Destroying the World to Save It: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism

Robert J. Lifton has dedicated his life to explaining the phenomenon of blind faith. However, to understand the Taliban world John Walker entered nine months ago one needs to add to the list of required reading, an eloquent memoir by someone not unlike the idealistic young Walker, Deborah Layton. Dr. Lifton and Layton's words together only broaden the scope of our possible comprehension of this difficult subject and make excellent reading for theologians and society at large.

Dr. Lifton's work gives us an excellent academic look into cult thinking. However, if you want to see how innocently these groups can start, if you want to understand the mind-frame of a believer, if you want to experience how it is that potent beliefs can skew one's morals then also include in your reading Seductive Poison. Anyone who has ever wondered how the unbelievable comes to pass Layton's memoir of cult life has the answers. Although three years old it remains a timely, intimate and enlightening look into a world that exists along-side our own. If you want a heart pounding visceral glimpse inside another world this book is it. It is not just evil that can do the things we've experienced since September 11. It can also be idealistic, devout folks like you and me. We are all more susceptible to fanatical beliefs since war has touched our soil. Would we now even question giving anthrax to "them"? Layton's work shows how it can go both ways.

Subjects like this are not always approached in the same way that someone might go to church, for example. An introduction to this book which depends entirely on a religious point of view might seem strange to the casual shopper, but it suggests the spirit in which this book might be brought into view with a certain humility.I used to go to church a lot because it provided an opportunity to think. I have also gone to hear the author of this book speak for the same reason, but with much deeper results, because Robert Jay Lifton, at the time of the 50th anniversary of the atomic attack on Hiroshima, was in a perfect position to accuse the American President who tried to explain the attack, Harry Truman, of confabulating when he combined the elements of the situation in a way which was not quite factual. My impression of Lifton at that time was that he was quite old, and not open to the perverse glee that a personal encounter with me might provide, so we didn't quite meet. Given the differences between us, it should be obvious that he has written a much better book on the topic of Apocalyptic Violence than I ever could, embracing a wealth of detail with relentless fascination. Early in the book, on page 16, typical psychological judgments are considered insignificant, as Freud's association with the resolution of the Oedipus complex is compared to the possibility of a guru who can face a real "call to greatness, and a series of ordeals and trials culminating in heroic achievement." Religious greatness can surpass the usual psychological norm when it is possible to demonstrate "the hero's achievement of special knowledge of, or mastery over, death, which can in turn enhance the life of his people." Most of this book reports on terrible events, including the creation of weapons. The guru who is the subject of this book was born in 1955, and the events are quite recent. I see no reason to dispute that the people involved were thinking in the manner that is reported in this book. Some readers might consider this excessively factual, but people with books ought to be able to get real like this once in a while, too.