ABSTRACT
Terrorist violence has increasingly become part and parcel of our daily life. Appreciating the fact that ideology is an intrinsic component of terrorism should considerably advance our understanding of terrorism as a social phenomenon and movement. “Terrorism” refers to the obliteration and disregard for the real needs and existence of the other. Western thinking typically maintains that the well-circumscribed, autonomous “Self” chooses and adopts an idea, and its choice is then vicariously or externally rationalised along utilitarian lines. An endless array of possibilities offered by the dominant culture, sub-culture, or counter-culture beckon to be taken up and form the nucleus around which one’s ego-ideal and identity coalesce. An additional component in understanding the mind of the terrorist, which links it to prejudice, is purity. It is an aspect of the Being dimension of mind, mental life, and existence.
