True, and I’ve often emphasized our interconnectedness. But the quote makes one person’s emotional well-being necessarily dependent upon another person’s.
I don’t know the author at all, and perhaps I’d agree with him more if I read more. If so, I’d be willing to chalk up the quote to hyperbole, which Jesus sometimes used to good effect.
It is the innocence of His character, the purity and sublimity of His moral precepts, the eloquence of His inculcations, the beauty of the apologues in which He conveys them, that I so much admire; sometimes, indeed, needing indulgence to eastern hyperbolism. ~Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Short, April 13, 1820 angelfire.com/co/JeffersonBible/jeffbsyl.html
Michael Wilson
Your well being should be dependent on another persons. Example: if you see your mother being raped by a pack of hyenas, you should feel bad.
Sounds more like basic golden rule reciprocity to me. The best way to achieve peace, joy, and freedom is to promote peace, joy, and freedom for the whole of society.
Eastern gurus came up with this basic philosophy long before Jesus.
Hmmm … I’m not sure of their scholarly credibility … but wouldn’t it be great if the European art masters were wrong, and Jesus was actually more like those bald and rotund buddha depictions!