The Seven Blunders of the World

The Social Reformer took Gandhi's Seven Blunders of the World and tried to revise them for our current era. Personally, I prefer Gandhi's list, but I admire the effort and thought that went into the revised list, even if I disagree. More to the point, I admire their desire for a nonviolent world.

Here is the list Gandhi created:

The Seven Blunders of the World is a list that Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi gave to his grandson Arun Gandhi, written on a piece of paper, on their final day together, not too long before his assassination.^[1] The seven blunders are:

• Wealth without work
• Pleasure without conscience
• Knowledge without character
• Commerce without morality
• Science without humanity
• Worship without sacrifice
• Politics without principle

This list grew from Gandhi's search for the roots of violence. He called these acts of passive violence. Preventing these is the best way to prevent oneself or one's society from reaching a point of violence.

To this list, Arun Gandhi added an eighth blunder, rights without responsibilities.^[2]

Here is the list The Social Reformer created:

This list was a result of Gandhi's search for the roots of violence. He called these acts of passive violence (greed, selfishness, hate, anger, etc.). Acts of passive violence generate anger in the victim, and since the victim has not learned how to use anger positively, the victim abuses anger and generates physical violence. He said that preventing these (blunders) is the best way to prevent oneself or one's society from reaching a point of violence.

These writings inspired us to write our own list of improprieties.

The Seven Blunders Of The World (our version)

1. words without thought
2. music without meaning
3. logic without emotion
4. religion without faith
5. family without unity
6. children without morals
7. wisdom without virtue

This list grew from our search for the roots of violence. We believe that preventing these (blunders) is a good way to prevent oneself or one's society from reaching a point of violence.

I think Gandhi created the more universal list, and certainly the list that best conforms to Buddhist ideals. If we all could practice these ideals, the world would be a much better place.

Tags: Seven Blunders of the World, Gandhi, morality, ethics, inspiration, peace, nonviolence, The Social Reformer