I have long been a fan of long distance running, and did a bit of it in my youth for exercise before age and weight made it too destructive. Still, I might be one of the few current non-runners to love watching the marathon, and the Boston Marathon has been not only the best (besides the Olympics) but also the bookmark of true spring, a time when the disheartening lapses into winter are generally over. So, had I read the sports section better, I might have been watching - although at the 4 and one half hour mark, maybe not - when the explosions went off. I heard about it almost immediately, as I had the TV on for weather when I set into my daily guitar practice. It was not as breathtaking as 9/11, but you knew when you saw it that it probably heralded the beginning of something worse in America: more security checks, less access to events, and overall less access to group events without the mechanisms, however necessary, of fear. And in the back of everyone's mind is the feeling that at last we will join those other nations where the possibility of bombings is real enough to make them actual on a regular basis.
The bombing was coordinated, and so was not the work of some
loner demon like Timothy McVeigh, although the date for it is suspicious, matching the dates of his bombing and that of the Branch Davidians, which McVeigh was reportedly avenging. Still, we all probably assume that it was the work of Muslim Extremists, either foreign or home-grown, and we are probably right, giving Islam another black eye by some of its fiercest supporters.
It may or may not be odd that I believe I understand the motivation for the Muslim terrorists. Don't get me wrong - I do not approve of their methods, nor do I think their methods will achieve what they want - but in understanding there is often some sympathy, and I can find it here, just as I can for the screaming little kid in the seat next to me in the airplane. Airplanes are uncomfortable and many of us sometimes want to scream, but we know it only would make it worse, and is a selfish act inconsiderate of the other passengers. So, in a way, I see these bombers - as little kids who don't like what is happening around them, so they're going to vent. It is just unfortunate that they vent with bombs.
My understanding was aided by, of all things, a class I was arm-wrestled into teaching at my local church. When they found that I was an anthropologist, one nun who could not hear the word "no" thought that I would be just great as a teacher of middle eastern culture at the time of Jesus. As it was, I had no more knowledge of that era than one could gleam from Cecil B. DeMill's extravagant productions, but there I was, as ignorant as the rest, condemned to pretend I knew something. And so I read. The reading of such things has continued to this day, but it was in the first months of research that I came across this little nugget that has proven useful to me in understanding the Mideast situation better.
Now, in this blog I have commented many times on the inadequacy of the scientist-materialist point of view that is the residing spirit in the new World Culture. Making it worse is its inherent aggressiveness - because it rests on material wealth it not only has to expand for new markets and resources, but it plays to the most basic of human weakness - the amassing of wealth and power through wealth. As I see this as our modern plague - not "progress" itself but the blindness to the more essential meanings for life that has come with it - so I can relate to the terrorists. They are, after all, fundamentalists who rightly see that their sacred way of life - inherent in their traditional culture as Christianity was in Europe's - has been diluted and is now being fundamentally undermined by World Culture. That Christians didn't react so when this was happening in Europe - from the Renaissance onward - was because it was an internal, home-grown movement. To the terrorists, it is a form of the most pernicious cultural imperialism - the usurpation of God from their lives. If God is All, they think, then what are a few lives for His continued reign?
Still, what kind of nuts are these that can't see that blowing off children's limbs will gain no sympathy either in the world or in the heavens? This is where the nugget comes in. At the time of Jesus, the conquering Romans had given in to the cynicism and relativism that great power and dominion creates, having lost both their republic to Caesar and their religion to ennui and multiculturalism. As anyone who knows of Pontius Pilot, the Romans couldn't care less about the Jewish religion or their prophets or whatever, as long as they stayed in line and paid tribute. Being sent to this area was a sort of punishment or booby-prize for those in public service at the lower end of the totem pole, for the Jews were recognized for their fanatical adherence to their silly religion. Romans were seen as intruders, both on the promised land and on the minds of those of weaker faith (such as Herod). God had a special covenant with the Chosen People and would aid them in their fight with the heathen enemy. Thus they formed what the Romans called the "sicari" or dagger-carrying assassins. These were men who would walk up to Roman soldiers and then quickly stab them with daggers. These were for the most part suicide missions, but to die for God...
The familiarities with the Muslim terrorists is obvious - and the method did not work. Because of these radicals, the Jews were expelled from the holy land for nearly 2,000 years. As a footnote which may or may not be relevant, it is thought by some experts (most? I do not know) that Judas was a member, or at least sympathizer, with the Sicari; that his betrayal of Jesus for 30 pieces of silver - money he definitely did not want out of greed, and so bolstering the idea - was a plot to force Jesus, the King of the Jews, to play his hand, for surely the Son of God would not allow himself - or be allowed by the Father - to be crucified. Judas was, by this, part of the faction that believed that the Messiah would rule on this earth. He just needed a little prodding...
And so we have more parallels with Muslim terrorists. With the exception that Muslims cannot be expelled from their homelands - they cover large portions of the earth - they are playing with the same fire as Judas. They must know that their acts of terror cannot dominate the secular powers of the world. Some, at least, probably guess that they cannot even intimidate them into changing international policy (we go back to Israel here). Some also must believe, and perhaps correctly, that their actions might help foment revolt against secular leadership in the Muslim countries. But I bet a lot - perhaps most - are like Judas; I bet a lot are trying to force the hand of God. They wish, I think, to place His servants - themselves - in dangerous positions, showing to God (Allah) that "we are willing to die for You, so - when are You going to do something for us?" For even they must understand that only the hand of Allah can stop the tide of World Culture.
