Means and Ends

Gandhi’s claim is that the means are the seed of the end. A clean aim does not wash a dirty method. If you travel by a rumor, a lie, or a humiliation, you arrive carrying them. The result is not waiting, untouched, at the end of a spoiled road.

Taking an opponent’s methods in order to beat them leaves you holding their kind of victory. The harm was not a side effect you hoped to avoid. It was the way you traveled, so it is part of what you got.

A hard method can still be clean. Patience, and a cost you bear yourself, are not the stain. The stain is a blow, a lie, or a humiliation used as the vehicle and then called temporary.

The rumor that wins

A neighborhood wants a fair rule. One plan gets the votes by spreading a rumor about the person who disagrees. The rule passes.

Gandhi would not call the rule clean because the aim was fair. The rumor is now in the room with the rule. The way they arrived is part of what arrived.

Try this today Before you pursue a goal, check whether the way you plan to win is one you could defend.