{"id":11202,"date":"2020-11-06T16:45:11","date_gmt":"2020-11-06T21:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/?p=11202"},"modified":"2021-06-13T22:03:06","modified_gmt":"2021-06-14T03:03:06","slug":"america-is-waiting-meme-magic-the-spiritual-practices-of-the-interregnum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2020\/11\/06\/america-is-waiting-meme-magic-the-spiritual-practices-of-the-interregnum\/","title":{"rendered":"America is waiting: Meme magic & the spiritual practices of the Interregnum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of the things I study is spiritual practices<\/a> – which I’ll define (for simplicity’s sake) as the things people do to enhance their capacity to live in accordance with chosen ideals. Those ideals can be defined in religious terms (for instance, as salvation, enlightenment, or unity with God) or in more secular and philosophical terms (as happiness, success, glory, power, longevity, and the like). They can be abstract (salvation, happiness) or concrete, specific, and even personal (Jesus, Guanyin). What makes the practices spiritual <\/em>is that they cultivate<\/em> capacity<\/em>. Their goal includes the assumption that there is something in us that can grow, improve, or increase in its ability to act upon itself in and with others (with those others sometimes being cosmic <\/em>others). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Christian historical context, the concept of “spirit” has been juxtaposed against an opposite — matter, the body, the flesh, “the world” — that is considered inferior and opposed to it. But today’s popular usage has mostly supplanted that idea. When we speak of “team spirit,” someone being “spirited,” or something that is “in spirit rather than in letter,” we acknowledge this more generic use of the word. Spirit is what motivates us, what gives us strength, what makes us lively, vibrant, and connected to the world outside of ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the current political moment of “the interregnum<\/a> before the Interregnum<\/a>” — where the second denotes the formal period between an election and the new leader’s assumption of power, while the first denotes the informal period between the vote and the announcement of its results — we see all kinds of spiritual practices in evidence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Patience and restraint, and the need to cultivate both, are one kind of response to the agony of not knowing who will be your next president. (Hail, Biden<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Trump’s response has been different not only because of his narcissistic<\/a> drive to never be a “loser<\/a>.” It is different because of his own spirituality, which he picked up<\/a> as a young man from Norman Vincent Peale’s gospel of “positive thinking<\/a>” and then transformed<\/a> into a projection<\/a> of personal<\/a> desires via the magical<\/a> arts of branding<\/a>, marketing<\/a>, and reality-simulation<\/a>. This magical Trumpism<\/a> has in turn insinuated itself into an array of political subcultures, from QAnon<\/a> and the Pepe the Frog<\/a> alt-right to the very strange marriage<\/a> between Trumpian white nationalism<\/a> and Evangelical<\/a> Christianity<\/a>. The “meme magic” of the alt-right has been remarked upon and analyzed in other places (see here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a> for a sampling). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reverend Paula White’s performance yesterday is an indicator of how important this moment is for the latter group of Christian nationalists: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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