Empathy enables us to reach across differences and connect as equals. It does so by cutting straight through the walls that we build up around us and allowing us to touch the core of our equality: the ability to experience pain and joy

17th Karmapa

from the book Interconnected: Embracing Life in Our Global Society

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Further quotes from the book Interconnected:

• 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
• The interdependence between us and the world
• Acting against self-serving impulses
• Webs of interdependence
• Noticing the collective effects of our individual actions
• Our closest and most reliable allies
• Interdependence at work
• His Loneliness
• The deeper common ground all living being share
• Collective actions and attitudes
• Delight in positive thoughts
• Gradual change
• Our intimate dependence on the natural environment
• Interdependent individuals
• Opening up to the view of interconnectedness
• A main condition for our selfishness