“The strength to defy and the strength to forgive are part of a single emotional package which makes a person capable of nonviolence.” In our Sunday video edition of Daily Metta Michael Nagler thinks about the moment when Nelson Mandela shook hands with his former opponent, De Klerk, in front of the world, saying that he… read more
Tag Archives: gandhi
“Hard questions, hard answers”–Daily Metta
“I refuse to believe in the journalistic cliche, ‘meaningless violence.'” Michael Nagler asks us to think more deeply about the causes of violence and encourages us to ask three hard questions. Comment, question, or reflect below!… read more
“My nonviolence lineage”–Daily Metta
“I was the shortest kid in Midwood High School” In this Daily Metta, Michael Nagler responds to a question from a friend who wrote in, wanting to hear more about his nonviolence lineage. Comment on this Daily Metta below, and send us your questions!… read more
“What we think, we become..”–Daily Metta
“What we think, we become.” In today’s Daily Metta, Michael Nagler reflects on the relationship between putting violent imagery into our minds and violence in society. Comment below! … read more
“Gandhi’s promise and challenge”–Daily Metta
December 31: “I have not the shadow of a doubt that any man or woman can achieve what I have, if he or she would make the same effort and cultivate the same hope and faith.” –Gandhi (Harijan, October 3, 1936) Anyone. All of us. That is what Gandhi is telling us about the force… read more
“What lies behind”–Daily Metta
December 29: “True art takes note not merely of form but also of what lies behind.” –Gandhi (The Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, p. 56) The word ‘nonviolence’ can sometimes conjure up notions of austerity and discipline (I’m thinking of a toothless and tireless Gandhi post-fasting). But that discipline is only so that we can… read more
“More than India’s freedom”–Daily Metta
December 28: “Our struggle does not end so long as there is a single human being considered untouchable by his birth.” –Gandhi (Mahatma, Vol. 3, p.239) If anyone still thought that Gandhi was only a strategist wanting political freedom from the British, these words of the Mahatma should put that idea to rest. Hi… read more
“Join the experiment”–Daily Metta
December 27: “Those who are attracted to nonviolence, should, according to their ability and opportunity, join the experiment.” –Gandhi (Harijan, August 11, 1940) If you heard these words directly from Gandhi in 1940, would you take them more seriously than if you were reading them today? Gandhi’s call was as relevant then as now. We,… read more
“What do you want the most?”–Daily Metta
December 25: “The force of the spirit is ever progressive and endless. Its full expression makes it unconquerable in the world.” –Gandhi (Harijan, February 10, 1946) The other day at school, my six year-old friend Ben came over to me with a few questions that were on his mind about Gandhi. For the past year,… read more
“Profuse shower of love”–Daily Metta
December 24: “It is a heavy downpour of rain which drenches the soil to fullness, likewise only a profuse shower of love overcomes hatred.” –Gandhi (Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. XIV, p. 402) In Chapter Four of Search for a Nonviolent Future, Michael Nagler compares violence to the weather. “The weather,” he says, “is… read more
