Conflict is natural and healthy. Violence is avoidable. In this podcast I talk about a practical approach for understanding conflict as a necessary part of developing our most humane qualities and the art of engaging conflict without resorting to violence. Podcast time: 5 minutes. Listen here or at with the player below the bio… read more
January 20, 2017 is Michael Nagler’s 80th birthday. It is also the inauguration date for the 45th president of the United States.… read more
How do we express to children we are working together as a team and what effect can it have? In this episode, I explore the power–and challenges of– working together on setting boundaries with children in a respectful way that models for them a productive way of saying ‘no’ as well. Episode length: Six Minutes… read more
“. . . but as our nonviolence was the nonviolence of the weak, the leaven did not spread. Had we adopted nonviolence as the weapon of the strong, because we realize that it was more effective than any other weapon, in fact, the mightiest force in the world, we would have made use of its… read more
“Non-violence, being the mightiest force in the world, and also the most elusive in its working, demands the greatest exercise of faith.” ~ Gandhi, Mahatma 5, p. 17 In the words of Augustine and later Fathers of the Church, credo ut intellegam, “I believe in order to understand.” This technique has been criticized as conducive… read more
“I would ask you to forget the political aspect of the program. Political consequences of this struggle there are, but you are not to concern yourself with them. If you do, you will miss the true result, and also the political consequences.” ~ Gandhi, Young India, March 19, 1925 It is easy to forget that… read more
“War … has got to go. I firmly believe that freedom won through bloodshed or fraud is no freedom.” ~ Gandhi, Young India, September 13, 1928 Wherever we turn in Gandhi’s writings or his life, the law that “means are ends in the making” greets us. If only we could grasp the simple idea that… read more
“Truth is self-evident. Nonviolence is its maturest fruit. It is contained in Truth, but is not self-evident.” ~ Gandhi, The Message of the Gita, p. 14 That nonviolence is not self-evident is, alas, too true. But it’s not to hard to infer, if not feel it operating, when we know how and where to look.… read more
“The only thing that separates us from the brute, with which we have so much in common, is the ability to distinguish between right and wrong.” ~ Gandhi, Mahatma vol. 4, 158 And, we might add, the ability to choose between them once distinguished. Not that we always find it easy to exercise that critical… read more
“I will struggle so that I will either break the bonds or break myself in the effort.” ~ Gandhi, Harijan, February 10, 1946 Gandhi was asked all kinds of tough questions about putting nonviolence into action. Most questions came from a disbelief that nonviolence can really be a form of self-defense and protection. Here, someone… read more
