“Nature is relentless and will have full revenge for any such violation of her laws.” ~ Gandhi, Young India, March 12, 1925

Nature has its laws. Some we can see take effect immediately when they are violated, such as the pollution of a river; some remain unseen, such as selfishness and egotism (“nature,” you see, means a lot more than the environment outside). Though unseen, when we violate our natural state of unity with one another, driven by our conditioned belief in separateness, we can count on the law of our highest nature to push back. “Pay attention,” it says, “this is not who you are.” This is the basis of Gandhi’s vision of nonviolence—aligning ourselves with the power of a natural law. Our efforts are significantly weakened when we go about using nonviolence as merely a means to an end—that is, believing we are separate while trying to uplift a cause that arises from our unity. “Nature is relentless,” Gandhi says—so we have to be vigilant to honor nature’s highest laws in our thoughts, word, and deeds.

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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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