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 :
- Outer and inner world
- Self-reliance
- The best way to love oneself
- Everything and everyone is benefiting you
- Limitless aspirations
- When we ignore our interdependence
- Freedom
- We hold nothing back
- Keeping the door to improvement open
- Thinking about the consequences of our collective actions
- Naturalness
- The workings of interdependence
- Being an interdependent individual
- Inner freedom is key
- The ability to experience genuine closeness
- Becoming stuck in a quagmire of self-obsession
- Enthusiastically benefiting whomever we come in contact with
- Our innate ability to connect with others
- Interdependence always works both ways
- Enjoying the goodness of what you are doing