Gandhi’s Personal Transformation through Experiments with Truth

Abstract Many accounts of adult personality development propose that people’s central concerns are transformed as they age and become more mature; often, they are said to become wiser. While cultural reasons for ascribing wisdom may vary, some figures are almost universally accepted as wise. For example, Mohandas Gandhi has been nominated as a wise exemplar in several scientific studies spanning decades. But how is wisdom acquired through personal transformation understood by wise people themselves? Spiritual autobiographies are a rare window into the minds of wise individuals. For example, Gandhi wrote an atmakatha (spiritual autobiography), subtitled My Experiments with Truth. Truth for Gandhi was a divine cosmic principle. This chapter explores how his various experiments in manifesting truth in his life, personally and politically, transformed him into an iconic wisdom figure whose life—although not without controversy—significantly affected those around him and the wider world in ways considered wise, both in his own time and down to the present day.