The Age of the Micro-Cults

Let me explain why I believe we will see men pulled into hundreds of “micro-cults” for a couple of decades. This is a quick sketch that’ll need to be further developed. Here it goes…

The desire for a father, male approval, a tribe/gang/friends, and working towards a greater mission are all natural and good.

This assumes that these desires are properly ordered.

In a spiritual sense, all things must be done for the glory of God. So, being properly ordered, in an ultimate sense, requires being reborn and living in line with the word of God. That being said, there is a natural ordering that happens just through the design of God. If nature is disregarded, you will see an increase in disorder.

You will see desires more disordered in individuals who come from broken and/or dysfunctional families. This brings me back to the idea of “micro-cults.”

Adult fatherless men tend to be attracted to exaggerated masculinity and, like all men, desire the approval of a powerful father figure. There is something similar in women, but it seems to take a slightly different form. Anyhow, fatherless men are especially vulnerable to the influence of charismatic narcissists. They mistake this personality type for the powerful masculine figure they crave. Why? Men who grow up in a disordered home without a good example to emulate look for a pattern in life. Hence, they are attracted to the authoritarian, obedience-demanding nature of charismatic narcissists. They want a formula. And, despite what they say, they want to be told what to do. Whereas a normal person would push these men to take responsibility for themselves, the charismatic narcissist has little regard for social boundaries and is happy to exploit them for his purposes.

I don’t believe men are loners by nature. Quite the opposite—they are “pack animals,” so to speak. They want to belong to a tribe, a brotherhood. Part of belonging is knowing who is “in” and who is “out.” Again, that isn’t bad in and of itself. Families, churches, and nations should have meaningful social and physical boundaries. Moreover, every institution exists for a greater mission that can only be achieved through the cooperation of the individuals. Just as fatherless men are vulnerable to charismatic narcissists, so are lonely mission-less men vulnerable to things that have the appearance of a greater institutional mission, which is, in reality, a cheap knock-off.

These cheap knock-offs create a sense of belonging merely through insider language, jokes, and knowledge. Coded language easily creates boundaries. It costs little, but its exclusivity and sense of belonging are very attractive. These cheap knock-offs also create the sense of an epic, all-encompassing life mission through often vague or far-off missions. Guys with no sense of what they should be doing love something that functions as a North Star for their lives.

We are two generations into the fatherlessness crisis, and ironically, we are more disconnected than ever. Consequently, charismatic narcissists have a lot of raw material to work with. One reason you find many of these types of men in church leadership positions is that the barrier to entry is extremely low in most cases. You can become an authority without credentials or even experience. The internet has made it even easier for a charismatic narcissist to become an authority because there is even less transparency. Moreover, the internet makes it easier for isolated men to find “virtual tribes” to run with at a low personal cost to them.

So, I suspect we are entering the age of the micro-cults. Most of them will be online, but more than a few will spill over into the real world.

Like I said, this is an under-developed sketch.