“I have sacrificed no principle to gain a political advantage.” ~ Gandhi, Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, p. 38

You can always count on Gandhi for words that will soothe and refresh. Imagine it: in the midst of political turmoil, he is able to profess that he refuses to sacrifice his principles to gain an advantage. It’s a sad commentary on the one hand: do we take it as the natural path of politics to be loose with our deepest values? And on the other hand, it’s a wonderful statement: he has an “advantage” precisely because he does not waver in his values. The principle is that whether or not people agree with us, and whether they can or want to articulate their feelings or not, when we hold onto our core principles we become stronger and more secure because those very ideals can guide us through moments when no direction seems inviting. When we begin to work at that level of principle, the public conversation immediately deepens. When a popular leader speaks to those principles, people listen.

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About Daily Metta

Stephanie Van Hook, the Metta Center’s executive director, launched Daily Metta in 2015 as a way to share Gandhi’s spiritual wisdom and experiments with nonviolence.

Our 2016 Daily Metta continues with Gandhi on weekdays. On weekends, we share videos that complement Michael Nagler’s award-winning book, The Search for a Nonviolent Future: A Promise of Peace for Ourselves, Our Families, and Our World. To help readers engage with the book more deeply, the Metta Center offers a free PDF study guide.

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