May 2020
Dear Beloved Community,Love is not just the intention to love, but the capacity to reduce suffering, and offer peace and happiness. The practice of love increases our forbearance, our capacity to be patient and embrace difficulties and pain. Forbearance does not mean that we try to suppress pain.
― Thích Nhất Hạnh
In this time of crisis, sickness, and isolation, we from ARISE wish to share a message of love with the Mahasangha – love for oneself, for our beloveds, our communities and the whole world.
We know that we cannot practice real love without deep understanding. In this email you’ll find a reflection on the COVID-19 pandemic from the Core Group of ARISE, pointing to the need to acknowledge the disproportionate impact of this pandemic on BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) and impoverished communities, and also the importance of cultivating joy and delight.
Then we’ve gathered links to practices and resources for self-care, relational care, community care, and world care as manifestations of metta in action because we know that inner and outer practices of love and justice interare. Even in this time of distancing, we need to do the inner and outer work of healing and transformation together.
With a deep bow of resilience
—- read more of May 2020 newsletter —-