Mahatma Gandhi

I have just finished reading The Essential Gandhi edited by Louis Fischer.  It is an anthology of writings by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, otherwise known as Mahatma Gandhi, with editorial notes by Louis Fischer, a journalist and biographer. 

 
 
From what little I have read about Gandhi, I gather that he was a seeker of truth and a believer of love.  He was also a human being and a product of his place and time, but one who managed to transcend so many limitations despite it all.  His written thoughts are intimate, frank, reassuring, and altogether inspiring.  This was a man who truly knew how to love, in the best sense of the word.

I used to think that people who imagined that love would save us all were delusional.  I still do.  I have begun to realize that all of us are, in one way or another, imagining the world out of what little we know.  The search for truth merely provides a way to make sense of it all, and different people search for different things.  The previous owner of the book wrote an interesting question at the very last page:  "Why does Gandhi believe love is the strongest force in the world?"  I cannot help but ask myself the same question.  After some thought, I have come to the conclusion that the answer entirely depends on one's ever-changing definition of love, and this is the best answer I can think of at the moment:  love is a compulsion to create and sustain life - and life is the very reason why we are all here.