“Satyagraha thrives on oppression till at last the oppressor is tired of it and the object of satyagraha is gained.” ~ Gandhi, Mahatma 6, p.2

One of the words for nonviolence in Arabic is sumud, “patience, determination.” In Latin America, where there have been—and still are—many popular movements against injustice, this same principle was discovered and named firmeza permanente, or enduring determination. It rests on the great principle that in the end, evil has no independent existence. The Sanskrit word sat which means “good,” also means “real,” that which is. Human nature, no matter how distorted by conditioning, will always respond to this truth in the end, and so the satyagrahi can and often must, as Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “wear you out with our ability to endure suffering.”

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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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