An Intro to the Metta Center’s Free Courses
Have you explored our library of free, self-paced, online courses? Here’s a quick introduction to help guide you, whether you’re exploring for yourself, getting a group together for a shared study, or recommending a course to friends or family.
For those interested in a closer look at essential figures in the development of principled nonviolence:
This audio course features interviews with Dr. Clayborne Carson, professor emeritus of history and former director of the Martin Luther King Research Institute at Stanford. Dr. Carson answers some crowd-sourced questions about the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.
These talks with Professor Michael Nagler are an offering to supplement your learning from our other materials, including Gandhi Searches for Truth.
For families:
Peacemaker Family guides you and your loved ones through an exploration of how your family can thrive as a loving force of nonviolence, both in your home and in the rest of the world.
Nonviolence and the New Humanity is a course in 5 engaging animations that explore how nonviolence is key to building a society that works for everyone.
For those seeking an approachable daily practice to follow:
This video course guides you through Michael Nagler’s seminal book, The Search for a Nonviolent Future. Beginning with the achievements of Mahatma Gandhi, and following the legacy of nonviolence through the struggles against Nazism in Europe, racism in America, oppression in China and Latin America, and ethnic conflicts in Africa and Bosnia, Search unveils a hidden history. Nonviolence, Nagler proposes, has proven its power against arms and social injustice wherever it has been correctly understood and applied. With a foreword by Arun Gandhi, Search received the 2002 American Book Award.
Spend a month working through a different theme each day with guided reflections based on supplemental materials.
For those looking to explore the foundational theories:
These short talks and writings are compiled to help you explore the basic concepts of principled nonviolence as taught by the Metta Center. The objective is to take you a little deeper into your understanding, and help you to explore how to apply the concepts to your own life and work.
This is an audio course that introduces the concepts of three primary elements to nonviolence: person power, constructive program, and satyagraha, and explores how we can begin to develop them within ourselves. For a graphic illustration of this trajectory, see also our Roadmap.
For those interested in a deep study and a longer commitment:
Peace and Conflict Studies 164-A (The Theory and Practice of Nonviolence) is an introductory course on the philosophy and practice of principled nonviolence. It offers a broad overview of global nonviolence theory and history, and is an excellent basis for further exploration.
Peace and Conflict Studies 164-B (Nonviolence Today) explores the potential of nonviolence in an increasingly violent world; it offers a more practical, nuanced focus on application, and teases out lessons from the great movements of nonviolence globally.
