Conspirituality – Brief: Eulogy for Joseph Baker, Faithful Listener

March 28, 2026 | Host: Matthew Remski (with Derek)

Episode Overview

This special "Brief" episode is a heartfelt tribute by Matthew Remski to Joseph Willard Baker, a longtime and profoundly influential listener and contributor to the Conspirituality podcast, who passed away in February 2026. The episode moves beyond typical content to memorialize Joseph’s thoughtfulness, activism, and the unexpected but deeply impactful friendship that developed online. It also traces how Joseph’s ideas and character challenged Matthew to reconsider his views on spirituality, activism, and the intersections therein.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Remembering Joseph Willard Baker – Life and Loss

Personal Context: Joseph was a passionate anti-capitalist Christian, social worker, and theology student. Matthew details knowing Joseph primarily through podcast comments, emails, and one interview, but never in person.
Obituary Discoveries: Matthew shares the uncanny feeling of reading Joseph’s obituary and learning new personal details about a close online friend ([03:56]).
Joseph’s Life: Born 1974, grew up in Troy, Michigan, became a social worker, did an Ironman, started theology studies and volunteered at a soup kitchen ([04:08]-[04:23]).
Family: Joseph’s role as a father to Anneliese (Lise), his parents, partner Renee, and his extended family are acknowledged as Matthew extends condolences ([04:37]-[05:12]).

2. The Unlikely Digital Friendship

Matthew’s Virtual Network: Reflects on the reality of forming deep relationships online (“Such is our online era.” [02:39]), including with podcast co-hosts he has never met ([02:54]).
Expectation of Meeting IRL: Recalls near-misses for a real-world meeting, illustrates how online connections can hold as much weight as in-person ones ([05:46]-[06:32]).

3. Joseph’s Thoughtful Influence

Patreon Participation: Joseph made 87 detailed, challenging comments from July 2023–November 2025 ([07:21]-[07:35]).
First Personal Contact: Joseph wrote Matthew a long, sensitive email about “A Course in Miracles,” a contentious text for Matthew due to his cult background ([07:41]-[08:25]).
Joseph’s Constructive Challenge: He respected Matthew’s trauma and critiqued how the book was often misused—setting a tone of generous, critical engagement ([10:23]-[12:09], [07:50]).

Notable Quote:

“Manipulation occurs because of the predominant ways in which the course teachings are used to communicate by people who fall into it with their whole self.”
— Joseph Baker (Matthew reading from Joseph’s first email) [10:27]

4. Radicalizing A Course in Miracles

Personal Appropriation & Activism: Joseph turned “A Course in Miracles,” viewed skeptically by Remski, into inspiration for justice, anti-capitalism, and social work ([09:30]-[10:08]).
Contrasting Experiences: Unlike Matthew, Joseph emerged from a cultic group without turning to constant criticism. He kept what was nourishing, integrating it with real-world activism ([14:45]-[15:21]).
Accepting Spirituality’s Radical Flank: Inspired Matthew to see that any spiritual tradition can generate radical politics, not just cult-like escapism ([25:14]-[25:31]).

Notable Quote:

“He was able to take the book with him out of the group and not disown that part of him as I had that was first attracted to its lessons.”
— Matthew Remski ([15:12])

5. Challenging Blind Spots—Race, Spirituality, and Critique

On Magical Thinking: Joseph confronted Matthew’s tendency to dismiss “Western” supernatural claims as pathological, yet defend indigenous or marginalized spiritualities ([16:38]-[18:08]).
Interrogating Respect versus Patronization: Joseph used the framework of indigenous archaeologist Paulette Steeves to challenge the politics of whose traditions are granted respect ([18:13]-[19:11]).

Notable Quote:

“What are you actually saying about marginalized people? Is your respect for them… based on some idea of their benign ignorance? Aren’t you patronizing them?”
— Joseph Baker (as recalled by Matthew) [18:08]

Spiritual Disenchantment: Matthew admits a kind of envy at being unable to access the kind of faith he detects in historical figures like MLK, Jr., and explores how Joseph’s gentle challenge led him to reconsider his own stance on faith and belonging ([20:44]-[21:48]).

