“Happiness has no exchange value. There’s no profit from it.” From Gandhi to Vinoba, by Lanzo del Vasto, p. 26

When advertisers offer us happiness in exchange for buying something, for ourselves or others, we would do well to remember Gandhi’s insight: there is no happiness outside of ourselves. Advertisers don’t really want us to be happy. Their job is to make us desire things whether we need them or not, so that we give them, and keep giving them, our money. Sure, with that kind of exchange we may find short-lived experiences of pleasure, but not what we are really after—lasting happiness, deep satisfaction. In a world of material exploitation, voluntary simplicity is a radical idea.

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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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