All beings, great and small, are linked in a web of interdependent relationships.
Apart from the whole, no individual could exist. Therefore, to think of “myself” as a separate individual is a fundamental error of cognition.
Einstein called it an “optical delusion of consciousness… a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires, and to affection for a few persons nearest to us.”
He said we should “free ourselves from this prison, by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures, and the whole of nature in all its beauty.” In reality, every being is immersed in a web of cause and effect—a chain of “concatenation” according to a Buddhist text—that stretches to the ends of the universe.
This understanding is the basis of the Buddhist teaching of “no-self.” Recognizing that all beings are “I” and “I” am all beings, it is the root of the Buddhist ethic of compassion.
It is a remedy for the malady of individualism, which leads people to believe that the goal is “my” salvation. No human being can attain ultimate peace as long as other people are suffering.
We are members of one another. Ephesians 4.25
This world of men, given over to the idea of “I nothing else but concatenation, then the mind am the agent,” bound up with the idea “another they have not seen it as a thorn. For one who looks at this thorn with caution, the idea “I am the agent” exists not, the idea “another is the agent” exists not. Udana 70 (Buddhism)
All things are devoid of self-nature [separate existence], have never been born, and in their original nature are [transparent] like the sky; things separated from concatenation belong to the discrimination of the ignorant. When this entire world is regarded as concatenation, as nothing else but concatenation, then the mind am the agent,” bound up with the idea “another gains tranquility. Lankavatara Sutra 78 (Buddhism)
Why should I be unable
To regard the bodies of others as “I”?
It is not difficult to see
That my body is also that of others.
In the same way as the hands and so forth
Are regarded as limbs of the body,
Likewise why are embodied creatures
Not regarded as limbs of life?
Only through acquaintance has the thought of
“I” arisen
Towards this impersonal body;
So in a similar way, why should it not arise
Towards other living beings?
When I work in this way for the sake of others,
I should not let conceit or [the feeling that I am] wonderful arise.
It is just like feeding myself—
I hope for nothing in return.
Shantideva, Guide to the Bodhisattva’s
Way of Life 8.112-16 (Buddhism)
It is because everyone under heaven recognizes beauty as beauty that the idea of ugliness exists.
And if everyone recognized virtue as virtue, this would merely create fresh conceptions of wickedness. For truly, Being and Not-being grow out of one another. Tao Te Ching 2 (Taoism)
All humans are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.
Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.
I can never be what
I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (Christianity)
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
In the universe, everything is linked and related, from the minutest things to the largest. (16:119, January 2, 1966)
Every existence is linked to another through dual purposes. One purpose pertains to internal character and the other to external form.
The purpose pertaining to internal character is for the whole, while the purpose pertaining to external form is for the individual. These relate to each other as cause and effect, internal and external, and subject and object.
Therefore, there cannot be any purpose of the individual apart from the purpose of the whole, nor any purpose of the whole that does not include the purpose of the individual. All the creatures in the entire universe form a vast complex linked together by these dual purposes. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Creation 1.3.1)
When all beings in the whole universe, with subject and object partners well adjusted to each other, are linked to one another in harmony for a common purpose, there is completion and perfection.
The universe is a balanced whole composed of reciprocal relationships, large and small. Without reciprocal relationships, nothing can exist. Anything that ceases to relate becomes extinct. (391:174, August 21, 2002)
Heavenly fortune20 rejects those who live for their own sake and embraces those who live for the sake of others. It is like a person who is nearly blind suddenly seeing with 20-20 vision; his eyes exclaim for joy: “Wow! We can see everything very clearly!”
Through Heaven’s power, we are connected to the entire universe and can see all for eternity. This power penetrates everything infinitely; hence, our scope of action expands infinitely… By living for the sake of others, we can make relationships with everything. (244:107, January 31, 1993)
In the human body, the eye looks very simple, but it is complex. Each cell that makes up the eye is complex as well. All the organs are complex, but in living together as a single organism, they do not conflict with each other. Instead, they function together interdependently.
No part of the body can say that it likes only the hand and does not like the eye. Each organ has its lawful place, and each accommodates itself to the limitations of its position and rank, relating to the others front and back, left and right, and above and below. That is the only way it can function; there is no other way. (49:193, October 10, 1971)
Each human being is like a cell. They do not exist separately, each doing their own thing. Rather, they come together and form a whole, creating an axis. Then humankind can enter into a partnership with God, the Center of the whole.
The force of love flowing in this partnership motivates them to pursue a common objective. Cause and effect correspond to each other and fulfill their purpose.
When the cause and effect are thus united, God and the whole of humankind manifest their value and complete their one common purpose. (110:73, November 9, 1980)
The supreme element that we human beings pursue is love. Therefore, we should make it so the give and take of love proceeds smoothly. The universe should be linked by one axis, formed when each person centers on his or her subject partner.
Then, just like an electrical circuit, everything can engage in good give and take action through the axis. It is similar to a tree whose parts engage in give-and-take action centering on the trunk.
Through that axis, every cell, from the bottommost tip of the central root to the terminal bud at the very top, relates to each other continually. If that give and take action is good, the tree will grow; if not, the root will shrivel and the whole tree will decline. (165:177, May 20, 1987)