Spiritual Transformation and Nonviolent Action: Interpreting Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr‪.‬

Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., each in his own time and place, altered the course of a society through actions of militant nonviolent resistance in behalf of marginalized groups. Gandhi's primary work was in India between 1915 and his assassination in 1930. King's activity was chiefly but not exclusively in the Southeastern United States between 1955 and his assassination in 1968. Gandhi was a Hindu, who on occasion criticized Jesus for not showing love for nonhuman life but who also expressed admiration for Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, which he said "went straight to my heart." (1) King was a Baptist Christian, who said his movement was an expression of Christ's love, specifically as it was stated in that same Sermon on the Mount. King also affirmed that the method of this love was provided by Gandhi. (2) I do not present here a scholarly analysis of Gandhi and King. Rather, I offer an interpretation of their nonviolent movements as ventures for reforming society that are rooted in altruism and spiritual transformation. My entree to the theme is Erik Erikson's 1969 psychobiographical and psychohistorical work, Gandhi's Truth: On the Origins of Militant Nonviolence. I make no claim to represent the intuitions or self-understanding of either Gandhi or King. Rather, I offer a proposal for understanding their significance, focusing on five areas of concern: (1) clarifying the terms passive resistance, nonviolent resistance, and militant nonviolence; (2) militant nonviolence as a process of double conversion; (3) militant nonviolence as a process of spiritual transformation; (4) the larger human significance of militant nonviolence; and (5) militant nonviolence as a process of love and altruism.