Culture shock

I recently completed an autobiography by Mohandas Gandhi titled An Autobiography - or - The Story of My Experiments With Truth. I started reading it while we were in Darjeeling, India. Since then, I've savoured the short chapters, finding a tender but tenacious spirit from this humble, simple man. I really enjoyed the period of time in which he vowed to his mother (and later actively decided) to become a vegetarian. I thought I had some good reasons for being a veg-head, but his extensive decision-making process and his strict rules of eating as a result of that decision, truly stunned me. Often, the challenge that comes with ordering food in a restaurant frustrates me. Nonetheless, I can always order a salad or bread. At the time when Gandhi declared himself vegetarian, being an educated man, he was not only vehemently debated, but often not even served at a restaurant because his position was such a threat to the owners and cooks, not to mention his colleagues.

There is a comical, yet poignant, point in the book which also explains a time when Gandhi was learning about Christianity. He meets with Quakers and Catholics in very intimate settings, building relationships and discussing books. There is one story in which Gandhi accepts the importance of Jesus - historically and religiously - and as a result, the Christian friends request that he give up his vegetarian campaign and eat meat in order to 'properly' accept the Truth. Gandhi points out the hypocrisy of this request so boldly and succinctly.

The last page of the book synopsizes Gandhi's journey to date (which is previous to his widely publicized fasts and so on). Through several crises and 'experiments' with Truth, he states:

"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."

What I love about this quote is the honesty that the two, regardless of what kind of religion one aligns themselves with, should be integrated. I recognize how incredibly debatable this is, though I would be inclined to point out that this quote is supposed to be interpreted with the best of intentions. What I believe is intended is that if one is convinced of a belief, it should be integrated with that of a political movement. For example, consider that Mennonites are declared pacificts - they then should actively pursue peace via political expressions. (Of course, I can pick on Mennonites, because of my heritage and permanent affiliation with them.) Another religious example, which is highly publicized, is that of the Dalai Lama. Though his intention is peace, without conflict between his displaced Tibet and ruling China, his message is ultimately political in nature.

Getting back to Gandhi, I loved the tone of his writing. His spirit of experimentation is inspiring, though extremist at times, his humane love of people is a sharp contrast to that of our leaders today.