We Must Stop Calling Them Extremists
With the response to the terrorist attack in Manchester and London I was struck with the extreme use of the word Love, When confronted with a moment of pure hatred, we need to become more extreme in how we allow the flourishing of Love.
Not only as a way of reminding each other, that humanity has a place in Nature to extend the power of Spirit to be realised. Moreover, in so doing we draw each other to the extreme truth that we are all the same – unity over split – identity over difference; but to enable the human desire to overcome the constraint of the terror that unchecked fear brings.
It is only when in Love can we overcome, and so we have to become extremists.
However, this got me thinking what would it mean to become an Extremist.
It seems to me that to become an Extremist is the only way that one can radically change a structure; allowing for a deeper encounter either with the structure or to free the structure from constrains.
Therefore, to become an extremist one would need to expose a deep layer of the true meaning of the thing or act one was being extreme about.
Let me explain.
If I take up an extreme sport, I am taking the sport, say Mounting Biking, as far as the complex activity can be taken, I am not twisting or misreading the natural necessity of the causal structures within Mountain Biking, on the contrary I have to fully understand how these Generative Mechanisms work. This does not pull me away from the constraints of the sport, I am moving nearer towards the heart of the alethic nature of the sport – and I have to take this approach if I want to deeply understand the structural demands of the sport.
Meaning, that I do not push away from the alethic truth of the sport, to be an Extremist I have to push nearer and nearer to the truth of the sport.
To become an Extremist I have to be prepared to expose the truth, by coming to know the truth, and in so doing, I reveal the truth.
I am therefore not an Extremist, if my view of the truth is warped, false, or deviates from the natural necessity of the thing or act I am engaging with.
I am not exposing the real; I am trapped within the demi-real.
To believe that getting in a car and ramming the life out of people, or blowing the life of children away, is an act that exposes the truth, is not an extreme act, it is the act of human beings becoming misguided, delusional, and a victim to the power of hatred.
An Extremists is a 23 year old pop singer who believes that she can make a difference, by exposing the power of Love, in such a way to take away the constraint of Fear, and that in so doing liberate so many.
It is time we stopped calling those that do violence to others “Extremists” – we need to stop using Extremist as a metaphor for Evil.
It is not the radicalised others that are the Extremists.
It is you and I. We need to become the Extremists. We need to become Love Extremists, just as Ariana Grande demonstrated her Extremist tendency in Manchester. However, it is in not One Love that we need, this is to suggest there are other Loves, no – it is not one Love: it is to notice that we are all one when we Love and it is this we need to be Extremists about.
It is only through the Extreme liberation of Love that we can free each other from hatred, fear, and isolation. And this calls on all of us to let go of our personal and social constraints, we have to work at being an Extremist, it is not a simple act, it takes time and dedication.
When we come to fully know Love, when we are deeply connected to the causal effect, we know that we can conquer that which is oppressing us and when we realise we are able to overcome the oppressing then we know we are fully alive.
Becoming an Extremist might be the most important thing you ever do.