“There is a higher court than courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supercedes all other courts.” ~ Gandhi, Quotes of Gandhi, UBS Publishers, New Delhi, (1995) p. 34 When it works to redress a wrong—one of the best-known applications of nonviolence—it awakens the conscience of the wrongdoer or the “reference… read more
Tag Archives: daily metta
Untouchability: Daily Metta
The removal of untouchability is one of the highest expressions of ahimsa. ~ Gandhi, Mahatma 4:239 Gandhi, like Jesus and Buddha before him, felt that animal sacrifice and the human pattern it encoded, scapegoating, was the most violent and dangerous social institution. Do we not call the destruction of the Jews in Europe the “Holocaust”… read more
Superiority/Inferiority: Daily Metta
“The varna system implies the obliteration of all distinctions of high and low.” ~ Gandhi, Ashram Observances in Action (1955), p. 50 Varna, literally “color,” means essentially “caste.” It often comes as a surprise that Gandhi did not favor eliminating the caste system, but rather purging it of its connotations of superiority/inferiority. This because he… read more
Your Path: Daily Metta
“Truth is the exclusive property of no single religion.” ~ Gandhi, Young India, 9-25, 1924 “Spiritual monoculture” is an oxymoron. Any state or organization that tries to create this unnatural environment will only make itself, and its participants, insecure. Gandhi demonstrated in his own life that you can be true to a single path without… read more
Unity in Diversity: Daily Metta
“We want to reach not the dead level, but unity in diversity.” ~ Yeravda Mandir The world is beginning to reawaken to the foundations of indigenous wisdom in agriculture, what some call “permaculture”: diversity is the expression of a thriving, healthy system. Monocultures weaken the environment, thus reducing security for everyone. Human beings are not… read more
Humble Work: Daily Metta
“And it was (a brave widow of Gujarat) who discovered, at Vijapur in Gujarat a few Mussalman sisters who were prepared to spin if she would take the yarn from their hands. From that moment began the great revival which is now covering over fifteen hundred villages in India.” ~ Gandhi, Young India, Oct. 13,… read more
Love Power: Daily Metta
“Power based on love is a thousand time more effective and permanent than the one derived from fear of punishment.” ~ Gandhi, CWMG, 26:563 Nonviolence is a science. It is subject to prediction and control, like any natural force. That we understand it less well than other forces says nothing about the force itself, only… read more
The Power of Training: Daily Metta Weekend Videos!
In our first Daily Metta video, Michael Nagler tells a story from the life of David Hartsough and gives us insight into how nonviolence worked itself out in this situation. He then goes on to make the case for nonviolence as a way of life. Find out why. In this next video, he discusses the… read more
Ability to Surrender: Daily Metta
“A definite forgiveness would mean a definite recognition of our strength.” ~ Gandhi, Mahatma 2:5 In 1925, Gandhi was released from prison to find that a majority of his Congress Party supporters had gone back on a position he considered essential. To everyone’s surprise (and the dismay of many) he joined them, saying that they… read more
Suffering: Daily Metta
“In concrete terms, what pure suffering, wholly one-sided, does is stir public opinion against a wrong.” ~ Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi: Correspondence with the Government (1959), p. 301 When Martin Luther King said “unearned suffering is redemptive” he was referring to the same effect. It is the “secret weapon” of satyagraha, the core dynamic of active… read more
