“The death fear of the ego is lessened by the killing, the sacrifice, of the other; through the death of the other, one buys oneself free from the penalty of dying.” – Otto Rank, Will Therapy and Reality (1936)
Following the collapse of Syria’s Bashar al Assad’s regime, jihadi terror groups are being refashioned in the Middle East. Though there are evident and significant differences between these groups, all share a single overriding objective. This common goal is not geopolitical advantage or national self-determination, but “power over death.” Whatever else differentiates jihadi terror group ideologies and tactics from one another, all Islamist groups seek personal redemption through “sacred violence.”
