Welcome to our new community knowledge-building and conversation platform – the Shake Reading Group. The first piece of literature we read and discussed was bell hooks’ All About Love: New Visions.

In our first cozy Sunday session on 21st January 2018, we discussed our teachings from the book centered on our experience of love in a loveless society, including the importance of self-love and boundaries.

Examining hooks’ writing style, we analysed how the structure of hook’s messages impacted on the reader. We explored how lessons from the book have in ways altered our outlook on our own experience of love and particular situations. One passage that resonated with us is hook’s insight on community love.

‘Mutual giving strengthens community.

Every day we all have an opportunity to practice the lessons learned in community. Being kind and courteous connects us to one another … the goal of genuine community is “to seek ways in which to live with ourselves and others in love and peace.” Unlike other movements for social change that require joining organisations and attending meetings, we can begin the process of making community wherever we are.

The love we make in community stays with us wherever we go. With this knowledge as our guide, we make any place we go a place where we return to love.’

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