It is a symptom of the lack of true spiritual experience and knowledge. Absolutism is not an expression of faith it is a symptom of the lack of faith. Fundamentalism and extremism are an admission of that spiritual uncertainty. Conflict only arises when you aren’t so certain you know the way that’s when another person’s map threatens your certainty. If you know where the Beloved lives, you are content, no need to argue with others over street names. People become violently obsessed with rules and traditions and texts only when they have lost the sense of what they really point to. But mostly-mostly it is an act of desperation when the heart of true religion has been lost. And it is partly a reaction against unavoidable, sometimes unsettling encounters with different peoples and cultures and beliefs in our ever more integrated and multi-layered world. It is partly a reflexive response to the intensely fragmenting nature of the modern world.
Religious extremism has very little to do with religion if you think about it. Extremism is not a problem of a particular religion it is a disruption in the human psyche in general. Islamic extremists have certainly grabbed headlines in recent years, but the world also has its Christian extremists, Jewish extremists, Hindu extremists… as well as plenty of atheist and non-religious extremist groups. People speculated that the bombing was by an extremist group that objected to the inclusive nature of Sufi practice in the region. More than 40 people were killed and many more badly injured. In July 2010, I was driving home from work, listening to BBC news on the radio, and was saddened to hear of a bombing at a shrine dedicated to a Sufi saint in Lahore, Pakistan. I have been rereading my book, The Longing in Between, and this poem and commentary caught my attention. from The Longing in Between: Sacred Poetry from Around the World (A Poetry Chaikhana Anthology), Edited by Ivan M.
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