“The most important thing for people to do is to continue to speak out even if it’s just to say that you don’t agree with the mainstream narrative because mass formation is provoked by the specific voice it’s gotten used to.  Totalitarian leaders know this very well. They start every new day with thirty minutes of propaganda in which the voice of the leader constantly penetrates the consciousness of the population … If other voices are available in the public space, then the mass hypnosis will be disturbed.” – Professor Dr. Mattias Desmet, professor of Clinical Psychology at Ghent University, Belgium.

Prof. Desmet, who also has a masters degree in statistics, initially approached the “pandemic” through the eyes of a statistician.  He realised the Covid statistics were wrong and began noticing that the long-term costs of the lockdowns compared to the benefits of using these measures to “flatten the curve” were never discussed.  The field of attention, of the entire world, was entirely on the victims of the “pandemic” as if everything else no longer mattered. So, he switched to viewing the “pandemic” through the lens of a clinical psychologist and came to the conclusion that society was suffering from mass formation.

According to Prof. Desmet, mass formation is a type of mass hypnosis and has a huge impact on an individual’s intelligence and cognitive functioning.  Around 30% of the population will succumb to mass formations while 30% will not.  The remaining 40% will realise something is wrong, but may not understand exactly what, and remain silent.

Four conditions need to be present to create mass formation:

1. There needs to be a number of socially isolated people or people who experience a lack of social bonds.
2. There needs to be a number of people who experience a lack of ‘sense making’ and who are unable to come to sensible conclusions.
3. There is a lot of free-floating anxiety in society. Free-floating because there’s nothing to connect their anxiety to – no focal point, people are unable to identify what’s causing it – and so have no way to deal with it.
4. Additionally, there is a lot of free-floating psychological discontent where people feel their daily lives are lacking any purpose or meaning.

Disconnected people in society, who also suffer from free floating anxiety, connect their anxiety to a specific object, in this case Covid, and a new solidarity emerges.

To show solidarity to the newly formed group, people within this mass formation need to participate, for example: in lockdowns; wear masks; social distance; or, accept injections. It is almost as if the measures to defeat the object of anxiety – Covid – are really a way to prove to everyone else that they are a part of the new social group.

Mass formations are similar to religious groups and the symbols of the new social group, mask wearing for example, are similar to religious rituals which members will “push” to ensure their continuation. However, mass formation differs from a religion or cult in that its members do not recognise that their symbols are rituals. 

A cult is a group or movement held together by a shared commitment to a charismatic leader or ideology. It has a belief system that has the answers to all of life’s questions and offers a special solution to be gained only by following the leader’s rules. It requires a high level of commitment from at least some of the members. 

According to  Janja Lalich, professor emerita of sociology at California State University, the key distinctions between religions and cults are: cults will rush you; a cult’s leader is their higher power; cults control rather than guide; and, cults make it impossible to trust fellow followers.  The current mass formation facing our world seems to fit more with the description of a cult rather than a religion.

Any new science that conflicts with the current cult beliefs cannot be accepted by its members – they are closed off to new information.  People become radically intolerant of dissident voices, those who challenge the official doctrine. These voices threaten to wake the people up and people within the cult get angry when confronted by the initial anxiety and discontent they experience.  And so, the mass formation crowd direct all their aggression at dissident voices.

This is when cult members are able use the state to oppress dissenters – we see powerful people using the power of the state to lockdown innocent people or using police to assault innocent people in the street.  Ultimately, this can lead to a totalitarian state where the state exterminates people who disagree with them.

Totalitarian leaders are often called dictators and in a certain sense this is correct. But there are differences, “in a classical dictatorship the population is not in the process of a mass formation, or not hypnotised, and that makes a huge difference.  A hypnotised population or a population in mass formation behaves completely differently,” Prof. Desmet said, and “a classical dictatorship usually becomes less severe, less cruel and less aggressive towards the population once the opposition is silenced.  In a totalitarian state – exactly the opposite happens.”

Further resources:

• Totalitarianism in the World – Professor Mattias Desmet, Dave Lee
• Interview with Prof. Desmet: Why Do So Many Still Buy into The Narrative?
• “Why Do So Many Still Believe?” Dr. Mattias Desmet, Professor of Clinical Psychology at Ghent University, Belgium, Gives an Exceptionally Incisive Explanation
• ass-Formation by Dr. Mattias Desmet Professor of Psychology University of Ghent
• Mass Formation and Totalitarian Thinking in This Time of Global Crisis
• Interview with Prof. Dr. Mattias Desmet: Corona Investigative Committee, Session 63 – Eye of the Storm and transcript