A SAMPLER OF THE SOUL FORCE PRINCIPLES OF JESUS, GANDHI, & MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

During his early years as an attorney in South Africa, M.K.Gandhi, a Hindu, was deeply moved by the teachings of Jesus, Thoreau, Tolstoy, and Ruskin. "The Sermon on the Mount," says Gandhi, "went straight to my heart." Determined to reduce ‘principles into practice,’ Gandhi created Satyagraha: a plan of action (a) for the development of our inner lives and (b) for the transformation of society. Gandhi developed and refined his ‘truth force’ or ‘soul force’ principles while leading justice movements in South Africa and India.

While a student at Crozer Theological Seminary, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. discovered Gandhi’s ‘soul force’ rules and used them to shape his own nonviolent civil rights movement in America. "While the Montgomery boycott was going on," King writes, "India's Gandhi was the guiding light of our technique of nonviolent social change…Nonviolent resistance had emerged as the technique of the movement, while love stood as the regulating ideal. In other words, Christ furnished the spirit and motivation, while Gandhi furnished the method."

When I stumbled into activism, I didn't know there were rules for doing justice nonviolently, rules established in the heat of battle by leaders of the great nonviolent justice movements. As the number of gay men murdered in Texas increased, so did my anger and frustration. For two years, I tried to get through to Robertson, Falwell, Dobson and the others to help them understand the terrible consequences of their words and actions against God's gay and lesbian children. They refused to see me. Finally, in 1994, I wrote to my friends, "It’s hopeless. I'm not even going to try to get through to them anymore."

One week later, Lynn Cothren, Coretta Scott King's personal assistant, warned me in a letter from the King Center in Atlanta, that I had broken a primary rule for doing justice nonviolently. Giving up on my adversary was "an act of violence." When I admitted that I didn’t know there were such ‘rules,’ Lynn pointed me gently to the teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr. King pointed me to Gandhi and Gandhi and King both pointed me back to Jesus. Now, Gary and I are searching the lives and teachings of Jesus, Gandhi, King and the others to see how the 'soul force' principles apply to our current struggle for justice, not just for God's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered children, but for all who suffer injustice.

Frankly, the Christian faith as I once knew it is gone forever. But from the ruins, I am piecing together a whole new picture of Jesus. Thanks to 'soul force,' I am beginning to hear and understand the words and actions of that first century Jewish carpenter in a whole new way. Jesus said to the leaders of the religious right in his day, "You know all the verses by heart, but you forget the most important matters: justice, mercy, and faith." He echoed the voices of all the Jewish prophets who proclaimed in the words of Micah: "What does God want from you? This is all of it. Do justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly with your God."

Neither Gandhi nor King had time to systematize the ‘soul force’ principles. What follows is my inadequate attempt to describe the primary elements of ‘soul force’ as I have studied and experienced them. This is a work in progress. I’ve been shaping my own life and ministry around these ‘soul force’ principles for just three years now, and every day I learn something more.

The process has taught me that when we join the loving Soul Force at the center of the universe in the work of doing justice (making things fair for all) we pass through a doorway into a whole new life. Some of you have been on this journey for a long time. For others of us, it is a new and life-transforming experience. No one said the 'soul force' journey would be easy. But what an amazing adventure it is turning out to be.

GANDHI ON FAITH IN GOD

Note: Gandhi doesn’t care what name you call God by; but he is convinced that it is the Soul Force at the center of the universe who cries out to us to do justice for all Her outcast children and that it is impossible to accomplish that task without a personal faith in the powerful presence of that same Soul Force at work in our own individual lives.

"God is a living Force. Our life is of that Force. That Force resides in, but is not the body. He who denies the existence of that great Force, denies himself the use of the inexhaustible Power and thus remains impotent. He is like a rudderless ship which, tossed about here and there, perishes without making any headway."

"…nonviolence is impossible without a living faith in God…Those who accept God as their only protector will remain unbent before the mightiest earthly power."

"We have become atheists for all practical purposes. And therefore we believe that in the long run, we must rely upon physical force for our protection."

