Back	Bellinoia - warlike fanaticism

Bellinoia - warlike fanaticism inspired by fear

Bellinoia is a form of consciousness. Those in the grip of Bellinoia have been roused into action by a terrible threat. Their whole being is orientated to counter this threat. They have an unshakeable belief in the rightness of their cause. They band up with others of similar belief. Those who challenge their thinking are intolerable to them and become a target of their frenzy. (MZ)

Hellenist author Vlassis G. Rassias writes:

"Fear in turn is based on ignorance and the delusion of a nonexistent selfish individuality (e.g. individual soul) that deceives us into believing that we are allegedly cut off from the Universe, its processes and essence, isolated and alienated from the whole.
The heterophobic individual or collective feels "threatened" by unknown situations, or unknown people. Racial hatred, religious intolerance and all kinds of unprovoked attacks stem from this sense of threat.
Whoever is afraid, fatally ends up extracting fear.
Rulers use religions that propagate fear as well as consciousness shaping mass media to increase distrust, the sense of weakness, and the fear of the governed.
Fanaticism also results from the fear of the fanatic of perhaps being wrong. The fanatic is destined to spasmodically defend an (usually not existing) identity, and to worship that identity in an almost fetishist manner.
The fanatic tries to convince himself that what he believes is right under the impression that the more people believe the same thing, the more apt it is to be right.
The fanatic is haunted by a missionary spirit, by a spirit of proselytism.
Tolerance presupposes a good knowledge of the cosmic and human things, and trust in Being. Only a strong orientation to the True Being (Ontos On) and the recognition of the sanctity of nature (either through Greek philosophy and humanism or through a sound polytheistic religiosity) can strengthen the boundaries of each person's tolerance of others and of life itself."

Excerpts from "Notes on Fear and Fearlessness" by Hellenist author Vlassis G. Rassias

Comments:

U: Beautiful, but... sometimes there are threats from other tribes or nations. What is one to do when an army is marching towards them? The army marching does not believe in oneness

MZ: An enlightened person can act to prevent harmful things happening - but they treat the wrongdoers as human beings and take the action that results in least harm overall.However given that most people are not enlightened then well-directed Bellinoia in them can be acceptable. Where Bellinoia is based on an accurate assessment of the dangers of a situation then it can be a beneficial thing - although it brings rough and ready justice. The worst case is where Bellinoia is based on deluded ideas about what is actually a threat and innocent and positively beneficial people are attacked.

U:Is it something bad or good?

MZ: It can be either. It depends on whether people have an accurate picture of the situation - i.e. whether the people they see as the enemy really are doing something bad.However any form of Bellinoia has the potential to turn ugly as people are not thinking calmly. So enlightened people would try not to get caught up in Bellinoia - and remember that their opponents are human beings and that there could be different ways of understanding what is happening.

U: I agree. Nature at all levels of existence appears to be striving continuously to establish a viable balance of sameness and difference and a dynamic, creative, and cohesive coordination of its heterogeneous elements (Asha), a mode or a way for all things to work together. One’s instinctive sense of this cosmic order abiding across the fullness of time (Zurvan) and one’s natural awareness of the “many-ness” of divine powers (Yazatas) within that fullness seems to lend itself to rational tolerance.

U: Tolerance is overrated. And what does it mean? Does it mean you can tolerate something as long as it doesn't happen in your neighborhood or that you would let it move into your house? If you mean that you should recognize that everyone and everything has its own legitimate place in the universe, then yes. That's obviously true. If they didn't, they would self-destruct. But the question isn't whether they have legitimacy, it's whether they are in the right place at the right time. Is the relationship right? If it's not, why tolerate it? Intolerance is nature's way of protecting boundaries—like the membrane of a cell. There are rejection mechanisms everywhere in nature. Without them, nothing could live. So why should we, the most complex organisms ever, just open up and tolerate everyone, regardless of whether they are a predator or a saint? Unless, of course, that by tolerance you mean that they have a right to exist. The only question then is whether they live in their house or yours.

U: yes, some forms of tolerance are rational and others irrational. This has to be determined contextually.

MZ: I tend to emphasise respect as a value. It is good to be able to respect that each person is the person they are with the nature that they have. This applies to everybody including yourself. In some sense this is a kind of toleration. However where someone's behaviour causes a clash because they are not respecting the nature of others (or you) then intervening action should be taken. Of course a person's nature includes an ability to change and grow so it is not that you should never challenge anyone.