Consciousness

At the core of a peoples existence is its collective consciousness. As a people, Nagas too need to consciously and deliberately take the task to recover, nurture, nourish and evoke a consciousness and perception that is an alternative to the present status quo. The Naga consciousness should be a call for self-realization and re-examination of ourselves, our value systems, our culture, our worldviews, our faith and our future as peoples. It should bring to public expression those hopes and yearnings that have been denied for so long and suppressed so deeply, that we no longer know that they exist.  

As Walter Brueggemann would say, “hope is the refusal to accept the reading of reality which is the majority opinion; and one does that only at great political and existential risk.” Hence, a people’s consciousness must be in response to the imperative need to inculcate a spirit of independence. It must grasp the notion of who we are and our readiness to assume responsibilities that emerges out of this realization, for we cannot be conscious and yet remain in bondage. It is essential that the attainment of the envisioned collective self is a free and dignified self. Naga consciousness must empower to overcome dependency and exclusivity.  

Where do we go from here? Our thoughts, behaviors and institutions are made to fit into a pattern largely to sustain the status quo. Our imagination, originality and forms of thoughts have been dulled to the point where it takes extreme effort to act with reason even in order to follow one’s own beliefs and convictions. This has limited creativity and damaged our ability to act with will, generating a feeling of powerlessness which Steve Biko says “breeds a race of beggars who smile at the enemy and swears at him in the sanctity of their toilets.”  

Nagas, we need to ask ourselves whether we are serious about making change. Are we prepared to free ourselves from the chains of bondage that has made us stop thinking? And so how does one address all the questions that define ones existence? Is it therefore not essential to become a living element in that popular yearning which is entirely calling forth for the freeing, the progress and the happiness of the Naga people?  

The Naga consciousness is therefore necessary so that it leads us to understanding; an understanding which is the understanding of differences. Nagas are in need of a dialogue that appeals not out of our realities and experiences alone, but elicits our imagination and aspirations. Our consciousness needs to develop hope and belief in human security where we neither compromise our history, nor become prisoners of the past.