So often it’s suggested that fundamentalists are at the root of the majority of the problems facing both this country and the world. I couldn’t agree more. Except that those making this suggestion can obviously be guilty of the same unconsciousness they see in others.
An author I know makes this case in his new book:
Fundamentalism arises when any religious organization, or any person, attaches so intensely to some version of truth that it must be defended. In this space, the ego continually seeks security by playing out its drama of “attack and defend.” This drama offers all sorts of teachers and practitioners an opportunity to commit to various forms of separation where an attitude of “we’re right and they’re wrong” not only rules, but begets more attachment. This space can sow seeds of terrible violence all in the name of the collective egoic version of what it deems sacred.
So who is it that’s getting fundamental, really? Surely anyone in the midst of defending a position runs into this trap. It’s like the moment any experienced meditator begins to attach to non-attachment, he finds himself immediately thrown into the contraction of an ego that sees itself as Awake. Defending that which doesn’t need any kind of defense lures us into the same trap.