A few days ago in the Buddhist studies we talked about inner and outer conflicts. Bernd Bender in his talk mentioned the non-binary philosopher #JudithButler and the book “The Force of Non-Violence”. The idea that our ethics are based on the idea that we’re within the other and the other is within ourselves. In conclusion this means, if I hurt someone else, I am hurting myself. When I think about this, I feel it is a similar idea as Thich Nhat Hanh’s interconnected inter-being. We are part of each other’s fate, past, present and future. Whether we want it or not. And it’s literally not possible not to have influence on each other. My own thoughts are, that there’s a clear interdependence of actions. And I can say, I can feel this clearly in one thing: if I hurt myself through harsh or careless actions (like not sleeping enough, eating junk or being judgemental that I eat junk 😌), I feel also that I’m being harsher towards others. The more I have compassion with myself and my “shortcomings” (I only call them this for the lack of a less judgemental word) the more I have the capacity to also be there and be understanding for others in their lives and struggles.