“Power that comes from service faithfully rendered ennobles. Power that is sought in the name of service and can only be obtained by a majority of votes is a delusion and a snare to be avoided.” ~ Gandhi, Young India, September 11, 1924, p. 301
All human beings—dare I say, all living beings—need power, a sense of control over their own choices and life; freedom to express their nature. Gandhi wants us to understand that the one and only path to this kind of natural fulfillment is through service. Such a path to power, he maintains, ennobles. But then he warns us: to think that we can grasp power through majority votes is only a semblance of what we are looking for. It won’t nourish us, and even, as it seems he is suggesting, degrades us as human beings.
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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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By: Stephanie Van Hook
Stephanie Van Hook is Executive Director of the Metta Center for Nonviolence.
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A suggestion for consideration: “There is no human institution but has its dangers. The greater the institution the greater the chances of abuse. Democracy is a great institution and therefore it is liable to be greatly abused. The remedy, therefore, is not avoidance of democracy but reduction of possibility of abuse to a minimum.” [Young India, May 7, 1931] Citizens should take responsibility. There is a spiritual tradition associated with democracy associated with among others the Anabaptists and the Quakers. I suspect this tradition may be stronger in your country than mine, where pragmatism rules – thanks William James. And where democratically elected local government can be amalgamated on the saving money.