You know what love is?

It is all kindness, generosity.

~ Rumi

Rumi “Whispers of the Beloved”
Translated by Maryam Mafi and Azima Melita Koln

the moment of impact

This deserves to be shared because it’s unlikely you’ll hear what the Kiwi students have been up to in quake-shattered Christchurch: an extract from a heart-warming personal email from a dear friend writing to me in Australia (where this moment finds me) from New Zealand …

Incredible that there are now 700 rescue workers from various countries helping out in Christchurch.  I think on top of that another contingent of police from Oz arrived.  They got a rousing reception at the airport and the generosity is truly amazing.

My mind boggles at the organisation that is coping with where they’re all housed, fed, and rostered.  It’s a real United Nations and thank goodness the powers that be accepted so many offers.

You might have heard that 18,000 uni students have formed an ‘army’ and are out with shovels and spades clearing silt, helping out where they can.

Then the Dunedin students got together and have gotten up to 10,000 lunches organised to keep the students going.
Wonderful heart-warming deeds and it brings the emotion high just watching.

The Mayor… [Bob Parker] what a guy huh?  He’s never short of the right words, nor praise, nor down to earthness, just an absolute gem.  Some of the people interviewed (the professionals from various teams) speak so articulately and calmly despite being interviewed time and time again.  They’re all so patient and accommodating.

This is what love is: kindness, generosity, patience, calmness, and Presence – that wondrous capacity we all possess to remain wholly at-one with the actuality of the present moment.

Dust and death and disaster.  The Beloved assumes all guises and invites every possible response, while remaining unshaken, unshattered and unchanged.  This unknowable changelessness is our only safe haven.