I am considering flagging this because its such a piece of revisionist history.
Marx needs to be treated as a religious leader because his followers have started writing myths about him.
Anyway, if anyone wants to skip reading it, the tl;dr:
"A silkworm exists and does exactly what its born to do, in a way like an artist can fully immerse themselves into their work. You should do that too."
James Lindsay has been writing/publishing on the subject of Marxism being a Gnostic religion for quite a while now for those interested in this subject. Here's a summary of what he says on the subject in The New Discourses Podcast with James Lindsay, Episode 108 [1]:
Marxism is not a philosophy. Neither are its derivatives, like “Wokeness” (Woke Marxism). These are a strain within a broader category of cult religious movements that pose as economics, sociology, and politics. The broad name for these Esoteric cult religions is “Gnosticism,” but that’s a confusing label for a number of reasons. The first of these reasons is that “gnosticism” as a term, either as a descriptive or proper noun, means several things at once, which requires clarification. Another is that as economic, social, and political movements, they don’t look at all like the pre-modern spiritualist and mystical movements that go by those names. In this groundbreaking episode of the New Discourses Podcast, host James Lindsay clarifies the term “gnosticism” and unmasks what amounts to a huge “New Age” movement in the Middle Ages as the source of a thread of Gnostic cult belief that has shaped every facet of the West for at least the last three hundred years. He also explains how the shift from the Middle Ages to the Modern period included a shift in the Gnostic project, out of overt spiritualism and into exactly those society-building realms of economics, sociology, and politics. Join him to gain a completely new understanding of these dangerous movements and how they’re relevant to our lives today.
While Lindsay has a bit of a tendency to stick the label 'Marxism' on things which do not seem to be all that Marxist - probably because he has been steeped in all things Marxist for so long now that the 'if all you have is a hammer...´ quote starts to apply - I do think he (or rather 'they' as Lindsay did not come up with this idea himself, he got these ideas from others who went before him) is mostly right in calling Marxism and most of its spin-offs cult religious movements (with or without the 'Gnostic' label).
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[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 16.0 ms ] threadMarx needs to be treated as a religious leader because his followers have started writing myths about him.
Anyway, if anyone wants to skip reading it, the tl;dr:
"A silkworm exists and does exactly what its born to do, in a way like an artist can fully immerse themselves into their work. You should do that too."
Raymond Aron, The Opium of the Intellectuals
Czesław Miłosz, The Captive Mind
Marxism is not a philosophy. Neither are its derivatives, like “Wokeness” (Woke Marxism). These are a strain within a broader category of cult religious movements that pose as economics, sociology, and politics. The broad name for these Esoteric cult religions is “Gnosticism,” but that’s a confusing label for a number of reasons. The first of these reasons is that “gnosticism” as a term, either as a descriptive or proper noun, means several things at once, which requires clarification. Another is that as economic, social, and political movements, they don’t look at all like the pre-modern spiritualist and mystical movements that go by those names. In this groundbreaking episode of the New Discourses Podcast, host James Lindsay clarifies the term “gnosticism” and unmasks what amounts to a huge “New Age” movement in the Middle Ages as the source of a thread of Gnostic cult belief that has shaped every facet of the West for at least the last three hundred years. He also explains how the shift from the Middle Ages to the Modern period included a shift in the Gnostic project, out of overt spiritualism and into exactly those society-building realms of economics, sociology, and politics. Join him to gain a completely new understanding of these dangerous movements and how they’re relevant to our lives today.
While Lindsay has a bit of a tendency to stick the label 'Marxism' on things which do not seem to be all that Marxist - probably because he has been steeped in all things Marxist for so long now that the 'if all you have is a hammer...´ quote starts to apply - I do think he (or rather 'they' as Lindsay did not come up with this idea himself, he got these ideas from others who went before him) is mostly right in calling Marxism and most of its spin-offs cult religious movements (with or without the 'Gnostic' label).
[1] https://newdiscourses.com/2023/02/gnosticism-in-the-modern-w...