To understand the goals and spirit of Phoenix Rising, you must first understand the symbol of The Phoenix and what it has represented for centuries.The Phoenix is the symbol of hope and rebirth. Often alluded to as the Bird of Paradise, this mythical bird was the only one of it's kind. And because of this, the gods vowed that as long as The Phoenix lives, there is hope for mankind.

When man fell from grace in the Garden of Eden, man's disobedience and lack of gratitude to the Almighty enraged angered an archangel. So enraged was he that he struck down his swords with all his mite and caused a spark to set The Phoenix's nest ablaze...and The Phoenix perished as the angel stood by helpless to save the wondrous creature.  The angel stood there saddened at this great loss, regretful that he had acted in anger...and he wept. He asked his Father for forgiveness from his act of anger and was truly remoresful. Father heard his plea and saw true repentence in his angel's heart. 
When the last embers cooled, the angel watched as to his great relief and dismay as there emerged from a solitary red egg a new Phoenix more lovely than the first. Hans Christian Andersen was one of many who have written of The Phoenix. He wrote: 
"The Phoenix bird, does thou not know him? The Bird of Paradise, the holy swan of song! On the carpet of Thespis he sat in the guise of a chattering raven, and flapped his black wings, smeared with the lees of wine; over the sounding harp of Iceland swept the swan's red beak; on Shakespeare's shoulder he sat in the guise of Odin's raven, and whispered in the poet's ear "Immortality!" and at the minstrel's feast he fluttered through the halls of the Wartburg...He sang to thee the Marseillaise, and thou kissedst the pen that fell from his wing; he came in the radiance of Paradise and perchance thou didst turn away from him towards the sparrow who sat with tinsel on his wings. 
The Bird of Paradise...renewed each century born in flame, ending in flame! Thy picture in a golden frame hangs in the halls of the rich but thou theyself often fliest around lonely and disregarded..a myth..The Phoenix  of Arabia. In Paradise, when thou wert born in the first rose, beneath the Tree of Knowledge, thou receivedst a kiss, and they right name was given thee..they name Poetry." 
It is my wish that just as The Phoenix rises from the ashes, we too can rise from the trials and disappointments we face in life. It is my hope that we  go undaunted towards a better future for all  and through our efforts that we may take some small embers of awareness and from them raise up a blaze that will burn brightly in the darkest endless night that is ignorance. Let our pains, joys, experience and charity forge a river of comfort powerful, constant and refreshing.