“The first step in nonviolence”–Daily Metta

October 24:

“The very first step in nonviolence is that we cultivate in our daily life, as between ourselves, truthfulness, humility, tolerance, and loving kindness.”

–Gandhi (Harijan, April 2, 1938)

Nonviolence: in the minds of most people, it means either “being nice” or doing protests, direct action (no matter what the cause or the sentiments or intentions behind the actions). To call either of these nonviolence is to limit, even misunderstand it. Gandhi, if you look closely, showed us that nonviolence was an active force that extended itself progressively outward, from the self to the society to the world. Being nice, or as Martin Luther King put it, following the rules of basic courtesy to one’s friends as well as opponents, is a part of the picture, but in no way should we stop there. It’s just, as Gandhi said, “the very first step.” Similarly, protest can be important when it is timed correctly and done in the right spirit — without hatred toward persons.

Think about any issue that you care about deeply. An issue for which you desire to see progress on the world stage. Can we really separate it from the personal, from the first step Gandhi talks about? Can we separate restorative paths for ending violence in our world without coming to terms with our need to care for one another? Can we go beyond prisons and punishment if we can’t, as individuals, handle the demands that truth makes of us?

Gandhi was strategic, systematic, scientific, even. Step by step, he laid out the experiment. Number 1: “Work on it daily.” It’s as basic a requirement as heating the water for a cup of tea. . . And then it’s for us to imagine: what might Gandhi suggest as a next step? When the first step is done right, we’ve a much better vision of the next. And as Thoreau says, ‘‘what’s done well is done forever.”

Experiment in Nonviolence:

Combine this first step today with a big picture vision of the world you want to live in.