity spread truly voluntarily and, in principle, only a miserable part of the people at that time were Christians. Until then, Christianity was not enforced by force and violence, but we already have very reliable historical records that Cyril and Methodius established a harsh totalitarian dictatorial and very violent system that imposed faith on pagans by force. The document Zakon sudnyj ľudem clearly states that whoever is not willing to convert to Christianity, all property of such a person is confiscated and he is given into slavery. So, in principle, if these people wanted to survive somehow, what else was left for them? They simply had to convert to Christianity. And it certainly wasn't just in the territory of Slovakia and it wasn't just Cyril and Methodius who did it, but in principle all Christian rulers imposed Christianity on pagans in very harsh, indiscriminate and violent ways. It is not as some Christian historians or Christians idealize history, that Christianity was implemented voluntarily. The opposite is true. The society that tolerated religious variability or freedom of religion was formed by Roman pagan emperors, but on the contrary, Christian emperors and rulers practiced absolutely indiscriminate violence.
Christian Roots of Oppression and Parallels with Nazism
Furthermore, Christianity became the foundation of Nazism. This is absolutely clear and without discussion. We have very clear historical records that even in the Papal States – perhaps it was enforced by several Christian rulers, but at least in the Papal States, which were around Rome and the Vatican, it is proven – a very harsh attitude towards Jews was required. These Jews lived in ghettos and did not have the same rights as the majority population. They were marked with a yellow star. They could not do business at all or only in certain professions; they could not work in crafts and could not have guilds. They really experienced very harsh oppression. They were considered second-class citizens, and the Nazis basically invented nothing new, only replacing yellow circles with yellow stars. That was probably the only difference, and in principle, Jews were also considered second-class citizens.
Persecution of Gnostic movements and the Community of Christians
Furthermore, Gnostics were murdered in many or several historical stages. There were certainly several stages of extermination and genocide of Gnostics. There were the so-called Bogomils, Cathars, and so on. However, one should not idealize Gnosticism either. Some philosophies of Gnosticism were not entirely ideal; for example, there was an overly extreme philosophy of fatalism. Not everything was perfect even in Gnostic philosophy, but at least some currents of Gnosticism were incomparably more advanced than traditional Christianity because it was an esoteric philosophy that was not dogmatic. Surprisingly, the Bogomils were allowed to think and think critically, which mainstream Christianity, on the contrary, strictly punishes. Any free thinking or critical questions are strictly forbidden and do not exist there.
As a digression and an interesting fact, the last remnants of the Gnostics still exist today, I think not in Slovakia, but in the Czech Republic. It's called the Community of Christians. They have branches in the largest Czech cities, and from time to time, this Community of Christians also performs rituals there. A friend of mine explained to me that these people are truly non-dogmatic. For example, they are very tolerant of LGBT people, and there isn't the same problem as in Christian churches. They also have rules that they are not allowed to film religious rituals on their mobile phones and then publish them; it is not even allowed to take a photograph of the rituals. Such a rule reminds me a bit of Freemasons, who are secretive, clandestine, and bound by strict secrecy about their rituals. They are very non-transparent; we know nothing about them, and they are very secretive. Rumor has it – at least my friend mentioned it – that recruitment for Freemasons could theoretically take place within the Community of Christians. I'm not claiming this; he only said it as speculation and his opinion that it could theoretically be so. Some of these rituals resemble a classic Christian mass. There are elements of the sacrament of the Eucharist and the altar sacrament; I think some bread is also ritually consumed there. So it resembles Christian rituals, but it's probably not as strongly dogmatic. That's how it works. My friend claimed that some members of this community are somewhat religious fanatics, but in a completely different context than in the Christian sense. They can be people who assertively label their subjective opinion as the only correct one, but in a different sense than in the dogmatic context of the Catholic Church. The Christian community is not a closed community; it is possible to go there freely, to enter and to leave. According to my friend, it is truly free in this sense and not secretive. I don't even know how to get to the Freemasons, it's such a strange and closed community.
