How Christians Get Caught Up in Conspiracy Theories

Posted on April 15, 2023 by George Boyd

Q: How do conspiracy theories influence Christians, which warp the core tenets of their faith?

A: To understand this, it’s important to review the 49 steps of the Christian believer from the birth of faith to the attainment of sainthood:

Level One – Faith [Activation of the cord of faith, which connects the ego with the Divine]

Belief in God and Jesus [the awakening of faith]
Praying to God and Jesus [invocation]
Engaging in dialog with God and Jesus [praying and receiving a response to prayer as personal guidance and direction]
Asking for God’s help in times of crisis or great personal suffering or adversity [supplication]
Receiving God’s comfort and peace via the Holy Spirit in response to the prayer of supplication
Receiving a gift of the Holy Spirit in response to prayer or as a spontaneous act of Grace
Demonstrating or using the gift of the Holy Spirit with believers in your congregation; Pentecostal and Charismatic sects appear to operate at this level

Level Two – Spiritual Warrior [Construction of the citadel of belief and identification as a Christian believer]

Listening to sermons and learning about the Christian faith
Studying the Bible, committing scriptures to memory
Witnessing and proselytizing to other to convert them to the Christian faith
Aligning with clergy-sanctioned political and social causes and advocating for them
Becoming obsessed with religious and political agendas; at this level you are especially susceptible to believe in conspiracy theories
Giving tithes and donations to support your Church’s mission; you might also be led to financially support the agendas of political and religious groups that align with the political and social causes for which you have advocated
Teaching or preaching to others what you have learned from scriptural study and the theological training you have had; this is the standard preparation for ministry based on theological study [Theology is one of the disciplines found in the Temple of Science; some schools of Theology also expose the minister-in-training to the principles of Philosophy.]

Level Three – Quest for power, money, and love [Activation of the Universal Mind]

Claiming the promises of scriptures via faith and affirmation
Giving donations and tithes with the aim to activate the Divine Law of Prosperity
Demonstrating Divine Prosperity through purchasing expensive cars, homes, clothing, or jewelry
Giving charity; donating to causes you deem worthy out of your financial surplus
Treating the Universal Mind directly using affirmations to manifest your desires; Science of Mind practitioners and ministers operate at this level
Working with the matrix of subconscious beliefs that hinder manifestation of your desires—many life, relationship, and business coaches operate at this level to move you to the next step in your life, your romantic satisfaction, or to enhance your career and finances
Experience of union with the Universal Mind; activation of the inner genius of the Master Mind

Level Four – Revelation and Visionary Experience [Psychic Realm Awakening]

Visions of utopian or doomsday scenarios; apocalyptic visions of the end of the world and the second coming of Christ
Immersion in interpreting the meaning of scriptures, symbols, archetypes, and myths; this is the level of hermeneutics; those who engage in translating scriptures and religious texts from their original languages also operate at this level
Channeling angels and spirits verbally to give prophecy and revelation
Communion with angels and guides in trance states and receiving teaching and revelations from them
Channeling communications from angels and spirits through spontaneous writing [automatic writing]
Beholding visions of spirits; perceiving angels and demons in the aura of others
Exorcising or casting out demons that you perceive in the aura of others through prayer or ritual; those who conduct exorcisms operate at this level

Level Five – The Dawning of Wisdom [opening to the Wisdom Plane]

Reception of practical guidance to live righteously
Working on changing bad habits and reforming character
Working with addictions and recovering from compulsive patterns of behavior—many 12-step groups operate at this level
Mentoring and guiding others to improve their character, recover from addictions, and cope with the challenges of life; pastoral counselors and addiction counselors operate from this level
Doing forgiveness work and reuniting with the unconditional love of the Soul—A Course in Miracles operates at this level
Gaining understanding of what motivates you and others; connecting with your Soul’s inner wisdom
Communion with the Light of Wisdom and listening to the still, small voice in the silence; the spiritual communion of the Quakers taps this level

