Lately, before I eat a meal, I contemplate the food in front of me:
The effort it took from farmers, harvesters, truck drivers, grocery store workers, and others to get it to my house
How it is a flowering of the conditions of the earth, from soil to bacteria to weather and efforts from farmers — a whole host of interconnection emerged as this food
The causes and conditions that went into those farmers, truck drivers, grocery store workers — their parents, communities, teachers, nurses, etc. who helped them live, so that they could put effort into the food that I am about to eat
The causes and conditions that came before the conditions that caused the food to grow — for the soil to be there, there had to be thousands of years of weather and bacteria and animals, so that it could become that soil; for the water to nourish the plants, there had to be snow and rivers and perhaps water facilities and electricity; for the bacteria to be in the soil, there had to be trillions and trillions of other bacteria before them; and so on
How this food is about to go into my body, and become part of the conditions that allow me to live, and also physically become a part of me; and how I will become the conditions that help create who other people become
Each meal becomes an opportunity to contemplate my interconnection with all beings, with the entire world.