“All religions teach that two opposing forces act upon us and the human endeavor consists in a series of eternal rejections and acceptances.”  ~ Gandhi, Mahatma, Vol. 2:45

In Judaism these two forces were called yetsir ra and yetsir tov, “the evil urge and the urge to good;” St. Augustine called them “two loves” (amores) that are creating two social orders, the “City of Man” and the “City of God.” It is our eternal capacity and privilege to choose the latter over the former at every moment. Needless to say, Gandhi’s words for, and ways of looking at them, were violence and nonviolence. Our eternal struggle in life is to see clearly which is which and to choose accordingly. Once we become aware of that, boredom goes out, meaninglessness is a thing of the past.

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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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