In this podcast, I review a couple of definitions of nonviolence to help facilitate conversations about it between grown-ups and children as they journey on the path of peace. Listen in here or by clicking on the audio box below. http://archives.mettacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Parent-Power-Nonviolence-Definition.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS… read more
Mahatma Gandhi was an ordinary child who sought to do something extraordinary with his life: he wanted to discover Truth. This book chronicles Gandhi’s inner and outer journey from childhood to the independence of India in twelve short stories, with beautiful watercolor and ink images of Gandhi and his family. For both children and grown-ups,… read more
“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” –Simone Weil Have you ever had a conversation with someone who was multitasking (including using a device)? What did it feel like? Did you feel like you were being heard? Did you feel a connection? Children in our lives want our full attention (and that way,… read more
“The spinning wheel enables us to identify ourselves with crores. The millionaires imagine that money can bring them anything in the world. But it is not so.” ~ Gandhi, Harijan, October 13, 1946 Money may buy us things, but it can never buy us love. Therefore, it can never satisfy us. The spinning wheel for… read more
“‘If you had hurt an Englishman,’ said Jan Smuts, ‘I would have shot you, even deported your people. As it is, I would have put you in prison and tried to subdue you and your people in every way. But how long can I go on like this when you do not retaliate?’” ~ Gandhi,… read more
“I may not harbor ill-will even against a Dyer. I regard ill-will as beneath the dignity of man.” ~ Gandhi, Young India, September 12, 1929 How often do we hear the insight that Gandhi is offering us? Ill-will, he maintains, is not worthy of human beings; yet the media and our culture generally are intent… read more
“And if we go deeply into the matter, we shall come across men in every walk of life who lead dedicated lives. No doubt these sacrificers obtain their livelihood by their work. But their livelihood is not their objective, but only a by-product of their vocation. . .” ~ Gandhi, From Yeravda Mandir, pp. 57-60… read more
“Formerly, when people wanted to fight with one another, they measured between them their bodily strength; now, it is possible to take away thousands of lives by one man working behind a gun from a hill. This is civilization. (. . .) This civilization is such that one has only to be patient and it… read more
“So is the capacity for civil disobedience acquired after one has disciplined oneself in complete and voluntary obedience of the laws of the land.” ~ Gandhi, Harijan, March 17, 1946 Civil disobedience is a conscious and strategic form of non-cooperation with an unjust law, followed in a civil and nonviolent manner. Gandhi contrasts it with… read more
“Satyagraha is a process of educating public opinion, such that it covers all the elements of society and in the end makes itself irresistible. Violence interrupts the process and prolongs the real revolution of the whole social structure.” ~ Gandhi, Harijan, March, 31, 1946 It was true for Gandhi’s time and it is true for… read more
