Newsletter 21.01.2021: When Politics Stopped for Poetry
To access the full version with links, events and more visit: https://mailchi.mp/westlondonbuddhistcentre.com/politics-stopped-poetry
“We’ve braved the belly of the beast.
We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace.
In the norms and notions of what just is isn’t always justice.
And yet, the dawn is ours before we knew it.”
Yesterday, Amanda Gorman took to a stage of historical proportions and with delicate gestures of hand performed a message of magnitude where, for five minutes, politics stopped still for poetry. It may have been spoken to a specific context but it struck a more universal chord. Such is the power of the arts to translate for the mind the spiralling of the heart. And, such was the symbol of its absolute necessity to humanity’s wellbeing.
Meanwhile, as Covid related deaths in the UK reached their highest yet we sense more dark days in the belly of this beast. Many of you have shared that this lockdown feels somewhat tougher than the last – a little more closed off from each other. The images and testimony coming from the ICU wards tell us that hope can’t quite console the urgency of the situation yet. If you are one of those responders in our society’s critical services, in the broadest sense, thank you.
This quiet – inner and outer – may not feel like peace sometimes but we can rely on this art of meditation and take comfort, or at least interest, in the poetry already written into our bodies. May the slow dawn of awareness clap its soft wings and offer you many many more momentary surprises of magnitude.
With our January courses well underway, this week’s newsletter is somewhat shorter than it has been for a while. Still, a couple of events to highlight are:
February – Our Bodies Break Light:
An Online Meditation Retreat with Paramananda and Bodhilila
Next Friday – Sangha Lights:
An Exhibition by WLBC Artists
in support of The Precious Jewel Appeal
NEW TIME – Death Conversation Cafe, Monday 7-9pm
Until next week,
