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5 The Struggles Against Totalitarianism

Totalitarianism is government without choice. Typically a self-defined elite excites the fanatical devotion of a few to force a belief system on the many. It would seem the antithesis of meritocracy since it inherently awards privileges and power on the basis of birthright, religion, ethnicity, or political orientation. During the last century several forms of totalitarianism including royalty, fascism, and communism were successfully discredited and hopefully sent to the trash heaps of history. WWI ushered in the final days of regimes based on birthright or royalty, and WWII brought death to the racist tyranny of Nazi fascism. And then Communism collapsed due to its inherent conflict with the reality of human nature, which made it inescapably vulnerable to bureaucratic corruption and incapable of sustaining itself in the face of external competition.

We now face a struggle against a fourth type of totalitarianism that may prove to be an even greater challenge -- religious fanaticism. At one time, it was part of the glue that kept tribes together in the face of external challenges and contributed to our evolutionary success. Common religious beliefs also provided a behavioral template facilitating group cohesiveness and synergism. However, times have changed, and what benignly contributed to our success early in our history has evolved into various shades of totalitarian thinking that has fed the fires of world violence and become a major impedance to the effective application of human intelligence. Religion, almost by definition, is conservative and resists change. Belief systems generally are fixed. Thus, when knowledge and science challenge these systems, they are perceived as the enemies. And with the increasing spread of technologically driven change occurring around the world, the passion of reactionary religious backlash burns with increasing fervency.

Fanaticism has many forms and has infected religious belief systems the world over. The roots of this lie deeply embedded in our psychic biology and the struggle to neutralize its effects will likely be long and costly. It could be greatly worsened if those in submission to this visceral calling are able to access and deploy increasingly lethal weapons at the many points where modern societies are vulnerable to catastrophic damage. The inherent advantages open societies have in effectively using and developing technology and unleashing the vast reservoirs of human intelligence and creativity will most likely eventually overwhelm the tyranny of fanaticism. It is a struggle in which reason must eventually prevail. The alternative is systemic collapse and times reminiscent of the Dark Ages under rule of the despots of deceit exerting a totalitarian control over the human spirit.

The drives that make us vulnerable to fanaticism are deeply rooted, and the interests that feed on this vulnerability are deeply vested. They will strongly and passionately resist change. Only self-knowledge and the principles that flow from it will offer the sustenance for the intellectual perseverance we will need to overcome this threat to our harmonious coexistence with each other and our natural environment. We must control the inner demons that impede our search for truth in balance with the world around us.