Quest of the Spirit: From Suffering to Acceptance

4.2The Courage of Heroes, Then and Now: Gandhi, Roosevelt, Burgess, Moyers

   1.     In his Autobiography (1925), Gandhi describes how "a man of truth must also be a man of care,"  not of political or personal ambition (14). Diligence in one's service to man, God, and truth must rank foremost in the heart and conscience of every person. Lessons in character and morality must always underlie the principles of living and teaching (283). Despite the various struggles of life, one must constantly exercise virtue and self-restraint (274). Courage, faith, tolerance, and humility serve as vital components in the individual's spiritual growth (420), not political power or domination. The subject, Gandhi says, must always hold the utmost reverence for all forms of existence (197). As the author suggests, "To see the universal and all-pervading Spirit of Truth face to face one must be able to love the meanest of creation as oneself. And a man who aspires after that cannot afford to keep out of any field of life. That is why my devotion to Truth has drawn me into the field of politics; and I can say without the slightest hesitation, and yet, in all humility, that those who say that religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion means" (420). Gandhi observes that morality and truth form the substance of all things (29); while religion serves the supreme motive for life (42). "Truth is like a vast tree, which yields more and more fruit, the more you nurture it. The deeper the search in the mine of Truth, the richer the discovery of the gems buried there, in the shape of openings for an ever greater variety of service" (182). Purpose in life derives from both action and understanding. As the prophet suggests, "A knowledge of religion, as distinguished from experience, seems but chaff in such moments of trial" (60). In essence, we give, love, and forgive because we live. No other standard is necessary, save faith and courage.

2.        The social and economic problems of today make it even more essential that truth  and faith and truth guide human behavior. Spiritual growth is imperative for social and psychological  growth. Writing in 1940 Eleanor Roosevelt considers issues that  equally demand attention today. In The Moral Basis of Democracy, the former First Lady writes, "The war-ridden, poverty-stricken world of today  seems to be struggling essentially with problems of economics and its ills seem to be primarily materialistic. Yet, I believe that we do not begin to approach a solution of our problems until we acknowledge the fact that they are spiritual and that they necessitate a change in the attitude of human beings to one another." Many contend today that the rapid dissemination of information and technology , rather than bringing people closer together, spreads them farther apart,as they focus on personal issues instead of global ones. Wars and racial injustice all require a spiritual  perspective rather than an economic or political one. In Mrs. Roosevelt's words, "War is the result of spiritual poverty. People say that war is the cause of a great many troubles; but in the first analysis  it is the fact that human beings have not developed the ability to rise above purely selfish interest which brings about war.  Then war intensifies all of our social problems and leaves us groping for the answers" (Roosevelt 51). In another passage, Mrs. Roosevelt reiterates the them of spiritual growth in politics when she says, "We live under a Democracy, under a form of government which above all other forms should make us conscious of the need we all have for this spiritual, moral awakening. It is not something which must necessarily come through any one religious belief, or through people who go regularly to church and proclaim themselves as members of this or that denomination.  We may belong to any denomination, we may be strict observers of certain customs, or we may be neglectful of forms, but the fundamental thing which we must have is the spiritual force which the life of Christ exemplifies. We might well find it in the life of Buddha, but as long as it translates itself into something tangible in aspirations for ourselves and love for our neighbors, we should be content; for then we know that human nature is struggling toward an ideal" (Roosevelt 61). Sin on the corporate level is much greater in magnitude and proportion.  As Walter Rauschenbusch avers in A Theology for the Social Gospel (1918), "To find the climax of sin we must not linger over a man who swears or sneers at religion, or denies the mystery of the trinity, but put our hands on social groups who have turned the patrimony of a nation into the private property of a small class, or have left the peasant labourers cowed, degraded, demoralized, and without rights in the land. When we find such in history, or in present-day life, we shall know we have struck rebellion against God on the higher levels of sin" (Rauschenbusch 51). How timely and appropriate this passage applies to twenty-first century western society, with a disproportionate percentage possessing the wealth of all, violence and rage over racial inequality, and congressional insensitivity to the needs of the poor and underprivileged. Rauschenbusch blames corporate society for the failure of making their congregations aware of the seriousness of corporate and governmental greed. In a chapter entitle "The Nature of Sin," Rauschenbusch says, "It would be unfair to blame theology for the fact that our race is still submerged under despotic government, under war and militarism, under landlordism, and under predatory industry and finance. But we can justly blame it for the fact that the Christian Church even now has hardly any realization that these things are large-scale sins. We can blame it in part for the fact that when a Christian minister in our country speaks of these sins he is charged with forgetting the simple gospel of sin and salvation, and is in danger of losing his position" (Rauschenbusch 53). Igt is said that Martin Luther King, Jr., read and followed  Rauschenbusch's ideas on Social Gospel, particularly during the marches of the 1960's.  Anthony Burgess,  renowned author of the  A Clockwork Orange,  suggests a similar notion when he says, "There is, in fact, not much point in writing a novel unless you can show the possibility of moral transformation, or an increase in wisdom, operating in your chief character or characters." 

 3.           In Moyers on Democracy, Bill Moyers emphasizes how American democracy is endangered by the power of vested interests controlling not only production but government itself. Quoting Theodore Roosevelt in 1912, Moyers draws a strong parallel in America then and now: "We are standing for the great fundamental rights upon which all successful free government must be based. We are standing for elementary decency in politics. We are fighting for honesty against naked robbery. It is not a partisan issue; it is more than a political issue; it is a moral issue. If we condone political theft, if ewe do not resent the kinds of wrong and injustice that injuriously affect the whole nation, not merely our democratic form of government but our civilization itself cannot endure" (Roosevelt in Moyers 218). Moyers closes this thought with the following appeal: "We need that fighting spirit today--the tough, outraged, and resilient silent spirit that knows we have been delivered the great and precious legacy, 'government of, by, and for the people,' and by God we're going to pass it on" (Moyers 218).  In a subsequent chapter of Moyers on Democracy, Moyers avers , "It will be a bitter pill for many Americans to swallow the idea of doing with less so that big business can have more. They succeeded beyond expectations. Instead of a level playing field, government now favors the powerful and privileged. Public institutions, laws and regulations, the ideas, norm, and beliefs which aimed to protect the common good and helped to create America's iconic middle class are now greatly weakened and increasingly vulnerable to attack . The Nobel laureate economist Robert Solow sums it up succinctly. 'What it's all about, he says,  is the 'redistribution of wealth in favor of the wealthy and of power in favor of the powerful' " (Moyers 244).    

                                                  Works Cited for Gandhi's Autobiography

Gandhi, M. K. AN Autobiography OR The Story of My Experiments with Truth. Mahadev Desai,                         Trans. Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing House, 1995.

Moyers, Bill. Moyers on Democracy. New York: Doubleday, 2008.

Rauschenbusch, Walter. A Theology for the Social Gospel. Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon                               Press,  1945.

Roosevelt, Eleanor. The Moral Basis of Democracy. Foreword by Rev. Carol Howard Merritt.                              Introduction by Allida Black. New York: Open Road Integrated Media, 2016.