“(Religion) is not a thing that is alien to us, but which has to be evolved out of us.” ~ Gandhi, Ashram Observances in Action, p. 76 By “religion” Gandhi here does not mean what you can gain by “reading the scriptures,” he explains, but a “heart-awareness” of the divine in things and people—and ourselves!… read more
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Love: Daily Metta
“Love is not love which asks for a return.” ~ Gandhi, CWMG XIV, p. 402 Whether or not Gandhiji is paraphrasing Shakespeare here (“Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds,” Sonnet 116), the rhetoric is common to these experts on love—for such Gandhi and Shakespeare were—precisely because there is so much misunderstanding… read more
Truly Human: Daily Metta
“Fortunately for humanity non-violence pervades human life and is observed by men [and women] without special effort. If we had not borne with one another, mankind would have been destroyed long ago Ahimsa would thus appear to be the law of life, but we are thus far not entitled to any credit for observing it.”… read more
Acts of Service: Daily Metta
“Ahimsa must express itself through acts of service of the masses.” ~ Gandhi, Mahatma, vol. 8., p. 81 Among other ways. But it seems that today, no less than in the India still impoverished by colonial exploitation in Gandhi’s day, fiendish systems of exploitation force a billion people worldwide into dire and unnecessary poverty. Of… read more
Action vs. Program: Daily Metta Weekend Video!
In this Daily Metta, Michael Nagler discusses the spinning wheel movement in India and distinguishes constructive action from what is known as “constructive program.” Learn more at www.mettacenter.org 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… read more
Empire: Daily Metta
“…the British people will have to beware that, if they do not want to do justice, it will be the bounded duty of every Indian to destroy the Empire.” ~ Gandhi, Young India, 1919-1922 (New York, Huebsch, 1924), p. 846 If we were tempted still to regard nonviolence as something shy and retiring, we can… read more
Blow-forward: Daily Metta
“Thus the lynching ultimately proved to be a blessing for me, that is, for the cause. It enhanced the prestige of the Indian community in South Africa, made my work easier, and the experience prepared me for the practice of Satyagraha.” ~ Gandhi, My Early Life 1869-1914, Mahadev Desai, Ed. (Oxford, 1949) “Blowback” is a… read more
Stealth Action: Daily Metta
“[Unless we] rid ourselves of our dirty habits and have improved latrines, swaraj can have no value for us.” ~ Gandhi, Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol.14, pp. 56-58 A well-known and highly unfortunate aspect of prejudice against a given group is that the group itself tends to take on the low opinion of it… read more
Unity, the Goal: Daily Metta
“Nonviolence does not signify that man must not fight against the enemy, [meaning] the evil which men do, not human beings themselves.” ~ Gandhi, Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 8, p. 281 This is a core principle of nonviolence and Gandhi repeated it often (as we have seen). On more than one occasion he… read more
Gandhi’s Basics on Constructive Program: Daily Metta Weekend Video
In this video, Michael Nagler offers some key ideas related to Gandhi’s method of using constructive means for dismantling the British rule in India. How can we apply these ideas today? Listen for more! About Daily Metta Stephanie Van Hook, the Metta Center’s executive director, launched Daily Metta in 2015 as a way to share… read more
