Discussion of Janine Chasseguet-Smirgel's paper “Body and the world”

This discussion of Chasseguet-Smirgel's paper on “Body and the world” deals with her attempt to fathom the minds of terrorists from the works of creative authors who display character-traits which are similar to those assumed to exist in terrorists: the combination of violent sadism and suicidal ideas, the identification with Christ, and political and religious beliefs of an extremist nature. The role of the fathers and mothers in these men is highlighted, with the fathers experienced as weak and the mothers as dangerous and castrating, with oral components playing a significant role (biting, devouring, incorporating). Terrorists experience their suicide as a union with the divine, with the promise of eternal bliss in paradise.