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Religion See other Religion Articles Title: The Psychology Of Terrorism [Psychology and its Practice] Terrorist. What sort of mental image comes to mind when you think of a terrorist? Most persons would likely think of men with assault rifles and bombs, men who feel so betrayed by someone or something that they will attack anyone, even the innocent, to get the territory or the recognition they believe is due to them. Such is political terrorism. It is motivated by bitter hearts, and it breeds bitterness and hatred. In his movie The Birds, Alfred Hitchcock created horror by showing us what birds could do, but thankfully don’t: they could viciously attack anyone and everyone without provocation. We humans have the same capacity for aggression as animals, but it is fortunately contained behind the inhibiting effect of the frontal lobe of the brain. Sometimes this inhibition falters, as in Tourette’s Disorder, when a person can involuntarily blurt out foul words. Sometimes we use alcohol or other drugs to drown out our inhibitions so that we can feel more “relaxed,” and then, sadly, we end up acting recklessly. And sometimes, under the influence of group social pressure, the inhibition can be more or less lifted entirely, to facilitate war and other terrorist atrocities. Considering all this, it often seems a wonder how generally safe we are on the streets. Yet imagine how it would be if individuals weren’t willing to restrain their cruel and destructive impulses. In one scene of the movie Schindler’s List, a Nazi officer, sitting at breakfast one morning on the balcony of his luxurious house, casually picks up a rifle and randomly shoots at inmates in the concentration camp below. All the while, his mistress lies naked in their bed, flinching at every shot, covering her head with a pillow, hearing what is happening—indeed, knowing what is happening—and yet tolerating it, even desiring it, for whatever satisfaction—luxury? prestige?—she receives from her “lover.” Thus not all terrorists fight with guns and bombs. There are men and women in this world who are terrorists in a more subtle sense. They fight with social disobedience. And, they might even passively support those who use more lethal violence. But they do not fight against real enemies; with their unconscious anger they fight against old psychological wounds from early childhood betrayals. It wasn’t political injustice that hurt these individuals, it was fraud—intellectual and emotional fraud. And the wounds caused by this fraud, if not properly healed, can project a subtle rancor into the world as subversive as the bitter heart that pulls the trigger of a gun. Beginning in Childhood Imagine a young child growing up in a family with a cold, stern, autocratic father. The child yearns for affection. She yearns for a father who will teach her about the world and fill her heart with joy and wonder for the mysteries around her. And she yearns for a father of tender compassion who will teach her how to face pain and suffering with courage and forgiveness and who will protect her when she becomes hurt. But instead, her real father neglects her. He may be abusive—physically or emotionally or sexually. He may be alcoholic. Or he may be so preoccupied with his work that he never notices his family. And yet, in public life, he stands as a pillar of strength in his community, a seemingly great and noble man. But to his daughter he is a fraud. Fraud And as the child grows up, she will unconsciously dedicate her life to exposing “fraud” in the world. She will seek out contradictions in valued traditions, teaching anyone who will listen to her that cherished ideals are “just myths.” She will laugh at discipline. She will delight in disobedience. She will attack all hypocrisy in the world with a vengeance that is unconsciously directed against her father. To subvert cultural institutions is to pull down the public statue of her father and reduce him to rubble. And she may even feel the need to destroy herself in the process. And yet, in this blind hatred, all she really wants deep in her heart is for her father to love her. Jacques Lacan, the French psychoanalyst, taught that, in psychological terms, the social world really is a fraud. All of the meaning we attribute to our human creations, including language itself, has no value beyond its own reference, for, as Lacan was fond of saying, “There is no Other of the Other.” [1] By this he meant that there is no absolute meaning that authorizes human meaning. Interestingly enough, Genesis 2:19-20 essentially says the same thing when it tells the story about God bringing the “various wild animals and various birds of the air” to the man “to see what he would call them.” Note that God didn’t name the animals; he simply said that “whatever the man called each of them would be its name.” Here God gave the man the freedom to create language, a language guaranteed only by its own enunciation. Now, although Genesis speaks from the revealed religion of the Jewish tradition, and though Lacan was not religious [2] and spoke from the position of secular psychology, the essential point should be clear: no language—indeed, no human creation—has any absolute meaning. The world offers itself to us in full spectacle, but there is nothing to see except a deluded man who calls himself “Emperor” standing naked in the street.