6. Joseph’s Political Commitments

Anti-Zionism and Gaza: Joseph was a vocal and well-informed anti-Zionist; he contextualized Hamas, pointed to democratic complicity in genocide, and always situated political critique in deep historical research ([22:39]-[24:09]).
Child Welfare Abolitionism: His practice as a child services worker led to championing Dorothy Roberts’ abolitionist analysis—the system as irreparable and steeped in racist logic ([24:12]).
Nuanced View of Nonviolence: Joseph was critical of doctrinaire nonviolence, engaging with anarchist thinkers and arguing the legitimacy of armed resistance ([24:57]).

Notable Quote:

“…He always focused on systems rather than people, and watching Joseph navigate this reminded me of a Marxist dialectical principle, especially in relation to his love for A Course in Miracles.”
— Matthew Remski [25:14]

7. Lasting Gifts and Funeral

Joseph’s Book: Sent Matthew a copy of his own unpublished work, This Time No: Exploring Jesus’ Vision for a Transformed World from First Century to A Course in Miracles. Matthew reflects on poignancy of reading it now ([26:09]-[27:47]).
Funeral Program: The service was described as “the most beautiful and moving celebration of life I’ve ever experienced,” featuring Grateful Dead, Leonard Cohen, “Wade in the Water,” “This Little Light of Mine,” and readings from A Course in Miracles ([04:52], [28:08]-[28:25]).
Lyrics and Readings: Included a reading of miracles as healing rain, and a group rendition of “Bella Ciao” adapted from Chumbawamba ([28:25]-[29:28]).

Notable Quote:

“Miracles fall like drops of healing rain from heaven on a dry and dusty world where starved and thirsty creatures come to die. Now they have water, now the world is green, and everywhere the signs of life spring up to show that what is born can never die. For what has life has immortality.”
— Read by Joseph’s daughter Lise at the funeral ([28:25])

8. Universal Connection & Closing Reflections

Message to Listeners: Matthew connects his relationship with Joseph to all online relationships formed through the podcast, expressing hope for human connection in a “now more vivid, though sometimes distorted” online world ([29:32]-[30:17]).
Joseph’s Enduring Presence: Expresses a sense that Joseph’s memory now inhabits the “ancestral” world of influences, shaping both Matthew and the community’s ongoing work on spirituality and activism ([29:32]-[30:17]).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

“I think Jesus was hung on a piece of wood because he actually saw the ownership class vanishing tomorrow, not 300 years from now. And he was ready to take steps to mobilize crowds of laborers and poor people to make that happen… despite whatever kind of resistance you might have thrown at him.”
— Joseph Baker ([01:45])
“If religion, like any aspect of culture, was downstream of our political and economic conditions, there would always be a radical flank in whatever spirituality or religion you were looking at. Joseph was in the radical flank of A Course in Miracles.”
— Matthew Remski ([25:14])
“So look at that. I think I’m channeling Joseph Willard Baker now.”
— Matthew Remski ([22:39])

Timestamps for Key Segments

01:10 – Matthew introduces the tribute episode
01:45 – Excerpt of Joseph’s spiritual-political thinking (clip from interview)
03:19 – Joseph’s cause of death; obituary details
07:05 – The depth of Joseph’s influence becomes clear
08:25 – Matthew explains his past critiques of A Course in Miracles
10:23 – Matthew reads Joseph’s first email, modeling intellectual empathy
14:45 – Joseph kept what he could use from new age spirituality post-cult
16:38 – Joseph calls out Matthew’s inconsistency on magical thinking and race
18:08–20:44 – Examination of spiritual disenchantment and longing for faith
22:39 – Joseph’s comments on Gaza and anti-Zionism
24:12 – Joseph’s abolitionist stance on child welfare
26:09 – Joseph’s book and its significance
28:08 – Details from the funeral program and readings
29:32–30:17 – Matthew’s closing reflections to listeners and Joseph’s ongoing influence

Tone and Language

The episode maintains Matthew Remski’s respectful, sincere, and deeply introspective voice throughout, punctuated by direct quotations both from Joseph Baker’s communications and Matthew’s own reflections. The tone is personal, vulnerable, and honors both the intense loss and the ongoing legacy of digital friendship and praxis.

