There should be fair warning that Ross Kilpatrick was acquainted with
Diego Galindo before this article
Diego Galindo makes an odd cult leader. He doesn’t have the supernatural charisma, nor easy arrogance that marks many fanatic leaders.
Instead, he possesses a casual charm and approachable eloquence.
This is an appropriate fit with Galindo’s cult”, Nummummismm. It is,
if anything, an intellectual movement. It lacks the usual trappings of a
cult, even going so far as to lack a spirituality. The cult meetings, two of
which I attended, were not dogmatic sermons but debates and conversations. Galindo, and by extension Nummummismm, is more interested in
philosophy then praising a religious idol.
More specifically, Nummummismm is interested in choice, and the lack
of it. Galindo, whose religious name is Janus, a reference to the many
faced Greek god of choice, begin with the simple idea of flipping a coin
to make decisions. The development from there is a combination of
absurdity, and Galindo’s particular strand of highly committed humor.
One night, after walking around with some friends, Galindo had the idea
to allow traffic lights to dictate the directions they went. Thus, “red light,
turn right”. After the exercise was completed, Galindo had not only the
idea of a cult, but the first couple icons of it. “Spirit totems” were items,
such as Galindo’s coin, that made choices for the members. Galindo’s
coin gives either a yes or no answer. Each member has their own unique
item, chosen by a process, and thus some cult members rely on decks
of cards, or bags of marbles. The members don’t just want to give their
choices up to randomness, they genuinely think it beneficial. As Chris
Hales, the first member of the cult stated, Nummummismm is predicated
on the idea that “you actually gain more freedom by giving up freedom.”
This seems paradoxical, but there is some logic to it. Rather than worrying constantly about what one should do, they forgo indecision to spirit
totem. As Galindo put it, Nummummismm is about “finding the things
that are in the moment the best and most gratifying for you. It is that absurdist philosophy that larger institutions don’t have meaning inherently
and the only thing that has meaning in itself is what is happening to you,
the expencier, in the moment. That’s the idea that the church really wants
to uphold.”
The entire idea may seem like a joke, but for Galindo, and others, it’s
not. Galindo told me: “This is something that, it’s grown into part of my
life. I do believe in the idea of giving up a little bit of your sense of responsibility or your devotion to things that maybe don’t matter as much
as we believe that they matter.”
You can contact Diego and learn more by emailing janusnummus1100@
gmail.com to become part of a thriving organization!