A day was thereupon fixed for beginning the experiment.” “It began to grow on me that meat-eating was good, that it would make me strong and daring, and that, if the whole county took to meat-eating, the English could be overcome. The experiment did not go too well, and he became sick and overcome by guilt as a result. Some of his first experiments related to challenging his religious convention of vegetarianism and trying meat. Three lessons stand out to me from Gandhi’s writings: 1.Using experiments to move on from the pastĭiet was a primary topic in Gandhi’s life. While his experiments predominantly applied to the topic of his diet, he applied these experiments to his spiritual pursuits and his search for purity, his political activities through his fasting protests, and even his role as an educator using diet and meals as teaching exercises. He applied the concept to topics such as spirituality, parenting, education, morality, medicine and more. The word “experiment” is used over 95 times in his 160 brief chapters. Gandhi applied this perspective of life as an experiment to all aspects of his life. When that happens, the experiment is repeated until there is learning and new experiments can be performed based on what was previously learned. The only time an experiment fails is if there is no learning. An experiment is defined as a success if something is learned as a result of an experiment. We can change our status by either adding more successes and failures, or by raising or lowering our perceived standard.Īn alternative perspective, and one promoted by Gandhi, is one where life is a series of experiments.

some other perceived standard we accept from society or others.some point in our past or assumed future,.At any given point in time we are deemed as winning or losing based on: My recent research into performance-based self-esteem highlighted a tendency to view our life as a series of successes and failures. Gandhi’s emphasis on life as an experiment is an important distinction to a typical perspective of life as a series of successes and failures. These questions came to me as I finished reading Mahatma Gandhi’s autobiography, titled “Experiments in Truth”. How do you feel about those experiences? What is the story about your past that shapes how you see the world today? Consider the key events that shaped your experience, that helped form how you view the world today. I invite you to reflect on your life over the past five years. Is life a series of successes and failures, or an experiment?

Gandhi's book my experiments with truth