Are We Really Separate?

The other day, I happened to hear a 60’s classic, the Buffalo Springfield song, “For What It’s Worth.” It could have been written yesterday …

STOP! “There’s something happening here…”

Can we ignore the homeless, the jobless? Those in the ever-lengthening lines for food? The racial inequities? The healthcare disparity in our country? If we can, we have failed to see that I am you, and you are me.

As Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh reminds us, we “inter-are”.

We really have to wake up to the fact that nothing is separate from anything else. All things are connected. We are all connected to one another.

If I am not safe, healthy or stable, how can you be? Likewise, if others are not safe, well and whole, how can I be?

Taking care of other people’s safety and well-being is to take care of our own well-being. Until we awaken to this reality, none of us will feel connected, united or at peace.

It is the mind of separation that creates discrimination. It is also that same mind that is the very foundation of all violence and hate.

Our safety and well-being can no longer be individual matters.

For a full list of weekly meditations, gatherings and Dharma talks with Maggie Kelly, check out the Satsang House Event Calendar for dates and times.