# Quote — Thich Nhat Hanh, The Sun My Heart

> Interpenetration is an important teaching, but it still suggests that things outside of one another penetrate into each other. Interbeing is a step forward. We are already inside, so we don't have to enter. In contemporary nuclear physics, people talk about implicit order and explicit order. In the explicit order, things exist outside of each other — the table outside of the flower, the sunshine outside of the cypress tree. In the implicit order, we see that they are inside each other — the sunshine inside the cypress tree. Interbeing is the implicit order. To practice mindfulness and to look deeply into the nature of things is to discover the true nature of interbeing. There we find peace and develop the strength to be in touch with everything. With this understanding, we can easily sustain the work of loving and caring for the Earth and for each other for a long time.

- Author: [Thich Nhat Hanh](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thich-nhat-hanh.md)
- Book: [The Sun My Heart](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thich-nhat-hanh/the-sun-my-heart.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Th%C3%ADch_Nh%E1%BA%A5t_H%E1%BA%A1nh#The_Sun_My_Heart_(1996)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/thich-nhat-hanh/the-sun-my-heart/interpenetration-is-an-important

## More from this book

> The tenth penetration is, "All times penetrate one time. One time penetrates all times — past, present, and future. In one second, you can find the past, present, and future." In the past, you can see the present and the future. In the present, you can find the past and future. In the future, you can find the past and present. They "inter-contain" each other. Space contains time, time contains space. In the teaching of interpenetration, one determines the other, the other determines this one. When we realize our nature of interbeing, we will stop blaming and killing, because we know that we inter-are.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thich-nhat-hanh/the-sun-my-heart/the-tenth-penetration.md)

> We think that we have been alive since a certain point in time and that prior to that moment, our life did not exist. This distinction between life and non-life is not correct. Life is made of death, and death is made of life. We have to accept death; it makes life possible. The cells in our body are dying every day, but we never think to organize funerals for them. The death of one cell allows for the birth of another. Life and death are two aspects of the same reality. We must learn to die peacefully so that others may live. This deep meditation brings forth non-fear, non-anger, and non-despair, the strengths we need for our work. With non-fear, even when we see that a problem is huge, we will not burn out. We will know how to make small, steady steps. If those who work to protect the environment contemplate these four notions, they will know how to be and how to act.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thich-nhat-hanh/the-sun-my-heart/we-think-that.md)

> We should bow deeply before the orchid and the snail and join our palms reverently before the monarch butterfly and the magnolia tree. The feeling of respect for all species will help us recognize the noblest nature in ourselves.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thich-nhat-hanh/the-sun-my-heart/we-should-bow.md)