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There is a certain madness that strikes the human species from time to time, and its presence has been strongly evident since Sept. 11. 

It is a delusion born out of a combination of two fixed ideas: One, a dream of a perfect, pure society – usually a return to an imagined golden age of the past. Two, a conviction that a specific group of “others” stands in the way of achieving that ideal. Out of this, a simple and powerful fantasy is constructed: the drama of the final solution. Eliminate the group that stands in the way, and the pure land will be attained. 

Adolf Hitler, not so long ago, persuaded a civilized, modern country to follow him in acting out that kind of a political fantasy. That time the dream was the creation of a pure and powerful Aryan nation, rooted in the eternal verities of blood and soil. Those standing in the way were of course the Jews and other minorities, such as Gypsies and homosexuals. We know what form the final solution took, and how much death and destruction and suffering resulted as the drama played itself out. 

This time Americans witnessed another kind of massacre, in the flames, dust and death in New York City. The players were different, the actions and the results were different, but the underlying psychological dynamic was strikingly similar. This time the fantasized pure society is an uncorrupted Islam, of a sort that has never existed in reality – untainted by secularism, deviance, inner dissent or foreign influence. 

The obstacle in the way of its achievement is America and, to a lesser extent, Israel. 

That kind of madness has spurred countless religious wars, but it can as easily fuel a more secular fantasy of “ethnic cleansing,” as happened recently in Serbia. It has a powerful appeal to human minds – especially in turbulent and confusing times – because it is clear and simple. It resolves our uncertainties and tells us what must be done. 

And at this point we should ask ourselves if we are immune to it. It would be easy to believe that we are. After all, America was instrumental in ending the Nazi nightmare, took on ethnic cleansing in Serbia and is now doing battle against the pure-land fantasies of Osama bin Laden. So it might seem to follow that we are the good guys – and the sane guys – ever on guard against such political pathologies. But it’s not that simple. 

In the current time of drawing together against such malevolence, we walk always on the edge of becoming its mirror image. We are tempted by the fantasy of a pure America, a safe and secure homeland that existed once and can be brought into being again, providing the evil Others can be eliminated. Listen to the lyrics of “America the Beautiful,” the song that seems to have caught the spirit of the times. The words are lovely and moving, but they also invite us to fantasize an America that never was – a land of gleaming alabaster cities, undimmed by human tears. A pure land that we might find again if only we could stamp out the Other: eliminate bin Laden, Al Qaida, all terrorism everywhere. 

But of course we can’t do that, any more than the terrorists can achieve their angry dream – and for the same reason: The world has not gotten kinder or wiser, but it has gotten smaller, and we are all stuck with one another – fundamentalist and secularist, East and West, North and South, rich and poor. 

For the first time in human history, we all live in the whole world. It may be a world full of hate, but it is more connected now than it has ever been, and it will be more connected next year than it is today. It is wrapped together by communications systems, economic activities, political relations, personal ties, and – although this seems to have slipped the media’s mind for the past few weeks – problems without 

boundaries such as AIDS and the threat of climate change. 

This confusing, mobile and hyperlinked world allows many different ways for people to live, but it has no space for pure lands. 

And there are many ways we can deal with the problems it presents – but we can expect no final solutions. 

PNS associate editor Walter Truett Anderson is the author of “The Future of the Self” (Tarcher Putnam, 1997) and “Evolution Isn’t What It Used To Be” (W.H. Freeman 1996).