Thomas Was Right to Doubt
The church of the covid consensus is the secular version of a religion. During the “time of the plague” we were being asked to suspend our doubt in the authorities and go along with what could be called the Covid Consensus. If you didn’t, you would end up in hell: isolated, attacked by friends and family, described as a murderer, irresponsible, and banned from all social life unless you carried the badge of compliance known as the jab passport. This period had much in common with the Spanish Inquisition during which heretics complied or were tortured. It was a time of secular religion, the church of the covid consensus.
There’s a story in the gospel of John about unbelieving Thomas. He missed the original appearance of Jesus post-resurrection. When his friends tell him about it he declares that he won’t believe unless he feels Jesus’ actual flesh and blood with his own hands. Then Jesus appears to him and he believes. But the takeaway that the writer of the story wants to leave us with is that those who have not seen and yet believe are the most blessed.
Nice sentiment, but it’s not true. This gospel was the last written. The other three don’t include the story of “doubting Thomas”. The story is meant to encourage those who weren’t around for the Jesus’ event to join the movement (the church) even though they weren’t first hand witnesses. The story is proselytization. What’s at stake in the story is where and how we’re going to place our trust, in an external authority, an institution like the church, or our own experience. The takeaway is: trust the authorities. Blind belief is better than inner authority.
A Phenomenological View
I take a phenomenological view of the story. Thomas’ desire to put his own hands on the risen Christ before he “believes” is natural. Anything else is hearsay and is a weak substitute for direct experience. To me the story plays on the theme of the tendency of humans historically to want to believe that somebody out there surely knows. Better than I know. Trust us, say the authorities, not your own experience. Do not “authorize” your own experience of reality because, well, you don’t know what the hell is going on. We know. You’ll be “blessed” if you just believe our version of things. There will be blessings for believers, but what’s not said is that historically there will be hell to pay if you don’t take our word for it.
But honestly? Nobody knows. And besides, no amount of “knowing” by any authority can take away the truth that we’re out of control, uncertain creatures who will be contending with Death one day. More on this below. Suffice it to say at this point, is that those who tell you that they know and promise to end your suffering will make you pay if you remain an unbeliever. Their endgame is always control. We see this being played out in the pandemic, which I’ll get to.
Nobody Knows: Unresolved Transference
Coming to terms with “nobody knows” is a very painful psychic state, set up by early experiences of lovelessness and abuse. Infants and toddlers are in a “need to know” situation. What they need to know is that the world (mother/father) is dependable. They are there, responsive to my needs and desires. They are solidly in charge of the whole situation. I can rest. My life depends on it. I remember a series of ayahuasca ceremonies in the jungles of Mexico when I had regressed to early toddlerhood. I was in immense emotional pain. It was sorrow that I wasn’t loved. Whenever somebody walked by me during the ceremony en route to the bathroom I would think to myself, “finally, somebody is coming to pick me up and take care of me”, somebody who would rescue me from my sorrow and reassure me that everything was going to be okay. Translation, I wasn’t going to die. Somebody knows and somebody is going to do something about it. But I was abandoned in my sorrow, a perfect re-enactment of early trauma.
In the psychotherapeutic relationship the patient will turn the therapist into his or her rescuer. S/he is the one, we need to believe, who knows the situation and will act to relieve this terrible suffering. This is what is known as transference. The patient transfers on to the therapist his early unmet hope that my suffering will be alleviated. This one will be the perfect “other” that I didn’t have, and when this doesn’t happen, the sorrow and the rage return with a vengeance. Successful “treatment” means, not removing the suffering and not pretending to resolve the early uncertainty (anxiety) of not being adequately loved, but allowing it to deepen. In a context of loving support, the patient realizes that they can survive today what they couldn’t as a child. The individual learns to tolerate uncertainty in a confusing world and learns that there is no escape from from suffering and ultimately death. The acceptance of these realities constitutes waking up and growing up to reality as it is and not as we hoped it would be.
