“Western civilization may or may not be good, but Westerners wish to stick to it… They have shed rivers of blood for its sake… It is therefore too late for them now to chalk out a new path for themselves.” ~ Gandhi, Satyagraha in South Africa, p. 84.

If it seemed “too late” in this declaration that Gandhi puts in the mouth of Europeans in 1925, it seems long overdue to many of us today! The latter’s logic is an example of what the famed peace researcher Kenneth Boulding called the “sacrifice trap:” we feel that if we’d put effort into something we “can’t” let it go, even if it turned out to be a mistake. The argument was used to keep us in Vietnam and many a disastrous war or other situation.

Interesting, also, how early Gandhi realized that his struggle went far beyond the political liberation of India. It was nothing less than a “clash of civilizations;” but not of people or countries, about fundamental ideas like materialism vs. spirituality; superiority vs. unity and diversity.

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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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