Ajahn Dhammasiha offers some reflections on the theme that all beings are much closer connected than we're usually aware of:

As the circle of birth & death ('Saṃsāra') has been going on for such a long time, we all had millions and billions of past lifes. The Buddha teaches us that consequently we have been in a close relationship to virtually all beings in some past life. He explains that it's difficult to meet a single being that has not been our mother, father, child, sipling, or spouse in some past life.

2) We're also collected physically. We breath the same air, which we also share with animals and plants. As all the failed attemtps at containing the pandemic have shown, we're even connected by the very germs and virusus we share, which seems to still happen even with the most drastic attempts of keeping us all 'seperate' with social distancing, quarantine and closed borders.By recognizing this close connectedness, we undermine the delusion of an autonomous, individual 'Self' ('Attā'), that can exist independent of conditions just on it's own.

Once we recognize this close connectedness, we find it easy to develop empathy, kindness and compassion for all beings.www.dhammagiri.org.auwww.facebook.com/dhammagiri-forest-hermitagewww.youtube.com/channel/UCJINt0JJBfFm_x0FZcU9QJwwww.tinyletter.com/dhammagiri/archive