Something Bigger than Oneself

There's been a lot of talk in the media lately about how ISIS is recruiting young men and women from Western countries, young adults who are searching for some meaning in their lives.  They are reportedly searching for "something bigger than themselves" with which to be affiliated, to live for, and to die for.  What they are gravitating to is a 10-cent version of Islam, but while they may perceive their quest to be a religious one, ISIS does not appear to preach any form of Islam that the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, would recognize.


There are, however, some important issues in this trend, issues that had best be taken seriously, or many more young people will sacrifice their lives for questionable - even evil - ideologies.

Once upon a time, I imagine that most human communities lived in ways that assumed that everyone was part of something larger than their individual selves.  Pre-modern cultures experienced life as communal, interdependent, cooperative.  One should not, of course, wax too romantic about it, but modern and post-modern culture has become so highly individualistic, so fragmented and competitive, that it has become a major challenge simply to find the "something greater" with which to connect.  Those of us in the post-modern world exist as pure individuals, alone in the universe, the product of a single egg and a lone sperm, doomed to puzzle out a solitary path through life, ending in a lonely death.  If along the way we are graced with family we get along with, and a few friends, we cling to them fiercely, sometimes for longer than they actually deserve.

Religion, in the form of organized, meaning-based communities, is one way in which human beings  relieve themselves of the burden of existential isolation. It may be trustworthy, or it may not. Into the void of unformed personality and disconnected lives may come the passionate, persuasive preacher, the evangel of some form of "Good News," its message in essence proclaiming, "You are not alone.  We are your comrades (in arms).  Come hitch your wagon to our star, and become part of something much bigger than any single one of us."

And so they come.  From Europe and the U.S., from Africa and the Middle East.  Young people from countries where education is expensive, jobs are scarce, and dreams have withered.  They are so hungry for meaning that they gravitate to its imposters, to forces that merely masquerade as meaning, or purpose, or religion, but in fact are none of these.  Politicized, radicalized Islam is merely a giant maw ready to consume them, body and soul, for the sake of its own agenda of power and vengeance and fear.

If, however, we were able to reach out to our young people and offer a message that said, "You are not alone.  You belong to the earth and sea and sky.  You belong to the elders and the children around you.  You belong to the universe which birthed you and has a unique place for you," then perhaps they would be less likely to throw their lives away for a copy of "Islam for Dummies."

What makes this question deeply, essentially religious, is that it has traditionally been the religions of the world, at their best, which have taught men and women that there is a God who knows them and loves them and dwells within them; that there is a force for good, for love, for creativity which moves through them and binds them to the world around them; that suffering is difficult, but it can have meaning, and ultimately be redeemed.  When those ideas take hold, violent vengeful distortions of jihad lose their allure.  The "Something Bigger" becomes Universal, not partisan. 

Are our religious establishments offering this vision?  If so, then they need to reach out, quickly, and make themselves visible.  If not, then a major overhaul is called for.  Before too many more young ones die.