Our loyalties must include the whole human community, the entire planet Earth

Parabola Magazines Facebook status update today:
Human history can be viewed as a slowly dawning awareness that we are members of a larger group. Initially our loyalties were to ourselves and our immediate family, next, to bands of wandering hunter-gatherers, then to tribes, small settlements, city-states, nations.

We have broadened the circle of those we love. We have now organized what are modestly described as super-powers, which include groups of people from divergent ethnic and cultural backgrounds working in some sense together — surely a humanizing and character building experience. If we are to survive, our loyalties must be broadened further, to include the whole human community, the entire planet Earth. 

Many of those who run the nations will find this idea unpleasant. They will fear the loss of power. We will hear much about treason and disloyalty. Rich nation-states will have to share their wealth with poor ones. But the choice, as H. G. Wells once said in a different context, is clearly the universe or nothing.

–Carl Sagan, "Cosmos," Random House, 1980, p. 339

Sympathetic Joy

"To help us bring benefit to others through our words and actions, it is useful to cultivate an attitude of sympathetic joy in others’ achievements and good fortune. This attitude is a powerful antidote against envy, which is not only a source of unnecessary suffering on the individual level but also an obstacle to our ability to reach out and engage with others."

~ His Holiness The Dalai Lama

Come to the movies with me!

Shanti Uganda Society (www.shantiuganda.org) will be hosting a special screening of Yogawoman (www.yogawoman.tv) and holding a silent auction at Denman Cinema's on February 28th from 6pm - 9:30pm in order to raise funds towards improving infant and maternal health, providing safe women-centered care and supporting the well-being of birthing mothers and women living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda. Featured in the film, Shanti Uganda uses yoga to improve the spiritual, physical and emotional well-being of communities impacted by HIV/AIDS, poverty and war in Uganda.

YOGAWOMAN is a groundbreaking feature film about the powerful impact of yoga on women's health, fitness, emotional well-being, and personal growth. In record numbers, women are finding strength, vitality, peace and power through yoga. Reclaiming this ancient spiritual path from its traditionally male form, the result is a radical transformation of modern yoga as we know it.

YOGAWOMAN gathers 50 of the world’s leading yoga experts in an exploration of this global phenomenon that has changed the face of yoga forever.This screening will benefit Shanti Uganda (www.shantiuganda.org) and tickets can be purchased through Event Brite or at the Cinema on the day of the event.

Dear friends in Japan from Thich Nhat Hanh

March 15 2011

Dear friends in Japan,

As we contemplate the great number of people who have died in this tragedy, we may feel very strongly that we ourselves, in some part or manner, also have died.

The pain of one part of humankind is the pain of the whole of humankind. And the human species and the planet Earth are one body. What happens to one part of the body happens to the whole body.

An event such as this reminds us of the impermanent nature of our lives. It helps us remember that what's most important is to love each other, to be there for each other, and to treasure each moment we have that we are alive. This is the best that we can do for those who have died: we can live in such a way that they continue, beautifully, in us.

Here in France and at our practice centers all over the world, our brothers and sisters will continue to chant for you, sending you the energy of peace, healing and protection. Our prayers are with you.

Thich Nhat Hanh