“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
Tag Archives: stephanie van hook
Purity of Means: Daily Metta
“I feel, too, that our progress towards the goal will be in exact proportion to the purity of our means.” ~ Gandhi, “Amrita Bazar Patrika,” September 17, 1933 Here’s where people might balk at Gandhi, call him a “purist” and then reject everything he has ever said about nonviolence. I’m not exaggerating, I’ve heard the… read more
Strategy: Daily Metta
“The clearest possible definition of the goal and its appreciation would fail to take us there if we do not know and utilize the means of achieving it.” ~ Gandhi, “Amrita Bazar Patrika,” September 17, 1933 From a strategist’s perspective, Gandhi emphasizes that “how” we achieve our goals needs to be as clear as “what”… read more
Let It Go: Daily Metta
“I am used to misrepresentation all of my life. It is the lot of every public worker.” ~ Gandhi, Young India, May 27, 1926, p. 193 Here Gandhi offers us a warning and a lesson: misrepresentation is going to happen, especially when an ordinary human being attempts to harness the power of nonviolence in the… read more
Common Core: Daily Metta
“The rays of the sun are many through refraction. But they have the same source.” ~ Gandhi, Young India, December 3, 1925, p. 422 One of the root causes of violence in our world is the belief that we are separate, material objects. We see the multiplicity, but not the unity behind our diversity. Gandhi… read more
Relationships: Daily Metta
“It is to me a matter of perennial satisfaction that I retain generally the affection and trust of those whose principles and policies I oppose.” ~ Gandhi, Young India, March 17, 1927, p. 82 Nonviolence is a supreme art, and here, Gandhi points to a hard-won skill: opposing someone without damaging the relationship. Indeed, in… 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
Inward Relish: Daily Metta
“These difficulties were only passing, for the strict observance of the vow produced an inward relish distinctly more healthy, delicate and permanent.” ~ Gandhi, Autobiography, p. 57 When Gandhi went to England to study law, his mother, who some believe was his spiritual teacher, asked him to take three vows: to abstain from women, alcohol… read more
Person Power: Daily Metta
“Swaraj of a people means the sum total of the swaraj of individuals.” ~ Gandhi, Harijan, March 25, 1939, p. 64 “Person power” is a term coined by the Metta Center for Nonviolence to describe the vision of swaraj, or self-rule, that Gandhi propounded. Large masses of people do make an impact and can uproot… read more
Motivated by Justice: Daily Metta
“The corresponding duty is to labor with my limbs and the corresponding remedy is to non-cooperate with him who deprives me of the fruit of my labor.” ~ Gandhi, Young India, March 26, 1931, p. 49 Here Gandhi elaborates on his theory of rights and duties. A right, he says, comes with not only a… read more
