“I feel, too, that our progress towards the goal will be in exact proportion to the purity of our means.” ~ Gandhi, “Amrita Bazar Patrika,” September 17, 1933 Here’s where people might balk at Gandhi, call him a “purist” and then reject everything he has ever said about nonviolence. I’m not exaggerating, I’ve heard the… read more
Posts by Stephanie Van Hook
Strategy: Daily Metta
“The clearest possible definition of the goal and its appreciation would fail to take us there if we do not know and utilize the means of achieving it.” ~ Gandhi, “Amrita Bazar Patrika,” September 17, 1933 From a strategist’s perspective, Gandhi emphasizes that “how” we achieve our goals needs to be as clear as “what”… read more
Let It Go: Daily Metta
“I am used to misrepresentation all of my life. It is the lot of every public worker.” ~ Gandhi, Young India, May 27, 1926, p. 193 Here Gandhi offers us a warning and a lesson: misrepresentation is going to happen, especially when an ordinary human being attempts to harness the power of nonviolence in the… read more
Common Core: Daily Metta
“The rays of the sun are many through refraction. But they have the same source.” ~ Gandhi, Young India, December 3, 1925, p. 422 One of the root causes of violence in our world is the belief that we are separate, material objects. We see the multiplicity, but not the unity behind our diversity. Gandhi… read more
Relationships: Daily Metta
“It is to me a matter of perennial satisfaction that I retain generally the affection and trust of those whose principles and policies I oppose.” ~ Gandhi, Young India, March 17, 1927, p. 82 Nonviolence is a supreme art, and here, Gandhi points to a hard-won skill: opposing someone without damaging the relationship. Indeed, in… read more
The Time for Silence is Over
Grasping the Reality of Nonviolence The Background: With a rainbow pin on his lapel, signifying–on that day at least–the most recent gun massacre in the United States, Congressman John Lewis made an impassioned cri de coeur before members of Congress and the people of this country: the time for silence is over. “Sometimes,” he said,… read more
Priceless Worth: Daily Metta
“Towards the end of my second year in England I came across two Theosophists, brothers, and both unmarried. They talked to me about the Gita.” ~ Gandhi, Autobiography, p. 67 The Gita, which was as a “mother’s milk” to Gandhi for his adult life, was not something that he drew upon as a child. It… read more
No Disadvantage: Daily Metta
“I must say that, beyond occasionally exposing me to laughter, my constitutional shyness has been no disadvantage whatever.” ~ Gandhi, Autobiography, p. 62. If you have ever stood before a group of strangers and been unable to speak; or sat in a group of colleagues, listening intently but not sure about how to get a… read more
Inward Relish: Daily Metta
“These difficulties were only passing, for the strict observance of the vow produced an inward relish distinctly more healthy, delicate and permanent.” ~ Gandhi, Autobiography, p. 57 When Gandhi went to England to study law, his mother, who some believe was his spiritual teacher, asked him to take three vows: to abstain from women, alcohol… read more
Daily Metta Conference Call (Hope Tank)
When Michael Nagler told a young friend that he was going to start a new think tank, he thought she’d be very impressed. Instead, she looked at him squarely and said, “We don’t need another think tank. We need a hope tank.” So we began hosting Hope Tanks, a gathering of friends seeking to deepen their… read more
