Now you're smokin', Lux! Your Global EC idea was good, but if you can squeeze some animals in, trees, a few bugs & some moonbeams, then we're on our way to a deeper sanity.

Here's the thing for me. Yes, I understand the differences. But. We have other species living within us. We are enormously dependent on other species to live. We evolved from what were, at some point other species. We can actually communicate with other species. And some of us even kinda like each other.

But we count them as ZERO. I read the bloody Kantian this & rights that & medical ethical this & Singer that until frankly, it just bored the bejeebers out of me. We already use gradations, and we need to get busy, as you say, on other species. And then, the Earth. And then, I donno, great music maybe.

I'm playing now, but your point, that how we define ourselves, how define as persons, how we deal with our multiplicity within and connectedness without, what we feel part of & compassionate for, what sustains us & co-creates us... well, it's bigger than what we thought.

And this is not bad news for us humans, that's the thing I'd like to add. It's GREAT news. The Earth, the whole universe in fact, will start to feel a little more like... home.

Lux, I am humbled and touched beyond words - by your kindness and your wisdom.

Was it you recently who spoke of a "loosening of ego boundaries?" (It could have been you, but it wasn't, I now recall.) But that's what you're describing here. Where our sense of "self" enlarges beyond our skin, beyond what we see or feel or even know. And we feel a kinship with others, with our planet and its inhabitants, with the cosmos - and beyond.

The Tibetan Buddhists have a very specific type of meditation, geared to helping people enlarge those ego boundaries. It's called Tong Len and I believe it's described in the Dalai Lama's book on ethics. But essentially it consists of repeating a series of blessings or prayers - for beneficence - on yourself, then those close to you, then those farther removed from you, then even enemies... and of course you could take it as far as you want to include plants, animals, whomever, whatever.

Some individuals, the Dalai Lama is one, have so embodied compassion (and thus allowed ego boundaries to loosen) that simply being in their presence fosters peace and calm and seems to deepen or enlarge oneself at the same time.

In my view your presence on this blog is doing exactly that. We, neither of us, is perfect of course. But we're seeking to embody compassion, I think, however imperfectly.

I love your title: The Great Community.

I may answer you at greater length in another post, sparked by your post.

Blessings upon you, Lux. (If anything happens to you, I hope someone in your family will post and let us know. Your light shines so brightly - as the candle burns low.)

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and feelings on this thread. Good vibes all around.

May all beings be free from danger and fear > May all beings have mental and physical happiness > May all beings have ease of well-being > May any happiness I feel be shared with all beings, to help bring us all to the end of suffering.

Would it disrupt the mood if I said something really rude?

Oh.