In this Daily Metta, Michael Nagler discusses the spinning wheel movement in India and distinguishes constructive action from what is known as “constructive program.” Learn more at www.mettacenter.org About Daily Metta Stephanie Van Hook, the Metta Center’s executive director, launched Daily Metta in 2015 as a way to share Gandhi’s spiritual wisdom and experiments with… read more
Tag Archives: gandhi
Unseen Power: Daily Metta
“God is not a power residing in the clouds. God is an unseen power residing within us, and nearer to us than fingernails to the flesh.” ~ Gandhi, Truth is God, p. 19 In speaking thus of the radical externalization of “God” that had come to characterize most religious thinking in the West, and offering… read more
Empire: Daily Metta
“…the British people will have to beware that, if they do not want to do justice, it will be the bounded duty of every Indian to destroy the Empire.” ~ Gandhi, Young India, 1919-1922 (New York, Huebsch, 1924), p. 846 If we were tempted still to regard nonviolence as something shy and retiring, we can… read more
Voice Within: Daily Metta
“Truth is what the voice within tells you.” ~ Gandhi, Mahatma 3, p.144 Well, truth to tell, it’s not quite that simple. Certain it is that Truth is not what advertisers tell you, or in a way what anyone tells you, because for something to be really true for us we have to experience it… read more
Theory of Action: Daily Metta
“Let the Gita be for you a mine of diamonds, as it has been to me; let it be your constant guide and friend on life’s way.” ~ Gandhi, Mahatma 2, p. 307 A young friend who had been having trouble with her meditation once said to me, “But I still think the Bhagavad Gita… read more
Civilization: Daily Metta
“Formerly, when people wanted to fight with one another, they measured between them their bodily strength; now, it is possible to take away thousands of lives by one man working behind a gun from a hill. This is civilization. (. . .) This civilization is such that one has only to be patient and it… read more
Method: Daily Metta
“This method may appear to be long, perhaps too long, but I am convinced that it is the shortest.” ~ Gandhi, “Amrita Bazar Patrika,” September 17, 1933 In 2013, political scientist Erica Chenoweth was named among 100 top global researchers by Foreign Policy magazine for “proving Gandhi right.” In Why Civil Resistance Works, a groundbreaking,… read more
The Time for Silence is Over
Grasping the Reality of Nonviolence The Background: With a rainbow pin on his lapel, signifying–on that day at least–the most recent gun massacre in the United States, Congressman John Lewis made an impassioned cri de coeur before members of Congress and the people of this country: the time for silence is over. “Sometimes,” he said,… read more
Undue Haste: Daily Metta
“The principle of ahimsa is hurt by every evil thought, by undue haste, by lying, by hatred, by wishing ill to anybody.” ~ Gandhi, Truth is God, p. 36 OK, but “undue haste?” As readers of Daily Metta we’re well aware that lying and hatred tear the fabric on ahimsa, but “undue haste” often looks,… read more
No Disadvantage: Daily Metta
“I must say that, beyond occasionally exposing me to laughter, my constitutional shyness has been no disadvantage whatever.” ~ Gandhi, Autobiography, p. 62. If you have ever stood before a group of strangers and been unable to speak; or sat in a group of colleagues, listening intently but not sure about how to get a… read more