[3] Psychology can teach us, therefore, not only that our social world is a “fraud” but also that it is possible to recognize and heal the pain we felt as children when we experienced the world’s fraud. It can teach us to speak about those childhood wounds rather than keep them as dark secrets hidden away within ourselves, wrapped in feelings of victimization. It can teach us to let go of bitterness and hatred and to show compassion and love for those secrets, in the hope of healing them, rather than killing them. If those secrets are not healed they become our unconscious enemies—and we become terrorists in a battle against our own pain. For just as those who, out of hatred, defile love by committing acts of terror, so anyone who hates those who commit political terror also defiles love. Once you let evil infect your heart with hatred you are one step closer to letting evil possess your soul as well. And if you respond to political terrorism with fear, you serve the terrorists’ very goal: to spread fear and trauma. Thus you yourself, in an odd psychological way, become a terrorist in your own society. So is there anything that isn’t a fraud? Psychology cannot say. It has a definite limit. Religion . . . and Social Activism Religion, however, can transcend the limits of psychology because it can point to God in whom we can place our complete trust. There can be genuine acts of charity in the world and genuine acts of meaningful social change, all motivated by selfless love and devotion. But it takes considerable wisdom to know when personal need—and pride—are masquerading as social concern. Look closely at some of the men and women in the social justice movements and wonder to what extent they are trying to further their political careers, sell their books, and prop up their own inner feelings of insecurity—or perhaps, just yell and shake their fists for a sweet taste of revenge. For at its core, activism is often just a psychological defense against unresolved emotional wounds from childhood: frustrated by their helplessness in the face of their parents’ hypocrisy, activists try to impose on the world their own ideas of what “should” be done. And only a fine line separates activism from terrorism: the willingness to kill. The more you want, the more reason you have to deceive. Therefore, all that speaks from the place of pride is a lie. The less you want—and the greater your humility—the less reason you have to deceive. Therefore, all that comes from real love is truth. To love is to be giving, and to be giving is to act with patience, kindness, mercy, compassion, understanding, and, ultimately, forgiveness. Activists, by definition, don’t love—they demand. And so we have to accept the fact that peace cannot be attained through lawsuits, protest, or terrorism. The only path to peace is through the purification of your own heart. Now it can happen that persons who teach the principles of real peace will be persecuted by those who have too much to lose by listening to the truth. To die, if necessary, under such persecution is martyrdom. Martyrs proclaim their refusal to hate, for in blessing even those who persecute them they keep open the hope that the persecutors may repent their mistakes. And this explains why no one who commits suicide—by itself or in the course of killing others—can be a martyr, for such an act forecloses all possibility of forgiveness and healing. And it’s just a shame that so many persons, even many who call themselves religious, who haven’t learned their psychological lessons about loving—and praying for and forgiving—their enemies, rather than hating them, suing them, and getting rid of them, become terrorists in their own hearts, in their own communities, and, ultimately, in the world at large.[4] The Real Solution So, in the end, terrorism points to the one bitter truth about psychology: The only problem that cannot be solved is the problem of refusing solutions. In the example above, the woman demands nothing less than the satisfaction of seeing her father humiliated so that he might be moved to admit he was wrong in the way he treated her in the first place. The political terrorist demands nothing less than for others to admit their “guilt” and change their behavior. Even when threatened with war and destruction, he will refuse negotiation, because negotiation would require laying down his pride. So, rather than back down in a sputter, the terrorist will choose to go down in a blaze, spitefully taking as much of the world with him as possible. Trapped in the problem of refusing solutions, he refuses to accept the real solution: that he himself must live according to the values of honesty and integrity that he demands from others. In that refusal, he defiles the very thing he desperately wants. He defiles love. The terrorist to truly fear is the terrorist in your own heart.
Poster Comment: Question for discussion: Is this an example of slick propaganda?
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#1. To: IndieTX (#0)
What do you call a seemingly rational essay that makes your gut scream that you are being snowed into "submission" with every paragraph you read? You say "bullshit". The whole thing is bullshit. According to this essay, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington launched the revolution because they felt wronged by their abusive parents. knee-deep Bullshit. This is what happens when a person becomes so ensconced in one field (in this case, psychology), that they see the entire universe through a skewed glass. You will hear the same kind of silliness from women who are deep, deep into "women's studies" or grad students in Poli Sci or Anthropology...
#2. To: bluedogtxn (#1)
And so we have to accept the fact that peace cannot be attained through lawsuits, protest, or terrorism. The only path to peace is through the purification of your own heart. I understood him right up to this point.
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