| | WHAT IS EXTREMISM?
Extremism is not this group over here, or that idea over there.
Extremism is a label of perspective, not of people or ideas. It is the
name given to describe the scope of the non-traversable chasm that sits
between two minds, a chasm that culture perpetuates so that we can no
longer so much as live with ourselves.
If we wish to live with
ourselves, something must give. The two minds must agree to meet on
common ground, a little plot of land called Earth. It is ultimately a
simple problem, if not terrifyingly difficult to practically consider,
of choosing to share the right of existence, with someone who happens
to have different thoughts in his head. It is not the problem of one
mind, it is the problem of two, or more. In-group morality and
out-group hostility were viable when there was plenty so that men
needn't share anything. Then someone discovered that, should you travel
in one direction, you will soon enough arrive again at your point of
embarkment. Perhaps it is a point too subtle for some persons raised
with swords or scriptures in their hands, but their two feet have
always shared the same finite plot of land with their "enemy" even
before he was given that title of distinction. They have more in common
than they will ever have in difference; mortal enemies can put down
their swords and scriptures, but they cannot shake the Earth's grasp
upon themselves. If we are to live with ourselves on Earth, we cannot
do so with our heads in the unreachable heavens, listening to the
advice of gods who do not share our inconveniences, our concerns, our
pain.
If there is any reason Jesus has not yet returned to Earth it is
because we still must learn to get along; heaven is no place for those
who do not know perfect love, and Earth has no throne for those who
know perfect love. But heaven has enough room for everyone, and those
who look closely at the experiment of America recognize that the Earth
has enough room as well. Some people look up at the sky and see hope in
heaven, and look back to the Earth only to see despair. But anyone who
has been into orbit knows that the Earth is in heaven—the
Earth is a blue jewel in an elaborate necklace of diamonds, in the
finest treasure trove a god would create. What, then, is the distance
between Man and God? It is the distance between Fear and Love. It is
the distance between looking at a gay man with confusion, disgust, or
suspicion, and hugging him like a close friend, with whom there is no
confusion, disgust, or suspicion. It is the distance between passively
avoiding Muslims in your community, and feeling the urge to take the
hajj (the pilgrimage to Mecca) through them. It is the distance between
reading the Bible in a year, and sharing that time with the Vedas,
Koran, and Buddhist writings.
If perfect love casts out all fear, then it has clearly not yet spread
on the Earth. Every man is out to make the world in his own image—the
Jehovah's Witnesses who come to your door, the televangelists who
flicker on screens day and night, the presidential candidate who comes
to your town, the Muslim clerics who incite anti-Western protests
around the globe, the radical Islamists who bring planes to your
towers. But these are all, secretly, pleas for your love. Opportunities
in disguise, not so that you can convert them, or line their pockets
with cash, or mold the nation to your wishes, or reprint the Muhammad
drawings, or invade other countries to mold them in our image. These
are opportunities to accept them as they are, yet not only, but to have
them accept you as you are.
The common use
of labels such as extremist and barbarian
reflect the perpetuated spirit of condescension Western culture harbors for
those who simply share the same capacity to believe what they've been
taught, and who share the same problems that are the result. Must we
passively accept that we are the collateral of gods who refuse to fight
their own wars? Or must we find ourselves in the eyes of one who
someone else has called the enemy? |
| | Posted 12/17/2006 2:37 PM - 129 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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