Level Six – Born Again – Living the Gospel and having direct communion with the Holy Spirit

Experience of direct attentional union with the Moon Soul or Christ Child nucleus of identity; feeling born again as a child of God
Direct communion with the Holy Spirit as it dwells in the inner altar at the heart of the Moon Soul or Christ Child
Experience of the Divine Will as direction and guidance conveyed directly to the attentional principle
Reception of the genuine calling of spiritual vocation to serve the Church as a minister, teacher, prophet, healer, or evangelist; this is the level at which you experience authentic spiritual vocation
Experience of ministering the Holy Spirit as your attentional principle; this is the attunement of spiritual ministry
Experience of the robes of righteousness—guiding your human life through wisdom and the moral will; this level also opens the Revelatory Mind or Mind of Christ, which brings new insights into the scriptures
Experience of the heart of gold, the golden nugget of love and virtue at the core of the Moon Soul or Christ Child

Level Seven – Holiness [embodying love and virtue through ascension of the Moon Soul or Christ Child]

Experience of the Jet of Divine Spirit upon the Mountain of God; entering the Presence of the Form of God that expresses in human life and history
Entering the gates of death while alive; doing life review in the Presence of the Great Judge and the Lords of Karma
Beholding the strata of Hell; witnessing the behavior of others that led them to perdition
Beholding the strata of Purgatory; working off core life issues and developing heart wisdom
Beholding the strata of Heaven
Beholding the worlds of the angels
Assumption into the form of the Saint; embodying the ability to directly send the Holy Spirit to the Moon Soul or Christ Child in others

Below level five, believers are subject to the manipulation of those who seek to shape Christian’s beliefs through arousing their emotions. Some manipulate believers to enrich themselves; some do it to gain political power; some do it to use believers to fulfill their desires.

We see the ready adoption of conspiracy theories—and the mobilizing of believers to support repressive laws and policies that aim to subjugate those who believe differently—as a direct result of these influence attempts.

Until the Christian has advanced in his or her spiritual growth to level five, where wisdom can guide him or her, there is the ongoing risk that conspiracy theories can waylay the believer. Those who disseminate untruths, distortions of the facts, and warped interpretations of the scriptures are only too willing to influence those who follow them and listen to their perverted messages.

We note that at steps 11 and 12 on the ladder of Christian growth, the believer is especially vulnerable to the influence of those who promote conspiracy theories. Without discernment and wisdom, and the ability to use critical thinking, moreover, believers are highly susceptible to these attempts at covert influence and outright manipulation.

Those who have political agendas, who seek to enrich themselves, and who suffer from narcissistic and megalomaniac delusions are only too happy to shape the beliefs, values, and behavior of the Christian believer. One must tread the perilous journey of faith with vigilance and caution, as the Path is strewn with dangers and pitfalls that can ambush the believer on the inner passage to holiness and assumption into sainthood.

The Gentle Meandering Away from Truth

Posted on February 5, 2023 by George Boyd

In conspiracy theories, there is a detachment from consensual reality and absorption in deeper strata of belief and perception. These deeper levels of mental processing are subject to distortion and delusional belief.

The challenge for those attempting to navigate the illusions of the collective mind to determine reality and truth encounter seven major mental postures. These are:

Recognition of objects in the environment and correctly labeling them, measuring them, and verifying their existence; this establishes facts and consensual reality.
Speculation about causation and motivation using deduction and inference; researchers, journalists, investigators, and psychologists tap this level.
Believing in things other people have told you or communicated to you without verifying the information you have received is correct; this is the first level subject to the distortion of conspiracy theories and others lying to you and exploiting you.
Believing revelations and interpretations you receive from your own contemplation or that you receive from psychic readers or religious clergy; this level is subject to the distortion that comes from you overvaluing ideas or misinterpretation of the content you uncover or that is communicated to you; those who disseminate conspiracy theories often draw from these sources.
Believing in signs, omens, and coincidences for guidance; the issue here is that you are not certain which of these presentations are genuinely guidance from your Soul and which are simply random signals; those that present distorted information from levels three and four with conviction and enthusiasm can readily persuade those who operate in this frame of inner guidance to adopt their beliefs.
Receiving guidance from a spiritual entity other than your own Soul through channeling or automatic writing; the quality of this guidance you receive depends on whom you are channeling—you can receive very valuable and reliable information from this source, or you can obtain spurious and useless information. Some look for Gurus at this level to provide answers and show them how to realize their true nature.
Gaining union with your Soul and having it reveal its true nature; this is union with your inner source of wisdom and discernment; this is the touchstone of inner truth and realization.

