“Nonviolent actors have to find the residual humanity in their opponent and awaken it.” In today’s Daily Metta, Michael analyzes a dramatic story that took place in El Salvador when a Canadian volunteer with Peace Brigades International risked her life and ended up saving herself and her friend. Add your comments below. About… read more
Posts by Stephanie Van Hook
War is Ruin: Daily Metta
“The author of the Mahabharata has not established the necessity of physical warfare; on the contrary he has proved its futility.” ~ Gandhi, The Gita According to Gandhi, p. 128 The Bhagavad Gita is a chapter out of the great Indian epic, the Mahabharata. Seemingly, it is a book about a great war; even the… read more
Rays of Hope: Daily Metta
“Even through the failures, we seem to see rays of hope.” ~ Gandhi, The Gita According to Gandhi, p. 126 Trying to put the Bhagavad Gita into practice is no easy task. It describes the height of human idealism and though we strive—and strive we must—reaching that ideal is terribly difficult. Gandhi pointed out that… read more
Living the Gita: Daily Metta
“It has been my endeavor, as also that of some companions, to reduce to practice the teachings of the Gita as I have understood it.” ~ Gandhi, The Gita According to Gandhi, p. 126 In Gandhi’s religious tradition, not just anyone offers a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita. Usually, this task is reserved for someone… read more
Nonviolence as Strength: Daily Metta
“Destruction is not the law of the humans.” ~ Gandhi, Harijan in July 20, 1931 If destruction were the law of humanity, we would not feel remorse or regret when we harm others. Our bodies would not respond to violence with pain and stress reactions but with oxytocin. But that isn’t the case. Why are… read more
Extending Love: Daily Metta
“It is no nonviolence if we merely love those who love us. It is nonviolence only when we love those who hate us.” ~ Gandhi in a letter dated December 31, 1931, from All Men Are Brothers, pg. 78 Nonviolence challenges us to cleanse our heart of all resentment, bitterness, and hatred. If we merely… read more
A Higher Happiness: Daily Metta
“The opinions I have formed and the conclusions I have arrived at are not final, I may change them tomorrow.” ~ Gandhi in Mahatma, Vol. IV, 1936 The Buddha once said, “when a person, clinging to a lower happiness, beholds a higher one, let him or her let go of the lower and hold onto the… read more
Realizing Power: Daily Metta
“No awakening is possible without the people at large realizing their power.” ~ Gandhi on June, 1917: Speeches and Writings of Mahatma Gandhi, Volume 4, p. 192 Until we become aware of our power, Gandhi tells us, we are not awake. We are moving about the world in an unconscious state, which creates the conditions… read more
The Light of Nonviolence: Daily Metta
“This force is to violence and therefore to all tyranny, all injustice, what light is to darkness.” ~ Gandhi, Indian Opinion, 1914 While certainly inspirational at first glance, we shouldn’t miss the sobering reality behind Gandhi’s assessment of the force of nonviolence: it exposes violence. Nonviolence is not a promise of a world free of… read more
Laws of Nature: Daily Metta
“A thing acquired by violence can be retained by violence alone, while one acquired by truth can be retained only by truth.” Gandhi had a keen eye for what he called “laws of nature,” and the quote above was one of them. Any achievement attained through violence—power over others, money, possessions—can only be kept through… read more
