One of the themes of these blogs is transformation, personal/individual and societal/humanity. Yesterday, I experienced an unusual view of my own transformation. Previewing my Gandhi presence in the UK, I donned my loincloth and shawl to walk the half mile from my near West Side Cleveland home to St. Ignatius High School where I graduated in 1956. A neighbor on a front porch asked, "Are you a Hare Krishna?" "No, I'm Gandhi." He looked puzzled. Then, I said I'm working for peace. He seemed happy with that and gave me the peace sign.
At Ignatius, a Jesuit school which is perhaps the best academic school in Cleveland, I was being photographed by a journalist who was writing an article about my Gandhi portrayal experiences for the alumni magazine (a contrast to alumni who are in the military, one of whom carried the Nuclear Red Button for President Reagan.) We were taking photographs outside in the square among the buildings with many students walking between classes or just hanging around. A cluster gathered around us to see what was happening. I addressed them about my Gandhi journey and we entered an interesting conversation until an art prof entered to check us out. This served to end our dialogue. But, each student shook hands with me often with heartfelt eye contact. An impression was made, a note was struck. I felt moved and sensed that they were too.
For me to be in this situation brought up memories of my high school years here, where I was most shy about speaking in speech class before my classmates. Today, I felt confident and determined. Gandhi too was so shy that he had to ask others to read his talks before the Vegetarian Society in London. As a new lawyer, he was tongue tied in the Indian court. Under the shyness lies a sentiment, a character that is only discovered over time. Shyness, fear of conflict, uncertainty about one's mission or the world with its meaning, can be overcome by experience, study, discipline. Today, I want to offer a different vision than the mainstream US "superpower" exploits. Friends are making me aware of the school's positive efforts in this direction, while using me to challenge the alumni.
Gandhi's words resonate with my own sense and speak to his appeal to me: "I claim to be a votary of truth from my childhood. It was the most natural thing to me. My prayerful search gave me the revealing maxim "Truth is God" instead of the usual one, "God is Truth." That maxim enables me to see God face to face as it were. I feel Him pervade every fiber of my being."
It may have been "the most natural thing" for Gandhi, but took a while to surface in his being! It takes decades of experimenting and of creating mistakes to come to these insights and beliefs.
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I am on the list of people who get a daily e-mail from the people at Gratefulness.org; recently I received this thought-provoking quote from Thomas Merton:
We must be true inside, true to ourselves, before we can know a truth that is outside us. But we make ourselves true inside by manifesting the truth as we see it.
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