Not all of these postures of mental processing lead you down rabbit holes:

Postures one and seven form the bedrock of reality and truth. You can verify consensual reality through your senses and reason; you can gain conscious union with your Soul and tap into its direct intuitive stream.

Posture two, if performed with careful safeguards in place against bias can be a valuable tool to arrive at valid conclusions and correct inferences—without validation, however, these can lead astray well-meaning detectives, researchers, and clinicians.

The zone that generates delusion and the strange beliefs of conspiracy theories spans postures three to six.

Posture three is the most common entry point for those who embrace conspiracy theories: because they cannot or do not verify the information they receive, they unwittingly adopt false beliefs.

Posture four is often the source of many of the distorted beliefs that underpin conspiracy theories: someone has had a revelation… someone has attempted to read meaning into a cryptic scriptural passage or an arcane, symbolic manuscript… someone has interpreted an event in an ominous or apocalyptic way. Those that operate at this level still think, although their thinking process may be corrupted.

Posture five begins to operate when someone has set aside thinking and analysis, and instead embraces intuition as their source of truth. This is a highly experiential, serendipitous frame of mind that seeks to discover truth. Divinatory arts like tarot, angel cards, and I Ching tap into this intuitive matrix. This posture leads to a mindset that views the unitive nature of the universe, the connections between all things, and a sense that there is a deeper reality behind the observable physical universe. At this level, one “creates” through intention and visualization; events occur synchronistically.

Posture six typically dawns when someone seeks guidance from a wise and highly evolved spiritual being: this often takes the form of a search for a spiritual mentor or Guru. If someone selects an ethical, genuinely realized teacher for this stage of their aspirant journey, they can receive teachings that help them advance both in their personal life and their spiritual development.

Choosing wrongly can lead to involvement with spiritual cults and enslavement and abuse at the hands of authoritarian and paranoid spiritual leaders. Some alternately draw their information and inspiration from guides they encounter in the inner Planes; like flesh and blood Gurus, these sources can be legitimately helpful or they can lead people into greater delusion.

It is possible to avoid slipping into the traps of postures three to six:

In Mudrashram®, in our intermediate classes—the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program—we teach our students how to tune into posture seven to directly know and commune with their essential nature and skip over the pitfalls of postures three to six.

You can have greater success with posture two, if you learn critical thinking and obtain an education that emphasizes careful intellectual inquiry and analysis.

We encourage you to identify in what ways you operate in each of seven postures, and to progressively learn to uncover and eliminate the false beliefs you may have adopted in listening to the siren voices of the Astral and the misinformation coming from those who seek to exploit you and manipulate you for their own agendas.

The Seven Orders of Truth

Posted on July 1, 2022 by George Boyd

Q: How do conspiracy theories distort the truth?