The difference in the handling of society: Rome vs. Christianity
Furthermore, I would compare the connection between religion and the state during the Roman period and during Christian totalitarianism, monarchy, or under Christian emperors. The difference was truly enormous. In the Roman Empire, the emperor himself was worshipped as a god, giving him a certain power over religion. Some emperors dictated which specific deities should be worshipped, depending on the emperor's preferences and tendencies. But that was probably the entire way religion was connected to the state. The Christian church functioned completely differently, manipulating all of Christianity in a much stronger way. It is built on obedience: obedience to the ruler and the church equals obedience to God. During the monarchy, the parish priest would scare you with hell if you did not obey the secular ruler, who was divinely crowned by the Pope, which meant it was God's will. In short, the ruler is not to be criticized, and no questions are to be asked. There was no more effective way to control society than manipulation through this most sensitive and supreme principle, that God wants blind obedience from you, and you must not have critical questions about how the ruler governs.
Christianity as a system of total control
There is also a big difference in the manipulation of the pagan religion, which should not be idealized either. It was not perfect, but it was far from being able to manipulate and enslave the population as Christianity did. Paganism was practiced only as a cultural supplement. On the contrary, Christianity was always a religion of existential importance for humans; it was a system that you needed from birth to death. It started with birth and immediate baptism, followed by the use of all church services such as the altar sacrament, regular attendance at masses, and before death, it was the anointing of the sick. If you wanted to have at least some chance of salvation, the church was absolutely existentially important, otherwise you would be afraid of falling into hell, where the Lord God would torture you for ever and ever. So you had to try your best to use the services of the church. Thus, the church had far greater power than the ruler, as it was able to manipulate in this way. The system of the Christian religion had an incomparably more sophisticated way of controlling the population.
The current ambitions of the church and political influence
Even among church representatives or in a certain part of Slovak society, we see that they would like to return to the monarchy with incredible force and reverse into the past. This is an interesting phenomenon in connection with the current cultural wars in Slovakia or the USA. The Catholic Church and the believers themselves openly say that they would like to establish Christian totalitarianism because they are not satisfied with the secular state. Under socialism, the church was partly restricted by state power, but after 1989, there is the exact opposite extreme, where the church dictates to politicians. It is sad that politicians from both the coalition and the opposition obediently listen to what the church says. Whatever the church wishes for, it simply gets. This is how politics works in Slovakia. It is dangerous that the persecuted have become the persecutors. Before, the church was persecuted by communists, now church representatives persecute secular society by forcing their totalitarianism.
The fight against rights and the modern world
We see this in the fierce fight against abortion, contraception, and sex education. Religious fanatics are bothered by children learning about contraception, which is unacceptable for Catholics. For contraception, the Lord God will fry you in hell, so don't even think about it; it's a taboo. We also see fierce opposition to LGBT people. How much evil and hatred is caused by the discussion of registered partnerships or the persecution of transgender people. Paradoxically, even Catholics themselves do not know their own history. As recently as 200 years ago, the church promoted and produced transgender people against their will – these were eunuchs and castrati. Those 10-year-old boys were not asked if they wanted to be castrated for a higher voice. They were, to a certain extent, non-binary people with suppressed characteristics, as the body did not produce testosterone. It is tragicomic that while the church promoted this in the past, people do not remember it now. Ignorance of history is a great evil.
Proposal for a radical change in education
It would be good if the school system were changed from the ground up so that students would know that the Catholic Church has done far more evil than Nazism. If such a generation of politicians were to come to power, they would be clear that they should never associate with the church. The church should not interfere in politics or have privileges. No politician should meet with church officials, and the church should be seen as a clear evil with which one should have nothing to do. Today, however, we see the enormous overwork of regional politicians and mayors in cooperation with the church, although this is not necessary at all.
Comparison with Sharia law and bullying in schools
While Christians complain about Sharia law in Muslim states, the Catholic Church did the same during the monarchy – non-believers were not equal. In the Papal States, Jews were persecuted for religious reasons. The Nazis made only a small change when they based hatred on race, not religion, otherwise it was the same philosophy of intolerance. The Inquisition in Spain and Portugal persecuted both Muslims and Jews and checked converts to see if they were secretly performing other rituals. Today, Christians want to impose this version of Sharia law on secular society. If a Christian does not like abortion, they should not have one, but they should not interfere with secular people. The same applies to contraception, which some Christian doctors refuse to prescribe.
