Some one asked me once, puzzled, as to why some religious Pashtoons considered Secularism a major threat to them and how they could not see that it would not only suit the less religious but they themselves could practice their individual peculiarities more freely by avoiding sectarian conflict with other faithful in such a state. I used to be puzzled by this myself. Then it started to make sense. They are actually not any different than you and I.
In the end it’s about activation of what is called the fear response. An automatic reaction in the brain that produces involuntary reaction we all call fear. The precipitating stimulus if happening at the moment is fear and when anticipated, in the future, is considered anxiety, both through the same mechanism.
Now fear and anxiety are powerful moderators of behavior. Since the day we are born we map the environment for this and soon find mechanisms to subdue these emotional responses.
This then becomes habits, if large number of people do it, it becomes a ritual (not all rituals are for this purpose some can be for pure joy). Each cultures unique environment generates its own patterns of fear and anxiety.
We start with our own mothers, those early pangs of anxiety melts in her arms, But a women herself traumatized with war and misfortune can only transmit her own fears and anxieties and the child see a perpetual tussle of its rise and subsequent dissipation through - dhamm, daroodh, dhwaa, thaweez, khatam and such. So when his own turn comes he has a well tested remedy in hand.
It would be all fine if this was all that happened. But things soon get out of control. People see that fear and anxiety is a major force in human condition and its mastery can bring power and prestige. Wheelers and dealers have manipulated both ends of the equation. Both generation of fear and anxiety and its subsequent relief are trillion dollar industries even today.
Why does a pashtoon go to a mullah, a murshad, bends towards kaaba, or in extreme cases blows himself up. Mostly to calm the pain and suffering of the fear response. The mullah created world view of fear and more fear, of a God , all powerful, all conquering but one that will skin you alive and roast you in molten lava if a is not equal to b, and b has to be equal to c, and d and f should not mix with e, and if x, y and z occur together than you have to slaughter l and m so on.
But then this lava has a potion that protects the skin from burning, from eternal pain, he will guide you and you will follow for you have a fully activated and outside controlled fear response, running rampart in your amygdyla. Your internal brain circuitry powerless to calm it down, for they were never allowed to develop, you must rely on these wheelers and dealers for your own calibration.
Now some fortunate can develop their forebrain functions that can calm anxiety and fear through internal mechanisms (well described and not so hard to do). To them this game is so backward. They live in a world where dangers are real and have real solutions, solutions and problems they can see, touch, feel, explore, quantify, analyze, not those based on random descriptions of random story tellers. They get afraid as well but then they search in areas in avenues they know will lead to solutions. Solutions that calm the same circuitry.
Then what is the difference. Well one leads to the pursuit of the imaginary (ookhrawi mameelath{dealing with akhirath}, fantasies like harry potter and other fairy tales including Bedouin fairy tales) the outcome a person having tremendous intellect and effort spend in an imaginary world. Only good if you subscribe to his imagination, of no good to others(thus the zeolot persistence on their way, e.g. mullah Omar).
The other one in pursuit of the obvious (dunyawi mameelath, science, non-fiction) even if he be of lesser intellect and if he works only one day in his life will leave something here, in this world for his fellow humans to feel, see and appreciate. Something far more than left after a lifetime in the pursuit of the imaginary.
Secularism makes sense if you are the second type, for wheelers and dealers in imaginary pursuits it is a game changer, a society tilt in the other direction, an unacceptable nuisance and a major hurdle.
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