“You have to love that person who’s hitting you.” That is a quote from civil rights icon John Lewis in today’s review of a new biography.

Why is that true? The pioneer of modern nonviolent resistance, Mohandas Gandhi, came to a startling conclusion. Injustice comes from the desire to control others, which plays upon our passions and prejudices. Truth comes from the struggle to control oneself without yielding to despair or hate. In its most radical forms, this becomes a transformational grace that changes people and societies through conscience, not through control.

It is the amplitude of a pure heart, unabridged and unleashed, and a power that does not wax or wane with the political seasons.