“The hardest heart and the grossest ignorance must disappear before the rising sun of suffering without anger and without malice.” ~Gandhi, from Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, XXVI, p. 159

Where to begin with this seminal declaration. Let’s start with the core. This is the essential dynamic, or the magic, if you will, of nonviolence, that because of the ineradicable connection among us human beings, deny it as we might, when I go through the struggle of mastering my fear and/or anger which has arisen in response to your harsh attitude, that very energy (the fear or anger) is shunted into the channel of creative love—to which you cannot but respond, on some level (more on that later). Nor is this confined to a one-on-one interaction. Remember Toynbee: “He (Gandhi) made it impossible for us to go on ruling India, but he made it possible for us to leave without rancor and without humiliation.”

Thoughts? Please add your take in the comments below.

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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