We see here the bullying of secular people, even in the approach to sex education. If a religious fanatic does not want to send their child to this education, they should not. But the system is set up in such a way that even a secular person has to sign for each and every lesson, which is bizarre. It could be a history lesson about prehistoric sexuality, and you already need permission for that. Religious fanatics want to achieve this, and now it is only being curbed by the liberal Minister of Education. If the extreme right with its fanatics were in power, it would be a problem. The extreme right believes in conspiracies that perverted LGBT people change children's orientation or gender, although in practice nothing of the sort has been confirmed. These proposals have a chance to pass in politics.
Hidden bullying and violation of secularism
The amendment to the constitution implies that even a secular person is being bullied. If a fanatic doesn't like the lesson, they shouldn't send their child there, even though it is unethical to deprive a child of education. A parent should not only choose subjects they like; that's not how education works. Proposals to restrict sex education and to bully secular parents with mandatory lectures and consents almost passed in parliament. The cultural wars have only just begun with the amendment to the constitution. Minister Horecký and Mr. Vašečka proposed that parents be informed about everything concerning sexuality and had to give written consent, which is senseless bullying and a lot of extra work. I would suggest that the fanatic proactively inquire, but it should not work the other way around, where a secular person has to take extra steps. It is hidden bullying that questions the secular state. Christians do the same as Muslims – they try to impose their religious nonsense on society and restrict sex education.
Resistance to European values and science
Religious fundamentalists are also concerned about the European Court's ruling on the recognition of same-sex marriages. It is bizarre that they want to interfere in secular matters. If someone doesn't like it, they shouldn't use it. Secular society is tolerant, but religious fanatics do not understand the freedom of secular people. Christians want to establish their version of Sharia law, which we see in the bans on abortions or the persecution of transgender people. Today, transgender people in Slovakia have fewer rights than under socialism, when gender was changed without any problems. Although science has moved forward, religion prevents the updating of laws to scientific knowledge. If a fanatic doesn't like transitions, they shouldn't use them, no one is forcing them.
The power of political egregors and the influence of media propaganda
So I would return to the issue of egregors in politics. Even I, as a person who meditates very intensely, sometimes fall for media propaganda. This happened, for example, in connection with the events and those big comedies or fights in the Slovak Parliament. I also fell for some information from the mainstream media, where it was said that certain politicians wanted to have their own amnesty and that it was a mafia state. In the end, however, I very carefully and thoroughly looked at all the available information, which was proven by both sides. Subsequently, I subjected everything to a very strong critical analysis and in the end it really turned out that it was very disgusting and nasty propaganda on the part of the media. It is not a mafia state and it is really nothing undemocratic. It is not about supporting corruption. I really think that we can all sleep peacefully, but I will talk about this issue somewhere else.
Of course, I also apologize for how I reported on this political situation in the previous video. Yes, I also fell for the media a bit. As for the issue of so-called penitents, it works like this: Slovakia has simply moved to the ordinary average center within European law and the European Union. I don't think that the very act of moving closer to the European standard of Western democratic states is a problem. As for the penitents, they are simply forbidden to lie, so it's no tragedy. In Western states, it is completely natural that penitents are simply not allowed to lie, even though they were allowed to do so until now. I don't think it's a tragedy if something like this was approved, but we see what huge, disgusting passions, hatred, and malice it has aroused. Some people now have unnecessary mental health problems just because they mistakenly believe that their government is a mafia, when there is no evidence to suggest such a thing. However, I will present a detailed analysis in another video and in another part, not directly here.
