Interdependence

A team that works well is never the sum of its members taken separately: this is what observing interdependence makes visible. How does this concept resonate with cooperation, and with its great principles?

In the teachings of yoga, as in Buddhism, observing interdependence is a powerful concept: it is found throughout all of life, and it allows us to understand the very nature of life. By observing this interdependence, we see that everything is connected, that nothing functions in isolation, without the other parts. This helps us realize that we are part of a great ecosystem, and that our individuality is a kind of illusion, if we believe ourselves to be closed systems, independent of our environment and of others.

Once we realize that other human beings are part of our own human family, that life on earth, that the whole universe is part of our life, we can begin to take care not only of ourselves, but also of what lies outside ourselves, because we understand that, in reality, nothing is truly separate. If I harm others, I harm myself: this is the law of karma. Observing this law, we see that the harm we do outward always comes back, like a boomerang. We can, in the moment, push that action out of our mind, but we cannot really separate its consequences, in the long run, from our own experience and from what happens around us.

This notion of interdependence also points to the way we ourselves are made, from the five elements which work together, interdependently, to create life. We find it again when thinking of a simple cup of tea: it was created, planted, grown, transported by dozens, hundreds, sometimes thousands of people. We are therefore, in reality, interdependent with others, just as the ten fingers of both hands never truly work in isolation, each with its own irreplaceable function, and it is precisely their coordination that allows us to grasp, to build, to create. This understanding leads us to responsibility, to the will to take care of others, and to take responsibility for it, particularly in the way we communicate with one another: this is what the final article develops.