The Dharma Of Terror: The Unexpected Incoherent End of Experience Sharpens Into Focus What We Value Most
- When you contemplate what it is like to not be aware, you have imagined death. What fills us with Terror, is the end of Awareness.
On October 7th, 2023, in the hours before dawn, I woke engulfed in dread and found my clothes soaked in sweat. Something was wrong. Very wrong. Instinctively, I reached for my iPhone and opened YouTube for the news. The headline screamed out immediately: a brutal raid targeting Israeli civilians was underway.
As I absorbed the shocking images and commentary on the inconceivable atrocities, I grew numb with each passing minute. Striving nonetheless, I scoured the internet for any justification that might soothe my faith. I stopped searching when I came across a Telegram channel. Here, my courage ebbed as I scrolled through the jubilant messages celebrating the perpetrators and their most horrible acts of torture against men, women, and children.
The footage was soul-crushing. I could not speak. Life seemed to drain from me. Even closing my eyes, I couldn’t escape the tormenting scenes. I asked myself later how I got myself into this. Why did I not look away? Partly, I was transfixed, and partly, I wanted to persist. It felt like a dream, but in case it was real, I had to get to the bottom of it. If it was a dream, it might be trying to tell me something. I had no choice.
Around 8 am, the brilliance of an incongruously sunny morning snapped me out of my misery. My wife was waking up, and I told her to watch the news on YouTube. Something big had happened. Having thus passed the baton, I dragged myself to my feet and into the garden, hoping for a return to normal. My wife joined me downstairs with a cheerful smile, offering tea.
“Did you watch the news?” I asked again brusquely, overlooking her kindness. She apologized for being preoccupied that morning, and I initially suspected she was avoiding the whole thing. In reality, she wasn’t as soft as I thought. She was quite smart. I was already in pain, and both of us did not have to suffer the same. I would have to do this myself.
My courage was almost depleted. The caravan of violence, perpetrated by its Hebrew namesake, Hamas, was burnt into memory. The more I tried to wrap my mind around it, the deeper I sank into grief. That night and for the next few weeks, I was drifting. It took a month before I could meditate, gather my thoughts, and write this piece.
Social media was a particularly dangerous and emotional beast. For asking questions, one was exposed to Islamophobic, anti-Semitic, and racist messages. However, I couldn’t dwell on that. Pressing questions plagued my mind. I needed to understand how anyone could commit such horrors, and how they could have supporters. What distinguishes a terrorist and a freedom fighter? Most importantly, what is ‘terror’?
One act of madness is easy to dismiss as an aberration – a mental issue, a childhood trauma, or some other mundane explanation. But when we witness hundreds of them, together at one time, recording everything live, congratulating each other, indiscriminately ravaging and killing without warning or explanation, we confront unadulterated, unmistakable, terror.
Most explanations for terror begin with the self-defeating disclaimer: “An explanation is not a justification.” I refuse to hide behind such equivocations. I assert with clarity and confidence that terror is a mix of shock, disgust, and fear. It is clear, that above all things, we recoil from death. We are shocked by the recklessness of those who invite it and loudly dispense it, and disgusted by their indifference to it.
Death is the end of experience, and when you contemplate what it is like to not be aware, you have imagined death. What fills us with utter horror, is the end of awareness. We imagine that end when we can no longer perceive change or movement. A black flag, a final breath, a severed head, and complete darkness are all invitations to understand it.
Terrorists declare through their words and actions that they do not experience the bright line between life and death. You and I experience the fullness of life through our connection with the rest of creation, and we value that experience. One act of madness is easy to dismiss as an aberration – a mental issue, a childhood trauma, or some other mundane explanation. But when we witness hundreds of them, together at one time, recording everything live, congratulating each other, indiscriminately ravaging and killing without warning or explanation, we confront unadulterated, unmistakable, terror.
Terror, the unexpected incoherent end of Experience, sharpens what we value most, into focus. We recognize the sentience in our pets, siblings, and friends, in how we experience them, and how they experience us. When we discover that some people do not possess this sentience, wish to end ours, and may live covertly among us, we are paralyzed with confusion.
Above all, terrorists desire to witness the end of experience, to end existence, in themselves through martyrdom, and in us through murder. To preserve this world, we must grant their most cherished wish without hesitation.
At the time of this writing, a conflict against terrorism is underway. In its wake, not only are those complicit facing repercussions, but innocent people are also caught up in the violence. This raises a crucial moral question. Our compass hinges on a fundamental principle: the value of life.
Those who cherish life and equal opportunity for all are worth far more than those who glorify their own death in martyrdom, the murder of the innocent, and the debasement of experience. Ideas that maximize the evolution of humanity must shape the future.
This war must not become an act of mindless, violent, cold murder, for that too is terror.
(Top image: Courtesy of thespiritualhindu.com)
Chinmay Nagarkar, who writes under the evocative nom de plume Chinmay Drishti, meaning “The Conscious Perspective,” focuses on the foundation (dharma) of existence, ethics, and metaphysics, sometimes as a dreamer and often as a skeptic. Alongside philosophical pursuits, he enjoys sharing insights about the cultural and spiritual interconnections within the Indian diaspora.