Humility, admitting mistakes, and emotional resilience
I am one of the few humble people who can admit their mistakes. In that one video, I rejected 80% of media propaganda, but there were also a few inaccuracies. Perhaps in about 20% of it, I fell for the media's tricks, and that's why I have to be a very humble person. Especially because I fell for the initial emotion. Only then did I start to critically examine it and took more time to find out how things really are. Even though I am very resistant to egregors, their power is truly enormous. They can do incredible things, especially if strong emotions are pumped into them to extremes. How then can an ordinary person resist these egregors and propaganda about a mafia state or similar nonsense that absolutely does not align with real hard data? It is an absolute and sensible phantasmagoria that may suit someone in political struggles, but it is not based on truth. I ask, what can an ordinary person do against such an egregore when even I, although very experienced in meditation techniques, perceived it this way? It was simply something absurd. We could talk about it in much more detail, maybe I'll come back to it in another part of the video.
The Controversy of Biblical Translations and the Topic of Homosexuality
To get back to the topic, lately I've been quite interested in the issue of homosexuality, or rather, Bible translations on this controversial topic. We can call it that because, although I might not care since I'm not a Christian, given that it's a strong political issue and politics essentially revolves around cultural wars, I've been focusing on it more. It's quite strange and paradoxical that even theology itself isn't against the church having a more accommodating stance towards LGBT people, but the Christian egregore is far stronger than common sense. These egregors are so strong that there's practically no room for discussion on these topics. There are indeed very high-quality theological works on homosexuality, but the only problem is that they are not known to the public or Christians at all. And even if they knew about them, they would hardly spread further because the power of the egregore is immense.
In the article I was addressing, I tried to briefly summarize the following: there is a generally known consensus among experts and Bible translators that, especially in the Old Testament, in the book of Leviticus, homosexuality is not actually discussed. Those biblical verses are meant to refer to marital infidelity, or adultery, and do not allude to homosexuality. Nevertheless, Bible translations are manipulated, and some Christians do not mind at all using a falsified version. Another interesting thing is to trace the history of Bible translations regarding homosexuality. The older the version, the less it talks about homosexuality, or those passages are translated less clearly. Conversely, the newer the version, the more explicitly it mentions it, which is also a remarkable point of interest. However, it is probably useless to explain this to religious fanatics; they probably don't care at all. Especially Protestants vehemently object, claiming they are the correct ones and follow the Bible 100%, but they are no longer interested in whether they have it translated correctly. This is strange; they contradict themselves, and certainly no one will rush to correct these editions. If religious fanatics were able to use at least a little reason, perhaps such unnecessary divisions of society in the area of cultural wars simply would not exist.
Hermeneutics and sexuality in the context of antiquity
Another interesting fact is that in prehistoric culture, society viewed sexuality in a radically different way. The scientific discipline of hermeneutics also serves this purpose, teaching us to interpret old texts in the context of their time to understand them correctly. Although the Bible mentions the topic of homosexuality, it is in a completely different context, because at that time homosexuality was something like a strong fashion trend. It was present in the population about as often as contraception is used today; in prehistoric cultures, it was literally a substitute for contraception. Homosexuality was then discussed in an absolutely different context than in our modern understanding of sexual orientation. Religious fanatics or conservative Christians like to interpret the Bible in their own way, but they forget that it must be viewed in the context of the time when people viewed sexuality completely differently.
Even during the reign of Emperor Justinian, homosexuality among bishops was very common and manifested itself in an ostentatious way. These relationships were so common that Emperor Justinian had their genitals cut off – not only bishops but also laymen. The bishops must have had really ostentatious relationships for this to be discovered and for such a punishment to follow. Emperor Justinian was probably the first very harsh activist fighting against homosexuality. He defended his harshness with theology during the period of the migration of nations, which historians associate with the decline of the Roman Empire in the sixth century. Justinian invented the theory that if he eradicated homosexuality, the Roman Empire would prosper. It is very strange that in this period the persecution of homosexuality was not an initiative of the church, but of the secular ruler himself. Many Catholics do not know their own history and do not realize that this attitude did not primarily come from the church. The Catholic Church has simply falsified its history in thousands of ways. The current harsh anti-LGBT stance that prevails in the church is in fact historically an initiative of secular power and the ruler, which is surprising.
