Seeing ourselves as fundamentally separate and independent inclines us to underestimate or altogether ignore the connections between ourselves and others. As happens in our use of electronic connectivity, we feel that we are here, while everyone else is over there, apart from us. We even imagine that we can do whatever we wish with no consequences for anyone but ourselves. Given the environmental impact of our consumer-driven global society, I believe we cannot afford to leave unexamined the assumptions that have allowed us to go so far down this road without noticing the collective effects of our individual actions.
17th Karmapa
from the book
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Further quotes from the book Interconnected :
- Interdependent individuals
- Our intimate dependence on the natural environment
- A main condition for our selfishness
- Opening up to the view of interconnectedness
- Outer and inner world
- Self-reliance
- Everything and everyone is benefiting you
- The best way to love oneself
- When we ignore our interdependence
- Limitless aspirations
- We hold nothing back
- Keeping the door to improvement open
- Freedom
- Naturalness
- Thinking about the consequences of our collective actions
- Being an interdependent individual
- The workings of interdependence
- The ability to experience genuine closeness
- Becoming stuck in a quagmire of self-obsession
- Inner freedom is key