Crusading only against the Devil in others.

Niketu Iralu. There’s a better way than this surest way to hell for all. The choice before the Nagas has become brutally stark - stop the ongoing project of building hell on earth and open the right highway for the present and coming generations to walk on to the future. Or the terrible alternative, namely, to complete the hellish joint project by pointing out only where others are wrong which we are all doing so brilliantly. The project is a joint one because before God and conscience, no faction, tribe, party or leader is blameless. To open the right highway no individual, faction, party or group can do it alone. The right highway will need everyone to play his/her honest role – the role of destiny – which the deepest voice of conscience within us, ignored thus far, will quietly, clearly show. The heading of this piece is from Aldous Huxley’s famous observation: “Those who crusade, not for God in themselves, but against the Devil in others, do not succeed in making the world better.” As I understand it, crusading for God in myself means being simply honest and transparent first about my mistakes, wrongs and failures that I myself regret deep down, and be ready to put them right, or start to do so, before I say anything about the mistakes, wrongs and failures of others, which is “crusading against the Devil in others.” There is truly more in this insight than we think. Making a very sharp point about being truthful, Huxley goes on to assert: “It is indeed extremely dangerous to be more against the Devil than for God.” Jesus threw light on the truth in Huxley’s observation in the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery who was brought to him by the Pharisees and the crowd they had attracted. The laws of the Jews said the woman had to be stoned to death. They asked what Jesus’ position on this was. He looked at them and saw through them. Saying anything was not going to help them. He helped them to listen to what their own conscience and soul was telling them right at that point. Saying nothing at all which must have been disconcerting, he bent down and wrote on the ground with his finger. He created time and space for them to become truthful because that was what everyone needed just then. When they asked him again what he had to say, we all know what he said –“If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground, creating again the opportunity for them to do the right honest thing. “At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.” Jesus asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, sir”. “Neither do I condemn you” declared Jesus. “Go and leave your life of sin.” He didn’t say “neither do I condemn you. Go and continue to live and think as you have done so far because after all society and others are to blame for all the less than responsible things you do which you can’t help, poor you.” The challenge to her was equally sharp. That moment was an exquisite moment of the kingdom of God on earth as it must be in heaven. Justice and peace restored on the basis of unquestionable truthfulness, mercy, understanding and compassion. Have we, “Underground” and “Over ground”, not been standing before Jesus for some time now, and Jesus, writing on the ground, has been helping us to hear what our conscience and soul is saying to us? Bold, farsighted, statesman/woman-like leadership or the opposite leadership to joint suicide will come from the voice of self or the voice of God our leaders will choose to obey. At this time that is the only choice. And make no mistake history’s judgement is never manipulated by anyone no matter how clever or stubborn. The easiest and most tempting and irresponsible option is to go on harping on where the other side is wrong. But there is no future in this. There is always truth in all accusations because we are all sinners and rascals. But accusations are always partial truths and dangerous because others are provoked to do likewise which simply paralyses society and produces stagnation and all-round bankruptcy. On that day in December in 2001, in the Kohima football ground, when the Naga Reconciliation Process was launched, all the Naga tribes’ presidents or representatives present read out a joint Pledge. In that Pledge was this: “We are prepared to go beyond seeing only where others have hurt us to seeing where we too may have provoked them to hurt us, so that forgiving and being forgiven will become possible”. A road map to gradual reconciliation that could bring Nagas together to work out a common consensus for a negotiated settlement was proclaimed that day, and ignored soon thereafter. If we can bring ourselves to revisit that road map and reconsider what needs to change in all of us to take the next steps forward, God may intervene and guide us to the right solution at this critical juncture.