July 29: “It must be taken for granted, that when civil disobedience is started, my arrest is a certainty. It is, therefore, necessary to consider what should be done when the event takes place.” –Gandhi (Young India, February 27, 1930) While preparing months in advance for the great Salt March, Gandhi asked those in the… read more
Posts by Stephanie Van Hook
“No greed, no armaments”–Daily Metta
July 28: “If there were no greed, there would be no need of armaments.” —Gandhi (The Mind of Mahatma Gandhi) The Buid (pronounced BOO-id), an indigenous people living in the Philippine Islands, are often cited as one of those remarkable societies who have lived peaceably with the benefit of some nonviolent aspects woven into their… read more
“Looking beyond our successes”–Daily Metta
July 27 “There is a law of nature that a thing can be retained by the same means by which it has been acquired.” –Gandhi (Satyagraha in South Africa) Some have the impression that once nonviolence has done what they consider to be its work, they can return to using violence to uphold their victory.… read more
“True Friendship”–Daily Metta
July 26: “True friendship is an identity of souls rarely to be found in this world.” –Gandhi (Autobiography) Friendship is a word that is often recklessly tossed around. The implication of Gandhi’s vision, however, is that there can be no friendship without nonviolence. There can be bonding; we bond with one another sometimes in violent… read more
“Nonviolence running through us”–Daily Metta
July 25: “The silent cry goes out daily to help me to remove these weaknesses and imperfections of mine.” –Gandhi (Harijan, June 22, 1935) Nonviolence is like a current of electricity. In order for this power to work at its full capacity, we have to let it pass through us, without getting in its way,… read more
“We need to do this ourselves”–Daily Metta
July 24: “I have not conceived of my mission to be that of a knight-errant wandering everywhere to help people out of difficult situations.” –Gandhi (Harijan, June 28, 1942) Nonviolence has little or nothing to do with other people solving our problems for us. It is about learning to address them on our own. A… read more
“The head works with the heart”–Daily Metta
July 23: “People who believe in the simple truths I have laid down can only propagate them by living them.” –Gandhi (Mahatma, vol. IV) Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could learn–I mean really learn– about love by reading Shakespeare, instead of getting your heart broken, and living through the pain of loving someone who… read more
“Consequences of our acts”–Daily Metta
July 22: “It is wrong to seek to escape the consequences of one’s acts.” –Gandhi (The Diary of Mahadev Desai) The world of advertising tries to lure us into the mindset that consequences–be they spiritual, psychological or physical–are problems to be solved, instead of lessons to be learned. If you overeat and get a stomachache,… read more
“Nonviolence to overcome terror”–Daily Metta
July 21: “The spirit of democracy cannot be established in the midst of terrorism, whether governmental or popular.” –Gandhi (Young India, February 23, 1921) Stride Toward Freedom recounts an amazing event toward the end of the African American Freedom Struggle of the 1960s. The Ku Klux Klan tried to regain its power over a community… read more
“Making progress, understanding conflict”–Daily Metta
July 20: “Men generally hesitate to make a beginning if they feel that the objective cannot be had in its entirely. Such an attitude of mind is in reality a bar to progress.” –Gandhi (Harijan, August 25, 1940) There are a lot of misconceptions about nonviolence running rampant out in the world, but one of… read more
