May 4:

“Those who know anything of this matchless force should teach their neighbors to bear repression not weakly and helplessly, but bravely and knowingly.”

–Gandhi (Harijan, 4-8-1939, p. 80)

How did you come to realize the potential of the “matchless force” of nonviolence? My mentor’s story is one of my favorites. If you can imagine it: there he was, sitting on his motorcycle in front of the bohemian cafe, Rienzi’s, in Greenwich Village (this is the late 1950s). In front of him there is a convertible, and the radio is tuned into a news program. They are broadcasting a civil rights rally from the South and Michael is listening with rapt attention. One protester, he hears, cries out, “They’re beating on us, why don’t we beat them?” And another person, leading the rally, calmly, powerfully responds, “Because that’s not who we are.” It was an awakening. Michael realized that nonviolence was much greater than he had ever imagined, and he looks to that insight as the launch of his lifelong search for the answer to the “question of questions”: what does nonviolence tell us about who we are?

Experiment in Nonviolence:

From whom did you first learn about nonviolence?

Daily Metta 2015, a service of the Metta Center for Nonviolence, is a daily reflection on the strategic and spiritual insights of Mahatma Gandhi in thought, word and deed. As Gandhi called his life an “experiment in truth,” we have included an experiment in nonviolence to accompany each Daily Metta. Check in every day for new inspiration. Each year will be dedicated to another wisdom teacher.