A: If you examine the seven orders of truth, you have a middle zone where distortion can come in. These seven orders of truth are:

Reality – You know it is true, because you have verified it.
Gut level feelings – You know something is true, because you have a feeling about it. This may or may not be eventually verified. If you have a personality disorder, marked anxiety syndromes, emotional dysregulation, or cognitive distortion, your gut level feelings may lead you astray, and tell you something is true, when it is not.
Delusion – Something is not true, but you believe it is true. You may continue to hold these incorrect beliefs, in spite of evidence that it is not true.
Deception – Something is not true, but someone disseminates this lie to gain control over you and other people.
Faith – You tap into a higher truth, but you are not able to verify it. You may, as a result, come to believe spiritual ideas that are not true. People may misinterpret scriptures, symbols, prophecy, and revelations, and disseminate this false information to you.
Realization – Your Soul becomes at one with the object of meditation. You know the truth of things, because you have realized them. You may not, however, be able to communicate these ineffable truths.
Satsang – You realize a transcendent truth, and are able to communicate it to others. You communicate it through inspired discourse, teaching, or writing.

The second through the fifth orders are zones where distortion can enter. Delusion, order three, typically develops as a result of deception, where there is a willful attempt to communicate false information to you; and faith, where misinterpretation of spiritual ideas warps your values, beliefs, and perception.

Conspiracy theories tap into these orders of delusion, deception, and faith to weave a false narrative. These misguided beliefs remove you from consensual reality and drop you into an alternative reality; they shift you from reality testing and verification into fantasy.

If you are suffering from a condition that warps your intuitive grasp of reality in the second order of truth, many people get help from psychotherapy, which helps you sort out accurate feelings and intuitions from erroneous ones.

The remedy for the distortions of orders three through five is discernment. We discuss in greater detail how you develop discernment in our book, The Psychic Realm: Finding Safe Passage through the Worlds of Illusion.

The transcendent truths of orders six and seven is the province of mystics and spiritual sojourners; these experiences are uncommon. Those that enter this rarified realm often cannot put their experience into words; those that can communicate them become our spiritual teachers and guides. Those that reach these profound depths of truth do not merely believe, they know.

Working with the Challenges of a Confused Mind

Posted on April 15, 2022 by George Boyd

There are many people who are confused today. They are under the thrall of conspiracy theories and false beliefs, filled with fear or hate, or give their devotion and dedication to someone who perverts it. We quote from one of our articles, “The 49 Archetypes of Disciples and Aspirants”:

“Some of the greatest challenges of modern civilization are dealing with the excesses of [these four stations of confused mental operation], in which malevolent agendas pervert reason, motivation, and values of those unlucky enough to be caught up in their nets of delusion…”

These four stations are:

Deluded Believer – This individual embraces conspiracy theories; false information clouds his or her judgment.

Terrified One – This individual is absorbed in doomsday or apocalyptic scenarios; he or she attempts to find a way to survive the impeding calamity. He or she may harbor paranoid beliefs.

Deluded Devotee – This individual worships a cult leader or demagogue. He or she allows this cult leader or demagogue to shape his or her beliefs, values, behavior, and choices.

Hate-filled One – This individual embraces a hate group or terrorist group. He or she seeks to eliminate those who are of other religions, races, ethnic groups, or cultures.

“People who are caught up in these mindsets of delusion may truly believe that they have discovered the truth. When challenged, they will tenaciously defend their beliefs and their leaders who disseminate these warped visions of reality.
For this reason, it is difficult to break people free from the thrall of these enveloping bubbles of belief to get them back into touch with their humanity and innate spirituality—to enable them to extricate their Self and their Soul from the illusions in which they are immersed…

We have treated the methods by which these delusional beliefs can be deconstructed in our article, “Getting Untangled from Delusional Beliefs,” which is our blog post for July 19. 2019. You may wish to read the entire article for an overview of this topic.

Those who want to go into these topics of belief construction and deconstruction in religion, cults, and terrorist groups more deeply may wish to acquire our book, Religions, Cults, and Terrorism: What the Heck Are We Doing? You may also enjoy our public webinar series on Cults and on Judeo-Christian religion, where we explore some of these topics in greater depth.

