According to Buddhist teachings, when we understand the interconnection of all of life, then we can act with the ease of uncontrived altruism. We act with simple goodness. Whether they are personal and direct or take place in the larger arena of social change, our actions arise out of a wholesome state of mind rather than out of fear and anxiety. With clear vision, we see that we are all a part of each other's life and journey toward liberation. This knowledge forms the spirit with which we do meditation practice, and the way in which we bring that practice into our daily lives. With greater awareness, often formed and refined in meditation, we begin to see that we are essentially no different from each other, no matter who we are. We all share the urge toward happiness,and not one of us leaves this earth never having suffered. This view of interconnectedness may not give us the ability, the means, oreven the inclination to do a political analysis of a situation or to engage in systematic social change, but it does give us an unfeigned goodheartedness. It gives us an urge to include rather than to exclude, to care rather than to reject someone else's problem as having nothing to do with us. This is the consciousness of social transformation.