January 28

“A starving man thinks first of satisfying his hunger before anything else.”

-Gandhi (Young India, 3-18-1926)

At the basis of the Indian Freedom Struggle was the spinning wheel. It represented independence through grassroots employment and freedom from the dependence on the British to supply their basic need of cloth. Gandhi worked endlessly to demonstrate the power of the spinning wheel, having students and other volunteers give lessons on how to revive spinning in villages across India where people had been rendered dependent upon and therefore unable to effectively resist British exploitation.

While the spinning wheel had many virtues for Gandhi, it’s primary purpose was directly related to the most basic human necessities: a human being needs to be able to feed and clothe him or herself in dignity. This does not mean receiving food at the hands of a “benevolent benefactor” but righting the wrong that blocks access to meaningful, dignified work.  In his view, only once a person has been given meaningful and right employment to assuage their hunger, it is appropriate to talk to them about political movements or God. For him, the starving were not political problems to be solved; however, they were the solution. They were not in need of God, but as Jesus would say, they were God.

Experiment in Nonviolence:

Examine how dehumanization plays a role in allowing some people to go without food and other necessities in our own society. How can we address this problem in a way that moves beyond “charitable” handouts to a permanent solution with dignity for all?

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.