The Curious Case of August Engelhardt, Leader of a Coconut-Obsessed Cult (2017) | Hacker News Reader

The Curious Case of August Engelhardt, Leader of a Coconut-Obsessed Cult (2017)

atlasobscura.com

30 pointsdrdee11 comments

> “We can expect from God that he created our food in the shape of our heads,” Engelhardt reasons. Coconuts are “vegetal human heads, and they alone are the proper human nourishment.”

I think the word 'reasons' is carrying a lot of water there.

So is "vindication' in the "hipster's credo" alignment conclusion.

Don't get me wrong, I eat Coconut Cult yogurt. It's yummy and good for my tummy. But I am not going to adopt a human-head-shaped-food diet.

Strangely enough, not the only instance of a spiritual movement centered around coconuts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_Religion

I mean, I'm all for it if it helps establish our Lord and Savior, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, as a legitimate religion.

With the state of the world today, I'm genuinely surprised we haven't seen a resurgence of cults taking advantage of disenfranchised youth in the world. I guess with movements like ISIS and what-not, we definitely are seeing it in some fashion.

But I am legitimately surprised we haven't seen a return to alternative spirituality cults like we seemed to have (at least in the US) in the 60's and 70's.

Also:

>disciples joined Engelhardt in a life of quiet island devotion. Together, they sun-bathed for hours a day, swam in the cool waters of the Pacific, and ate their holy fruit.

sounds just amazing.

> With the state of the world today, I'm genuinely surprised we haven't seen a resurgence of cults taking advantage of disenfranchised youth in the world.

Eh? There's plenty, but they probably don't register as cults as such; I'm thinking of the various groups (big overlaps in the venn diagram) of amongst others flat earthers, qanon, birthers, the manosphere, anti-vaxxers, Trumpists, etc; These pose a real danger to society, as proven by the January 6th attack on US democracy and congresspeople, the reduction in vaccination rates (leading to pockets of vaccine-preventable diseases like measles), and more recently, regressing in women's rights.

These are... kind of spiritual, in that they look at Q as a prophet, Trump as the new coming of Jesus, and a lot of, let's say, "alternative" medical practices like essential oils, bleach enemas, dewormers and whatnot as an alternative to modern day established health care.

>>disciples joined Engelhardt in a life of quiet island devotion. Together, they sun-bathed for hours a day, swam in the cool waters of the Pacific, and ate their holy fruit.

> sounds just amazing.

It was a tropical holiday disguised as a cult, lol

There are lots of smallish New Age/self-improvement cults. Scientology and NXIVM have been a lot in the news. Folks like Bentinho, Teal Swan, the Raelians. It is as popular and more pay-to-play than ever.

Out of curiosity, are you somehow forgetting about QAnon, the incel movement, etc?

The novel Imperium by Christian Kracht (mentioned in the article), a fictionalised caricature of Engelhardt's life, is a jolly good read.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperium_(Kracht_novel)

After reading the topic about Monkey Island, and then this topic, my mind drifted to an adventure game that combines the two...:-)

See also "The Sun Is God" by Adrian McKinty.

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