March 18:

“If any action of mine claimed to be spiritual is proved to be unpractical, it must be pronounced to be a failure. I do believe that the most spiritual act is the most practical act in the true sense of the term.”

–Gandhi (Harijan, 7-1-1939, p. 181)

Seeking the practical is always a key path for Gandhi, and here he shows that the dichotomy between ‘spiritual’ and ‘practical’ that most of us believe in (suffer from?) is perfectly false — just as, for him and some other visionaries, there was no distinction between the ‘right’ (moral) choice and the most effective or practical choice.  And why he called himself, inspiringly, a “practical idealist.”

To marry, as Gandhi did, the practical with the spiritual, our first task is to consider what needs a situation is presenting; and from that discernment, experiment in thought, word and deed to create a force for harmony to bear on them. Planting trees where they are needed: that is one example of the practical marrying the spiritual; but what about nonviolent resistance in a world that is overwhelmed by violent structures and behaviors? In this regard, we might consider the practice of nonviolence to be one of the most compelling examples of our time for the union of the spiritual and practical: to be spiritual without addressing the violence in the world would be, as Gandhi would say, “an utter failure” because it is simply not practical for our situation.  This is why at Metta we often say that nonviolence is the ‘bridge between spiritual development and social change.’

Experiment in Nonviolence:

Starting with something small, and reasonably safe, do what seems to you the spiritual/moral thing to do even though it might seem ‘impractical’.  Track the results (bearing in mind the principle of “work” vs. work).

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.