Many of us are moved when we see how animals behave and how they care for one another. Videos of interspecies interactions have some of the most views on the Internet. I myself enjoy watching them as well. Perhaps these videos reflect our own yearning to be able to connect across our differences. Millions of people might share a video of a dolphin and a whale playing together or a cat mothering an abandoned chick. There is something in this that fascinates us. When we watch such videos, we marvel at animals’ abilities to act against what we assume is their self-serving or self-protective impulses. We can let ourselves be inspired by their natural display of the same inner qualities we would like to cultivate.
17th Karmapa
from the book
Read a random quote or see all quotes by the 17th Karmapa.
Further quotes from the book Interconnected :
- You exist in connection with others
- Extend yourself and connect
- The opportunity to love
- Remaining indifferent to the suffering of animals
- Time to act
- Our life is like a vast net
- The air we breathe
- Extending gratitude in all directions
- The imagination to see the other as free and happy
- An important source of closeness and love
- Knowing more is not a substitute for feeling more
- Self-reliance
- The interdependence between us and the world
- Webs of interdependence
- Noticing the collective effects of our individual actions
- Our closest and most reliable allies
- Interdependence at work
- Touching the core of our equality
- His Loneliness