9/11

On this 5th anniversary of a day of violence, I happened across another significance for this date in history. 100 years ago, today, Mohandas Gandhi proposed a philosophy, a force for social and political change, he referred to as Satyagraha, also sometimes called passive resistance.

Refering to it as passive resistance understates his intent. Satyagraha literally means "any effort to discover, discern, obtain or apply Truth." It was a philosophy pulled directly out of the Hindu religion, to allow an individual to live in the world without inflicting violence on others.

Satyagraha is formed from 3 principles of hinduism.

• Satya - truth; implying openness, honesty, and fairness.
• Ahimsa - advocating non-violence and a respect for all life.
• Tapasya - willingness for self-sacrifice.

5 years ago, it was our ahimsa--respect for life--that was so offended.

Gandhi said:

In the application of Satyagraha, I discovered, in the earliest stages, that pursuit of Truth did not admit of violence being inflicted on one's opponent, but that he must be weaned from error by patience and sympathy. For, what appears to be truth to the one may appear to be error to the other. And patience means self-suffering. So the doctrine came to mean vindication of Truth, not by infliction of suffering on the opponent but one's own self.

It's ironic that the date of birth of Gandhi's vision of non-violence now also recalls so much violence for so many others. I wish you all peace on this day of reflection.