The content of CushVlogs often veers into religious commentary (the most recent one especially). Why do you think Matt is so invested in it? I'm wondering if it's due to one or more of the following reasons: Americans are uniquely religious, so trying to divine anything about their politics requires interpreting their faith. Or: Part of being a revolutionary is believing in a prophecy that an ultimate goal will be achieved one day--a goal there's not much concrete evidence for--and in this way the revolution is faith based. Or: Studying religion comes with the territory of being a history buff (things like Luther and the Hundred Years War midwifing capitalism onto the world stage, etc). Or: Matt is obsessed with his mortality and is more and more curious about the big "Why are we here" questions. The reason I ask is because I don't hear much analysis of religion in left spaces now, and I think there's somewhat of a vacuum left by the Bush-era /stem cell-era libs who would call out jesus camps, televangelists, and mega-churches. (Like, that part of the culture war was deemed over by 2008-09)
The religious trip he's been on started after the Podcast took off, maybe around 2018 or so.
He's spoken about how he was completely materialist, not being able to comprehend the proposition that he could be spiritual or religious until recently. Most of the religious stuff is vaguely christian, but also has that weird pastiche a lot of 90's and 80's kids got from Eastern concepts conveyed through media.
So, you've got a lot of "love", but all in service of the broader goal of self extinguishment, an ego death in order to understand oneself as a constituent part of a greater whole.
Also the faith, which isn't placed in salvation by the grace of God or resurrection, but faith in the world eventually being upended and capitalism destroyed. The faith isn't so much the conviction that you get with evangelicals, where you must believe it, it's more circuitous. revolution can only be embarked on if you believe that you can succeed, and therefore faith is a prerequisite. Alternatively, he has said that if humanity fails, then you can put faith in successive sapient species attempts at building civilization; while we might fuck up and cook the Earth, we can put hope in "the Squids," as he calls them. In this framing, you can attempt to make a change in the world (realistically on a small scale), and should you fail to do something grand, understand yourself as a component of a broader dynamic.
Ultimately, I see it as a concession that people can't be Vulcans, and in order to live, either more fully generally or in defiance of capitalist realism specifically, one can benefit from adopting spiritual paradigms.
nailed it. Thanks
In the light of morning, I felt I should add something. You're right that mortality is often a driving force in the adoption of spiritual and religious thinking, but our big wet boy had a mortality crisis earlier in life, around 18 or so. This is when his "spine exploded". If I remember correctly, he not only has limited mobility in one leg, but a kind of phantom leg pain he has compared with a mild burning. He has said that this is when he acquired an over developed hypochondria, and fixation on his own death.
If anything I'd say that this reified his materialist stances on life and death, and that his spiritual turn is more due to podcasting success. New wife, living in Cali, earning more money than he likely anticipated for the work(?) of essentially being a niche media personality recognizable mostly to online weirdos. That kind of life development can screw with a fella who's geared towards introspection and nebbish-ness.