In order to make your sense of closeness more vivid, you could take a further step in connecting to the people who have benefited you from afar. You could take a look at the labels on the clothes you are wearing to see where they were made. Taking advantage of the easy access to information and images that the Internet affords you, you can investigate to actively educate yourself about working conditions and the experiences of factory workers in the place your clothes were made. Do not wait for news of their lives to reach you. Extend yourself and connect with them. Do this with the awareness that, no matter how different the backdrop of their lives appears, just like you they yearn to be happy and free of suffering.
17th Karmapa
from the book Interconnected: Embracing Life in Our Global Society
Read a random quote or see all quotes by the 17th Karmapa.
Further quotes from the book Interconnected:
- Individualism or interdependence
- A genuine sense of affection
- The power of our senses
- Gratitude
- Self-discipline
- The full vividness of direct contact
- Dismantling the walls that separate us
- Inner conditions of interdependence
- You exist in connection with others
- 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