I am not patient.  People are starving right now.  Animals are suffering right now.  The planet is struggling to breathe right now.  So, how do we move toward a more just and compassionate world… right now!?

I’ve spent time picketing in the streets, writing members of congress, challenging unjust laws, helping grassroots groups learn and grow.  What I’ve learned is that the power of self-understanding and personal responsibility can sometimes provide a quicker and more successful route to social change.  Not only is it quicker, it is necessary.

I recently read Gandhi on Non-violence: Selected Text from Gandhi’s ‘Non-violence in Peace and War.’ It was edited with an introduction and chapter summaries by Thomas Merton.  The last chapter includes a few references to Gandhi’s self-observed failure — that he didn’t bring lasting Nonviolence to India.  Gandhi attributes this to his focusing on Nonviolence as a tactic rather than Nonviolence as a way of life.

Merton puts this poetically in the introduction when he says, “[For Gandhi] the spirit of non-violence sprang from an inner realization of spiritual unity in himself.  The whole Gandhian concept of non-violent action and satyagraha is incomprehensible if it is thought to be a means of achieving unity rather than as the fruit of inner unity already achieved” (6, italics original).

While Gandhi felt Nonviolence in his heart, the masses were using Nonviolence mostly as a tactic to achieve independence and to gain power.  Gandhi came to see the focus on civil disobedience and political tactics as short-lived.  Once political advances were made, people abandoned Nonviolence as a discipline and became the new aggressors — abusing “power over” rather than celebrating “power with” (this is a recurring theme on the nature of power).

Gandhi laments that he should have spent more time and energy on the constructive aspects of Nonviolence (rebuilding a social infrastructure, self-sustaining industries, and meaningful occupations, etc.).  He wrote, “In placing civil disobedience before constructive work I was wrong, and I did not profit from the Himalayan blunder that I had committed” (72).  He goes on to say, “I have admitted my mistake.  I thought our struggle was based on non-violence, whereas in reality it was no more than passive resistance, which essentially is a weapon of the weak.  It leads naturally to armed resistance whenever possible” (75).

This is the direction NonviolenceUnited.org has taken with our “A Life Connected” project.  We focus on reaching and reminding individuals to live their lives connected to their values, building a social strategy around Nonviolence as a way of life rather than focusing on temporary gains by simply using Nonviolence as a political strategy.

As we’ve said before, Nonviolence can be a way of life and Nonviolence can be a strategy. But for powerful long-lasting change, Nonviolence as a way of life IS the strategy.

“To attain inner peace you must actually give your life, not just your possessions. When you at last give your life – bringing into alignment your beliefs and the way you live – then, and only then, can you begin to find inner peace.” - Peace Pilgrim

Peace Pilgrim was a connector who, in the name of world peace, walked the United States for over 28 years until she was killed in an automobile accident.

Peace’s Pilgrim’s only possessions were the clothes on her back and the few items (a toothbrush, a comb, and a pen) she carried in her pockets. She carried no money and would not ask for food or shelter. It had to be offered without asking. For 28 years, all her needs were met.

“Aren’t people good,” she would often say. She spoke to all who would listen about peace — peace among nations, peace among groups, and about inner peace because she believed that was where peace began.

From the book, “Peace Pilgrim: Her Life and Work In Her Own Words”…

“After a wonderful sojourn in the wilderness, I remember walking along the streets of a city which had been my home for a while. It was 1p.m. Hundreds of neatly dressed human beings with pale or painted faces hurried in rather orderly lines to and from their places of employment.

I, in my faded shirt and well-worn slacks, walked among them. The rubber soles of my soft canvas shoes moved noiselessly along beside the clatter of trim, tight shoes with stiltlike heels.

In the poorer section I was tolerated. In the wealthier section some glances seemed a bit startled and some were disdainful.

On both sides of us as we walked were displayed the things we can buy if we are willing to stay in the orderly lines day after day, year after year. Some of the things are more or less useful, many are utter trash. Some have a claim to beauty, many are garishly ugly.

Thousands of things are displayed – and yet, my friends, the most valuable are missing. Freedom is not displayed, nor health, nor happiness, nor peace of mind. To obtain these things, my friends, you too may need to escape from the orderly lines and risk being looked upon disdainfully.”

View a 1-hour documentary about Peace Pilgrim (streaming RealPlayer)

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