Tag Archives: daily metta

Making Nonviolent Energy WORK: Daily Metta WEEKEND Videos

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Nonviolence, from a scientific standpoint, can be understood as a type of energy. How do we recognize and harness this energy? To what effect? Michael Nagler explores these ideas.… read more

Renunciation: Daily Metta

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“If even one nation were unconditionally to perform the supreme act of renunciation, many of us would see in our lifetime visible peace established on earth.” ~ Gandhi, Harijan, Harijan, May 16, 1936 Instead of vying for who can have the most access to the finite resources of our planet, I couldn’t imagine a more… read more

Demonstrating Innocence: Daily Metta

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“A Satyagrahi  goes to prison, not to embarrass the authorities but to convert them by demonstrating to them his innocence.” ~ Gandhi, Harijan, November 5, 1938 “Jail, not bail,” was the cry of the student protesters during the Greensboro lunch counter sit-ins. It represents a turning point in any movement: a willingness of one or… read more

Pure Heart: Daily Metta

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“As a Satyagrahi I hold to the faith that all activity pursued with a pure heart is bound to bear fruit, whether or not such fruit is visible to us.” ~ Gandhi, Satyagraha in South Africa, p. 168 As followers of the Metta Center will immediately recognize, Gandhi is pointing here to the principle we… read more

Compromise: Daily Metta

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“Human life is a series of compromises, and it is not always easy to achieve in practice what one has found to be true in theory.” ~ Gandhi, Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, p. 39 The ability to compromise was one of Gandhi’s remarkable, if not baffling, characteristics.  While it often alarmed his friends, in most… read more

Sacrifice Trap: Daily Metta

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“Western civilization may or may not be good, but Westerners wish to stick to it… They have shed rivers of blood for its sake… It is therefore too late for them now to chalk out a new path for themselves.” ~ Gandhi, Satyagraha in South Africa, p. 84. If it seemed “too late” in this… read more

Rethinking Violence and Nonviolence: Daily Metta SHORT WEEKEND VIDEOS!

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When Michael was a teen, one of his first jobs was helping a friend who wrote “Super Boy” comics. In this Daily Metta video, he explains why he has since come to question the sanitization of violence that is sold to us in the commercial mass media, debunking some commonly held myths, or falsehoods, about… read more

Listening: Daily Metta

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“Their partiality for their own standpoint came in the way of their giving due weight to the arguments of their opponents.” ~ Gandhi, Ashram Observances, p. 100 Can we be nonviolent without listening to our opponents? We should try to hear their side. Such an attitude is our duty, and in nonviolence, we should strive… read more

True Learning: Daily Metta

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“Nothing should be taught to children by force.” ~ Gandhi, Ashram Observances, p. 102 The use of force in education—physical, emotional or spiritual—only shows the lack of skill and the lack of consciousness of the teacher. Neither child nor adult learns to respect someone by being forced to do so. No outside compulsion awakens the… read more

Need, Not Greed: Daily Metta

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“Religion is never opposed to economics, but is always ranged against profits.” ~ Gandhi, Ashram Observances, p. 97 This is a foundational concept in Gandhi’s system of economics: to serve need, not greed. Such a focus allows for a system to take care of everyone. Gandhi goes so far as to maintain that whatever excess… read more