Posted on 08/21/2007 9:39:34 AM PDT by shrinkermd
Not a day goes by without us losing another American to a “suicide bomber.” On other days the Jihadists slaughter women, children and other non-combatants. These horrific acts are done without apologies and with religious fervor.
Commonly, people in the West either see Jihadists as mentally troubled or mindlessly following the dictates of a 7th century religion.
There is another way to look at this. Ernest Becker’s book, The Denial of Death was first published in 1973. It achieved immediate recognition, a Pulitzer Prize and remains in print. In 1997 The Free Press edition included an introduction by Sam Keen. An accomplished writer, Mr. Keen also wrote Fire in the Belly.
Mr. Keen’s introduction to The Denial of Deathis noteworthy for being a clear, brief review of some of the more important of Ernest Becker’s conclusions. Most of the conclusions come from The Denial of Deathbut a few come from Becker’s posthumously published work--Escape From Evil.
Keen’s conclusions seem apt in understanding the nature of Jihads and the suicidal bomber. Becker begins with the four major themes underlying these behaviors. They are:
Nature is seen as “red in tooth and claw” that always ends with a destruction of what is created.
Man’s basic motivation is the need to control fear about death. Man ultimately realizes he is helpless and abandoned in a world and is are fated to die. The fundamental terror is to begin in nothing and end in nothing.
The “vital lie” of character is to push death out of awareness. The first solution to the terror of death is belief in a timeless soul. Immortality requires following the strictures of a religion to gain immortality. Our religious faith encapsulates us from the terror of death. But for most this encapsulation is only a partial success.
There is a second line of defense. Humans can transcend death by participating in something of worth. Humans can sacrifice themselves in war, write a book, achieve high political office, establish a family and so on.
Every culture is overtly or covertly religious. “Ideological conflicts between cultures are essentially battles between immortality projects, holy wars.” Making a killing in the stock market or on the battlefield frequently has less to do with economic security or political reality than with the need for assuring ourselves we have achieved something of lasting worth.”
Our heroic projects are aimed at destroying the evil others but have the paradoxical effect of bringing more evil into the world. Human conflicts are life and death struggles of immortality projects. The root of humanly caused evil is not man’s animal nature but rather his goal of denying mortality by gaining self-esteem by achieving a heroic self-image.
For the Jihadists and others the desire for the best ends up with the worst. They want to clean up the world, make it perfect and safe from the enemies of God. Becker’s radical conclusion then is that it is the high-minded, altruistic motive that results in evil. Our desire to merge with a higher cause to achieve a fictional immortality underlies evil.
What can be done? Becker believes there are only two possibilities.
The first is to sublimate the problem such that a moral equivalent of war results. Society has always had passive, willing subjects and powerful leaders looking for an enemy. Members of these groups project their own guilt and self-hatred on enemies and then seek immortality by heroism in the support of their cause. The hope is that instead of hating people or enemies the object of hatred becomes impersonal such as poverty, disease, oppression or natural disasters. By obtunding the hatred and making it more intelligent destructive energy may be directed to a constructive use.
The second thing that can be done is take the Socratic path open only to very wise and intelligent people. What they must do is practice death. Instead of living within the illusions of denial, these individuals reject “mass culture heroism” and resort to “cosmic hero heroism.” Rather than despair the “cosmic hero” takes a Kierkegardian leap and trusts in the sacrosanct vitality of the cosmos. The “cosmic hero” sees an “unknown God of life whose purpose is expressed in the overwhelming drama of cosmic evolution. Hard to do but it can be done.
In the end Becker is an optimist. He believes we can escape evil by escaping the panic and the fear of death and its accoutrements. Understanding this permits hope that the world does not have to be a charnel house.
In his book on the true believer he said:
”There are many who find the burdens, the anxiety, and the isolation of an individual existence unbearable. His is particularly true when the opportunities for self-advancement are relatively meager, and one's individual interests and prospects do not seem worth living for. Such persons sooner or later turn their backs on an individual existence and strive to acquire a sense of worth and a purpose by an identification with a holy cause, a leader, or a movement. The faith and pride they derive from such an identification serve them as substitutes for the unattainable self-confidence and self-respect.”
Montaigne, in his chapter on “Too Philosophize is to learn how to die” said the following:
“…Cicero says that philosophizing is nothing other than getting ready to die. That is because study and contemplation draw our souls somewhat outside ourselves, keeping them occupied away from the body, a state which resembles death and which forms a kind of apprenticeship for it; or perhaps it is because all the wisdom and argument in the world eventually come down to one conclusion; which is to teach us not too be afraid of dying.”
AND YES, RUSSELL KIRK HAD SOMETHING TO SAY ABOT THIS AS WELL
From Kirk’s The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Elliot
“How to restore a living faith to the lonely crowd, how to remind men that life has ends—this conundrum the twentieth century conservative faces. Along with the consolation of faith, perhaps three other passionate human interests have provided the incentive to performance of duty—and the reason for believing that life is worth living—among ordinary men and women: the perpetuation of their own spiritual existence through the life and welfare of their children; the honest gratification of acquisitive appetite and the bequest of property; the comforting assurance that continuity is more probable than change—in other words, men’s confidence that they participate in a natural and moral order in which they count for more than the flies of summer. With increasing brutality, the modern temper—first under capitalism, then under state socialism—has ignored these longings of humanity. So frustration distorts the face of society as it mars the features of individuals. The behavior of modern society now exhibits the symptoms of consummate hideous frustration.” [Russell Kirk—1985 edition The Conservative Mind page 492 paperback edition.]
The books re respectively 314 pages with endnotes and an excellent index and 188 pages with endnotes and index.
The books are moderately priced--especially if you buy both in paperback.
Note this statement:
“Nature is terrifying.
(I think Man has felt over the centuries that he had no control over his physical destiny, as life depended on raising crops, hunting or fishing, and nature could deny him of sustenance. Modern mankind has, in my opinion gone beyond this with the age of Reason, and scientific method. Western Civilization has matured to the point of Man NOT being subjected to FATE. The MUSLIM WORLD is still stuck in the FATE mode of thinking. This is a huge difference in our cultures)
Man seeks to deny his fundamental anxiety—death.
(I think religion serves Man to alleviate death anxiety. I don’t know if this is the force that motivates people to make money, take power, or provide Man’s ultimate ambition. I perceive much of what motivates people is cultural woven with the religion of the culture. Although individual character is also a factor. I do not think that I seek to deny my eventual death. I am 59 and can see the end of the road much closer than when I was 18, but my philosophy is not governed by seeking to deny death.)
The terror of death is so overwhelming we conspire to keep it unconscious.
(Man does seek self-preservation with an almost instinctive nature, but there are many stories of people sacrificing themselves to save others, or dying for their faith or country. I don’t see the motivation to keep it unconscious.)
The root cause of evil is the need to gain self-esteem, deny our mortality and achieve a heroic self-image. “
I think evil is much more than denying mortality. Evil essentially is selfishness, or imposing yourself on others.
So send these people back to the 7th century. Destroy everything they have, leaving them only 7th century technology. This is what they want.........give it to them. I see no other way around this. We either kill their will to promote terrorism, or we leave them alone. If we leave them alone and they attack us again, level the country they came from. This is the only thing they understand.
“Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same,that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.” Hebrews 2:14,15.
Jesus is the ONLY answer.
Both of you have terrific answers. Thank you. I made a special point of saving this thread to read the answers.
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