About Our Work

As a 501(c)3 organization, we provide educational resources on the safe and effective use of nonviolence, with the recognition that it’s not about putting the right person in power but awakening the right kind of power in people. We advance a higher image of humankind while empowering people to explore the question: How does nonviolence work, and how can I actively contribute to a happier, more peaceful society? The Metta Center for Nonviolence has special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council at the United Nations.

“Nonviolence is the greatest power at the disposal of humankind.”~ Gandhi

Our Mission

We encourage people in all walks of life to discover their innate capacity for nonviolence and to cultivate its power for the long-term transformation of themselves and the world, focusing on the root causes of dehumanization and ultimately all forms of violence. We aim to make the logic, history and yet-unexplored potential of nonviolence more accessible to activists and agents of cultural change (which ultimately includes all of us), thereby empowering effective, healing, and principled action around the world.

“Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.”
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Values & Vision

Our core values grow from the power that it is our privilege to explore—nonviolence: responsibility, human dignity, compassion, respect for all life.

We envision a world transformed by an awareness of the true potential of every human being, where all of life is sacred and where all our social systems work in harmony with the earth. We see a world in which conflict rarely occurs, and when it does, can always be addressed by the creative energy of nonviolence. In this world, unarmed peacekeeping has replaced military intervention, restorative justice has replaced retribution, and needs-based economies have replaced consumerism, among other essential changes.

In fulfillment of this vision, we uphold five propositions:

• Life is an interconnected whole of inestimable worth

• We cannot be fulfilled by an indefinite consumption of things, but by an expansion of our relationships

• We can never injure others without injuring ourselves, therefore:

• Security does not come from locking up “criminals” or defeating “enemies;” it can only come from rehabilitating offenders and turning enemies into friends

• We are body, mind, and spirit; the human body may be completely developed, but in terms of our consciousness, we can and must continue our evolution, which has no known limits.

“Wherever people gather for selfless ends, there is a vast augmentation of their individual capacities. Something wonderful, something momentous happens. An irresistible force begins to move, which, though we may not see it, is going to change our world.”
~ Eknath Easwaran

Join Us

Contribute to the furthering of a nonviolent world by studying nonviolence, donating to our programs and volunteering for the Metta Center for Nonviolence.