Mass suicide: Failure to cope with a culture of modernity

By Franz Magnis-Suseno SJ

JAKARTA (JP): The mass suicide in March of 39 members of a cult calling itself Heaven's Gate, coming only a few days after the discovery of a round of suicides by members of the Solar Temple cult, raises some important questions.

How can people, who made their living by doing sophisticated computer work, hold beliefs that defy even the most simple demands of rationality? How can people be caught in a world where the choice of killing oneself is executed calmly and confidently?

From what we know, they wanted to obtain a higher level of existence because they must have been deeply dissatisfied with the conditions on this planet. They didn't find anything on it that would make it worthwhile to go on living -- although they were, economically speaking, well off. Living on this planet did not give them enough meaning.

It is a central tenet of a modern, posttraditional society that the public realm abstains from prescribing meaning. Modern society has its values: happiness, security, freedom from want, decent living, freedom and democracy. But there is no overall world-view and no "officially" recognized horizon of meaning. In a posttraditional culture, world-views are a matter of private concern.

But below this stated neutrality, the culture of modernity has a totalitarian streak. Its entire reproduction runs smoothly only as long as nobody rebels against its two hidden principles: Do not get in the way of technological progress; and, You are only somebody if you are trendy, that is if you belong to the shopping crowd. An unending stream of advertisements condition people to feel guilty when they question progress or refuse to buy the latest fads offered.

But as overpowering as the system may be, many begin to feel its inner emptiness. Caught on a treadmill of obligations from the workplace and compulsive consumption, they realize that life should be more than that. They are looking for meaning.

We find meaning in many things; in travel, the arts, scientific exploits, in nature and cultural activities. The most important area where we search for meaning are personal relationships; relationships with a woman or a man, family life, the warmth of a circle of friends or the freshness of conversation with congenial acquaintances.

Only too often this search ends in disappointment. Personal relationships enter into crises or even break up. In order to handle such situations, we need a broader framework of meaning. Some have it, or find it again, in traditional religious faiths. But a growing number of people have long since cut lose from their ancient roots. They look for meaning in the marketplace of meanings.

Modern society is such a marketplace. Precisely because it relegates meaning to the private sector. There is an abundance of peddlers of meaning: old and new religions, doctrines, gurus, do- it-yourself kits, open opportunities and totalitarian sects. Sometimes it is a matter of luck where you end up.

The irrationality of a belief has nothing to do with the fact that it cannot be proved empirically. No belief is provable. The delusions of mental patients are often of an impressive internal logic. There is no way to prove that the feller who believes himself to be Napoleon is wrong (and how do we know that the Heaven's Gaters are not, at this very moment, circling the earth and looking for those who missed the ship three weeks ago?).

No, irrationality is not a question of lack of logic. It has something to do with the lack of gut feeling. It's your gut that tells you something is absolutely nonsense. But gut feelings develop through communication, problem-solving with others, common experiences and remembrances through shared narrations. Put somebody into total isolation and you can make him or her believe anything you want (as O'Brien in Orwell's 1984 was finally made to believe that Big Brother really loved him).

The same psychological mechanism can be observed with extreme political or religious radicalism. Cut off from normal "human" communication, they easily believe they are the only guardians of the truth, while the other 99 percent are wrong. And on this basis they then unleash a reign of terror.

Forced to go underground and keep out of contact, radical liberation movements can get completely out of touch with the real needs and hopes of the society they want to liberate. They only communicate with one another and thus reinforce their blindness toward reality.

Thus, back in the 1970s, the Bader-Meinhoff terrorist group from the German Federal Republic wanted to liberate oppressed masses that neither felt oppressed nor wanted to be liberated. Their illusions reached a tragic climax in their collective suicide. Instead of finally awakening to revolutionary awareness, people somewhat gratefully thought of the money this suicide saved them in taxes.

It must have been the same with Heaven's Gate. Like many such groups, they had cut almost all communications with outsiders. Efforts to attract more followers seem not to have been particularly successful, which probably only confirmed their beliefs (the prophet who is not believed by his insensitive environment is a popular figure).

They increasingly lived in their own world. No challenges forced them to reflect critically on their beliefs. They did not feel they belonged with us. In fact, they didn't feel at home on our earth. They did not, for instance, feel any urge to try to change something in their social environment.

Cut off from their collective roots and from communication with their more down-to-earth contemporaries, they did not dispose over collective pools of realism which could have kept them on the sane side of humanity. Only conversing with each other, like avid viewers of Star Trek and similar space-alien television series, they finally found their belief in UFOs completely normal. Thus, when Hale-Bopp closed in, they jumped eagerly and in peace.

It might be noted here that, as far as I know, none of the great religions ever allowed suicide. On the contrary, religions make people able to cope with life-crises and not to run away. They do not encourage people to make off in times of troubles. They make people compassionate and sow an urge in the heart of their best followers to change things in this world for the better; to feed the hungry, free the oppressed and bring the good news to the poor.

They preach continence and even allow celibacy for those feeling called but would never have condoned self-castration; you should make your sacrifice in a free and cheerful way. Their fundamental attitude to the world is positive. In other words, they had and have an instinctive sense of balance and positiveness, grounded in their deep belief that despite the terrible things happening all around us, love and salvation are the last word. Or so it should be.

But beware, religions have no reason at all to gloat. They are in trouble, too. And if some religious people would deny this, if they think they have all the answers, then they would be in really deep troubles. Like Jesus said to his Jewish compatriots who protested that they were not blind: "If you were blind, you were without sin. But now you say: we see, thus you are still in your sins."

The troubling question is: Why are so many leaving their religion? Why are so few of the meaning seekers turning to the old religions? Have the religions lost their aura? Are they so bogged down in dogmatic hairsplitting and hypocritical moralizing that they have lost their mission of spreading love and compassion? Have they become the refuge for both arrogance and narrow-mindedness?

Worse yet, in the sermons of some religious communities the world over, openness, understanding, compassion and tolerance are being displaced by hate messages. If sowing hatred and aggressiveness become the only way of building identity and shoring up religious enthusiasm, religions would indeed be on the way to self-destruction. The distorted faces of hatred and fanaticism will never be able to convey a message of hope, inner strength and joy to those on the outlook for meaning.

Where are the 39 Heaven's Gaters now, after having left their "containers"? Of course, we do not know. But I do have an idea. I don't believe that they are continuing time travel on a higher plane of existence. They are not on board a UFO (and probably feel quite relieved about this).

What I believe is that they finally met, as I believe we all shall do, the unfathomable personal mystery that called them, as it did us, into being and now sees them home. That their eyes are now wide open. That every single one of them realized in dazzling clarity, like in a flash, how wrong they were, how they missed (as we all do) essential opportunities to ease at least a bit the pains of fellow people and creatures, to bring a little joy and hope to some of their fellow human beings (the only thing which, I believe, gives real meaning to our life).

That they feel a bit ashamed about this. But that, nevertheless, they now are deeply happy and grateful because they know now that their shortcomings have already been outpaced by this loving and forgiving ground of their existence. They may realize that the love that called them into being in the first place never let them out of sight for a moment. Thus, they have indeed, not because of, but in spite of their irresponsible "switching of levels", arrived at the gates of heaven where, deep down, they always hoped to arrive.

It could be, couldn't it?

The writer is a Catholic priest and professor for social philosophy at Driyarkara School of Philosophy in Jakarta.