April 25 “Food has to be taken as we take medicine.” –Gandhi (Yervada Mandir, p. 11) Before the pharmaceutical cooptation of our health; before the patenting of seed, and pesticides and packaging stale foods; before making it illegal to feed those without homes, there was food itself–fresh and alive. When Gandhi talks about food as medicine, he’s… read more
Tag Archives: daily metta
“The spirit beneath the act”–Daily Metta
April 24 “It is not any single isolated act which can be called Satyagraha apart from the spirit behind.” –Gandhi (Young India, 9-24-1925) You cannot get far in the world of nonviolence before coming across Gene Sharp’s famous list of 198 methods of nonviolent action. Sit-ins, reverse strikes, pray-ins, they are all listed, and this list is… read more
“The Dance of Nonviolence”–Daily Metta
April 23 “We all know more or less what military training is like. But we have hardly ever thought that nonviolent training must be of a different kind.” –Gandhi (Harijan, 10-13-1940) When training to enter a violent conflict in a nonviolent spirit, what kind of material might you review first? Certainly, it seems wise to… read more
“Our Planet, Ourselves”–Daily Metta
April 22 “To forget how to dig the earth and tend the soil is to forget ourselves.” –Gandhi (Harijan, 8-25-1946, p. 282) On Earth Day, we owe it to our beautiful planet to ask ourselves why we harm her. Why do we exploit her? Is this because it is our nature to do so? Hardly.… read more
“An evening exercise from Gandhi”–Daily Metta
April 20 “We cannot command results; we can only strive.” –Gandhi (Young India, 1-8-1925, pp. 15-16) Striving in nonviolence is hard work, and we all need encouragement. But homework? You got it. Gandhi gave his grandson Arun homework to help him gain the inner strength he needed to keep on striving. He counseled Arun to keep a large sheet… read more
“Gandhi, soccer legend.”–Daily Metta
April 19 “With satya and ahimsa, you can bring the world to your feet.” –Gandhi (Young India, 3-10-1920, p. 3) Gandhi and the dream team. If Gandhi had a favorite sport, it would have been soccer, hands down (pun intended, both here and in the quote, thank you). And I am not just making it up. Imagine… read more
“Can soccer end war?”–Daily Metta
April 18: “When two nations are fighting, the duty of a votary of ahimsa is to stop the war.” –Gandhi (Autobiography, p. 258) War is a horrible, heart-breaking tragedy of human society, and there have been many heroic and effective efforts to end it. But here’s one to share with the sports fan in your… read more
“Is this love?”–Daily Metta
April 17 “Mutual trust and mutual love are no trust and no love. The real love is to love them that hate you, to love your neighbor even though you distrust him.” –Gandhi (Harijan, 3-3-1946, p. 28) Gandhi is a master at drawing our attention back to one single, significant truth: love is power, and… read more
“A lesson from children”–Daily Metta
April 16 “I have noticed it in my own experience that, if we would approach children in humility and in innocence, we would learn wisdom from them.” –Gandhi (Young India, 11-19-1931) I recently made the decision to fill up the bulk of my “free time” by becoming a preschool teacher in a Montessori classroom of… read more
“Liberation from an ideology”–Daily Metta
April 15 “I would like to say to the diligent reader of my writings and to others who are interested in them that I am not at all concerned with being consistent. In my search for Truth, I have discarded many ideas and learnt many new things.” –Gandhi (Harijan, 4-29-1933, p. 2) When I first… read more
