Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Satya = Truth

My commitment to and understanding of the principle of Satya continues to deepen. This from Gregg's "The Power of Non-Violence":

"In the persuasion of non-violent resistance, there must be not only gentleness and love but also truth. All human beings make mistakes. Adherence to truth requires public admission of our mistakes. If, out of pride or ignorance, we wait until others show up our error, then people mistrust both our ability and our honesty. But public confession of faults promotes trust because it shows: (1) a realiztion of one's likeness to all other people in respect to liability to error, hence a sense of human unity; (2) humility; (3) honesty; (4) disinterestedness towards one's personal fortunes; (5) willingness to pay the price of mistakes; hence (6) a sense of responsibility; (7) courage; (8) a revival of intelligence after a lapse into stupidity; and therefore (9) worthiness to be given another opportunity; and (10) the realization of an intellectual prerequisite to progress. When I have made a mistake in arithmetic, I cannot correct it and get the right answer until after I have admitted, at least to myself, that I made a mistake. Thus, in the moral realm, frankness and humility are modes of intelligence."

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