Dr. Mercola June 05 2008 35,848 views
Mahatma Gandhi needs no introduction. Everyone knows about the man and his legacy. Here is some advice he gave worth noting:
1. Change yourself
“You must be the change you want to see in the world.” If you change yourself you will change your world. If you change how you think, then you will change how you feel and what actions you take. And so the world around you will change.
“You must be the change you want to see in the world.”
If you change yourself you will change your world. If you change how you think, then you will change how you feel and what actions you take. And so the world around you will change.
2. You are in control
“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.” What you feel and how you react to something is always up to you. You can choose your own thoughts, reactions and emotions.
“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”
What you feel and how you react to something is always up to you. You can choose your own thoughts, reactions and emotions.
3. Forgive and let it go
“An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” Fighting evil with evil won’t help anyone. Forgiving and letting go of the past will do you and the people in your world a great service.
“An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”
Fighting evil with evil won’t help anyone. Forgiving and letting go of the past will do you and the people in your world a great service.
4. Without action you aren’t going anywhere
“An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.” Without taking action very little will be done. However, taking action can be hard. And so you may resort to preaching, or reading and studying endlessly. But you have to take action and translate that knowledge into results and understanding.
“An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.”
Without taking action very little will be done. However, taking action can be hard. And so you may resort to preaching, or reading and studying endlessly. But you have to take action and translate that knowledge into results and understanding.
5. Take care of this moment
“I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present. God has given me no control over the moment following.” Stay in the present as much as possible, and be accepting. When you are in the present moment you don’t worry about the next moment. And the resistance to action comes from imagining negative future consequences or reflecting on past failures.
“I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present. God has given me no control over the moment following.”
Stay in the present as much as possible, and be accepting. When you are in the present moment you don’t worry about the next moment. And the resistance to action comes from imagining negative future consequences or reflecting on past failures.
6. Everyone is human
“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.” When you start to make myths out of people, you run the risk of becoming disconnected from them. Keep in mind that everyone is just a human being no matter who they are.
“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”
When you start to make myths out of people, you run the risk of becoming disconnected from them. Keep in mind that everyone is just a human being no matter who they are.
7. Persist
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” Be persistent. In time the opposition around you will fade and fall away.
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
Be persistent. In time the opposition around you will fade and fall away.
8. See the good in people and help them
“I look only to the good qualities of men. Not being faultless myself, I won’t presume to probe into the faults of others.” If you want improvement then focusing on the good in people is a useful choice. It also makes life easier for you as your world and relationships become more pleasant and positive.
“I look only to the good qualities of men. Not being faultless myself, I won’t presume to probe into the faults of others.”
If you want improvement then focusing on the good in people is a useful choice. It also makes life easier for you as your world and relationships become more pleasant and positive.
9. Be congruent, be authentic, be your true self
“Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.” When words and thoughts are aligned then that shows through in your communication. People tend to really listen to what you’re saying. You are communicating without incongruence, mixed messages or phoniness.
“Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.”
When words and thoughts are aligned then that shows through in your communication. People tend to really listen to what you’re saying. You are communicating without incongruence, mixed messages or phoniness.
10. Continue to grow and evolve
”Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.” You can pretty much always improve your skills and habits, or re-evaluate your evaluations. You can gain deeper understanding of yourself and the world.
”Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.”
You can pretty much always improve your skills and habits, or re-evaluate your evaluations. You can gain deeper understanding of yourself and the world.
Gandhi is one of my personal heroes. His inspiring message of non-violent action (the third alternative) and his courage to stand by his convictions despite virtually impossible circumstances is quite an example to follow.
Many forget that Gandhi held no formal authority -- no position of power. And yet, because he had moral authority, he had influence. Gandhi changed the lives of over 300 million people using nothing but his personal convictions and moral authority.If I had to select a favorite from his pearls of wisdom above, it would be:
I see this all the time, especially in the arenas of healthcare and science. It’s also virtually identical to another often quoted statement by Schopenhauer, who pointed out that each newly discovered truth has to pass through three stages:
Good Day All,
Does everything need to be dissected? Does everyone need to put their 2 cents in? Get a grip folks. Take it for what it says and move on. Honestly I think some folks have nothing better to do than complain. Yes, it is nice to be able to comment one way or another but sometimes it is a little disheartening that something so simple and pure needs to be pulled apart. Let it go.
