ESSAYS
Below you will find long-form essays… My inquiries at the intersection of self, society, and spirituality.
Welcome.
I’m honored you’re here. I invite you to read my long-form essay on our society’s fear, fetishization, and fascination when it comes to cults and all things cult-adjacent. Click the link and read away! It’s FREE.
Topics I explore within the essay include:
Our collective fascination with cults.
Our tendency to villainize leaders, especially those in the alternative healing space.
How “the victim triangle” operates within the activist paradigm.
The effect of cancel culture on our ability to create and maintain relationships.
How our vigilance about being “scammed” shifts according to who’s selling to us.
The overlooked similarities between cults-proper and mainstream culture.
The automatic assumption that cult members need to be rescued.
How we might bring more nuance and complexity to our human dealings in general.
READ NAOMI’S LATEST ESSAY
THE COLLISION OF CULTS AND CULTURE
Notes Toward Honoring Difference; Allowing for Varied Beliefs; and Seeing Ourselves in Action
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES
In her thought-provoking work, ''The Collision of Cults and Culture,'' writer, speaker, and consultant, Naomi Aeon, PhD, examines society's nuanced relationship to the social construct of normality, belonging, and belief. Her insights shine a light on the messy reality of human expression and emphasize the need for open dialogue on what society considers acceptable and why. Dr. Aeon's look at this contemporary issue highlights the growing problem of polarization and division in America and other multicultural nations.
An excerpt from the essay.
Even more than I’m fascinated by cults, I’m fascinated by our society’s fascination with cults. The intrigue that’s on display within the collective borders on obsession, an outright fetish. I find myself wondering: What is the larger mythology that’s caught our attention, and why are we so enthralled? What is behind our escalating tendency to equate fervent belief in any direction with cult potential? And what exactly are we so afraid of?
- Naomi Aeon, Phd
“In this essay, I embark on an inquiry into the elaborate danse-à-deux between cults and culture. For it does take the two to tango. Neither side of this polarity of cults and culture is a beacon of wellness, wholeness, or soundness. And hence, we could consider the elaborate tango they’re in to be more a folie-à-deux. A folly in which both sides are rife with foibles and foolishness aplenty.”
— Naomi Aeon, PhD
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