"‘One has to speak out and stand up for one’s convictions. Inaction at a time of conflagration is inexcusable.’—Mahatma Gandhi This fascinating and valuable book brings together the political and moral philosophies central to the life and work of Mahatma Gandhi, pared down to their essentials. Philosophies which have influenced generations and inspired some of the world’s most transformative leaders and its greatest movements—from Martin Luther King, Jr and Barack Obama to Nelson Mandela and Václav Havel; from the Civil Rights movement in America and anti-apartheid struggles in South Africa to non-violent battles for freedom in Asia, Africa and the rest of the world. The basic principles of Gandhi’s philosophy were chosen for this compendium by Thomas Merton, one of the most influential religious and moral thinkers of the 20th century. In his comprehensive introduction, Merton emphasizes action rather than pacifism as essential to non-violence, and illustrates how the foundations of Gandhi’s universal truths are linked to traditional Hindu Dharma, the Greek philosophers, and the teachings of Jesus Christ. For Gandhi, he argues, ahimsa and satyagraha were not merely political tools, but a response to evil itself. Challenging, inspiring and eternally valid, Gandhi’s principles are, as Merton puts it, ‘required reading for anyone who is seriously interested in man’s fate in the nuclear age’."

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