Good Will Towards All

i am writing this week about the concept of interdependence.  everything and everyone is connected.  we are connected to the farmers who raise our food, to the equipment the farmers use, to those who manufacture the equipment, to those who supply the raw materials from which the equipment is made, to the plants that produce the seed which grows into the food that is harvested, to those who transport the food to market, to the employees of the stores where the food is sold . . . the list could go on and on.  none of us is independent of other beings and other things.  in every facet of our lives, we could compile lists of all those people and objects on which we are dependent, and each of those lists would have multiple connections to other lists.

those who have a false conception of what individual freedom means forget how we are all connected.  no one "makes it on their own."  we all owe what we are and have to our connections to others.  we are the products of everyone who has gone before us, and we continue to exist because of our dependence on others.  we are all the children, siblings, and parents of each other.  as such, we must recognize our obligations to love and care for all of creation.  as we watch russians and ukrainians kill one another, their loss is our loss.  the world is changed by each death, no matter how far away, just as it is changed by each birth.  because a certain person in a place we may have never heard of dies, the ripples from that death flow outward to all who knew that person, to all who know those affected most intimately by that death and eventually to every person on earth.  our living and dying affect so many whose lives we touch in ways we are unaware of.

one of my favorite christmas movies is "it's a wonderful life."  in this movie, the main character has the opportunity to see what life in his town would have been like if he had never existed.  we see his brother drowning after falling through the ice in a pond because no one was there to save him.  we see his mother turned into a bitter boarding house owner after the death of her husband because no one was there to help support her as she grew old.  we see the impoverishment of the town because the building and loan that enabled many to escape poverty no longer existed.  we see a drunken druggist sent to prison because no one was there to stop him from sending a wrong prescription out to a sick person.  everywhere the main character turns, the effects of his absence from the town's life are seen.  he soon realizes that his was a life worth living and that the good he did and the sacrifices he made were important to the well-being of countless others.

we must ask ourselves what life would be like on this planet had we not existed.  did we have a good effect or a bad one?  probably the answer is a mixture of both.  we hope that, on the whole, the lives of others are better because we have lived.  if we can't live in that hope, we must make changes so that others are benefited from our having lived.  this is our karma: that others are better off or worse off for us being on this planet.  it is not that we followed the rules of a vengeful god, but rather that our kindheartedness enabled others to live happier, more fulfilling lives.

may we examine our lives to discern what actions flow from the contents of our heart.  may others benefit from our actions.  may the world be better off because we have lived.  may we recognize that we cannot exist as independent beings, that we are all interconnected with everything that exists, has existed, and will exist.  may our hearts overflow with love and good will.  shalom.