West Bengal, India - The Tribal Self Starves Its Own Rituals, Chilling a Tradition with Fear

Event Baseline: During preparations for Eid al-Adha, a cattle market in West Bengal, India, emptied out as communal tensions and political shifts disrupted a centuries-old tradition. The fear of violence and social fracture kept sellers and buyers away, undermining the religious celebration.

The self, identified with one ideological tribe, projects its fear onto the other. This mechanical projection transforms a sacred market into a zone of paralysis. The mind is trapped in a loop: it imagines the other as a threat, then condemns itself to isolation. The ritual of sacrifice becomes a sacrifice of community itself. This is the direct result of the division created by thought. Belief in separate identities—Hindu, Muslim—triggers a cascade of anxiety. The self seeks safety in withdrawal, but withdrawal is a form of death. Until this hallucination of separateness is seen, the human will continue to poison its own gatherings.