I hope it is clear that interdependence does not undermine your individuality but is what has enabled you to become the unique person you are today. Embracing your interdependence can give your individuality new meaning. The same is true of self-reliance. There are forms of self-reliance that works in harmony with interdependence, and it is precisely these forms of self-reliance that we most need to cultivate. Thinking in terms of interdependence, in turn, provides a firm base for our exercise of healthy self-reliance.
It is on the basis of interdependence that we are able to consciously change course in life and grow in new directions. We are not destined to live out our lives as dictated by the initial set of conditions that first gave us life.
17th Karmapa
from the book
Read a random quote or see all quotes by the 17th Karmapa.
Further quotes from the book Interconnected :
- You exist in connection with others
- Extend yourself and connect
- Remaining indifferent to the suffering of animals
- The opportunity to love
- Our life is like a vast net
- Time to act
- The air we breathe
- Extending gratitude in all directions
- An important source of closeness and love
- The imagination to see the other as free and happy
- Self-reliance
- Knowing more is not a substitute for feeling more
- The interdependence between us and the world
- Acting against self-serving impulses
- Noticing the collective effects of our individual actions
- Webs of interdependence
- Interdependence at work
- Our closest and most reliable allies
- Touching the core of our equality
- His Loneliness