Daily Quote
Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against in justice and lying and greed. If people all over the world do this, it would change the Earth.
William Faulkner
Day 51
“All my actions have their source in my inalienable love of humankind.” M. K.
Gandhi
We think of the power of nonviolence as being the demonstration of non-cooperation with
that which suppresses people or just causes. But the true power of nonviolence lies in this
statement of Gandhi. Love is, in every case the power behind nonviolence. Gandhi was not
talking about defeating or overthrowing anyone! He did not seek to injure the British
authorities in his homeland to aid his cause. nonviolence was NOT a way for one group to
seize what it wanted at the expense of any other cause or group. Gandhi saw no ethnic
conflict, class war or any other us vs them conflict. What he saw was a nation divided by
injustice. This is the lesson of Gandhi’s struggle for all of us. When true nonviolence is
successful, EVERYONE wins.
Gandhi saw that, if love is to triumph, we must serve all life through our every action. This
can only occur when we begin where we are, in our own homes, and cultivate the
unconditional love necessary to love every person in our lives, not despite their actions, but
because of them. Having done so in our own homes, we reach out further and further, at
each step finding love for all those around us. The key here, as it was for Gandhi, is that we
love them because of all they do which we oppose, not in spite of those things.
Understanding, that when they act selfishly or harmfully, they act only out of their own
fears and needs. The behavior we most oppose is the very best they can do. When we fully
understand the limits of their ability to feel safe enough to care about all humankind, all of
life, we are able to feel compassion for them. In that compassion we are able to love them
because of their actions, not in spite of them. In loving them, we begin to see how to serve
all life. Only in this way can everyone win. This should always be our goal if we truly seek
to walk the path of nonviolence.
Affirmative Practice
Today, I will meditate on the healing power of love in every action I take. Today, I will look
behind the actions of those I oppose to the reasons for them. Today, I will begin the work
of loving those I oppose because of their actions, not in spite of them. Today, I will do the
work of healing them, as well as those I agree with. This is the path of nonviolence.