HOW TO DEFEAT TERRORISM WITH NEURO-SEMANTICS

Another act of terrorism! 12 dead, many more wounded. Another deadly Islamist massacre at a Paris satirical magazine by two brothers with connections to terrorist organizations. And why? They wanted “revenge” against cartoonists for using humor against their religion. They even murdered a Moslem man who apparently begged for his life!

A report said that the brothers, Cherif and Said Kouachi, were known to French intelligence. Cherif had even been convicted of funneling young French jihadists to Iraq and is a follower of the then-leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

So, how can Neuro-Semantics (NLP) help? What can we do in the field of NLP and Neuro- Semantics to defeat the mentality that leads to terrorism and especially Islamist terrorism? Here are a few recommendations:

First, Publicize that “the Map is not the Territory.” Whatever idea that any person has about God, religion, life, the after-life, etc. is an idea. And as an idea, it is a human idea, and not the territory. That means it is not real. Now if your mental map about God is so fragile that you have to go and get revenge because someone believes something different from you and expresses doubt or sarcasm about your belief— you must have a very low view of your God’s ability to take care of himself! Your god is that small? That weak? That incompetent? Do you need to send your god to an empowerment workshop? If you have god who needs your help defending him (!), I’d recommend upgrading and getting a more powerful god!

Helping people realize that their mental maps are just that—fallible human understandings about something—enables people to stop treating their beliefs so seriously. In Neuro-Semantics we say, “When you get serious, you’ll get stupid.” The next step is this: When you get seriously stupid and then get serious about that— fanatically serious— then you get sick. And a religion that is beyond humor, a religion that forbids humor and jokes, a religion that seeks revenge if someone laughs or teases something about their religion — that person doesn’t have a Religion, they have a Disease.

“He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord has them in derision.” (Psalm 2)

Whatever anyone says or writes or draws is just a map and “the map is not the territory.” It is just a map and therefore not real, just a construct of their understanding. Now if you get upset by their words, and suffer from word-phobia, you need a therapist or coach. The last thing you need is a gun or a sick religion that validates you to act out your immaturity.

Second, Distinguish the Freedom of Speech from Your Self Apparently these two brothers engaged in identification. They identified their religion with the words of those who don’t share their religion. This amounts to the childish and primitive thinking of identification: “What you say about me is what I am or will become, so stop! If you don’t stop then I will kill you.” They also identified themselves with the words and pictures that sarcastically made satire comments about their religion. This amounts to the irrational thinking: “If you disagree with me, mock me, make fun of my beliefs and religion, then that makes me and my religion wrong. Hence, I kill you.”

Korzybski in Science and Sanity noted that all identification is a form of unsanity and can easily lead to insanity. He urged to avoid identifying one thing with another thing and urged to stop using the “to be” verb and that when you do so, do it with consciousness of what you are doing! Fanatics identify their religion with what people say about it! How silly. Sounds like what happens on first- grade playgrounds. “If you call me certain words, I have to hit you.”

This was the state of the world during primitive times. Then over the centuries we humans grew up and realized that to have a healthy civilization, there are certain inalienable human rights— among them is freedom of speech. I don’t have to agree with everything you think or say. But I defend your right to think and say what you believe.

Third, the Relevancy and Ecology Challenge. Whenever I hear about “religious” people shooting and killing or going to war against other people, I wonder if they are actually “religious” or if they are actually a fanatic nut who uses some religion to confirm their prejudices and hatred. True spirituality makes people more compassionate, humane, and loving. If you believe in a God and believe that human beings are “created in his image and likeness” then you do not go around killing and destroying the height of God’s creation.

This violates the principles of relevance and ecology. In every true religion there is a command against killing. It was one of the Ten Commandments of Moses: “Thou shall not kill.” Healthy religion and spirituality is respectful. It honors the sacred right of people to live their lives and to be responsible for themselves. Murder and assassinations violate the ecology of true spirituality and its relevance.