We will excerpt from this article to detail specific strategies how people can extract themselves from these delusional mindsets:

“You unravel these knots of belief through applying strategies that deconstruct them. These methods include:”

Be willing to experience the world as it is without the filter of beliefs, metaphors, or symbols. The practice of mindfulness, being present and aware, helps you do this.
Accept that people hold many alternative perceptions of reality. Seek to understand why they view the world differently. Studying the different strata of the Great Continuum of Consciousness and finding the different identity states that people embrace will assist you to understand this phenomenon.
Take ownership of your projections. Notice if you are using symbols or events to project your desires on other people or the world. Tools such as process meditation and the Mandala Method help you trace your beliefs back to their origin, which gives you the option to re-own them and modify them.
Use contradictory or conflicting evidence to arrive at a greater truth, a more complete theory that includes other viewpoints. If you hold truths hypothetically until you can fully confirm them, you will avoid the trap of tenaciously holding erroneous beliefs. Be willing to question what you believe as you gain new evidence. The Synthesis Method is a valuable tool for resolving conflicts between beliefs—it allows you to find a higher standpoint that allows you to integrate both perspectives.
Dissolve your bubble of belief through experiencing your intentional consciousness (attentional principle), your loving heart (spirit), and your transcendent being (Soul) directly. Experience your body, your vehicles of consciousness and the levels of your mind directly, and relate to the world and other people from your authentic spirituality.
Seek empathy, understanding, and compassion for your Self and others. Cultivate humility and recognize you do not have all the answers—you continue to learn and grow. Also allow others to discover their own truths. Don’t impose your beliefs and values on others. Share your discoveries in consciousness if they ask you about them.
Take ownership of how you persecute and harm others and stop doing this. Take responsibility for your own actions, words, and thoughts. Stop blaming others for your shortcomings and failures; strive to improve yourself. Deconstruct the mindset that makes you believe you are under attack: embrace the beauty, harmony, and perfection of the universe as it is.

“We suspect that if those who hold these rigid belief systems of apocalypse, hatred, and conspiracy would utilize these steps, much of the political and religious strife in the world could be dissolved. We are not holding our breath that this will happen any time soon; but employing methods like this to deconstruct these mindsets would relieve a lot of the turmoil in our world today.”

“We teach methods one through five in our intermediate meditation classes, the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation and the by-mail and online Accelerated Meditation Program.”

The inner scaffolding of these four types of the confused mind is constructed of a network of beliefs—beliefs that influence people’s choices, values, emotions, and behavior. It is possible for people to change these beliefs and extricate themselves from the hypnotic spell that these distorted doctrines and perverted ideologies cast upon their minds and their lives.

Those of you, who have gotten out of these life-consuming mindsets, but have lingering issues from your involvement in these groups and movements, may benefit from our Cult Recovery Coaching Program.

How Thought Streams Affect Others

Posted on November 27, 2021 by George Boyd

Q: How do thought streams influence others?

A: Thought streams are at the body of the Occult Hierarchy’s influence on humanity and the activity of Occult initiates. Thought streams may play a role in the adoption of conspiracy theories, and the hypnotic influence of cultic groups and leaders.

Thought streams have three parts:

Transmission
Reception
Implementation

Thought stream transmission occurs when it originates from a source; it becomes a field which others are immersed.

Thought stream reception takes three forms:

Ensouling entities are immersed in the field of the thought stream transmission; it surrounds them in the astral environment in which they dwell, which we call the Plenum.

The spirit or the attentional principle may receive a telepathic impress from the thought stream transmission; they may feel it is important enough to implement.

The ego receives the communication of the thought stream through a verbal or visual means; the content of the thought stream may contain material that activates the emotionalized contents of the personal unconscious and motivates fear, worry, or anger. This level of message may stir others to take action on the message.

Thought stream implementation is a spectrum ranging from no implementation to complete dedication of life and mind.

