“Love is a rare herb that makes
a friend even of a sworn enemy and
this herb grows out of non-violence.”

When I started this web site in nearly 6 years ago I wrote that my hope was that this web page “brings together two forces I have experienced in my life: the wonder and power of creation, and the wonder and power of the Spirit, or creative nonviolence.” Originally called ‘NonviolentWorm’, after my pilgrimage to India, I changed the name to ‘Nonviolentcow’, the cow being a more sacred symbol of growing and nature. I have tried over the years to bring together the left side of my web page, “growing power” and the right side “Nonviolence”, especially in this posting the Diary of the Worm.

Today I was sent a picture quote from India that truly brings together growing power and nonviolence. It is a quote from Mahatma Gandhi that says “Love is a rare herb that makes a friend even of a sworn enemy and this herb grows out of non-violence.” You can find the picture quote on the side and below in a larger version.

Since I have been cooking herbs have placed a larger and larger role in my dishes. The quote calls “love a rare herb”. An herb adds spice and taste to any food dish. This ‘rare herb’ of love can make a friend even of a sworn enemy. The foundation or earth of this herb grows out of non-violence. Non-violence has many definitions; one of my favorites is from Judith Brown in her book on Gandhi. She says his Satyagraha or creative nonviolence struggle is “striving nonviolently to the point of sacrifice rather than fighting to attain one’s vision of truth.”

A rare herb adds a special taste to the food or brings out a special taste. Ordinary food with an herb can be extraordinary. Love that grows out of nonviolence that makes a friend even of a sworn enemy is extraordinary love. It is love that grows out of sacrifice and suffering. St. Ignatius of Loyola in the Spiritual Exercises in hisse prayer (#98) in the second week, asks us to pray to the “Eternal Lord and King” for the “desire to be with you in accepting all wrongs and all rejections and all poverty.” Martin Luther King Jr. in his letter from the Birmingham jail, talks about how “disciplined nonviolence totally confused the rulers of the South. They did not know what to do. When they finally reached for clubs, dogs and guns, they found the world was watching, and then the power of nonviolent protest became manifest.”

Love is all around us. The rare herb of love grows out of the self sacrifice and suffering of love. In my gardens I grow many herbs, mint, parsley, basil and oregano. In my life I need to grow one herb, the rare herb of love that comes from the practice of nonviolence. This rare herb brings together the power of nonviolence and growing power.

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