1. ...I believe that God is at work in the world doing justice (making things fair for all); ______ initial
   
2. …I believe that I was created for this one purpose: to join God in doing justice; _______ initial
   
3. …I believe that I will not fulfill the Creator’s purpose for my life or realize my own soul potential, until I join God in doing justice; _______ initial
   
4. …I believe that when I join God in doing justice, my own life will be renewed, empowered, and made meaningful by the process. _______ initial
   
5. …I believe that in answering God’s call to do justice, it is as much my moral obligation to refuse to cooperate with evil as it is to cooperate with good. _______ initial

• This Credo reflects Gandhi’s principles as filtered through our own Biblical texts.

1. …I believe that my opponent, too, is a child of God and that we are members of one human family.________ initial
   
2. …I believe that my opponent is not my enemy, but a victim of misinformation as I have been.________ initial
   
3. …I believe that my opponent’s motives are as pure as mine and of no relevance to our discussion.________ initial
   
4. ...I believe that even my worst opponent has an amazing potential for positive change. ________ initial
   
5. …I believe that my opponent may have an insight into truth that I do not have.________ initial
   
6. …I believe that one day my opponent and I will understand each other and that if we conduct our mutual search for truth guided by the principles of love, we will find a new position that will satisfy us both. ________ initial
   

1. Truth is our Goal (Satyagraha, clinging to the truth)

(To live by truth and to confront untruth, we liberate our soul force and bring justice to the world.)

2. Love is Our Means of Reaching that Goal (Ahimsa, nonviolence)

(In confronting untruth we must never use physical, mental or spiritual violence.)

Love must guide ‘constructive programs’ as well as nonviolent confrontations and direct actions

3. Self-suffering is Our Most Powerful Weapon (Tapasya, taking on ourselves the suffering of others rather than causing others to suffer)

(If suffering follows our confrontation of untruth, we take on the suffering ourselves.)

1. Vow to Truth ____________ initial

I promise to seek the truth, to live by the truth, and to confront untruth wherever I find it.

2. Vow to Love ____________ initial

I promise to reject violence (physical violence, spiritual violence, psychological violence) and to use only the methods of nonviolence in my confrontation with untruth.

3. Vow to Self-suffering ____________ initial

I promise to take on myself without complaint any suffering that might result from my confrontation with untruth and to do all in my power to help my adversary avoid all suffering, especially that suffering that may result from our confrontation.

4. Vow to control our passions ____________ initial

I promise to control my appetite for food, sex, intoxicants, entertainment, position, power that my best self might be free to join with my Creator in doing justice (making things fair for all.)

5. Vow to control our possessions ____________ initial

I promise to limit my possessions to those things I really need to survive and to see myself as God’s trustee over all other possessions, using them exclusively to help God make things fair for all.

Confronting Untruth Through Constructive works: "…quiet, solid, substantial work in direct personal service of the masses, suffering for them, organizing them, educating them in the ways of nonviolence and thus bringing about a peaceful atmosphere of solemn determination.."

Confronting Untruth Through Dialogue and Debate: A nonviolent way of finding a third position that my opponent and I can fall back on to resolve our disagreement.

Confronting Untruth Through Direct Action: When my opponent refuses to dialogue and debate, I will try to move his heart with compassion by a direct, nonviolent action.

Gandhi’s definition of ‘constructive programs’ as compared to confrontation and direct action:

"…quiet, solid, substantial work in direct personal service of the masses, suffering for them, organizing them, educating them in the ways of nonviolence and thus bringing about a peaceful atmosphere of solemn determination. Constructive work is thus collective purificatory effort through service. It is mass effort and mass education."

Gandhi on the necessity of volunteers working to improve conditions for the people they served:

Unaccompanied by the spirit of service, courting imprisonment and inviting beating and lathi charges [attacks by police wielding sticks], becomes a species of violence."

"Civil disobedience, without the backing of the constructive program, is criminal and a waste of effort."

"He who has no belief in the constructive program has…no concrete feeling for the starved millions. He who is devoid of that feeling cannot fight nonviolently."

When and why constructive programs are of importance to the volunteer:

• before nonviolent direct action as the means of generating moral strength & building up morale, and
• after direct action, as a means of consolidation and as an antidote to any possible intoxication of a victory or depression of a set-back."
  

