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This growing circle of people gathered here is to be celebrated. As the bowl goes round, and you see each calm face withdraw inwards after taking a deep draught of this ancient libation - older than the pyramids - breathe and rest with them there. As you sip deeply from this communal bowl of tea and rest more deeply in your true self, I too rest in mine - our breathing synchronizes and we find connection in our common heritage, in returning to the source. In drinking tea, Lu Yu said in the first ever book on tea, we can rest assured that at least once a day we share something in common with the emperor himself, who at that very moment is drinking tea with his own august hands. And it doesn't matter which age you drink tea in, now or then: step outside the time and see how this tea session we are having spans the globe, and ripples out in time and space. This gathering may never be huge, and we certainly don't believe that this global tea hut will end world hunger or stop war, but this small circle of people is very much connected to larger circles, which are in turn woven through even larger hoops, and so on...
We imagine a time in which the energy of this tea hut can be shared from the tea and farmers who harvest it to hundreds of people round the world. This can help impact and change agricultural patterns, as we together promote more sustainable, ecological and organic tea production. And your financial energy will help us create tea spaces that are beyond any and all self-promotion, a tea shared freely in the ancient spirit of leaves and water. We are constantly seeking out new ways to share this harmony and awakening through tea, including modern avenues of communication like our upcoming video series, which you will read about a bit later, and the Internet as well. We also plan to publish more resources for you: pamphlets distributed locally in three languages (so far), a new book, and a resurgence of the free online magazine The Leaf. We also seek to expand our roadside tea stalls, where we share bowls of tea with passersby free of charge. In that way, your energy is helping change the lives of farmers who are so proud to share their tea worldwide. Already, several are lining up to donate a month's worth of tea, and so excited to reach out and share some of their life and work with you.
As you share in this great project - changing farmers and supporting our schools and center - we also return a bit of something to you. We write these newsletters with joy and spirit, and include gifts given from the heart. We package every one of these envelopes by hand, write the tea's info on the bag, lick the stamps, and glue on the addresses. And we do it all with a great loving-kindness and joy, thinking of each of you personally as we hold the finished envelope and hand it to the postal lady, who with us smiles at how happy we are. We wish each of you joy. We are so grateful to share this earth and tea hut with you, and to have your energy in our center and works. We hope this tea brings you peace and joy, and that it spreads from you out into all those whose paths you cross...
We thought we would spend this issue introducing ourselves a bit more, so that in this global exchange we can come to work together more and more to promote an awakening of consciousness and heart in this world, especially through tea. Sharing tea is simple, and it is the simplest joys in life that are the most important. In a confused world, we often forget that a simple bowl of leaves and water, and a bit of time together in calm joy is often the most important thing we have to share. A bit of time together, resting in our true selves is life changing.
We'd like to show you a bit of what we do and why, so you can further understand what you are supporting and in what ways you can participate more, for there is no true understanding of anything without participation. Involvement is how you come to grow in anything, and the more involved you are, the greater you will understand. And through understanding we find ourselves in others and others in ourselves.
If you look deep enough into that bowl, when it comes around to you, you will see this whole circle of amazing people just beneath the steamy surface. A breath and a sigh later, you pass the bowl on to the next person and it all disappears...