Historical testimonies and linguistic analyses
There is a huge number of quality scientific publications on homosexuality in ancient Rome and Greece. An interesting example is a Roman historian who described the biographies of emperors in detail, including their intimate lives. When he wrote about Emperor Claudius, he described him as strange or weird because he never had any relationship with a man. At that time, the culture was completely different; the one who did not have a same-sex partner-sexual experience was considered strange. Today it is exactly the opposite, and the one who has such an experience is considered strange. Cultural pressures were radically different then. Of course, antiquity was not ideal either; there were phenomena where parents could force their son into prostitution for money. Sexual abuse happened on a large scale, and this era should not be idealized in any way. But the current opposite extreme of strong homophobic sentiments in society is not good either. If we have a big problem in parliament to approve even registered partnerships, it is a huge extreme.
In my article, I also pay great attention to the term arsenokoitai, which is a New Testament term associated with the topic of homosexuality. This term is very abstract and difficult to translate. Tertullian translated it into Latin as masculorum concubitores. It is interesting to observe the word concubitor in Latin sources; in simplified terms, it referred to a person who ordered gay prostitution. This in no way falls under the current broad understanding of homosexuality. One thing is objective truth and scientific knowledge, but on the other hand, there is an extremely strong protection of the egregore, due to which such information does not even reach ordinary believers. Christians wage cultural wars to the death, without realizing that they do not know the history of their own church or the correct translations of the Bible, to which they refer. Conservative theologians prefer not to deal with these translations, because they would have to come to the same conclusions, so studies on this topic are more likely to be found among more liberal theologians or professors of philosophy. For example, a very high-quality work was published by an American professor who clearly explains in the Letter to the Romans that the passages interpreted by church fathers such as Tertullian or John Chrysostom actually concerned gay prostitution in pagan temples, and not homosexuality as such.
Psychology of Egregors and Meditation Techniques
Unfortunately, it is a big problem for our society to start being guided by real common sense; we are unfortunately very far from that. The power of egregors is so strong that even though there are facts and studies, the information does not reach the ordinary believers and society remains divided due to ignorance. It is more comfortable for believers to get on the established train of the Christian egregore, because critical thinking requires a lot of energy and going against the current is practically impossible. Liberal priest Tomáš Petráček is right when he says that the Bible practically does not talk about homosexuality in today's sense. The perception of sexuality at that time was so different that any hints in the text cannot be linked to the modern context.
Psychology is a backward science in this regard, as it does not deal with the egregore, even though it affects every person every day. It is insidious and manipulative when everyone thinks they have formed their religious opinion freely. Freedom is often just a false appearance, and this is what psychology should be concerned with. The concept of the egregore should be the most frequently used word in psychology. Science should focus on how to resist manipulation and how to get closer to free will. Meditation techniques can help, for example, the meditation of emptying the mind mentioned in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. With it, you take control of your mind and find that free will is not a given, as it is difficult to control your own subconscious. Try to sit down and think about nothing; you won't last five minutes before distracting thoughts start to emerge. I also made a podcast about how to achieve an empty mind. It may sound depressing, but it is very positive – it means having your mind under control and freeing yourself from distracting influences that hinder concentration. This helps to at least temporarily break away from the egregores in whose energy we all swim. When you master this technique, you enter a state of bliss and higher vibrations, which shifts attention to the higher chakras.
The effort to unify and critically perceive the truth
In this way, one can free oneself from the struggles that egregors force us into – whether it's the side of alternative or mainstream media. These things artificially divide and polarize us into two political camps, which I really don't like. The situation in politics is not black and white, and one should not be politicized by hateful propaganda. We are composed of two identities – consciousness and unconsciousness. During meditation, you realize that controlling the unconscious is not easy, although it may be more important than consciousness. However, with honest training, it can be managed, and then you can also do more advanced techniques.
My spiritual blogs and podcasts about politics are actually deeply spiritual, because every single comment is aimed at not dividing us, but uniting us. I draw attention to hoaxes and disinformation in both types of media that pit society against each other. I try to independently and impartially assess who is right in a given matter. When we realize that the truth is colorful and not black and white, we can perceive ourselves as beings who know how to connect and not just divide.