Grace happens when we act with others on behalf of our world.

We are making choices that will affect whether beings thousands of generations from now will be able to be born sound of mind and body.

In the early Buddhist view, then, a persons identity resides not in an enduring self but in his actions (karma)- that is in the choices that shape these actions. Because the dispositions formed by previous choices can be modified in turn by present behaviour, this identity as choice-maker is fluid, its experience alterable. While it is affected by the past, it can also break free of the past.

The most radical thing any of us can do at this time is to be fully present to what is happening in the world.

To be alive in this beautiful, self-organizing universe -- to participate in the dance of life with senses to perceive it, lungs that breathe it, organs that draw nourishment from it -- is a wonder beyond words.

There are the holding actions, the changing actions, and the vision of the future - what we want to see happen for the Earth. All are essential.

Qualities like love and compassion are not just abstract virtues that are the property of saints and adepts. Anyone can develop these qualities in themselves by doing spiritual practices. As the Buddha said, Come and see.