The rise of fundamentalism is worrying, specially at a time that madmen can have access to nuclear bombs.

1. Art: Nicole Lanza
Jihad.
Do you like to be killed by a
madman?

2. I believe that our objective in life is to be
happy, and that Spirituality and Jungian
psychology, my main areas of interest, can help
us in this search for happiness.
Roberto Lima Netto, Ph.D.
Stanford University

3. How can we explain the attacks on American
Embassies in North Africa after the strong
support the US gave to these people? To
understand the problem, we have to resort to
psychology.

4. Jihad. How can we explain killings
in the name of God?

5. A study by Martha Stout, published in her
book The Sociopath Next Door, claims that
4% of the population is a
sociopath, defined as one that knows what
is right or wrong, but feels no remorse for
his acts

6. But the problem is that the distribution of
the 4% is not homogeneous. In politics, in
big business and in prisons, the percentage
of sociopaths is much higher.

7. This explains the psychology of Al Qaeda
and other similar organizations. Their
leaders are sociopaths or madman that
explore persons who fall for their
fundamentalist preaching.

8. But how to explain the attitude of the ones that
carry the bombs. Are all of them sociopaths?
I don’t think so. They are under the grip of a
charismatic leader, and they are prepared to
deliver their lives to their causes.

9. This possession of human minds by
charismatic
leaders, sociopaths, madman or just
psychological unbalanced people, did
happen in the Western world.

10. Remember Reverend Jones and the
mass suicide in 1978, or the 75
followers of David Koresh 1993, in
Waco, Texas

11. Fundamentalism, defined by Wikipedia as the
demand for a strict adherence to specific
theological doctrines, is thriving all over the
world, and can be explained by a sense of
despair, worthlessness that dominate many
young people

12. Fundamentalism together with a
mad charismatic leader is highly
dangerous.

13. We are living in a new era when some of the
pillars that sustained our lives are crumbling.
Modern man is desperately seeking a new
footing, a new platform were to stand.
Paraphrasing Jung, modern man is in search of a
soul.

14. In 1925, Jung visited the Pueblo Indians, in
Southwestern United States. This people defined
themselves as Children of the Sun. Their myth holds
that to keep the sun rising every day, they had to pray
for the Father Sun. Otherwise, in ten years the sun
would no longer illuminate the Earth.

15. The Chief Mountain Lake said, with the
conviction of one who is saving the world:
“The Americans want to destroy our
religion. Why don’t they leave us quiet?
What we do, we do not only for us, but for
them too. We do this for everyone.”

16. Do you believe that the sun would no longer rise
if the Pueblos stopped praying for it? It matters
little for the survival of the Pueblos if you
believe it or not. It does matter that they do
believe. Saving the world was the central
motivation in their lives, their reason for living.
And what a strong motivation this is!

17. Edward Edinger, a well-known Jungian psychologist
and prolific writer, opens his book, “The Creation of
Consciousness”, saying: “History and anthropology
teach us that human society cannot long survive
unless its members are psychologically contained in a
central living myth. Such myth provides the individual
with a reason for being.”

18. Unfortunately, while we search for a
new myth to sustain our
civilization, we should expect such
weird episodes, like Jihad, to continue
to happen.

19. I invite you to visit my site to find my other
videos and for additional information.
You can also download a free eBook.
“Shortcuts to happiness”
www.HappinessAcademyOnline.org

20. I wish you HAPPINESS.
Thanks for your time and attention.
Roberto Lima Netto
www.HappinessAcademyOnline.org.