When Michael Nagler told a young friend that he was going to start a new think tank, he thought she’d be very impressed. Instead, she looked at him squarely and said, “We don’t need another think tank. We need a hope tank.” So we began hosting Hope Tanks, a gathering of friends seeking to deepen their… read more
Who gets to use nonviolence? Everyone. Including those in positions of “worldly authority.” Michael Nagler discusses this sometimes controversial issue from the standpoint of the dynamics of nonviolence and relates it to Gandhi’s ability to “point nonviolence in any direction.” In other words, it defies social constructions and points toward our common humanity. Please add… read more
December 28, 1898, two events happened on this day that are quite significant for our civilization: the beginning of the atomic age and the launch of modern mass media. Find out what this has to do with nonviolence! We’ve reached Chapter Four! Michael explains the famous “work” vs. work concept as it applies to nonviolence:… read more
“All obstacles in our path will vanish, if only we observe the golden rule that we must not be impatient with those whom we may consider to be in error, but must be prepared, if need be, to suffer in our own person.” ~ Gandhi, from Gandhi’s Dialogue with Christianity, p. 5 (published by Swaraj… read more
“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
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
“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
“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
“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
“The truth is that cowardice itself is violence of a subtle type and therefore dangerous and far more difficult to eradicate than the habit of physical violence.” ~ Gandhi, CWMG, 25:437 That cowardice is a form of violence can be counterintuitive. I have had people tell me that they ran away from a fight: wasn’t… read more
