Egregores Part Four–In Society

The last three posts discussed approaches to the study of egregoric phenomena, offered a working definition of egregore, and made preliminary remarks about whether egregores can be considered alive and able to act independently of the minds that formed them from indeterminate “energy”. 

This is the fourth installment of a series I’m tempted to call an attempt at systematic “egregorology”, which I admit sounds a bit grandiose. In this post I will briefly discuss the importance of egregores in history and society—a very broad and unwieldy subject. A clear focus and some parameters will help in covering this ground; any survey of egregoric influences in society cannot be exhaustive. (If this project ever morphs from blog to book, “Egregores in Society” would surely occupy the longest chapter.)  

When I first started the Egregoric Times I wrote a few early posts about egregores in politics, horror literature, and religion. These are just three of many examples of their pervasiveness in society. One can find similar phenomena operating in many institutions, the work setting, in culture, and in economics.  

In fact, almost any endeavor involving organized human social behavior can generate egregores, particularly in situations where there is lack of consensus among groups, and the way forward through some problem or conflict is unclear, complicated, foggy, or undifferentiated. Where to start?  

I could begin at the very beginning—with the account in Genesis, or one of several other creation mythologies—in which a parental god calls forth the world from the amorphous, primordial chaos. No one has ever observed the creation of the earth, much less the universe, but the notion of how it was done—the making and forming and naming of indeterminate matter by a primeval deity—shows some consistency across cultures.   

Is this narrative the model for subsequent human attempts to do something similar at a local level? To “play God” and summon things that may accomplish our will—at least for a while?  

It seems that egregores are the source material for gods, ghosts, demons and other personified supernatural forces. What then follows in history are ever more elaborate rituals for their invocation and worship, and sooner or later, a theology. The inevitable sectarian violence that continues to plague us can be seen as competition among rival egregores over time. 

(Many consider it blasphemous to believe that the Divine is a creation of the human imagination. Out of deference and respect to monotheists—of which I am one—I would clarify: the Divine itself is not a creation of mortals, but its image—the perception fallible humans have of the Divine—almost certainly is an egregore. Hence the prohibition in several faith traditions against the making of “graven images” which can often lead to idolatry, that horror of the Old Testament.) 

In conventional religious practice, as well as in various occult and esoteric traditions, an egregoric entity may be invoked or evoked intentionally by followers. But can this process occur inadvertently? Could an egregore develop and evolve beneath the consciousness of those who later submit to its influence? By accident, or stealth?  

This is a familiar trope in horror entertainment—the fear of “being taken over” by some mysterious and unnamed force, to be possessed and controlled. This prevalent and recurring theme in horror and science fiction may reflect broader social anxiety about phenomena that we experience collectively, and to which we succumb. 

Outside of religious expression and interaction with the supernatural, egregores appear in disturbing secular experiences as well: extremist political movements, xenophobia, warfare, economic oppression, and celebrity cults, among others.  Insofar as they influence and direct collective human behavior, egregores can be powerful “influencers”, and potentially dangerous.  

Here in the United States, we are approaching a tumultuous political year, at a time of rapid social and technological change. There is a lack of consensus about the direction our nation should take on various issues, even a lack of consensus about reality itself. These are ideal conditions for the formation of egregores.  

Will we retain a modicum of self-awareness and self-restraint, or will we submit to being manipulated by forms of thought and perception we are barely conscious of? In these troubled times, what sort of entity will our society unwittingly conjure and empower with our devotion? 

Next time I will collect some untidy and discomforting speculations about the nature of egregores.