Summary

This episode stands out as both eulogy and critical exploration—a rare document in which the perceived boundaries between community, critique, and personal transformation blur. It’s a moving, thoughtful, and nuanced memorial not only to Joseph Willard Baker’s life of service and radical spiritual politics, but also to the power of online intellectual communities to change hearts and minds in unpredictable ways. Listeners are given a window into the complexity of recovering and repurposing spiritual traditions and the necessity—modeled by Joseph—of engagement that is both critical and gentle, activist and empathetic.

In short: Joseph’s memory, teachings, and spirit will continue to inform the Conspirituality project, and through it, the lives of those who seek meaning at the troubled border of spirit and society.

Conspirituality – Brief: Eulogy for Joseph Baker, Faithful Listener

March 28, 2026 | Host: Matthew Remski (with Derek)

Episode Overview

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Remembering Joseph Willard Baker – Life and Loss

Personal Context: Joseph was a passionate anti-capitalist Christian, social worker, and theology student. Matthew details knowing Joseph primarily through podcast comments, emails, and one interview, but never in person.
Obituary Discoveries: Matthew shares the uncanny feeling of reading Joseph’s obituary and learning new personal details about a close online friend ([03:56]).
Joseph’s Life: Born 1974, grew up in Troy, Michigan, became a social worker, did an Ironman, started theology studies and volunteered at a soup kitchen ([04:08]-[04:23]).
Family: Joseph’s role as a father to Anneliese (Lise), his parents, partner Renee, and his extended family are acknowledged as Matthew extends condolences ([04:37]-[05:12]).

2. The Unlikely Digital Friendship

Matthew’s Virtual Network: Reflects on the reality of forming deep relationships online (“Such is our online era.” [02:39]), including with podcast co-hosts he has never met ([02:54]).
Expectation of Meeting IRL: Recalls near-misses for a real-world meeting, illustrates how online connections can hold as much weight as in-person ones ([05:46]-[06:32]).

3. Joseph’s Thoughtful Influence

Patreon Participation: Joseph made 87 detailed, challenging comments from July 2023–November 2025 ([07:21]-[07:35]).
First Personal Contact: Joseph wrote Matthew a long, sensitive email about “A Course in Miracles,” a contentious text for Matthew due to his cult background ([07:41]-[08:25]).
Joseph’s Constructive Challenge: He respected Matthew’s trauma and critiqued how the book was often misused—setting a tone of generous, critical engagement ([10:23]-[12:09], [07:50]).

Notable Quote:

“Manipulation occurs because of the predominant ways in which the course teachings are used to communicate by people who fall into it with their whole self.”
— Joseph Baker (Matthew reading from Joseph’s first email) [10:27]

4. Radicalizing A Course in Miracles

Personal Appropriation & Activism: Joseph turned “A Course in Miracles,” viewed skeptically by Remski, into inspiration for justice, anti-capitalism, and social work ([09:30]-[10:08]).
Contrasting Experiences: Unlike Matthew, Joseph emerged from a cultic group without turning to constant criticism. He kept what was nourishing, integrating it with real-world activism ([14:45]-[15:21]).
Accepting Spirituality’s Radical Flank: Inspired Matthew to see that any spiritual tradition can generate radical politics, not just cult-like escapism ([25:14]-[25:31]).

Notable Quote:

“He was able to take the book with him out of the group and not disown that part of him as I had that was first attracted to its lessons.”
— Matthew Remski ([15:12])

5. Challenging Blind Spots—Race, Spirituality, and Critique

On Magical Thinking: Joseph confronted Matthew’s tendency to dismiss “Western” supernatural claims as pathological, yet defend indigenous or marginalized spiritualities ([16:38]-[18:08]).
Interrogating Respect versus Patronization: Joseph used the framework of indigenous archaeologist Paulette Steeves to challenge the politics of whose traditions are granted respect ([18:13]-[19:11]).

