April 12 “The world today is moving towards the ideal of collective or co-operative effort in every department of life.” -Gandhi (Harijan, 2-5-1942, p. 39) Through her study of the microbial universe, evolution biologist and futurist Elisabet Sahtouris can speak to the human condition from a rather penetrating angle. Life, she maintains, has been discovering… read more
Posts by Stephanie Van Hook
“Real Lovers of God”–Daily Metta
April 11 “I decline to be bound by an interpretation [of a religion], however learned it may be, if it is repugnant to reason or moral sense.” –Gandhi (Young India, 10-6-1921, p. 317) Gandhi’s favorite hymn, “Vaishnava Jana To” or “The True Lover of God,” was composed by 15th century Gujarati poet-mystic, Narsinha Mehta. So… read more
“Humanizing our so-called enemy”–Daily Metta
April 10 “No man can look upon another as an enemy unless he first becomes his own enemy.” –Gandhi (Mahatma, Vol. 7, p. 204) In nonviolence, we don’t need to turn enemies into close, dear friends, but at least we can turn them into human beings. Such a transformation is not simply an ideal–it can… read more
“Non-cooperating with death”–Daily Metta
April 9 “Non-cooperation is not a hymn of hate.” –Gandhi (Mahatma, Vol. 2, p. 200) Whenever I think of an act of non-cooperation in its most potent form–that is, as the expression of love– I think of the Russian nun, Elizabeth Palenko, Maria Skobtsova, also known as “Mother Mary,” who was a member of the… read more
“Mutual Respect and Service”–Daily Metta
April 8: “My effort should never be to undermine another’s faith, but to make him a better follower of his own faith.” –Gandhi (Mahatma, Vol. 2, p. 343) Throughout Gandhi’s life, especially in the early days, many of his friends wanted to convert him to Christianity, thinking that Hinduism–his own religion–was inferior. For example,… read more
“Conversion not destruction”–Daily Metta
April 7: “I believe in the conversion of mankind, not its destruction.” –Gandhi (CWMG, Vol. XXV, p, 531) The prison system based on a retributive justice model is one of the most stark institutional examples of the need to change our vision of who we are as human beings. It destroys human dignity and self-respect,… read more
“Independence from the bottom up”–Daily Metta
April 6: “Independence must begin at the bottom.” –Gandhi (Harijan, 7-28-1946, p. 236) On April 6, 1930, the Great Salt March reached the shore in Dandi, 80, 000 marchers strong, to break the salt law in India, which stated that Indians did not have British permission to make salt from their own supply on… read more
“Duty of Bread Labor”–Daily Metta
April 5: “Return to the villages means a definite, voluntary recognition of the duty of bread labor, and all it connotes.” –Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, p. 201) Freedom, for Gandhi, always begins with basic needs. When we let our ability to meet our needs in community atrophy, we make ourselves vulnerable to those who… read more
“A New Kind of Think Tank”–Daily Metta
April 4: “The method of satyagraha requires that the satyagrahi should never lose hope, so long as there is the slightest ground for it.” –Gandhi ( Mahatma, Vol. 5, p. 235) When Michael Nagler told one of his young friends that he was going to start a new think tank on nonviolence, she responded… read more
“Essence of Nonviolence”–Daily Metta
April 3: “Exploitation is the essence of violence.” –Gandhi (1-20-1940, p. 423) At the root of exploitation is the worldview of separateness: that I can derive some kind of personal benefit by harming others. In nonviolence, we want to turn exploitation on its head, into the awareness that no one benefits when harm is offered… read more
