Today we are simply continuing the piece from yesterday. I will include a portion of the text and move on to a new piece. Again this is from Thomas Merton on Gandhi.
Satyagraha (holding on to truth) is meaningless if it is not based on the awareness of profound inner contradiction in all societies based on force... Hence satyagraha according to Gandhi cannot seriously accept claims advanced by a basically violent society that hopes to preserve order and peace by the threat of maximum destruction and total hate. Satyagraha must begin by putting itself against this claim in order that the seriousness of one's dedication to truth may be put to the test. It is not possible for the truly nonviolent man simply to ignore that inherent falsity and inner contradictions of a violent society. On the contrary, it is for him a religious and human duty to confront the untruth in that society with his own witness in order that the falsity may become evident to everyone. The first job of a satyagrahi is to bring the real situation to light even if he has to suffer and die in order that injustice be unmasked and appear for what it really is.
Sound a bit like Jesus and the way he moved among the established powers of his day. It is risky and it is not the wide open pathway. It is a deliberate stepping so that the the powers of coercion and oppression and violence show themselves when the one of peace is denounce, ridiculed, and, crucified. It would be much easier to "go along" with the way things usually move within a violently oriented society and think that we can make the system change. Unfortunately, once we are sewn into the culture of violence, it is not easy to separate ourselves from its web. And yet, again and again, when we question ourselves and the system as it is, we become a part of the unmasking. This movement helps everyone. It may not bring about the long-awaited Reign of peace, but it will provide us with those sacred glimpses of what is promised. Somehow we must remember that even the mightiest of the violent powers stumble and blunder along when the light of non-violent truthfulness is allow to shine. Remember also that shining that light doesn't mean we will sheltered from the reaction that comes when any of us lets our anxiety turn us into protectors of the status quo.
Connection: Truthfulness comes in such small steps. It is therefore, always a good place to start within the context of this day and every day.
Lord of All Truthfulness, you free us to unmask ourselves and become vulnerable so that we can begin to unmask the powers of this world. And yet, we shake and quake and are unable to make today the day when your truthfulness is our light and our might and our sheer delight. Be with us and be our foundation upon which we will step within your Reign. Amen.
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