“This government of ours is armed to the teeth to meet and check forces of violence. It possesses nothing to check the mighty forces of nonviolence.” ~ Gandhi, Young India, February, 1921 Nonviolence, when we maintain it in the face of repression and provocation, can be called freedom-in-action because we realize our highest freedom by… read more
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Truth Prevails: Daily Metta
“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… read more
Basic Dynamic: Daily Metta
“When a body of men disown the state under which they had hitherto lived, they nearly establish their own government.” ~ Gandhi, Young India, November 10, 1921 Nonviolence is the supreme law of life, is a well-known phrase from the Vedic scriptures. Gandhi must be drawing on it here to emphasize that nonviolence is very… read more
Nonviolence is for everyone: Daily Metta Weekend Video!
Who gets to use nonviolence? Everyone. Including those in positions of “worldly authority.” Michael Nagler discusses this sometimes controversial issue from the standpoint of the dynamics of nonviolence and relates it to Gandhi’s ability to “point nonviolence in any direction.” In other words, it defies social constructions and points toward our common humanity. Please add… read more
Basic Dynamic: Daily Metta
“When a body of men disown the state under which they had hitherto lived, they nearly establish their own government.” ~ Gandhi, Young India, November 10, 1921 Nonviolence is the supreme law of life, is a well-known phrase from the Vedic scriptures. Gandhi must be drawing on it here to emphasize that nonviolence is very… read more
Logic of Love: Daily Metta
“If we had not adhered to this principle, instead of winning, we would not only have lost all along the line, but also forfeited the sympathy which had been enlisted in our favor.” ~ Gandhi, Satyagraha in South Africa, p. 192 Gandhi is here talking about one of his cherished principles in satyagraha struggles, “no… read more
Practical Idealism: Daily Metta
“I am not a visionary. I claim to be a practical idealist.” ~ Gandhi, Young India, August 21, 1920 Idealism is a beautiful state of mind, a vision of possibility of what could be. But it can be naive and even destructive if it is not coupled with the means for putting it into practice.… read more
Law of Progression: Daily Metta
“My experience has taught me that the law of progression applies to every righteous struggle. But in the case of Satyagraha it amounts to an axiom.” ~ Gandhi, Satyagraha in South Africa, p. 19 In the course of his eight-year “experiment” with the development of satyagraha in South Africa (1908-1916) Gandhi discovered two laws. This… read more
Matchless Weapon: Daily Metta
“If one takes to Satyagraha without having measured his own strength and afterwards sustains a defeat, he not only disgraces himself (or herself) but also brings the matchless weapon of Satyagraha into disrepute.” ~ Gandhi, Satyagraha in South Africa, p. 188 One of the reasons it has taken so long for nonviolence to be understood,… read more
Diversity of Tactics: Daily Metta
“I would use the most deadly weapons, if I believed that they would destroy it [the British Raj]. I refrain only because the use of such weapons would only perpetuate the system though it may destroy its present administrators.” ~ Gandhi, Young India, 17-3-1927, p. 85 It would be hard to think of a more… read more
