Suicide as a weapon...

Folks might remember my post here relating to an article that I came across through the good offices of ALD.

I recommend this from "possibility of fire" as a follow-up read.

Thus we learn to take the product of our study and analysis and begin to contemplate it. We can decide not to draw conclusions, not to make decisions but just come back to the reality of their worlds. As we contemplate, it becomes easier for us to imagine the situation that someone like Ayat or Quang Duc found themselves. We should contemplate their worlds until it is clear that we no longer know what we might do in similar circumstances When we are no longer able to label them as terrorists, agitators, saints, martyrs or bodhisattvas, then we are beginning to know the suffering that brought these acts into being.

and

Exchanging ourselves with Akhras and Quang Duc, breath by breath, we discover that we are the bomber and the bombing victim, the monk and the policeman that clubs him. We are more than just connected, we are inseparable. Out of this insight, our ability to truly alleviate suffering first appears. Without this intimacy, we may try to help but our compassion will be colored by our judgments and ideas. By following these steps; studying a situation from many angles, contemplating what we learn and using what we have learned to become intimate with the people and suffering involved, we can let go of our judgments and become truly intimate with their suffering.

I have posed the question to Americans, with whom I enjoy debating the current woes of this world, in a form similar to “How would you feel, if you were ejected from your home, your property, your life, by a power that gave you no right of appeal, and no right of representation?” In large measure, the reply has been parallel to “…it will never happen because (a) “America is a democracy” / (b) “The Second Amendment RKBA gives us the power to revolt / retaliate… “

Thich Quang Duc and Ayat Akhras are our suffering brother and sister. As we study and contemplate we find that they are not so different from us. We see that their suffering cannot be separated from the suffering world in which they arose.

Here, I confess, I begin to part company with this beautifully written prose and the ideas it expresses. Yes, there is truth in wch’s writing but it misses an important truth.

This op-ed piece from Sci-Amalso misses some of the point. To say –

The belief that suicide bombers are poor, uneducated, disaffected or disturbed is contradicted by science. Marc Sageman, a forensic psychiatrist at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, found in a study of 400 Al Qaeda members that three quarters of his sample came from the upper or middle class. Moreover, he noted, "the vast majority--90 percent--came from caring, intact families. Sixty-three percent had gone to college, as compared with the 5-6 percent that's usual for the third world. These are the best and brightest of their societies in many ways." Nor were they sans employment and familial duties. "Far from having no family or job responsibilities, 73 percent were married and the vast majority had children.... Three quarters were professionals or semiprofessionals. They are engineers, architects and civil engineers, mostly scientists. Very few humanities are represented, and quite surprisingly very few had any background in religion."

has validity in that the study of those responsible for the London bombings shows that they came from similar circumstances. That validity is further supported by the Yuki Tanaka article that I posted earlier.

But with that “scientific” difference at one side, wch has very accurately pointed to the central effectiveness of “weapons of terror”.

How can we judge the actions of any person if we do not understand.

That understanding requires knowledge at very fundamental levels. Wch has alluded to that in his post.

That understanding requires knowledge of “life” that is often totally beyond our comprehension. My very simplistic question is only one small aspect of the condition of grief, despair and hopelessness.

Wch has provided a personal insight; one that I shall personally return to and consider. It is an insight that has compassion and insight.

I commend it.