Quote by Thich Nhat Hanh: “We are here to awaken from our illusion of separateness.”

The sense that each person is a completely independent self, separate from others and from nature, is one of the most deeply held human beliefs. But Buddhist thought — and modern ecology — suggests this is an illusion. Everything is connected and interdependent. Waking up to that changes how you treat other people and the world.

Thich Nhat Hanh coined the term 'interbeing' in his 1988 book Interbeing, which outlined the ethical guidelines for his Order of Interbeing community. The late 1980s saw growing ecological awareness globally and the emergence of eco-spirituality movements that saw the environmental crisis as partly a crisis of human disconnection from nature.

Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, peace activist, and teacher who founded the Plum Village tradition of engaged Buddhism in France. His more than 100 books on mindfulness, peace, and compassion include The Miracle of Mindfulness, first published in 1975. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King Jr. in 1967.