Ask Metta

From Metta Mandir: Part 2 Last time we touched on what can be considered the most important single action an individual — any individual — can take to begin to restore a sane direction to our culture, which we regard, in turn, as the most important project to restore a sane direction to humanity. We… read more

From Metta Mandir: Part 1 There are parts of the Bhagavad Gita that I take literally, and among them two verses from Ch. Four stand out at any time, but particularly one like this: “Whenever dharma declines, and unrighteousness swells forth, I incarnate myself from age to age . . .” If there was ever… read more

Toward the end of last month, Stephanie Van Hook and Michael Nagler participated in The Shift Network‘s Politics of Love & Justice Summit, which was a free online event integrating spirituality and activism. Over the course of a few days, 25 of the world’s most visionary spiritual leaders convened online and shared their wisdom, offering… read more

Topic: Questions on Gandhian economics, constructive program and peace and conflict studies course wrap-up. Video: Audio: http://archives.mettacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/pacs-8.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS… read more

Question: Hello I am in search of a K-8 non-violence/diversity education curriculum that can be incorporated into my school district. Can you recommend anything, or do you know of any organizations that offer grants to schools that want to incorporate this kind of curriculum? Any information you have would be appreciated. thank you Christine Answer:… read more

Question: Dear Metta, I thought to share a news paper article with you about the *Palestine Papers*, that I think you won’t read in the US. I’m not sure if the suggestion that it’s the PA who leaked the documents is likely or true, but I do agree that: “the Palestine Papers prove that this… read more

Question: As a peace activist in the Catholic Church I’ve been having an ongoing talk with a number of my nonviolent colleagues and we’ve begun to be somewhat critical of the stance of religious institutions towards gays and lesbians. Since I usually only look at nonviolent literature from a Christian perspective, I was wondering what… read more

Question: I hope that you’ll allow me a serious question about non-violence. A friend of mine is committed to your perspective. Here is my question: “Do you advocate local, state, or national police personnel carrying and using weapons? If not, why not? If so, when & how? Does weapon use contradict maintaining a perspective of… read more

Question: Every month I meet as a member of a gathering of two Catholic communities, one progressive and one conservative, who come together on a Sunday to discuss important social issues. We call this “Justice Sunday.” The issues discussed in the past include the Death Penalty, the Palestine-Israel conflict, Immigration, and aspects of US foreign… read more

Question: I teach high school history and want to present the downfall of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) regime in 1989 as the result of nonviolent action (Professor Nagler talked about this in one of the Berkeley podcasts). My question: Do you know if the people who started the peaceful demonstrations in Leipzig were consciously… read more