When rage hijacks sanity

K Rajeshwar Sharma *

If 'April is the cruelest month' to TS Elliot, for Kukis and Meiteis, May is the month of mourning. It is the month when rage hijacked every semblance of sanity and rationality. On the third and fourth of May 2023, rage reigned supreme in Manipur.

It is the most powerful emotion that springs from the seat of emotions called amygdala which is 'an almond-shaped cluster of interconnected structures perched above the brainstem, near the bottom of the limbic ring.'

Like Genghis Khan, the symbol of violence and ruthlessness, rage and revenge in the guise of the two communities ran amok on these two fateful days leaving a trail of lifeless bodies, burnt houses and charred cars that lay strewn across the streets of Imphal and Churachandpur.

Like the ruthless Mongols of the 13th century, villages were burnt down, temples were torched, and Churches were reduced to cinders rendering thousands homeless. More than seventy innocent lives were snuffed out in a short span of time.

Rage, thy name is violence and destruction. One may wonder why humans are born with such a powerful destructive emotion. Mother Nature is not here on this planet for its own sake. There is a purpose of every living being that belongs to Mother Nature.

There are plants to provide food to humans and animals as well. So are there leaves to produce food for themselves. In order to enable them to survive in the ever changing environment, they are endowed with certain features and characteristics to evolve.

As for instance, humans or Homo sapiens are gifted with brains that evolved and grew from the brainstem to think. Amygdalas, the seat of emotions or passions, are not only for love and sorrow, but they are also for survival to have progeny. Had there been no amygdala, life would have been very dull. There would be no love or sorrow. Nor would there be any anger or rage that adds a flavor to the drama of life.

Rage is one of the most powerful emotions. It has its own unique purpose. Imagine a person is attacked with violent actions. As an immediate reaction to the attack, he would either retaliate swiftly or run away as fast as he could.

Daniel Goleman, a renowned psychologist, said, "Automatic reactions of this sort have become etched in our nervous system, evolutionary biologists presume, because for a long and crucial period in human prehistory they made the difference between survival and death."

When a person is attacked, amygdala comes into play. It triggers anger or fear in the person that causes his blood to flow either to his hands or to his legs. It is said that anger causes the blood of a person to flow to his hands that make him pick up a weapon to retaliate. When a person is gripped with fear, it causes his blood to flow to his legs that make him shake or run away immediately from the danger for his survival.

In the absence of emotions of fear and anger, no man would run away at the sight of a cobra or kill it. At the sight of a lion or a tiger, fear makes a deer run away to survive. When a cobra or a snake is disturbed, it feels threatened and angry and it is likely to bite or attack in order to survive. It sends out warning signal by hissing.

The instinct for survival is awakened by amygdala and it comes into play when danger is encountered. So is the case with humans. When they are in danger or attacked, humans like any other animal or reptile, feel threatened and angry or scared, so they are compelled to run away or retaliate so that they should survive. Rage and fear are the two fundamental emotions that Mother Nature has gifted us for survival so that there should be progeny.

Unfortunately Manipur has been witnessing two of its communities being gripped by fear and rage for the past few weeks. The thinking brain or neocortex of the people was overpowered by these two powerful emotions when violence began on the 3rd of May 2023. No man of the highest rationality could ever resist the towering inferno of rage and fear.

There was hardly a moment to give a chance to sanity. In his book Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman writes, "The hijacking occurs in an instant, triggering this reaction crucial moments before the neocortex, the thinking brain, has had a chance to glimpse fully what is happening, let alone decide if it is a good idea. The hallmark of such a hijack is that once the moment passes, those so possessed have the sense of not knowing what came over them."

Subsequently arson after arson took place beyond the imagination of the people. The inevitable results are losses of innocent lives and properties which are worth more than crores of rupees. Thousands are made homeless and forced to seek shelters at relief-camps. With sporadic flare-ups, firefighting appears to be going on without having any idea what really caused the flare-ups.

A cacophony of indignant voices of the ruling BJP MLAs fill the front pages and make the headlines of the newspapers published in Imphal. In other words, there seems to be chaos in the Government. With the Internet being shut down on the pretext of stopping the spread of misinformation or rumours on social media which can be blocked selectively, people are being deprived of their right to expression and communication.

The failure to think rationally at the onslaught of fear and anger can be attributed to the lack of emotional intelligence among the people. It is the ability to recognize and control emotions and use them with the right degree at the right time and at the right place. But majority of the people fail to do so because of emotional illiteracy.

In The Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle writes, "Anyone can become angry - that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way this is not easy."

This is what Daniel Goleman calls "Aristotle's Challenge" It is up to the people of Manipur whether they should learn how to control and use their anger for the unity and integrity of their State.