Notices content of the thought stream message, but does not enact it
Thinks about the ideas of the thought stream message, but does not enact them
Forms an emotional reaction to the ideas conveyed in the thought steam message, and may communicate them to others; they may argue with others in an attempt to change their beliefs; judges others are wrong if they don’t believe the content of the thought stream message
Changes behavior based on the ideas of the thought stream message; may make new choices
Generates rules, policies, or laws based on the thought stream message
May attempt to actively influence and convert others to believe in the ideas of the thought stream message through giving talks, interviews, writing articles and blog posts, authoring books, or disseminating these ideas through social media
Dedicates one’s life and resources to living the ideas of the thought stream message and spreading this message to others

Sources of Thought Streams

In Advanced Webinar 28, we describe the role of the thought streams emerging from the Occult Hierarchy as follows:

“When we study the Occult Hierarchy, and look at the work of the Occult Adepts and higher Occult Initiates, we find that Occult Adepts of certain degrees upon each of the Seven Rays are responsible for certain “projects” that are carried out in humanity. Some of these projects seem relatively benign; some bring great evil in their wake.”

“Each of these projects engages groups of Soul Sparks, who are carried on its powerful magnetic thought forces to enact its commands and suggestions. In some of these projects, the aim is to empower and liberate the free will of Soul Sparks from the influences that attempt to restrain their pleasure and their freedom; in other projects, certain individuals may be raised to the heights of worldly power, and enabled to rule over others with an iron fist.”

Other sources of thought streams—as we described in the article, “Levels of Thought that Impact Human Life”—include:

Intuitive impressions from the Psychic Realm
The voice of Wisdom
Revelation of truths from the Revelatory Mind of the Holy Spirit
The voice of the Mighty I AM Presence
Ministerial thought, reflection on seed thoughts
Illumined Mind, downpour of knowledge
Attunement – intention driven thought to produce purification, healing, emotional release, counsel, and guidance, illumination and revelation, and initiation, imbued with the Divine Light
Soul Realization (Enlightenment) – the experience of the Soul beyond thought

While many thought streams are neutral or even positive—many thought streams that come from the Lower Astral Plane, that convey conspiracy theories, or that entrap people in the toxic belief systems of spiritual cults, hate groups, or terrorist bands—are not.

If a thought steam is negatively impacting you, and you are beginning to act under its influence, there are several things you can do.

What You Can Do

There are seven key steps for dealing with thought stream influences. These include:

Become aware that the thought stream is influencing you.
Notice specifically how the thought stream is affecting your choices, your thinking, your values, your beliefs, your emotions, and your actions.
Decide if you want to continue to act under its spell. If you decide you want to free yourself from its influence, you need to make the choice to walk away.
Actively inventory how the thought stream is affecting your choices, your thinking, your values, your beliefs, your emotions, and your actions—and explore your alternate options.

Draw a line on a sheet of paper to divide it into two columns.

On the left hand side, write down the verbatim content you have learned as part of the thought stream’s influence on your life and your mind.

On the right side, write down what you can choose, think, believe, feel, or do instead.

Extract yourself from involvement with the group that disseminates this material:

Get off their mailing list or email list.
Cancel your account on the social media platform that distributes this material, or un-friend them on Facebook.
Stop listening to radio shows or podcasts that promulgate these messages. Stop watching television programs or Internet videos that spread these views.
Do not go to their lectures or meetings.
Avoid contact with the people in your life who share these distorted messages; if you cannot avoid contact, assertively tell them that you do not want to hear about these topics anymore

Commit to the alternate options you identified in step four. Live intentionally, mindfully, and thoughtfully. Identify who you are and what is your purpose for living, and align your choices, thoughts, beliefs, and actions with your authentic Self.
Continue to monitor whether you are still acting under the influence of the thought stream messages in some aspect of your life, and root out these beliefs, so you can free yourself from any residual impressions from this source.

Those of you who have been acting under the hypnotic spell of these thought streams for a long time are impacted in a similar manner to someone who has been involved in a religious cult. We invite you to explore our Cult Recovery Coaching Program if this immersion in these thought stream influences has adversely affected your life. You may learn more about the dynamics operating in cultic groups in our book, Religions, Cults, and Terrorism: What the Heck Are We Doing?