But the majority of the population has not resolved this transference. We are still unconsciously on the look out for those who know, who can save us from uncertainty and ultimately death. In other words, most still put their hope in those who are willing to act as messiah figures. (There is an irony in the fact that Jesus, whom Christians still hold as their Messiah, refused the allurements of Satan in the wilderness, the so-called temptations. Without going into detail, all three of the temptations involved the promise that he wouldn’t have to suffer in anyway if he would just give his obedience and allegiance to Satan). Obedience and submission to the one willing to take on the transference is always the cost–it’s the cost of refusing to grow up. Jesus refused, then profoundly suffered on the cross, and told anybody who wanted to follow him that this was what was in store for them.
We have a biblical story, in other words, of a man, Jesus, who refused (repeatedly by the way) to be a transference object. Two thousand years later and the transference still hasn’t been resolved for most Christians. They believe that the call is to “believe” in him and the church, rather than the true calling which is to undergo what he underwent, and see what happens.
Science is the New Secular Religion
The latest recipients of our unresolved transference are scientists. Toni Fauci, Director of NIAID (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) has stepped up in the U.S. as one who is willing to be on the receiving end of mass transference. But rather than end the transference by admitting that he’s taking shots in the dark with these vaccines, he encourages belief in himself, (Dr. Science) conveying that he knows, that he and his friends in the vaccine industry alone can save us. All he asks in return is our obedience and allegiance. This he has received without question from the legacy media, the health industry, and the vast majority of global citizens. I contend that it is a false messiahship, set up by unresolved transference and the hope that he can rescue us from the ravages of the virus.
“O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel”.
O Death, Where Is Thy Sting?
The virus is effectively a stand-in for Death. It is fear of Death that has driven draconian health policy measures, which by now we’re all familiar with, and it is Death and the promise that he can overcome Death and end of our suffering that has engendered mass obedience.
During the modern period, science came on the scene as a new and objective way of knowing. The promise it holds is that it eliminates belief from the equation. Come up with a hypothesis, test it, research it, repeat, send it out to peers for review. If the hypothesis seems to be solid after this rigorous process, a general theory on the subject may result. Sometimes you hear people using the term theory as though it was an arbitrary stab at knowledge. You know, “it’s just a theory”. But to attain the status of a theory, say of gravity, a great many scientists have tried to disprove it, but couldn’t. Theories you can take to the bank. Even so, if they can be disproved with new evidence, they are replaceable.
But pay attention here, because science itself can be conscripted into service of an agenda that is not scientific but political. What is compelling about science is its method of acquiring knowledge. It’s always in the process of being tested, challenged, and often disproved. That’s its beauty. It’s not about trusting an authority, or any individual, but rather locating authority in a process that has integrity. What this means, by definition, is that there can never be absolute scientific consensus. Where absolutist claims are made, we are dealing with politics and bad religion (see below), not science.
Trust the Science?
The scientific consensus that has accreted around this pandemic is political. We know this because there is too much censorship of alternative research, too much discrediting and de-platforming of immunologists and virologists who challenge the Covid Consensus to think otherwise. The media, public health officials, Pharmaceutical CEO’s and politicians are united in this suppression of alternative scientific data. The Great Barrington Declaration, for example, now has close to one million signatures. Over 60,000 of those signatures are from immunologists, virologists and public health officials. They are calling for “focused protection” of the most vulnerable rather than lockdowns, isolation and a goal of 100% vaccination rates. They have solid scientific research backing their claims. And yet Toni Fauci, in revealed freedom of information texts and emails, collaborated to discredit the document. This contravenes the promise of the scientific method, which again is trust in a process of information gathering, not in any individual or consensus.
We need some kind of explanation for this, and in particular for the willingness of most individuals to confer this kind of unquestioned authority to the Covid Consensus and its promoters. I have suggested one possibility in my hypothesis of unresolved transference. The result is ironic, in that science was meant to replace replace religion as a source of authority. But what I see is that science is functioning more like medieval religion. We have regressed as a species to deal with our fear.