Who knows? In the weakening social and religious lives of the Western countries, it is possible that Islam will win out by shear default - that is, that the others will care so little about their culture and traditional religion that they will let the Muslim faithful take over with a whimper rather than a bang. But I don't think so; I think that just as the Covenant was succeeded in world influence by Christianity, so something else will succeed one or two or all of the Great Religions. One is Law, the other is Love, another is Surrender, another is Ego Death - all are essential sooner or later, but which will succeed? Or what will succeed them all? FK
The bombing was coordinated, and so was not the work of some
loner demon like Timothy McVeigh, although the date for it is suspicious, matching the dates of his bombing and that of the Branch Davidians, which McVeigh was reportedly avenging. Still, we all probably assume that it was the work of Muslim Extremists, either foreign or home-grown, and we are probably right, giving Islam another black eye by some of its fiercest supporters.
It may or may not be odd that I believe I understand the motivation for the Muslim terrorists. Don't get me wrong - I do not approve of their methods, nor do I think their methods will achieve what they want - but in understanding there is often some sympathy, and I can find it here, just as I can for the screaming little kid in the seat next to me in the airplane. Airplanes are uncomfortable and many of us sometimes want to scream, but we know it only would make it worse, and is a selfish act inconsiderate of the other passengers. So, in a way, I see these bombers - as little kids who don't like what is happening around them, so they're going to vent. It is just unfortunate that they vent with bombs.
My understanding was aided by, of all things, a class I was arm-wrestled into teaching at my local church. When they found that I was an anthropologist, one nun who could not hear the word "no" thought that I would be just great as a teacher of middle eastern culture at the time of Jesus. As it was, I had no more knowledge of that era than one could gleam from Cecil B. DeMill's extravagant productions, but there I was, as ignorant as the rest, condemned to pretend I knew something. And so I read. The reading of such things has continued to this day, but it was in the first months of research that I came across this little nugget that has proven useful to me in understanding the Mideast situation better.
Now, in this blog I have commented many times on the inadequacy of the scientist-materialist point of view that is the residing spirit in the new World Culture. Making it worse is its inherent aggressiveness - because it rests on material wealth it not only has to expand for new markets and resources, but it plays to the most basic of human weakness - the amassing of wealth and power through wealth. As I see this as our modern plague - not "progress" itself but the blindness to the more essential meanings for life that has come with it - so I can relate to the terrorists. They are, after all, fundamentalists who rightly see that their sacred way of life - inherent in their traditional culture as Christianity was in Europe's - has been diluted and is now being fundamentally undermined by World Culture. That Christians didn't react so when this was happening in Europe - from the Renaissance onward - was because it was an internal, home-grown movement. To the terrorists, it is a form of the most pernicious cultural imperialism - the usurpation of God from their lives. If God is All, they think, then what are a few lives for His continued reign?
Still, what kind of nuts are these that can't see that blowing off children's limbs will gain no sympathy either in the world or in the heavens? This is where the nugget comes in. At the time of Jesus, the conquering Romans had given in to the cynicism and relativism that great power and dominion creates, having lost both their republic to Caesar and their religion to ennui and multiculturalism. As anyone who knows of Pontius Pilot, the Romans couldn't care less about the Jewish religion or their prophets or whatever, as long as they stayed in line and paid tribute. Being sent to this area was a sort of punishment or booby-prize for those in public service at the lower end of the totem pole, for the Jews were recognized for their fanatical adherence to their silly religion. Romans were seen as intruders, both on the promised land and on the minds of those of weaker faith (such as Herod). God had a special covenant with the Chosen People and would aid them in their fight with the heathen enemy. Thus they formed what the Romans called the "sicari" or dagger-carrying assassins. These were men who would walk up to Roman soldiers and then quickly stab them with daggers. These were for the most part suicide missions, but to die for God...
The familiarities with the Muslim terrorists is obvious - and the method did not work. Because of these radicals, the Jews were expelled from the holy land for nearly 2,000 years. As a footnote which may or may not be relevant, it is thought by some experts (most? I do not know) that Judas was a member, or at least sympathizer, with the Sicari; that his betrayal of Jesus for 30 pieces of silver - money he definitely did not want out of greed, and so bolstering the idea - was a plot to force Jesus, the King of the Jews, to play his hand, for surely the Son of God would not allow himself - or be allowed by the Father - to be crucified. Judas was, by this, part of the faction that believed that the Messiah would rule on this earth. He just needed a little prodding...
And so we have more parallels with Muslim terrorists. With the exception that Muslims cannot be expelled from their homelands - they cover large portions of the earth - they are playing with the same fire as Judas. They must know that their acts of terror cannot dominate the secular powers of the world. Some, at least, probably guess that they cannot even intimidate them into changing international policy (we go back to Israel here). Some also must believe, and perhaps correctly, that their actions might help foment revolt against secular leadership in the Muslim countries. But I bet a lot - perhaps most - are like Judas; I bet a lot are trying to force the hand of God. They wish, I think, to place His servants - themselves - in dangerous positions, showing to God (Allah) that "we are willing to die for You, so - when are You going to do something for us?" For even they must understand that only the hand of Allah can stop the tide of World Culture.
Who knows? In the weakening social and religious lives of the Western countries, it is possible that Islam will win out by shear default - that is, that the others will care so little about their culture and traditional religion that they will let the Muslim faithful take over with a whimper rather than a bang. But I don't think so; I think that just as the Covenant was succeeded in world influence by Christianity, so something else will succeed one or two or all of the Great Religions. One is Law, the other is Love, another is Surrender, another is Ego Death - all are essential sooner or later, but which will succeed? Or what will succeed them all? FK
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