Originally posted on 01/20/2011:

The men join because their lives are aimless. They are dissatisfied with their job, career, relationships, consumerist society,spiritual emptiness et al. They seek meaning and Pitt/Norton provide it with their scorched earth philosophy, which is exemplified by the primal ritual of fighting. By fighting they get the men to feel reality, one which is dulled constantly by outside forces. Basically, Pitt/Norton get them to feel themselves. Once they are passed that stage they bore down into the men via the training regiment/teachings and subsequently make them identify/focus on the things they want to accomplish before they die.

More broadly the philosophy aims to wipe the societal slate clean and wants to strive for the simplistic goals and pleasures that surviving entails. Barring that apocalyptic utopia, they want to wake the men up from the sleeping daze that is their lives, as I previously said before.

Whether you agree with this or not is up to you to decide.