The problem with the fanaticism

This time I want to write about the fanaticism.

There are many different forms of fanaticism. I don't want to write about the usual/daily one here. If you take a great interest in something for example playing video games or watching soccer then you are a fan. And a fan is the short form of fanatic. Being a fan is OK. This is no problem, except you are spending too much time for your hobby. In this case you disregard yourself, your family and friends and so on. This is a problem. Although this could be a great problem for some of you, I don't want to write about this aspect of fanaticism here. I want to focus on the narrow sense of the fanaticism, mainly on the religious fanaticism.

What is the religious fanaticism?

A simple answer is:
For the religious fanaticism you have to think that your faith/religion is the only one which is right and all the others are wrong. The humans all over the world have to believe the same like you.

I think several of you would have answered this question in a similar way. Of course this answer isn't wrong. It contains several right aspects. But it only explains the ramifications and not the reasons for it.

For all of you who are looking for a new hobby, here's a short guide how to become a religious fanatical: ;-)
To become a religious fanatical, you need a faith and a religion. If you don't find a religion which fit to your faith found your own one. To found a religion and to find members isn't easy, but if you want to become a religious fanatical, you need a very strong faith which gives you the strength to pass difficult times. In the case your faith isn't strong enough, you really should have choosing another hobby in contemplation. After you convinced a few persons to think the same way like you, finding new members who will follow you will become easier. In the case you meet someone who don't want to think the same like you, kill him/her. This is the fastest way to handle dissidents. If you are a very successful religious fanatical, every survivor of your proselytizing will believe the same like you and you will live in your own perfect but very boring and empty world. Isn't this the wish from all of us? ;-)

In the case you didn't understand the last chapter, this was only a joke. But is this really only a joke? If you take a look at several people around this world, you unfortunately will see that they are doing or at least trying to do something very similar.

Some of you perhaps think at the conflict between the Christianity and the Islam. Both religions are thinking that each of them is the only one which is right and the other one is wrong. That's why they are fighting since centuries and are still fighting today.

But is the different faith really the reason for this conflict?
It's right that both religions have a faith which is a little bit different from each other. But this doesn't cause the conflict. Both religions were leaded by humans who wanted to get more power, influence and so on. But of course the leaders never fight themselves. They need people who will fight for them. If they would have told the people to fight for them because the leaders want to have more power or influence, no one would have fought for them. That's why they told the people that the members of the other religion are unbelievers and they are doing bad things. And they told them that if you combat these foreign persons, you are a good person and that your sins will be forgiven. Unfortunately many people believed them and combat the foreigners. Many of the fighting people really believed and are still believing that they are doing something good and that they are fighting to protect their face.

What shall you say about these very stupid persons?
Like I wrote above, the fastest way to handle people who are thinking/believing something different than you, is killing them. But unfortunately many of these people who are thinking so, don't see, that you never will solve a problem with fighting. For each enemy/dissident who you kill, you creates many more. With fighting you always creates more enemies than you are able to kill. There is only one way to eliminate an enemy. Becoming friends! Of course this isn't easy or works fast, but only if an enemy becomes a friend, you eliminate the conflict. And the first and most important step on the way becoming friends is talking with each other and trying to see the problem from the point of view of the other one.

Today of course only a small minority of the Christians and Muslims are still combating each other. A huge part of these minorities are religion fanaticals.

But why are they doing these terrible things?
To find the answer you have to take a closer look. You have to take a look at the individual person and not at the whole conflict.

If you have a faith, of course you think that this is right. In the case you think it would be wrong, you wouldn't believe in it. :-)
And even you have a very strong faith and this faith is the most important part of your life or even from you, this is no problem. Everything is OK.

But when does a strong faith becomes a religious fanaticism?

As I wrote above you have to think that your faith is right. This is necessary. But you always should know that you perhaps misinterpreted some aspects of the Bible, the Koran or howsoever your religious book is called. You and also the leaders of each religion are only humans. And humans are making mistakes.
But if you are a religious fanatical, you think that your interpretations of the religion texts are completely correct, that you didn't make any mistakes. And this is the main problem. Persons who are thinking so, are too self-centered. They never would think that they are perhaps wrong. And this is the most stupid and most dangerous way of thinking. As long as these people are thinking this way, they aren't able to find or correct their mistakes. They aren't able to develop.

In the case you are thinking that your interpretations of the texts are perfect, the stringent conclusion is that all the persons who are thinking different are wrong. Even if you are a peaceable person and you don't do anything against the dissidents, you are a religious fanatical.

But if you are already thinking this way it's only a very small step trying to convince or even to combat the dissidents. Even if you are trying to convince the dissidents only with words, this is force. You never should try to convince someone else. The other person is an individual and free person like you. If he/she believes something else, this is OK and you have to accept this.

Don't misunderstand me. I don't want to say, that you shouldn't talk with others about your faith or religion. You really should do this. Without talking with others about your thoughts, you never will be able to find your mistakes and to develop. Talking with others is very important. But there is a big difference between talking with someone else about your faith or trying to convince him/her!

Perhaps some of you are asking now how you could accept all the different faiths/religions without thinking that your own one is better or more right than the other ones.
This is a problem and everyone has to find a way to handle this.

I like the following idea:
My own faith is good but not perfect. There are still certainly many mistakes. That's why I always continue thinking and talking with others about it to find these mistakes, to develop my faith and myself. And the members from all the other religions are doing the same. Everybody has his/her own incomplete faith, his/her own view. But in the end, if you found and corrected all your mistakes, developed your faith, you will see that everyone is right. Everyone is believing at the same God and is talking about exactly the same. The only reason why there are so many different faiths and religions, is that we are only humans. We aren't able to see the whole picture or to interpret all the details right. We are making mistakes all the time but we are always thinking that we are perfect and all the others are wrong. We finally should see that we are all the same. All of us are humans who are doing their best to interpret the details. Instead of combat the dissidents we should talk with them! Perhaps they see some details we didn't see till now? Only if we are working all together, we perhaps will be able to see the whole picture.

That's why always remember:
Having a strong faith is good and very important. But always remember that you aren't able to see the whole picture yourself. You need all the dissidents too. Only together you perhaps will be able to see the whole picture and to solve all the problems in our lifes.

I was inspired by Lindsey Stirling to write this blog post. She has a very strong faith which gives her the power to pass all the bad times she had to go through. But even she has such a strong faith, she accepts all the dissidents. She is always thinking about herself and is trying to become a better person.

This photo shows Lindsey Stirling and two of the main aspects of her life: Faith and Music.

Written by Andreas S. Janke