Zombies! They Want Your Brains!
Renaissance Humans, #71
Last week I presented a case for why the decade of 2020s might be a more, shall we say, vigorous period of time than others in recent history, using “big history” type analysis from Ray Dalio, George Friedman, Neil Howe, and Peter Turchin.
In the West, one possible driver of this turbulence is what some term the “Meaning Crisis.” This phrase refers to increases in anxiety disorders, depression, despair, and suicide rates. This is happening mainly in North America and parts of Europe. Many link these trends to a loss of meaning.
Zombies might not seem related at first blush, but Vervaeke, Mastropietro, and Miscevic explore the possibility in their book Zombies in Western Culture. Here’s a pdf version if you are so inclined, but please support the authors and buy a physical copy.1
Here’s the publisher’s blurb:
“Why has the zombie become such a pervasive figure in twenty-first-century popular culture? John Vervaeke, Christopher Mastropietro, and Filip Miscevic seek to answer this question by arguing that particular aspects of the zombie, common to a variety of media forms, reflect a crisis in modern Western culture.
The authors examine the essential features of the zombie, including mindlessness, ugliness, and homelessness, and argue that these reflect the outlook of the contemporary West and its attendant zeitgeists of anxiety, alienation, disconnection, and disenfranchisement.
They trace the relationship between zombies and the theme of secular apocalypse, demonstrating that the zombie draws its power from being a perversion of the Christian mythos of death and resurrection. Symbolic of a lost Christian worldview, the zombie represents a world that can no longer explain itself, nor provide us with instructions for how to live within it.
The concept of domicide or the “destruction of home” is developed to describe the modern crisis of meaning that the zombie both represents and reflects. This is illustrated using case studies including the relocation of the Anishinaabe of the Grassy Narrows First Nation, and the upheaval of population displacement in the Hellenistic period.
Finally, the authors invoke and reformulate symbols of the four horsemen of the apocalypse as rhetorical analogs to frame those aspects of contemporary collapse that elucidate the horror of the zombie.
This book ties into Vervaeke’s other work with the Meaning Crisis, like his epic 50 episode YouTube series.2 Here’s how the authors relate the characteristics of Zombies to present day confusions:
1. Zombies don’t talk. They have no language and nothing to say. They are unintelligible to humans, as the modern world seems to some.
2. Zombies are communal. They move in packs, but there is nothing connecting them, other than a mindless pursuit of brains (or flesh, depending on the story). They are near each other, but alone. They have no common culture.
3. Zombies are homeless. Unlike the Vampire, Zombies have no lairs, drifting from place to place. They lack a home.
4. Zombies eat brains. The appetite of a zombie is insatiable. They cannot be satisfied, much like Claire Dunphy in Modern Family. In a twist, many stories relate that destroying the brain of a Zombie is the best way to end their existence. This is explored in great detail in the book, the idea that the source of our mindlessness is in our minds themselves.
5. Zombies are ugly. This is a major differentiator between the zombie and other popular horror monsters, who have a sort of dark charisma. Zombies are something inhuman in human form―not just ugly, but ugly in the image of person.
6. Zombies are not evil. Because they have no minds to think, their agency is reduced to a simple craving to satisfy an instinct, no more evil than a rabid animal.
7. Zombies are heedless. They give no thought to defending themselves against harm. They don’t have a survival instinct. In pursuit of consumption, they will destroy themselves.
8. Zombies are untouchable. Their ugliness is contagious. If you come into contact with a zombie, infection follows inevitably. This forces us to keep our distance, which leads to becoming “out of touch”, or losing our grip on reality.
I think the authors are on to something. The popularity of Zombies in the Zeitgeist is an example of how art communicates sentiments from the numinous that our conscious, rational minds are unable to articulate. Not well, anyway.
My takeaways are:
Find new (or resurface old) and deeper ways to connect with ourselves, our loved ones, and the larger collective. Relations, and relationality, grow in importance in this world. In person (meatspace) is best, followed by video/phone calls, then texts. I am going to experiment with writing letters and cards this summer, because I think they convey the regard in which you hold the recipient better than a text (although a text is better than no contact!).
Orient to something transcendent. I suggest the True, the Good, and the Beautiful, or something similarly pressure-tested by centuries of strife. We used to do weekly two mile timed swims in SEAL training. One of the key delineations between passing and failing was your individual ability to “guide”—ie. find a spot on the horizon in your direction of travel and swim towards it. Values serve as that horizon point—a place to aim for.
Attune to the race that is uniquely ours to run, which yes, sounds Woo as hell.3 Our Technopoly seeks to strip out mystery and enchantment, so a bit of Woo is necessary. At the individual level, seeking to align our daily lives to a meaningful pattern is one of the best things we can do. It doesn’t always work—especially if you have people depending on you for support. The earlier in life you can discern what resonates with you, the work that calls out to you, the less wrong turns and dead ends you’ll encounter as you proceed.
Currere Certamen Tuum / Run Your Race
Vervaeke also does a 5 part, ten-hour interview with Jim Rutt where he summarizes his lecture series here.
Please see:
What is the Right Amount of Woo?
This is a question I find myself thinking about, especially when you situate it within the Turbulent Twenties. In the west, we are trying to figure out how to calibrate this. It’s upstream from many of the challenges of this decade— politics, socio-economics, environment, technology, too many to list.
I love this! My nine year old has been asking me repeatedly the past few weeks if zombies are real, and I have struggled with how to answer his question without causing unnecessary fear… I believe zombies are definitely real, and this article has definitely touched on my view of zombies in our current culture!!! Hard to explain to a nine year old, but then again, he’s pretty spiritually aware for such a little guy. I’m going to use some of these tips you mentioned to help his understanding. We already talk about how too much tv, music, loudness… etc doesn’t allow us enough space to hear our own thoughts sometimes. He is learning the value of quiet time and nature. Thank you for writing and sharing your thoughts. It’s much appreciated, and much needed!!!
I think this is interesting, my friend. The existential crisis is not new but the mindlessness is facilitated at such a rate now, that feeble minds can't keep up, so they switch off, killing the neural network that should keep them alive, waiting to be spoon fed. It's an overwhelm, overload thing, no discernment. The metaphor of a creeping contagion through zombie like creatures is perpetuated by the the things we touch, the tv, mobile, remote, AI etc etc.
Rant over.
Flow well