“Non-violence, being the mightiest force in the world, and also the most elusive in its working, demands the greatest exercise of faith.” ~ Gandhi, Mahatma 5, p. 17

In the words of Augustine and later Fathers of the Church, credo ut intellegam, “I believe in order to understand.” This technique has been criticized as conducive to blind belief, but what it really means, and what Gandhiji means here, is that in some subjects, notable “elusive” ones like nonviolence (or God), we need to suspend our conditioned disbelief provisionally to really see the operation of the principle. When you have seen nonviolence succeed time and again—which presupposes you know what to look for!—your belief in the principle becomes grounded in observation and personal experience.

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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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