Gandhi’s 18 items in his constructive program for India, primarily village work:

1. Communal unity;
2. Removal of untouchability;
3. Prohibition (alcohol and other intoxicants);
4. Khadi (home made cloth to cover the body);
5. Other village industries;
6. New or basic education;
7. Adult education;
8. Village sanitation;
9. Service of backward tribes;
10. Uplift of women;
11. Education in hygiene and health;
12. Propagation of Rashtrabhasha (Hindustani as the primary language)
13. Love of one’s own tribal or regional language as well as Hindustani;
14. Working for economic equality;
15. Organization of kisans (co-ops);
16. Organization of labor;
17. Organization fo students;
18. Nature cures.

(Initial)

1. ____ Before any confrontation begins, I will investigate my opponent’s position carefully, trying to understand exactly what my opponent is saying or doing and why my opponent is saying or doing it.
2. ____ Before (during, and after) the confrontation I will work to earn my opponent’s trust, even my opponent’s friendship.
3. ____ I will confront my opponent’s untruth on the basis of truth alone (without resorting to half-truth, exaggerations, unsubstantiated claims, or lies of my own.)
4. ____ I will confront my opponent’s untruth in love (without resorting to physical, spiritual, or psychological violence).
5. ____ I will confront my opponent’s untruth (the idea), not the integrity or the motives of my opponent (the person who holds that idea).
6. ____ I will confront my opponent’s untruth relentlessly, refusing to give up or to compromise my truth (or any portion of it) unless my opponent proves me wrong. In that case, I will admit my error gratefully, seek my opponent’s forgiveness, and if all is resolved, end the confrontation in peace.
7. ____ I will confront my opponent’s untruth relentlessly, refusing to break off our negotiation until we have reached a third position that is acceptable to us both.
8. ____ If my opponent and I cannot reach an acceptable third position, I will ask my opponent to choose with me a neutral, third party, respected by us both to arbitrate our differences.
9. ____ If my opponent breaks off negotiations, refuses to arbitrate, or maintains negotiations to stall or end our confrontation, I will have no other option but to take direct action against my opponent.

The Primary Goals of Direct Action

1. …to convert the wrong-doer, [move the opponent’s heart to compassion]
2. ….to awaken the sense of justice in him,
3. ….to show him also that without the cooperation, direct or indirect, of the wronged the wrong-doer cannot do the wrong intended by him."

The Primary Motives of Direct Action

1. "… to purify ourselves by withdrawing cooperation from unrighteous and unrepentant Government;
2. "… to rid ourselves of the feeling of helplessness by being independent of all Government control or supervision; i.e. to govern ourselves in all possible affairs;
3. "…and, in fulfilling both the objects [stated above] to refrain from doing or promoting injury, or any violence, to individual or property."

The Primary Rules Governing Direct Action

1. …always persuasive,
2. …never coercive (accomplished by force against the opponent’s will);
3. …never violent of body, mind, or spirit

Techniques of Direct Action: (A limited sample only)

1. civil disobedience (breaking the unjust law, accepting the penalty without complaint or retribution)
2. demonstrations
3. economic boycotts
4. fasting
5. hartal (cessation of business as a measure of protest)
6. hijrat (voluntary exile)
7. marches
8. non-cooperation
9. non-payment of taxes
10. picketing
11. prayer vigils
12. social ostracism
13. strike
14. swadeshi (boycott of foreign commodities, emphasis on home made)

(Initial)

