“Proof is within”–Daily Metta

November 24:

“There come to us moments in life when about some things we need no proof from without.”

–Gandhi (The Leader, December 25, 1916)

Have you had a moment in your life where you knew you were heading in the right direction, even if around you there was chaos and confusion? My guess is that all of us have had a moment like this, but it’s something that we rarely talk about, or report in the daily news, because it’s outside of our popular frame of reference. It seems “out there.” Though in reality, it’s not “out” anywhere. It’s inside of us.

Here’s Gandhi’s full statement:

There come to us moments in life when about some things we need no proof from without. A little voice within us tells us, ‘You are on the right track, move neither to your left nor right, but keep to the straight and narrow way.’

Nonviolence fits this description. Think about it: when we offer nonviolence, we sometimes have no outward reason to do so. We can even justify a violent response. Perhaps people around you are all encouraging you to respond in kind; yet we still refrain and offer dignity to the other party. That act, its motivation, comes from within. Similarly, someone offered nonviolence doesn’t seem to respond outwardly. You don’t see a change in them. Yet you are not convinced to give it up. You know that inwardly, within yourself and that person, something is taking place.

It’s because we have such a narrow view of who we are that we tend to ignore what goes on within us. We can change that by expanding our definition of who we are as human beings. As mind, body and spirit, we are privy to a greater knowledge of the workings of the great law of love, as Gandhi called it.

Experiment in Nonviolence:
Describe to someone the experience you had when you knew you were on the right track even though you had no outward confirmation.