“’I am alone, how can I reach seven hundred thousand villages?’ This is the argument pride whispers to us. Start with the faith that if you fix yourself up in one single village and succeed, the rest will follow.” ~ Gandhi, Young India, June 17, 1926 Here Gandhi is giving the country’s idealistic students a… read more
Posts by Prof. Michael Nagler
Faith in a Time of Shock & Sorrow
“If you lose,” the Dalai Lama once said, “don’t lose the lesson.” What is the lesson we must try to learn from this devastating election setback? First that the anger, prejudice, and self-centeredness in this country is more widespread and deeper than we wanted to imagine. Second, that in the days to come we will… read more
Unity of Life: Daily Metta
“Leave the outward expression, the doctrine, the dogma and the form and behold the unity and oneness of spirit. . .Then there will be no need to divide this universe of ours between heaven and hell, no need to divide fellow-beings into virtuous and vicious, the eternally damned and the eternally saved.” ~ Gandhi, Young… read more
Justice: Daily Metta
“Justice should become cheap and expeditious. Today it is the luxury of the rich and the joy of the gambler.” ~ Gandhi, Mahatma, v. 4., p. 182 Sigh. It has been a long “today.” Here the lawyer, Gandhi, is citing an important example of a general rule that Socrates adduced nearly 2500 years ago (it’s… read more
Instinctive: Daily Metta
“I see there is an instinctive horror of killing living beings under any circumstances whatever.” ~ Gandhi, Young India, November 18, 1926 This is one of many insights of Gandhi’s on which science has now weighed in. I am thinking of the work of Lt. Col. Dave Grossman (On Killing, and Let’s stop teaching our… read more
Arts of Love: Daily Metta
“Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment, and the other by arts of love.” ~ Gandhi, Young India, January 8, 1925 Kenneth Boulding, a founder of modern peace research, called these respectively “threat power” and “integrative power,” and (economist that he was) identified a third that was between these… read more
Power of Love: Daily Metta
“Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent than the one derived from fear of punishment. . . . I am fascinated by the law of love. It is the philosophers’ stone for me.” ~ Gandhi, Young India, January 8, 1925 Discovering, and thoroughly testing the “power of love,” gave Gandhi’s… read more
War: Daily Metta
“War … has got to go. I firmly believe that freedom won through bloodshed or fraud is no freedom.” ~ Gandhi, Young India, September 13, 1928 Wherever we turn in Gandhi’s writings or his life, the law that “means are ends in the making” greets us. If only we could grasp the simple idea that… read more
Reason & Heart: Daily Metta
“Both reason and heart refuse to reconcile themselves to torture for any crime, no matter how vile the crime may be.” ~ Gandhi, Young India, February 26, 19256 There are certain human universals to which we can never afford to lose our sensitivity (as has recently happened in the post-9/11 policy of this country). The… read more
Fine Line: Daily Metta
“Fasting cannot be undertaken against an opponent. Fasting can be resorted to only against one’s nearest and dearest, and that solely for his or her good.” ~ Gandhi, Young India, September 30th, 1926 Gandhi recurred to the topic of fasting from time to time because it is subtle, and powerful. When you fast—we’re thinking particularly… read more
