Gandhi-King Season for Non-Violence
(64 Days to Practice Weaving Love & Wise Action Into Life)
The Season for Nonviolence, January 30 - April 4, is a national 64-day educational and grassroots campaign dedicated to demonstrating that nonviolence is a powerful way to heal, transform, and empower our personal lives, our communities and our global society. Inspired by the 50th and 30th memorial anniversaries of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., this cross-cultural event creates a focused time period to learn about and practice the powerful teachings of these two great humanitarians.
In this time of darkness in the world, we turn to the wisdom of these two world teachers – in search of the shared values and common goodness that support people of all faiths and political parties moving toward a better future. Join us in the annual Gandhi-King Season of Non-violence and explore the meaning of these timeless principles for your life and key relationships.
The 64 days (nine weeks & a final day) are divided into three arenas of practice:
I. Self, II. Others and III. World (Society-Ecology). Together these three practice arenas comprise an integrated focus on humanity’s great social movements – seeking: Human Potential, Social Justice and Environmental Health. For a compilation of Daily Practices or further details visit the Holistic Health Learning Center, HSS 329, or try us online at: www.sfsu.edu/~holistic/activism/f_networ.html
Mohandas K Gandhi (1869 -1948)
“You must be the change you want to see in the world”. – Mahatma Gandhi
Known to hundreds of millions of Indians and westerners as the "Mahatma" or "Great Soul", his skillful strategy of nonviolence (practice of the law of love) combined with a humanitarian vision, brought about the emancipation of India in the 1940's. Gandhi's strategy of clarifying and expressing "truth and moral power" emphasized love and integrity (right action) as a relational path that leads to true social reform.
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 -1968)
The aftermath of violence is tragic bitterness, while the aftermath
of nonviolence is the beloved community. - ML King
One of Gandhi's greatest disciples was the acclaimed leader of the U.S. civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King. Dr. King inspired and organized an EXPLICITLY nonviolent mass movement to awaken social conscience - challenging racial discrimination, violence, injustice and militarism in America. King’s Principles of Nonviolence:
1. Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice, not people.
2. Nonviolence chooses love instead of hate.
3. Nonviolence seeks to win friendship and understanding.
4. Nonviolence holds that suffering for a cause can educate and transform.
5. Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people.
6. Nonviolence holds that the universe is on the side of justice and that right will eventually prevail.
Shared Moral Vision – A Better World is Possible
There are people everywhere who want to help create a better world – people deeply concerned about widespread suffering, environmental destruction, escalating materialism and the loss of our sense of community. There is a deep and growing hunger for a wiser and more loving society. Gandhi and King modeled the vision to create such a society.
They claimed the power for social change lies within individual consciousness. That if we really want to create a wise and loving world, we must first become wise and loving ourselves. With a vision of a society governed by love and the common good -- we have a powerful antidote to the violence, distrust and division of today’s politics of fear.
In practicing the relational principles of Nonviolence we seek to recover and renew ourselves, our families and our politics - so violence and secrecy no longer shape our behavior. We realize that our lives, and those of our children, depend on our evolution. Learning to be non-violent is a new way of living – requiring a healing process that begins with the individual and ripples out into the larger world. As we heal our own relations we are demonstrating that people, organizations and governments can move the world pro-actively toward peace and wisdom. Join us in exploring and building this new future.
Gandhian Principles of Non-Violence
“The only devils in the world are those running around in our own hearts;
that is where the battle should be fought.” “My life is my message” – M. K. Gandhi
1. Oneness
All life is one/interconnected. Our oneness calls us to work for the well-being of all.
2. Satyagraha (force of truth/Soul Force)
NV is the pursuit of truth - living with integrity and willingness to confront untruth.
3. Ahimsa (non-injury)
Nonviolence as practice of ahimsa is the development of love and selfless service helping others, especially adversaries to avoid suffering - essence of all religions.
4. Respect and Understanding
People are always more than the evils they commit. Nonviolence respects others and sees their goodness, while trying to understand the "whys" behind their behavior.
5. Appreciating Differences
NV moves beyond acceptance into appreciation and celebration of our differences.
6. Absorbing Suffering
NV takes on without complaint any suffering that results from my confrontation with untruth and accepts that all forms of violence cannot be totally eliminated.
7. Trust/Release of Fear
NV living is a trust in life and the journey of becoming increasingly free from fear.
Seven Social Evils – M. Gandhi
- Wealth Without Work - Pleasure Without Conscience
- Knowledge Without Character - Commerce Without Morality
- Science Without Humanity - Worship Without Sacrifice
- Politics Without Principles