“The only thing that separates us from the brute, with which we have so much in common, is the ability to distinguish between right and wrong.” ~ Gandhi, Mahatma vol. 4, 158

And, we might add, the ability to choose between them once distinguished. Not that we always find it easy to exercise that critical ability! We can take this statement along with another that Gandhi unhesitatingly made: that what distinguishes us from other animals (“the brute”) is the law of our being in contrast to theirs: nonviolence. Nonviolence, in other words, is the ultimate right—as the scriptures put it, the highest dharma. Therefore to the extent that we can be careful to cultivate that critical ability to choose it, we become truly human. Our present culture, most decisively delivered to us in our mass media, is therefore a seriously dehumanizing force; and we do well to guard ourselves against it.

It may also be worth mentioning how in the last 20 or so years behavioral scientists, especially the brilliant Dutch primatologist Frans de Waal, have systematically stripped us of every other distinction we so proudly ascribed to ourselves from the “lower” creation. Our animal forebears have empathy, the ability to plan, and even make sacrifices for others—everything except the ability to choose nonviolence as a matter of principle.

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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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