July 27 “There is a law of nature that a thing can be retained by the same means by which it has been acquired.” –Gandhi (Satyagraha in South Africa) Some have the impression that once nonviolence has done what they consider to be its work, they can return to using violence to uphold their victory.… read more
Tag Archives: gandhi
“True Friendship”–Daily Metta
July 26: “True friendship is an identity of souls rarely to be found in this world.” –Gandhi (Autobiography) Friendship is a word that is often recklessly tossed around. The implication of Gandhi’s vision, however, is that there can be no friendship without nonviolence. There can be bonding; we bond with one another sometimes in violent… read more
“We need to do this ourselves”–Daily Metta
July 24: “I have not conceived of my mission to be that of a knight-errant wandering everywhere to help people out of difficult situations.” –Gandhi (Harijan, June 28, 1942) Nonviolence has little or nothing to do with other people solving our problems for us. It is about learning to address them on our own. A… read more
“The head works with the heart”–Daily Metta
July 23: “People who believe in the simple truths I have laid down can only propagate them by living them.” –Gandhi (Mahatma, vol. IV) Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could learn–I mean really learn– about love by reading Shakespeare, instead of getting your heart broken, and living through the pain of loving someone who… read more
“Consequences of our acts”–Daily Metta
July 22: “It is wrong to seek to escape the consequences of one’s acts.” –Gandhi (The Diary of Mahadev Desai) The world of advertising tries to lure us into the mindset that consequences–be they spiritual, psychological or physical–are problems to be solved, instead of lessons to be learned. If you overeat and get a stomachache,… read more
“Nonviolence to overcome terror”–Daily Metta
July 21: “The spirit of democracy cannot be established in the midst of terrorism, whether governmental or popular.” –Gandhi (Young India, February 23, 1921) Stride Toward Freedom recounts an amazing event toward the end of the African American Freedom Struggle of the 1960s. The Ku Klux Klan tried to regain its power over a community… read more
“Mirror Neurons and Nonviolence”–Daily Metta
July 19: “Ahimsa is a science.” ––Gandhi (Harijan, May 6, 1939) Modern scientific research has begun to corroborate Gandhi’s understanding of nonviolence as a science, or rather, to supply the scientific foundation for some of Gandhi’s core ideas. One such breakthrough is the discovery of mirror neurons in Parma, Italy in the 1980s in a… read more
“Wisdom and sugar”–Daily Metta
July 18: “What are the characteristics of a Sthitaprajna (a Self-realized person)? He is one who withdraws his senses from the objects of the sense behind the shield of the spirit, as a tortoise does its limbs under its shell.” –Gandhi (Harijan, April 28, 1946) This quote of Gandhi’s from a famous verse in the… read more
“Nonviolence is a form of protection”–Daily Metta
July 17: “I believe in the sovereign rule of love which makes no distinctions.” –Gandhi (Harijan, May 25, 1947) [This post is a continuation of July 15 and July 16] Working with Gandhi, Sushila Nayar became intimately in touch with her fear–learning how and when to heed its warnings and how to overcome its promptings… read more
“Helping others feel secure”–Daily Metta
July 16: “If light can come out of darkness, then alone can love emerge from hatred.” –Gandhi (Satyagraha in South Africa) [This post is a continuation of July 15] Gandhi’s personal physician during the last nine years of his life, Sushila Nayar, had a scientific mind and an open heart that lead her to… read more
