Here is a dated look at Gandhi's renewed consciousness that is helpful in understanding how unique and powerful it was. Gandhi's renewed spiritual consciousness of India:
...was entirely different from the totalitarian and nationalistic consciousness that came alive in the West and in the East (Japan) to the point of furious and warlike vitality. The Indian mind that was awakening in Gandhi was inclusive, not exclusive. It was at once Indian and universal. It was not a mind of hate, of intolerance, of accusation, of rejection, of division. I was a mind of love, of understanding, of infinite capaciousness. Where the extreme nationalisms of Western Fascism and of Japan were symptoms of paranoid fury, exploding into alienation, division, and destruction, the spirit which Gandhi discovered in himself was reaching out to unity, love and peace. It was a spirit which was, he believed, strong enough to heal every division.
This is so good. To listen to the roots of Gandhi's life of non-violence alongside the very violent and self-centered ways of Fascism and the Japanese empire of his day, can become a way of listening and watching what is going on around -- us. What is leading our country through the day at hand? What power is having its way with us? With what power are we willing to walk? There are many anxious powers trying to whip up the air around us so that we will find it easier to live amid divisions and to create more divisions and greater chasm between us. In the middle of all this, we are invited to breathe, connect with the one we call the Prince of Peace and begin to live within that holistic world where enemies really can become friends. Sound strange...and it is. That strangeness doesn't mean it isn't just the right place where we are called to live our lives.
Connection: I would think that most days, it would be helpful to stop and take a moment to envision something other than the usual pattern of division and separation that can overrun our thinking, our lives, and our spirit. Let's remind each other to breathe again before we turn to old ways of living.
Come, Light of Epiphany, come and shine for us so that our day will be filled with the brilliance of your truthfulness. Amen.
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