June 6:

“Nonviolence is not an easy thing to understand, still less to practice.”

–Gandhi (Young India, February 7, 1929)

If you are practicing nonviolence and finding it difficult, congratulations, you are doing something right! Nonviolence is challenging because it requires so much more of us than passivity or violence. When you have a gun in your hand, you don’t have to think about another way, you use it. But when you have nonviolence, you have creativity, intelligence and compassion, and you are asked to draw upon all of these in search of your solution. It makes us wiser, not to mention, the economy of it! As the great Dr. Bernard Lafayette said, “With nonviolence, as soon as you step out of the shower, you have everything you need.”

While nonviolence is as “old as the hills” as Gandhi noted, that it can be studied, developed and strategically applied is a relatively new concept in the history of human achievement. This is why the Metta Center for Nonviolence is dedicated to this one task– fleshing out, understanding, the dynamics of nonviolence so that all who wish to join this great experiment can do so more safely and more effectively.

Experiment in Nonviolence:

Nonviolence is hard, ceaseless and important work, so be sure to give yourself some time for a nap, even five minutes, say instead of checking email, watching TV or scrolling on social media.

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.