June 19: “No one should dogmatize about the capacity of human nature for degradation or exaltation.” –Gandhi (Mahatma, Vol. V, April, 1940) Human beings are naturally violent. It’s our nature. We’ve all heard this a time or two. It’s called “innate aggression theory,” the school of popular psychology that maintains that human beings are just… read more
Tag Archives: daily metta
“The ideal and the practice”–Daily Metta
June 18: “The propositions from which I have drawn my arguments are as true as Euclid’s definitions, which are none the less true because in practice we are unable to even draw Euclid’s line on a blackboard.” –Gandhi (Young India, October 8, 1925) Remember the story from June 17th’s Daily Metta about the scorpion and the… read more
“Ahimsa is the highest ideal”–Daily Metta
June 17: “Ahimsa is the highest ideal.” –Gandhi (Harijan, June 9, 1940) Ahimsa is an ancient Sanskrit term and virtue that roughly translates to “the negation of the desire or intent to harm or kill.” Gandhi went so far as to assert that it–and not violence–is the law of humanity. Our capacity to endure and… read more
“Understanding history”–Daily Metta
June 16: “We are constantly being astonished these days at the amazing discoveries in the field of violence. But I maintain that far more undreamt of and seemingly impossible discoveries will be made in the field of nonviolence.” –Gandhi (Harijan, August 25, 1940) Distinguished historian J.B. Kripalani had a run-in with the Mahatma that he… read more
“A love story”–Daily Metta
June 14: “True happiness comes from health and true health is impossible without a rigid control of the palate.” –Gandhi (Guide to Health, 1930) Gandhi and his wife, Kasturba, were married as children, at 13 years old, in an arranged marriage. In many ways they grew up together, and as Gandhi grew in his understanding… read more
“Diversity and Democracy”–Daily Metta
June 13: “How can there be room for distinctions of high and low where there is this all embracing fundamental unity underlying the outward diversity?” –Gandhi (Young India, September 24, 1921) The word ‘unity’ can make some people cringe. It can make it possible to overlook the experiences of those who have been systematically oppressed,… read more
“Go Deeper, Woodcutter”–Daily Metta
June 12: “I am but a seeker after Truth.” –Gandhi (Young India, June 17, 1926) Hindu mystic, father of the modern Vedantic movement, Sri Ramakrishna of Dakshineswar, often shared stories with his devotees to illustrate principles important for understanding the nature of Reality, what Gandhi would call, Sat, or Truth with a capital T. The… read more
“Silent Mondays”–Daily Metta
June 8: “It has often occurred to me that a seeker after truth has to be silent.” –Gandhi (Young India, August 6, 1925) In the language of pop psychology, some might say that Gandhi was an introvert as a child and a young man. He experienced a high level of social anxiety and was generally… read more
“Hungry for Nonviolence”–Daily Metta
June 7: “My love for nonviolence is superior to every other thing mundane or supramundane.” –Gandhi (Young India, February 20, 1930) Gandhi loved nonviolence more than anything else, including food. That’s right, foodies, we do not have any photos taken by him of, say, his neem chutney or simple rice and dhal. His… read more
“Nonviolence is not easy”–Daily Metta
June 6: “Nonviolence is not an easy thing to understand, still less to practice.” –Gandhi (Young India, February 7, 1929) If you are practicing nonviolence and finding it difficult, congratulations, you are doing something right! Nonviolence is challenging because it requires so much more of us than passivity or violence. When you have a gun… read more
