“Why haven’t I been learning about nonviolence my whole life? The more we learn about nonviolence, the more we can see opportunities to apply its principles in our daily lives.” –Metta intern, Mercedes Mack. On this episode of Peace Paradigm Radio, Michael Nagler shares exciting stories of nonviolence in the news. We talk to… read more
Posts by Stephanie Van Hook
“Increase the Good”–Daily Metta
March 23: “Ahimsa is the highest duty. Even if we cannot practice it in full, we must try to understand its spirit and refrain as far as humanly possible from violence.” –Gandhi (Mahatma, Vol. 7, p. 61) Ahimsa is often thought of as a negative concept: a-being a negation and -himsa, meaning harm (or, technically,… read more
“Service, Not Secrets”–Daily Metta
March 22: “My life has been an open book. I have no secrets and I encourage no secrets.” –Gandhi (Young India, 3-19, 1931, p. 43) Gandhi does not tell us not to have any secrets, whatever the cost to ourselves or the movement; rather, as with all his “experiments,” that he has done his… read more
“The power of anger”–Daily Metta
March 21: “I have learnt through bitter experience the one supreme lesson to conserve my anger, and as heat conserved is transmuted into energy, even so our anger controlled can be transmuted into a power which can move the world.” –Gandhi (Young India, 9-15-1920, p. 6) In a recent weekend workshop with the Metta… read more
“Not afraid to die”–Daily Metta
March 20: “I am not afraid to die in my mission, if that is to be my fate.” –Gandhi (Harijan, 4-27-1947, p. 127) Michael Nagler learned a lesson one day on campus at Berkeley when speaking before the military affairs class, he put the “escalation curve” model on the chalkboard. At the far end of… read more
“Life is an Endless Experiment”–Daily Metta
March 19: “Life is but an endless series of experiments.” —Gandhi (Young India 9-25-1924, p. 313) When we approach life in the spirit of nonviolence, we must do so in humility. It is a seeming impossible goal, yet the promise is that in striving and doing our level best, we can indeed move closer to… read more
“The Practical and the Spiritual”–Daily Metta
March 18: “If any action of mine claimed to be spiritual is proved to be unpractical, it must be pronounced to be a failure. I do believe that the most spiritual act is the most practical act in the true sense of the term.” –Gandhi (Harijan, 7-1-1939, p. 181) Seeking the practical is always… read more
“Making Heaven on Earth”–Daily Metta
March 17: “If we could erase the ‘I’s’ and ‘Mine’s’ from religion, politics, economics, etc., we shall soon be free and bring heaven upon earth.” –Gandhi (Young India, 9-3-1926, p. 336) “Succeed at all costs, and leave the rest in the dust.” What if we were to turn the current purpose of our mainstream… read more
“I have also erred”–Daily Metta
March 16: “Whenever I see an erring man, I say to myself I have also erred.” –Gandhi (Young India, 2-10-1927, p. 44) A common misperception people hold about our species is that we are irredeemable if we commit an offense, and that a person who makes a mistake deserves to be punished. In nonviolence, our… read more
“Honoring Gandhi”–Daily Metta
March 15: “The highest honor my friends can do me is to enforce in their own lives the programme that I stand for or to resist me with their utmost if they do not believe in it.” —Gandhi (Young India, 6-12-1924, p. 197) Many people felt that they were honoring Gandhi with the high spiritual… read more