This doubling down on the narrative that I call the Covid Consensus, even as the wheels fell off, is typical of religious fundamentalism. It is closer to a scientific belief system at this point, which of course is an oxymoron. Except it’s what is happening. When every news story by every anchor person needs to be prefaced by “follow the science”, we know that this phrase is being used more like a mantra the purpose of which is to trigger unquestioning compliance to the prescribed rituals. (see below). It functions like a call-response prayer in sacred liturgy, so that nobody asks, “What about the research that refutes your research? Why is it not allowed?”
To give a few examples of how the wheels have actually fallen off the bus, there is overwhelming evidence that this is not a “pandemic of the unvaccinated“. Research is now showing that the vaccinated are more likely to get infected and therefore to transmit the virus than the unvaccinated. The ineffectiveness of the vaccination is being widely acknowledged, even by Bill Gates and the CEO of Pfizer. The research is overwhelming that masks are ineffective and yet we continue to see the obvious theatre played out at restaurants. The PCR tests are widely recognized as having failed and contributed to mass hysteria as cases were confused with infections because of the huge number of false positives. The death toll of those who actually died of Covid versus with Covid is much, much smaller than we were led to believe. Lockdowns are ineffective. (The WHO includes lockdowns, along with contact tracing, and restriction of movement, among those interventions that should never, under any circumstance be taken during a pandemic.) That the vaccines are causing unacceptable numbers of death and serious side effects will be a story that will be told for decades to come.
And yet, still, judging by the hatred I receive on my Facebook thread whenever I mention these realities, the masses believe the Covid Consensus. This is why I conclude that what’s going on is a modern day expression of the religious impulse that was sent into hiding when we fired the church and her priests as authorities. We unconsciously transferred this authority on to science and its priests, the scientists. But it’s really functioning during this pandemic like a bad religion.
I call this the “The Church of the Covid Consensus” and identify 10 Articles of Faith that must not be challenged if you are to maintain membership in good standing with The Church. (As the church in the Middle Ages utilized Latin to confound and mystify the people, so we will return to the mater lingua (Mother language) to capture the mystification that is going on.
The Church of the Covid Consensus Articles of Faith
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Sola vaccinus: (Only the vaccine)
In the oldtime Protestant religion it was sola scriptura (only scripture). There is no medical treatment of the virus allowed. Only the vaccine can save. Which isn’t actually a treatment. It’s meant to be a prophylactic but has failed as such. The belief in the vaccine is analagous to the eucharist. As the bread and wine were the magical substances that enabled one to participate in the spirit of Christ, so the vaccine allows the faithful to pass from death to life. As the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the living presence of the Christ marked the partaker’s passport into full divinization, so the vaccine now is the passport that grants the faithful full participation in society, today’s version of what John’s gospel calls “abundant life”. (I’m not making any truth claims about the actual effectiveness of the eucharist) But if I start to believe that it is the sole source of my well being it is magical thinking, and yes, I am persuaded that this is what is going on with sola vaccinus.
The church of the covid consensus wants you to believe that the vaccine alone will save you. They withhold effective alternative treatments such as ivermectin without outright lies, which the media never bothers to research.
2. Omnes Oportet Vaccinus: (All must be vaccinated).
Just as everyone must accept Jesus into their life so all must accept the vaccine into their life. Not 50%, not 60, not 90. Toni Fauci has publicly admitted that he started with a lower vaccination rate, but then realized that the public was compliant so he kept upping the number. Now it has been ordained by papal bull that 100% vaccination rate alone will suffice. The lost sheep are sinners, but are blinded by the misinformation of foreign doctrine (science that came to different conclusions) to their own selfishness. But the evidence shows and experts now agree that the goal of “herd immunity” was never possible with these vaccines, given that they peter out after only a few months. The church of the covid consensus wants you to blindly believe that even the healthy must be vaccinated and that natural immunity is not as powerful. Another lie.
