As someone who rode the apocalyptic wave of the aughts and 2010s very hard, I find it striking to note the uncanny, almost clinical precision with which mythologist and author Michael Meade, writing back in 2012 about trends that were then becoming visible, forecast and diagnosed the deep mythic-psychological apocalyptic eruptions of 2020-2021:
Often apocalyptic prophecies reveal most about those having the revelatory experience. . . . A literal belief in apocalyptic endings is attractive to those who feel trapped by their life circumstances, often those who have been painfully rejected by the world around them. There is a psychological connection, even an underlying dynamic between extreme feelings of oppression or rejection and notions of worldwide destruction. Often there is an element of fanatic resentment against others for refusing to see the world in the same way. Whether they are actually imprisoned or just feel essentially trapped, they see no practical way out of their oppressive circumstance and no effective way to change the world around them. If a sense of rejection is all this god-forsaken world can offer them, then let the whole thing be destroyed. . . .
Fundamentalists and “true believers” continually miss the point that the exaggerated imagery [of religious apocalypses] refers not simply to facts about the present and the future of the outer world, but to psychic facts and psychological conditions of the inner world. Apocalyptic states involve psychic invasions from above and from below as cosmic images descend upon the psyche at the same time that normally repressed primal emotions erupt from within. Religious fanaticism and political extremism can be seen psychologically as symptoms of a “return of the repressed,” as raw emotions and ancient energies erupt and can overwhelm the rational mind. Under the stress and disorientation that accompany troubled times, even highly rational individuals can succumb to unconscious energies. Behind the presentation of seemingly logical positions, exaggerated emotions can be felt; behind seemingly logical arguments, the smoldering fevers of religious conversion can be sensed. Anyone can become an “extremist” at any moment as everyone becomes increasingly exposed to all kinds of irrational fantasies. Some people become fixated upon a particular date for “the End,” while there seems to be no end to wild fantasies or conspiracy theories. . . .
At times of great uncertainty and collective anxiety, whether the cause comes from a natural disaster or arises from cultural violence and tragedy, the ancient symbolism and archaic feelings of apocalpysis rise to the surface and break through the skin of normal life. The more rational a culture seems to be, the more irrational will be its underside when the dark times come, the veil lifts, and more is revealed than most want to see.
Source: Why the World Doesn’t End: Tales of Renewal in Times of Loss