Notable Quote:

“What are you actually saying about marginalized people? Is your respect for them… based on some idea of their benign ignorance? Aren’t you patronizing them?”
— Joseph Baker (as recalled by Matthew) [18:08]

Spiritual Disenchantment: Matthew admits a kind of envy at being unable to access the kind of faith he detects in historical figures like MLK, Jr., and explores how Joseph’s gentle challenge led him to reconsider his own stance on faith and belonging ([20:44]-[21:48]).

6. Joseph’s Political Commitments

Anti-Zionism and Gaza: Joseph was a vocal and well-informed anti-Zionist; he contextualized Hamas, pointed to democratic complicity in genocide, and always situated political critique in deep historical research ([22:39]-[24:09]).
Child Welfare Abolitionism: His practice as a child services worker led to championing Dorothy Roberts’ abolitionist analysis—the system as irreparable and steeped in racist logic ([24:12]).
Nuanced View of Nonviolence: Joseph was critical of doctrinaire nonviolence, engaging with anarchist thinkers and arguing the legitimacy of armed resistance ([24:57]).

Notable Quote:

“…He always focused on systems rather than people, and watching Joseph navigate this reminded me of a Marxist dialectical principle, especially in relation to his love for A Course in Miracles.”
— Matthew Remski [25:14]

7. Lasting Gifts and Funeral

Joseph’s Book: Sent Matthew a copy of his own unpublished work, This Time No: Exploring Jesus’ Vision for a Transformed World from First Century to A Course in Miracles. Matthew reflects on poignancy of reading it now ([26:09]-[27:47]).
Funeral Program: The service was described as “the most beautiful and moving celebration of life I’ve ever experienced,” featuring Grateful Dead, Leonard Cohen, “Wade in the Water,” “This Little Light of Mine,” and readings from A Course in Miracles ([04:52], [28:08]-[28:25]).
Lyrics and Readings: Included a reading of miracles as healing rain, and a group rendition of “Bella Ciao” adapted from Chumbawamba ([28:25]-[29:28]).

Notable Quote:

“Miracles fall like drops of healing rain from heaven on a dry and dusty world where starved and thirsty creatures come to die. Now they have water, now the world is green, and everywhere the signs of life spring up to show that what is born can never die. For what has life has immortality.”
— Read by Joseph’s daughter Lise at the funeral ([28:25])

8. Universal Connection & Closing Reflections

Message to Listeners: Matthew connects his relationship with Joseph to all online relationships formed through the podcast, expressing hope for human connection in a “now more vivid, though sometimes distorted” online world ([29:32]-[30:17]).
Joseph’s Enduring Presence: Expresses a sense that Joseph’s memory now inhabits the “ancestral” world of influences, shaping both Matthew and the community’s ongoing work on spirituality and activism ([29:32]-[30:17]).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

“I think Jesus was hung on a piece of wood because he actually saw the ownership class vanishing tomorrow, not 300 years from now. And he was ready to take steps to mobilize crowds of laborers and poor people to make that happen… despite whatever kind of resistance you might have thrown at him.”
— Joseph Baker ([01:45])
“If religion, like any aspect of culture, was downstream of our political and economic conditions, there would always be a radical flank in whatever spirituality or religion you were looking at. Joseph was in the radical flank of A Course in Miracles.”
— Matthew Remski ([25:14])
“So look at that. I think I’m channeling Joseph Willard Baker now.”
— Matthew Remski ([22:39])

Timestamps for Key Segments

01:10 – Matthew introduces the tribute episode
01:45 – Excerpt of Joseph’s spiritual-political thinking (clip from interview)
03:19 – Joseph’s cause of death; obituary details
07:05 – The depth of Joseph’s influence becomes clear
08:25 – Matthew explains his past critiques of A Course in Miracles
10:23 – Matthew reads Joseph’s first email, modeling intellectual empathy
14:45 – Joseph kept what he could use from new age spirituality post-cult
16:38 – Joseph calls out Matthew’s inconsistency on magical thinking and race
18:08–20:44 – Examination of spiritual disenchantment and longing for faith
22:39 – Joseph’s comments on Gaza and anti-Zionism
24:12 – Joseph’s abolitionist stance on child welfare
26:09 – Joseph’s book and its significance
28:08 – Details from the funeral program and readings
29:32–30:17 – Matthew’s closing reflections to listeners and Joseph’s ongoing influence