Interbeing
If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating in this sheet of paper. Without a cloud, there will be no rain; without rain, the trees cannot grow; and without trees, we cannot make paper. The cloud is essential for the paper to exist. If the cloud is not here, the sheet of paper cannot be here either. So we can say that the cloud and the paper inter-are. “Interbeing” is a word that is not in the dictionary yet, but if we combine the prefix “inter-” with the verb “to be,” we have a new verb, inter-be. Without a cloud and the sheet of paper inter-are.
If we look into this sheet of paper even more deeply, we can see the sunshine in it. If the sunshine is not there, the forest cannot grow. In fact, nothing can grow. Even we cannot grow without sunshine. And so, we know that the sunshine is also in this sheet of paper. The paper and the sunshine inter-are. And if we continue to look, we can see the logger who cut the tree and brought it to the mill to be transformed into paper. And we see the wheat. We know the logger cannot exist without his daily bread, and therefore the wheat that became his bread is also in this sheet of paper. And the logger’s father and mother are in it too. When we look in this way, we see that without all of these things, this sheet of paper cannot exist.
Looking even more deeply, we can see we are in it too. This is not difficult to see, because when we look at a sheet of paper, the sheet of paper is part of our perception. Your mind is in here and mine is also. So we can say that everything is in here with this sheet of paper. You cannot point out one thing that is not here-time, space, the earth, the rain, the minerals in the soil, the sunshine, the cloud, the river, the heat. Everything co-exists with this sheet of paper. That is why I think the word inter-be should be in the dictionary. “To be” is to inter-be. You cannot just be by yourself alone. You have to inter-be with every other thing. This sheet of paper is, because everything else is.
Suppose we try to return one of the elements to its source. Suppose we return the sunshine to the sun. Do you think that this sheet of paper will be possible? No, without sunshine nothing can be. And if we return the logger to his mother, then we have no sheet of paper either. The fact is that this sheet of paper is made up only of “non-paper elements.” And if we return these non-paper elements to their sources, then there can be no paper at all. Without “non-paper elements,” like mind, logger, sunshine and so on, there will be no paper. As thin as this sheet of paper is, it contains everything in the universe in it.
– Thich Nhat Hanh
I loved the quote the first time i read it. I still do.
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Beautiful… 🙂
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🙂
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I got a lot of inspiration through your posts 😀
Love every subject you choose to write. Especially this one. Is this like the law of of causation ?
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Wonderful! We are in sync, beyond that in fact the whole world is in sync. But most may not realize until they listen within… 🙂
Reg. law of causation (Karma), its true that our mind and body are subjected to law of karma. If you are interested you can check out more here…
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I would be pleased ;D
Yah, I just realized it after read this post. On a piece of paper, universe in it..
I already told my little brother, and he was amazed..
He says, he did not even know if for a piece of paper requires an incredible.process on it.
Such a super knowledge.
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Superb! 🙂
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This is a good example of lateral thinking or, better still, multi level thinking. One of the keys to wisdom!
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Absolutely, Ian! 🙂
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Whoa! Deep Ganesh and thanks for sharing 🙂 If we look closely enough, everything arises from the same source, nothing in this world ever disappears, it merely changes form.
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Very true! You are most welcome. 🙂
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You are finding some great things to post….thank you.
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It’s all your blessings. My pleasure. 🙂
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Thanks for the shift in perspective. I’ll never look at a piece of paper the same way again! That was a really wonderful post – thank you. Much Love, Sandy
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Awesome! It’s my pleasure. 🙂
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Awesome and still intimate, touches the most delicate to the most profound. Once again I so thank you for sharing!
“.”
Cat
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Very nice, Cat! My pleasure. 🙂
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Great post. Wonderful.
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Yes, Rao! Thanks. 🙂
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This story beautifully illustrates how even if one variable is missing the whole goes missing. This inspires me to create a future post.
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Absolutely Alex! Awesome. 🙂
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Reblogged this on Gr8fullsoul.
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