The Terrorist Avatar: what turns ‘normal’ human beings into ‘martyrs’ to a cause?

Roger will be exploring the phenomenon of ‘splitting’ which allows otherwise ‘normal’ and successful individuals to break the conventional social taboos which inhibit acts of barbaric cruelty and mass murder.

Once convinced they have a sacred mission, whether religious or secular, to fight evil in order to establish an ideal society, they enter a special state of mind often referred to as ‘fanatical’ which become impenetrable to outsiders.

This lecture will be illustrated by several cases of lone wolf and collective terrorism which appear nihilistic and random, yet disclose a symbolic deeper logic when considered from within the terrorist mindset.