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Shillong Revival |
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Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place |
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The Revival - It’s Social Perspective |
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By Toki Blah A Spiritual turmoil of sorts is currently sweeping the Khasi and Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya. Children and juveniles appear to be most susceptible to this phenomenon. Individuals speak of deep and ecstatic experiences with God through the Holy Spirit; some prophesise ;and strange, unnatural and unexplainable events manifest themselves for the benefit of believers and the community as a whole. It is a phenomenon called Revival and it literally means a call from God to humans to review, redeem and transform their ties with humanity and with the Almighty himself. People of the cloth are usually called upon to interpret the symptoms of revival and in so doing, are also expected to administer counsel and guidance to individuals so affected. In the process however there are those who remain untouched by the spirit of revivalism. There are those who yearn to be so touched but who continue to yearn in vain. There are those who remain skeptic of the whole business and who outright reject the whole issue as an outrageous religious fraud perpetrated on a credulous and gullible public. The whole episode is pooh-poohed as mass hysteria of indolent students out to pull their teacher's leg. Then there are some like me who are as interested and as keen to know and understand in greater depth an event so closely associated with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. There is general acceptance that scientific education and discipline are totally at odds with the manifestations of a Revival. Science and rationale thinking demand proof before acceptance of any theory, claim or dogma. Most of us educated and brought up on the above doctrine are conditioned and constrained in our thinking by the corporeal limits of length, breath and depth. These are the three dimensions that limit our understanding of the World we live in . The concept of a fourth dimension and beyond , that has yet to prove its existence , is impervious to that part of our mind that is tempered by modern logic and science. A fourth dimension is just not acceptable since its existence has not been scientifically established. But strangely, as people so conditioned by a modern scientific regime , we do perplexingly love to indulge in the unrestrained escapades of an untamed imagination. The intangible products of the mind be it dreams , visions, creative imagination or unsubstantiated thoughts are allowed to roam unrestricted in our day to day lives . The uncontrolled part of the mind continues to be totally unimpressed with the credentials of our educational upbringing. It is also still a mystery how we happily embrace the notion of eternity when none of us , past or present , believers or non believers , educated or not , have the least inkling of what constitute eternity. It is accepted none the less . To top it all, mortals who have a beginning ( the moment they are conceived) and an end ( death , which epitomises mortality), and who therefore strictly exist within a given time frame, speak and enthusiastically embrace the theory of an Eternal Universe that has no beginning and no end but which is the source of life as we know it today. God too is eternal and has no beginning and no end. He too is the creator of life. The issue here is of dimensions beyond a humanly perceptible third dimension . The paradox of compatibility between scientific proof and religious faith ! The eternal equation between man and his creator. Cleansing society The Church claims that the current Revival is Gods answer to the need for cleansing society of its sins. Irrespective of our religious beliefs, all agree that what Meghalayan society urgently needs is a transformation. There is need to rise up from the sordid ashes of despair we find ourselves in today. We are culturally, socially, politically and economically at an -all -time low. As a community we never had it so bad! There is need for introspection to pinpoint where we erred as a state and a community. Thirty five years of statehood and we realise that we have lost the most precious asset and resource we had - the basic social values we inherited from our forefathers. Khasis themselves now search in vain for the legendary egalitarian Khasi- Pnar society we so fondly boast about. It is nowhere to be found. We lost it somewhere along the way and replaced it with a system that endorses and upholds the systematic suppression of the poor and the weak. Where are the age old traditional democratic practices of the Hynniewtrep society that produced generations of upright selfless community leaders ? In its stead we have managed to produce self centered political leaders who have no compunctions of stealing from and looting the assets of their own people. In Meghalaya only 10 paise from every rupee reaches the beneficiary, the rest is gobbled up by a corrupt political leadership ably fed by a sycophantic bureaucracy. The people of the state have for long yearned a change for the better. The Bible states that when adults fail, the truth will emerge out of the mouth of "babes and sucklings" - Psalms 8:1-2. This Revival it appears has chosen children to voice the concerns of this generation. Please listen carefully, lest it be the voice of despair of those who see their future being bartered away ! A spiritual movement Does God ever intercede on behalf of a beleaguered and oppressed mankind? At the cost of being laughed at and ridiculed, I strongly believe that the Revival is God's response to the cries of the poor and oppressed . That he has chosen to voice it through children makes it all the more pragmatic. I also believe it to be a spiritual movement with the immense potential of transforming the social fabric of the society it touches. I would like to interpret it as a call for reviving the basic and fundamental values of Meghalayan society. It is only through such a revival of its lost values that Meghalaya can find hope for its future generations. We must rediscover values in social interaction; values in economic empowerment and in Governance , rediscover values of true leadership. For the Church, it is a call for a revival of the Core Values of Christ, but a Spiritual awakening cannot take place in isolation. There will be a Social impact and the Church must be prepared to spearhead this Social revolution. It is a responsibility it cannot abdicate. There is need for the Church to champion social justice, in deeds not only in words! It must now campaign aggressively for the interest of the poor, the weak and the marginalized. It must speak out against corruption, nepotism and not spare those who indulge in it , irrespective of how powerful they may be . Silence on this score will tantamount to suppressing the flames of the Revival. The Church must condemn injustice, violence, intolerance, bigotry and racial prejudice wherever and whenever it is found and practiced. The Revival must be accepted for what it is- a Back to Basics call for retrieval of the fundamentals of good social and spiritual values that were lost somewhere along the way. In conclusion one can say that the social transformation so desperately needed today must take root in Meghalayan Society itself. Let us not be so glib with clichés like "mass hysteria" " religious frenzy" etc, but make use of this opportunity to revamp our social shortcomings. God helps those who help themselves and our society must start searching for the building blocks that will once again redeem our self-esteem in ourselves. We must develop the humility of listening to our inner voices, be it on an individual, collective, social or political basis. Self-righteousness has no place in the revived value system we are looking for. As a society we must once again built up the moral courage of not only recognizing a wrong but of collectively condemning such a wrong whenever it occurs. Meghalaya and its people can no longer afford the luxury of Chief Ministers , Ministers and civil servants who treat the state as their personal fiefdom. We need to come up with a system of Social Ostracism for those who perpetuate nepotism in public offices. The Church has taken credit for initiating the present Revival. It now has the onus of providing guidance and direction for the social and spiritual transformation that Meghalaya cries for. Social empowerment through the introduction of the Core Values mentioned above is the need of the hour. The Church together with Society have their job cut out for them. The hope is that they will take the challenge to its logical conclusion.
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Appeared in Shillong Times |