1. ____ The primary goal of any direct action is reconciliation.
2. ____ Any direct action must be planned and conducted to win the heart and mind of our opponent, not to terrorize, overwhelm, embarrass, shame or force our opponent into submission.
3. ____ A direct action is taken when we know no other way to end the impasse and to revive the discussion that will lead us to a third position we both can accept;
4. ____ Although one individual alone may enter into a direct action against an opponent’s untruth, it is always important to consider the greater good that might come by making our case clear to the public and then by recruiting and training a network of allies in the ways of ‘soul force’ to help make our direct action more effective.
5. ____ Sometimes just in the act of recruiting and training allies, the opponent is moved to reconciliation.
6. ____ The primary principles of 'soul force' (truth, love, self-suffering) must guide our relationships with our allies as much as it guides our confrontation of untruth;
7. ____ Any direct action(s) we take must be as pure and as loving as the end we seek;
8. ____ We refuse to participate in any direct action that involves physical violence;
9. ____ We refuse to participate in any psychological or spiritual violence as well.
10. ____ We will accept and absorb any suffering that results from our direct action without anger or retaliation;
11. ____ We will do our best to take on ourselves any suffering that our direct action causes our opponent;
12. ____ We will not fear (or seek) our own death but if death comes to us out of our quest for justice, we will accept it as a gift from God and know "that death is not the end, but the beginning of life."

1. A civil resister will harbor no anger.
2. He will suffer the anger of the opponent.
3. In so doing, he will put up with assaults from the opponent, never retaliate; but he will not submit, our of fear of punishment or the like, to any order given in anger.
4. When any person in authority seeks to arrest a civil resister, he will voluntarily submit to the arrest and he will not resist the attachment or removal o his own property, if any, when it is sought to be confiscated.
5. If a civil resister has any property in his possession as a trustee, he will refuse to surrender it, even though in defending it he might lose his life. he will, however, never retaliate.
6. Non-retaliation excludes swearing and cursing.
7. Therefore a civil resister will never insult his opponent, and therefore, also, he may not take part in many of the newly coined cries which are contrary to the spirit of ahimsa (nonviolence).
8. A civil resister will not salute the Union Jack, nor will he insult it or its officials, English or Indian.
9. In the course of the struggle if any one insults an official or commits an assault upon him, a civil resister will protect such official or officials from the insult or assault at the risk of his own life.

1. He must have a living faith in God.
2. He must believe in truth and nonviolence as his creed and, therefore, have faith in the inherent goodness of human nature which he expects to evoke by his truth and love expressed through his suffering.
3. He must be leading a chaste life and be ready and willing for the sake of his cause to give up his life and his possessions.
4. He must be a habitual khadi-wearer and spinner.
5. He must be a teetotaller and be free from the use of other intoxicants.
6. He must carry out with a willing heart all the rules of discipline as may be laid down from time to time.
7. He should carry out the jail rules unless they are especially devised to hurt his self-respect.

1. Meditate daily on the life and teachings of Jesus,
2. Remember that the nonviolent movement seeks justice and reconciliation - not victory.
3. Walk and talk in the manner of love; for God is love.
4. Pray daily to be used by God in order that all men and women might be free.
5. Sacrifice personal wishes that all might be free.
6. Observe with both friend and foe the ordinary rules of courtesy.
7. Seek to perform regular service for others and for the world.
8. Refrain from violence of fist, tongue, and heart.
9. Strive to be in good spiritual and bodily health.
10. Follow the directions of the Movement leaders and of the captains on demonstrations.

Attenborough, Richard, ‘Gandhi,’ RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video, 3500 W. Olive Ave, Burbank, CA. 91505, 1982, (a 3 hour, two part video).

Bondurant, Joan V., Conquest of Violence: The Gandhian Philosophy of Conflict, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1965.

Dhawan, Gopinath, The Political Philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi, Navajivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad-14, India, 1962.

Erikson, Erik H., Gandhi’s Truth: On The Origins of Militant Nonviolence, Norton & Co., New York, 1969.

Gandhi, M.K., The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (93 volumes), Produced by the Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, 1977.

Gandhi, M.K., My Experiment with Truth: An Autobiography, Beacon, Boston, 1956.

Gandhi, M.K., Satyagraha in South Africa, Navajivan, Ahmedabad 14, India, 1928.

Jones, E. Stanley, Mahatma Gandhi: A [Christian] Interpretation, Abingdon, NY, 1958.

Juergensmeyer, Mark, Fighting Fair: A Nonviolent Strategy for Resolving Everyday Conflicts (a revised edition of the book published previously as Fighting With Gandhi), 1986, Harper & Row, San Francisco.

Washington, James M., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr., HarperCollins, New York, 1986.

