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
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
- Gratitude
- The power of our senses
- The full vividness of direct contact
- Self-discipline
- Dismantling the walls that separate us
- Inner conditions of interdependence
- Extend yourself and connect
- You exist in connection with others
- Remaining indifferent to the suffering of animals
- The opportunity to love
- Time to act
- Our life is like a vast net
- Extending gratitude in all directions
- The air we breathe
- An important source of closeness and love
- The imagination to see the other as free and happy
- Knowing more is not a substitute for feeling more
- Self-reliance