Thanks you Dr. Mercola for being so thoughtful and diligent in your efforts to provide such useful information in addition to your strong hopes and values that you graciously share with all your readers. You are a good person and I am disappointed that you are not thanked more for all the information, time and effort you put into your newsletter that you freely share with so many. I value you and respect you. I just love all the many facets you touch on and all the other articles like the stars, photography, technology and many more. I look forward to your newsletter every week and I am truly thankful for it. It has made a difference in my life.
Most affectionately,
Adele
Dear Adele, with utmost respect I wanted to weigh in with a comment to your post which is neither support or dissent for the topic at hand. Things are not always so simple and pure. Our history books are replete with untruths and slanted facts. While I do not suggest that we, as people, operate from a foundation of distrust, I do believe that we need to test. In a world of incredible information, things can be mis-stated innocently or purposely. Testing sets us on a personal journey of self-discovery and self-education which helps us grow. At the end, we find that either the information is true or it is false. A simple example is the email stating "In God We Trust" was removed from the new presidential coins. Rather than ride the emotional wave that hit my mailbox, I "tested" the information by going directly to the U.S. Treasury website and found that this phrase was imprinted on the edge of the coins. I sent a reply email to all who had contacted me, stated the facts and included the link to the website. Like it or not, we live in a world where some of our brothers and sisters will gain by taking from another. This is also why we must test. For me, testing is part of being a watchman. Best to you, Jacqueline
Actually, YOU missed the point, not Ghandi. Think about it.
I need to be in control of me. Many people try to be in control of others not themselves. When something others do triggers a reaction in me that is about something I believe or an emotion I need to deal with.
The official story is the Mohandas Gandhi and his non-violent movement expelled the tyrannical British from India. As usual, the "official story" needs to be taken with a grain of salt. First, on the Brits, they were extreme brutes. For example they cut off the thumbs of extremely skilled weavers, because their goods were superior to the cloth which was forcibly imported to India from Lancaster in England. They did that and equally horrible things. As for their expulsion, many Indians give credit to Subash Chandra Bhosh, a general in the WWII Indian Army. He made deals with both the Germans and the Japanese that Indian soldiers would surrender on various battlefields and be re-armed and repatriated to India to fight the British. THAT was what led to their being kicked out of India. Non-violence works against humans if the humans have a heart and a soul. All too often, world leaders don't. The British monarchy is part of the ruling class of what I call the Super Mafia. Their position is far from just figureheads. They are ruthless, psychopathic, mass-murderers and serial killers. Hitler and Stalin were the figureheads! The real criminals are the banking families headed by the still functioning Royalty. If anyone believes that these sadistic reptiles respond to non-violence they are sadly mistaken. They are like crocodiles and they consider the other six billion people on this planet to be expendable livestock. That is why the United Nations and other agencies have such a fanatical program to instigate gun control, more properly known as "Victim Disarmament." Criminals love it when their prey are helpless. Let the sheep try non-violence against the crocodiles and see how far they get.
You are clearly a disciple of Lyndon LaRouche, I see, LibertyValence.
The story about the British cutting off thumbs is a modern historical slander. It appears to be based on a misreading of the following passage:
"Weavers also, upon their inability to perform such agreements as have been forced from them by the Company's agents, universally known in Bengal by the name of Mutchulcahs, have had their goods seized, and sold on the spot, to make good the deficiency: and the winders of raw silk, called Nagaads, have been treated also with such injustice, that instances have been known of their cutting off their thumbs, to prevent their being forced to wind silk."
Considerations on India Affairs, William Bolts, 1772, page 194, available on Google Books
Obviously that was an allegation that a few silk winders cut off their <b>own</b> thumbs, to escape being forced by someone to fulfill contracts with British East India Company agents for wound silk.
Whether that happened as alleged, there is no evidence. You might assume that no one ever told a lie or reported an allegation that turned out to be false in writing before the Internet, but I don't. It seems likely to me that some Indians in the textile industry lost thumbs accidentally, and someone started the story by saying at least that got them out of being forced to work for the British.
The sepoys (Indian soldiers under British command) were the ones who actually used force against the textile workers. I believe the correct method of change is to undo the propaganda that keeps soldiers and police fighting against their own people and against other people who've never done them any harm. Economic agents, monarchs, dictators, and party leaders are just powerless talkers without soldiers and police to enforce their orders.
sunshine50 said-
I hate to tell you this but "An eye for an eye." was never God's word.
Exodus 21:24
Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
Whether it's God's word, Moses said it was.