3. Omnes Converti aliquo pretio: (All must be converted at any cost to the ways of the CCC).
The lost sheep are blinded by the original sin of thinking for themselves, interpreting data (a transgression of the highest order; only card carrying members of the CCC may interpret data). Furthermore, it is the duty of every member of the CCC to convert the unfaithful. Failing this they must be punished and/or shamed. Proselytization programs were offered early in the pandemic. Articles such as “How to Talk to the Vaccine Hesitant” appeared in the legacy media. The CBC in my country interviewed a compassionate playwright who was so concerned for the wayward that he utilized his art form to persuade the great unwashed see the light. Mao Zedong would be proud. When this didn’t work, out came the free hamburgers, the lotteries, and the jelly donuts. Then it was time to up the ante. Prevent children from seeing their dying parents, shame the young ones at school, bar the unvaxxed from society, and fine them for not being vaxxed (it’s happening in Quebec). The ultimate tool is enforced vaccinations. (The conversation is now happening at the Federal level in Canada.) Again, these are inquisition style tactics. During the Spanish Inquisition the church placed the tongues of heretics between two plates and then yanked their tongues out so that they could never again utter their foul heresy. Today, censorship and de-platforming serve the same function of silencing unwanted voices, but without all the mess. The church of the covid consensus has a global mission to convert the entire planet.
4.Vaccinum venit. Vaccinum et iterum veniet (The Vaccine has come, The Vaccine will come again. And again. And again).
The Christian eucharist ends with “Christ has come, Christ will come again”. We place our hope for humanity’s health in an endless array of new vaccines (and boosters) that the CCC scientists are even now busily preparing in the laboratories. The CEO of Pfizer just came out this past saying that they will soon be rolling out version 1.1, a new and improved vaccine. (Astonishingly, he said on air that the first one didn’t work so well). At the time of this revision, the fourth booster shot is being promoted, despite ineffectiveness. The church of the covid consensus wants you to believe in and support Big Pharma.
5. Genuflection est signum respectu auctoritati CCC.
Genuflection is the sign of respect to the authority of the CCC. When you enter a church, you kneel before the altar and make the sign of the cross. Journalists must likewise kneel and genuflect before the altar of the CCC: Representatives include approved orthodox scientists and research, the CEO’s of Pharmaceutical companies, the Pope himself (Dr. Toni Fauci) and the billionaires who are planning for the New World Order. You must be respectful, even, sycophantic, never daring to challenge the Consensus. Journalists must never go off the script provided for you ahead of time. Fawning is encouraged. The church of the covid consensus demands your respect.
6. Novum caelum et novam terram immanentem (A New Heaven and a New Earth is immanent.)
The current orthodox version of this is the utopian vision of Klaus Schwabb and the World Economic Forum, effected by the Great Reset. This New World Order is a technocratic and transhumanist vision, the brainchild of those in the privileged position to be first at the trough of the fiat currency welfare system for the rich. This non-democratic vision will require a new digital currency that will allow the CCC to track and control the movement and spending patterns of the population. A new authoritarian capitalism, based on the excellence of Chinese model to generate fortunes, is being adopted for the new dispensation. Whereas, the biblical project depicted in the story of the Tower of Babel was about divine deconstruction of the human agenda, (because the humans were getting too close to the gods), the CCC’s central business is the Tower’s reconstruction. They will engineer immortality through technology. And whereas the building of biblical tower was confounded through the introduction of diverse languages, in the Great Reset there is a return to a single, common Narrative, the language of the CCC. Hollywood, the entertainment industry and the media are now agents of this narrative. The church of the covid consensus has a global, collective vision for humans. The church is not led by elected representatives of the people however.
7. Sequere Liturgia (Follow the liturgy).
Strict adherence to the prescribed ceremonies and rituals ordained from on high signifies both membership in the CCC, and assurance of surviving death. Flashing the vaccine passport immediately signals to others that you belong, you are safe, and you are clean, a card-carrying member of the orthodoxy. The Covid Consensus liturgy includes only listening to mainstream media, walking in the direction of the arrows on the floor, placing plastic barriers between workers and customers, masking, social distancing, hugging seniors through plastic sheets, disinfecting hands upon entering and exiting every store, but above all, getting the vaccine, as many times as ordered by Pope Fauci and his cardinals, the CEO’s of the vaccine manufacturers and Fauci’s Personal Investigators. Oh, and shaming the infidels. The church of the covid consensus has strict rules for you to follow. The cost is your sovereignty.
