On interconnectedness

On interconnectedness

In the a few of the last entries I’ve noticed I’ve made references to my Buddhist studies and how I’m feeling a good connection with the ideals of Buddhism. My intent with that is not to become some Buddhist freak and it will be all I talk about any more.

However, reading the Dali Lama two themes he comes back to time and again in his teachings are compassion and interconnectedness.

I’ve been meditating on these and while much of it I already understood the connectedness of man to one another but I think my understanding of if has increased recently.

We don’t always think of the interconnectedness of ourselves to others and the more we think of our self above others we usually end up causing our self more pain and grief and suffering.

Every action of every other person affects our life. We may not see it directly in our daily lives and maybe not for years.

This morning I was meditating on coffee and how my enjoyment of it presents an extreme form of interconnected which I experience everyday.

From the ditch digger who put in the water mains which bring water into my house, the electrician, the house builder, the potter who made my mug, the person who dug the clay, planted the seed which grew and produced the coffee beans. The host of people I’ve never met whose actions some many years ago have all come together for a moment of taking a sip of coffee in my house early in the morning before the sun comes up.

What effect will my actions have on those around me and those I’ll never meet even years from now. This is where the spirituality of it comes into play do you want the impact to be positive or negative. How can you know the whole possibility of the impact? We are deeply connected to every person. Then I mediated on the recent execution of Saddam Hussein. While many people wanted this man to die, there are many people who did not. I’m not saying his actions were excusable he brought pain to many thousands of people and in a sense he touched the lives of every person on the planet and even those who are not even born yet. Now though the judges and jury in Iraq to extract justice for the past actions of one man have put in to play an action which will impact every person further into the future than the actions of the person they punished.

Our leaders I think do not think enough about the impact of their actions and the interconnectedness of those actions and the impact it will have for generations to come. Perhaps the oath of public office should include a line from the Hippocratic Oath, First do no harm.

Ciao,

invisible don