...And we have killed God
Dr Asangba Tzudir
The moral context of Naga society today which finds embroiled in a crisis aptly reflects Nietzsche’s most hilarious yet thought provoking statement which appeared in The Gay Science – “God is dead... God remains dead and we have killed God.” The context relates to a significant change in culture, science and philosophy where the enlightenment, industrial revolution and Darwin’s theory of evolution challenged traditional religious beliefs, and which symbolized the decline of traditional Christianity’s influence and authority in European society. Though, Nietzsche was not signing the death certificate of the Christian God, rather the death of moral authority having failed to acknowledge and follow, and thus undermined the source of moral authority.
Thus, Nietzsche’s statement signalled the loss of truth and values that comes to define humanity where traditional morality had lost its credibility, where the emphasis on science and reason eroded faith thereby religious explanations to phenomena were ignored, and where the existential focus shifted from spiritual to the material. In a condition where truth lies dead, we have only exposed the devouring vacuum of nihilism and which began right in the Garden of Eden questioning and undermining the moral authority of God. Thus began the questioning of propositional truths and fusing one’s own meaning into the statement. That is how mankind started playing God and began to define truth in their own convenience and terms. The reader then became the author and postmodernism was born with the deconstruction of truth.
Naga society also suffers from a similar truth syndrome where God remains dead because we have killed God, and which is very true for every sphere of Naga society starting from religion. It begs the question – What kind of modernity is Nagaland getting attuned to? Dimapur and neighbouring districts is in a process of seemingly unending growth of shopping malls, major clothing brands and food outlets having penetrated into the city giving a transformative outlook. The cultural past and the identity markers, and the value based truths are getting reduced to debris having gotten mangled with the so called postmodern. The all pervasive social media has promoted a kind of revivalism. From local to global, food is no more simply a means to satisfy hunger but a way to keep one entertained. Fundamental religious principles, beliefs and worship have also taken a u-turn according to one’s own convenience and definition. Once upon a time, very early in the morning, the Church pastor after the pronouncement of the holy vows as husband and wife would be followed by a cup of tea in bamboo cups and a piece of the ‘S’ shaped cookies or kata biscuit. Today, the transforming effects of modernity have resulted in big, fat celebrity weddings with ‘fashionable food,’ and the whole idea of the wedding, the holy vows and the meaning of being a witness to the vows have taken a paradigmatic shift from the truth towards the material display.
Call it a hybrid or a re-mix unlike the pure soulful music of the 80s, which today comes loaded with techno-jarring effects that one cannot differentiate whether it is music or a mad man screaming, having lost the nostalgic musical content. Naga culture has also undergone tremendous change thereby producing a hybrid identity. This re-mix is an interesting metaphor of our times and within the newly crowned authorship we continue to strip the truth and thereby it’s moral authority. Today, the remix coupled with the no morality and no truth proposition has created a very untidy yet a very dangerous modern. Once God is killed, the death of God has some very profound consequences. Without divine guidance or God as a source of moral authority, morality will be relative giving rise to a chaotic situation, and life and living will become pointless without the divine authority.
(Dr Asangba Tzudir writes guest editorials for The Morung Express. Comments can be mailed to asangtz@gmail.com)
