Interconnectedness, Self and Other, Loving-Kindness
David Oromith · 30 minutes · recorded August 22, 2021
We settle whole body awareness into the natural rhythm of the breath, with counting offered to steady a busy mind until it clears like a lake settling after a storm. David tells the story of a farmer who shares his best seed with neighbours to keep his own crop strong, and uses it to explore how our happiness depends on others rather than being self made. He looks at how us and them thinking creates conflict, and closes by reading the Buddha's teaching on loving kindness.
"There was a farmer who grew excellent quality wheat and every season he won the award for the best grown in his county. One year a reporter from the local newspaper interviewed the farmer and learned that each Spring the man shared his seeds with his neighbors so that they too could plant it in their fields... The reporter asked, “How can you afford to share your best wheat seeds with your neighbors when they are entering their crops in the competition with yours?" The farmer explained, “Why that's very simple, the wind picks up pollen from the developing wheat and carries it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior wheat, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of all the wheat, including mine. If I am to grow good wheat, I must help my neighbors grow good wheat"... The reporter realized how the farmer's explanation also applied to peoples' lives in the most fundamental way... If we wish to live meaningfully and well, we must help enrich the lives of others. If we wish to be happy, we must help others find happiness, for the welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all." So, I think this message is so important. Especially with what is going on on the world stage right now, the Afghan asylum seekers, the climate crisis, etc. Interconnectedness is a universal truth. As an individual, we are not this 'self-made', ‘nobody ever helped me’, ‘my actions don’t affect anyone’, inherently independent person. Our happiness is interwoven in a vast network of interdependence. Everything you have, everything you can enjoy, is because of the kindness of others. Everything we do has an impact on others or our environment. And love, affection and connectedness with others are at the very core of human existence. We’re by nature drawn to it. But, the way we view self and other can close us off from it. On a wider scale, ‘self’ may become your particular town, or community, or country - you may perceive a sense of us and them, (our people, our v
Loving kindness (metta)