“It is nonviolent non-cooperation which evokes the highest spirit of self-sacrifice that will wean one from the error of one’s ways.” ~ Gandhi, CWMG xxv, 392

While Gandhi tended to use the religiously-tinged language of his day, we can render this usage into a more modern idiom and say that while we all have an instinct (though scientists no longer like that term) for self-preservation, we also have an instinct for self-sacrifice, for a higher good, and that the exercise of that latter drive or impulse is what enables us to grow spiritually. Gandhi also is implying here that even with the best of intentions we can always be in error, so we court danger when we try to defend our own through violence; we run no such danger as long as we try to do it through nonviolence. In a violent conflict, whoever is more violent prevails; but in a nonviolent conflict who or what prevails is truth. There is nothing like nonviolence for bringing out the truth of a situation.

Thanks for sharing a comment 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.

Enjoy more Daily Metta: See the  archives

Get Daily Metta by email: Subscribe