8. Oportet te immolare te etiam mori propter causam
(You must be willing to make sacrifice and die for the cause of CCC). Just as our Lord and Saviour gave his life for our salvation, so the Consensus asks for, er…requires, personal sacrifice. Poor people of the southern hemisphere in particular must be willing to starve and watch their children die, while those in the north, the “Zoomers” who have computers may continue to feed their families. Small business owners in the north must be willing to have their businesses fold and transfer their wealth to the Orthodox Elite. Amazon, Walmart, Facebook, and Big Tech may thrive as true representatives of the CCC, but the owners of the mom and pop hardware store must happily be willing to watch their money flow into the bank accounts of the rich. This is not unlike the Church historically receiving huge transfers of wealth from the poor and starving, in exchange of indulgences of various kinds. Our freedom to travel, drive, attend public events and the like are today the new indulgences given in exchange for being vaccinated. In the months and years to come after this pandemic is declared to be over, we may see the enormous sacrifice that the obedient made in terms of death and chronic illness. The church of the covid consensus demands your sacrifice.
9. Haeretici destinantur ad inferos: (Heretics are destined for hell).
Hell is the state of alienation from self, neighbour and nation. It is being singled out as the damned and then monitored for eternity. The heretics (literally meaning “those who choose”), through no fault of the Church, have chosen isolation, recrimination, public shaming, and fines. They must be cast out, shunned and humiliated at every opportunity. We pray that they will see the light and return to the fold. Naturally, we will need means of identifying them, with tracking devices on iPhones, or some kind of wearable tracking device. We take our cue from our excellent model nation, China. The church of the covid consensus does not want you exercising free will.
10. Papa est verbum est infallibilis (The Pope’s word is infallible).
Papal bulls will be issued by Pope Fauci from time to time. His word today and the word of future Science Popes, is infallible. The media’s role is to spread his truth announcements without questions. If he seems to make contradictory statements such as “masks are ineffective” and then “masks are effective” they are to be ignored. Or if he vehemently denies that the virus was created in a lab as gain of function research (a bioweapon) that his department illegally funded, and then later backtracks under the pressure of freedom of information texts and emails, no independent investigations or journalistic investigations are permitted. Infallibility and the authority of his holy office must not be eroded. Alternative research is to be treated as propaganda. The church of the covid consensus wants you to believe that its word is infallible.
I’ll end by confessing that I’m not sure who I’m addressing this to exactly. If it’s true that the global population can be split up into 1/3 true believers (the CCC), 1/3 those who are going along with it but have serious questions about censorship, lockdowns, vaccine passports, and 1/3 who have seen through the Covid Consensus, then it’s the middle 1/3 I’m hoping to reach. Not to convince them of anything, but just to say it’s okay to think for yourselves, and if you do, there are a lot of people like me who will listen as you parse through the narrative. If it doesn’t make sense, it’s because it doesn’t make sense. Trust yourself, your instincts, your intuition.
Consider the possibility that in our vulnerability we set others up to be able to save us from the human condition, from lovelessness, from evil, and from Death itself. Our ancestors have been doing this for millenia, conferring authority on the Big Chief, to make us feel like everything is under control. But life is difficult. It’s uncertain, and we have very limited control. The Big Chief knows this too, but he enjoys the control he gets by playing his role.
Nobody is coming to save us. We’ll have come to terms with uncertainty, with illness and death, and with violence at the hands of those who are supposed to love us, by facing it directly–not by hoping that vaccines can save us. They can’t. And somewhere deep inside you know it.
If you must declare your allegiance, let it be to love. Let it be to suffering what is yours to suffer. Let it be to creating communities who will be there for you when you are afraid. Let your obedience be offered to a higher spiritual calling, to surrendering to things are they are, the beauty, the violence, and lovelessness and the love. Nobody can save you from Death, but maybe if you’re willing to surrender to Death, you will discover as the great mystics have, that death loses its sting, and the possibility exists that even death is in the service of greater life. You’ll never know if you don’t take a chance. But this business of offering your allegiance and your dignity to self-declared Messiahs and corporations who offer false hope in exchange for your soul is a bad deal. Always had been. Always will be. There is nothing more precious than your freedom and dignity.
