Question

During last night's meditation, the idea that we are interconnected with all living beings came up. Can you please talk more about this?

Answer

We are all interconnected in that we are all part of the human existence in this world, where we are all governed by the same laws of existence. If we don't have a complete understanding of these laws, we suffer. By becoming more aware of the Laws of Existence and that we can't live independently of them helps us to accept these laws more.

Oftentimes people believe that they can do anything and not have a result come from their actions. If we understand that the Law of Kamma is one of these Laws of Existence, and if we understand through observing our own minds, that this Law of Cause and Effect is occurring within ourselves, in everything we think, say and do, then we see clearly that everything we think, say, and do has a result.

If we can understand that everything we think, say, and do has a result; and not just for ourselves, but also perhaps for others, then we realize that what we do is very important. We have to look at what we do and see how we're relating to ourselves, to others, to other living beings, and to life. Try to be more careful in how you relate to others, to be careful with your actions, speech and thoughts, and be careful with how they affect others.

We are all interconnected and dependent on the Four Great Elements for our existence We can't live independent of the Four Great Elements: earth, water, wind and fire. There's sometimes a common view that we are the masters of nature, rather than being a part of nature. But we can't exist independent of the air, the earth, the sun, or the wind, right? All living beings depend on these Four Great Elements for their existence, we are not different to others.

Seeing the similarities among human beings and among living beings helps us to understand that we are all subject to birth, aging, disease and death. This helps us to come closer to other beings, and understand they are also similar. This helps us to breakthrough our prejudices, and helps us to breakthrough that feeling that we can live independent of others.

Our apologies if there are any errors in the above text. If anything seems to be wrong or confusing in any way, please feel free to contact the teachers for further clarification.