Young, Andrew, An Easy Burden: The Civil Rights Movement and the Transformation of America, HarperCollins, New York, 1996

JEWISH TESTAMENT (Micah 6:8)

This is what God asks of you (and only this):

1. To do justice;

Satyagraha

2. To love mercy;

Constructive programs

3. To walk humbly with your God." Micah

Personal faith, personal disciplines

CHRISTIAN TESTAMENT (Matthew 23:23)

"Alas for your, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You who pay your tithe of mint and dill and cummin and have neglected the weightier matters of the Law:

1. Justice;

Satyagraha (Gandhi’s method for doing justice nonviolently through confrontation and direct action.)

2. Mercy;

Positive programs (Gandhi’s concern for Satyagrhis to do good works that make things fair for all.)

3. Good faith.

Spiritual growth (A result from personal disciplines, good works, and direct action.

"Those you should have practiced, without neglecting the others. You blind guides! Straining out gnats and swallowing camels." Jesus

Mark reports this historic confrontation with Jesus and the Pharisees in these words, Mark 11:42

"But woe to you Pharisees for you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect:

1. Justice;

2. And the love of God;

These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others." Jesus

Stage #1.

Preparing the case against untruth

1. To collect the print, video, and audio data that clearly demonstrates the opponent’s position.
2. To analyze and reflect upon the opponent’s position.
3. To determine if the opponent’s position is an untruth that leads to injustice.
4. To decide if the opponent’s position should be confronted.

Stage #2.

Entering into discussion, negotiation, arbitration that leads to resolution and reconciliation

1. To present the truth in love to the victim of untruth.
2. To listen carefully to the opponent’s response.
3. To begin a dialogue with the opponent that will lead to a third position and to reconciliation.
4. To continue the dialogue until it is obvious there is no way to reconcile with the opponent.
5. To seek arbitration from a neutral third party respected by you and your opponent.

Stage #3.

Using direct action to revive discussion, negotiation, arbitration that leads to resolution

1. To prepare yourself and your allies for direct action if negotiation and arbitration fail.
2. To announce the coming action and your reasons for it to the public through all media.
3. To issue one last strong appeal to the opponent before the action begins.
4. To conduct the nonviolent action (Demonstration, strike, boycott, non-cooperation, non-payment of taxes, voluntary exile, civil disobedience, prayer vigil, fast, etc.)
5. To take on any suffering that comes from your direct action, even the opponent’s suffering.
6. To return to negotiation and arbitration.
7. To find synthesis, a new, middle ground that leads to agreement and reconciliation.
8. To create the beloved community.

"…by the time he was assassinated in 1968 my husband had fashioned a black movement powerful enough to shatter forever the practice of racial segregation. What you may not have read about is where he got his method for resisting injustice without compromising his religious beliefs.

"He adopted the strategy of nonviolence from a man of a different race, who lived in a distant country, and even practiced a different religion. The man was Mahatma Gandhi, the great leader of India, who devoted his life to serving humanity in the spirit of love and non-violence. It was in these principles that Martin discovered his method for social reform. More than anything else, those two principles were the key to his achievements."

1. … does resist (not a method for cowards);
2. …does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent, but to win his/her friendship and understanding;
3. … directs attack against forces of evil rather than against persons who are caught in those forces;
4. … accepts suffering without retaliation, does accept blows from the opponent without striking back;
5. …avoids not only external physical violence but also internal violence of the spirit;
6. …based on the conviction that the universe (God) is on the side of justice.

1. Meditate daily on the life and teachings of Jesus,
2. Remember that the nonviolent movement seeks justice and reconciliation - not victory.
3. Walk and talk in the manner of love; for God is love.
4. Pray daily to be used by God in order that all men and women might be free.
5. Sacrifice personal wishes that all might be free.
6. Observe with both friend and foe the ordinary rules of courtesy.
7. Seek to perform regular service for others and for the world.
8. Refrain from violence of fist, tongue, and heart.
9. Strive to be in good spiritual and bodily health.
10. Follow the directions of the Movement leaders and of the captains on demonstrations.

Last Updated: 11/01/98