Take the initiative to seek out information, and then merge what you learn with your feelings. This is a way to use the Internet wisely, to allow you to feel your connectedness. You could read about the daily lives of people in that country. You could do a search for images of factory workers. When you find them, look into their eyes, and reflect that they or someone like them ran the machine that sewed your garments. You could learn more about the circumstances of their lives, and try to feel how your life would be if you had grown accustomed to living under those conditions.
When it is grounded in gratitude and a sense of closeness, your greater awareness of the disparities between your living conditions and theirs could motivate you to act to improve their circumstances. At a minimum, each time you put on an article of clothing, you can recognize that you are wearing a sign of others’ kindness. You could feel as close to others as your clothes are to you.

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:

• 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
• A Vast and Complex Web of Causality
• A greater sense of possibility
• Concealing our weaknesses
• Cultivating a spirit of generosity