Sunday, August 31, 2014
Via Daily Dharma
Always Free | August 31, 2014
The two things that you are always free to do—despite your circumstances—are to be present and to be willing to love.
-Jack Kornfield, “Set the Compass of Your Heart”
Flower of the Day: 08/31/14
"I
went driving once on a rainy day and it ended up hailing, so my car got
all scratched up. But who decided to take the car out on this rainy
day? I did. Therefore, it is my responsibility alone. I never get tired
of saying that you are not a helpless victim of the harmful influences
of outer space. I know it is hard to hear this, and you can even get
angry with me, but I have to tell the truth: you are where you put
yourself."
Sri Prem Baba
Saturday, August 30, 2014
Via Daily Dharma
Dharmic Darwinism | August 30, 2014
The Buddha intuited some type of
evolutionary process that creates our bodies, and his essential point is
that they are neither formed nor owned by us. We now have evidence that
our bodies arise from the forces and elements that make up the entire
universe, through a complex chain of interdependent events.
Internalizing this understanding can help liberate us from the powerful
sense of ownership and attachment we have to the body.
-Wes Nisker, “Evolution’s Body”
Flower of the Day: 08/30/14
"Your entire day can become a sadhana,
a spiritual practice, when everything you do transforms into selfless
service. Each minute of action is turned into a prayer, and as such your
life becomes yoga. Presence must permeate your actions, which is only
possible when you are whole in your actions. In this way, your actions
will become a puja, an offering to the Divine. Little by
little, you will go beyond your self-interest and egotistical motives,
and will surrender yourself to service."
- Sri Prem Baba
Friday, August 29, 2014
Via LGBTQ Nation: A gay dad’s open letter to the homophobic parents who threw away their gay son
Another young person has been thrown out of his home for coming out as gay.
I have written about this on a number of occasions covering such events in the United States, Nigeria and Uganda.
This time the event was recorded. Trying to imagine the evil some people can impart on their children is no longer necessary. Now we can hear them in their own self righteous voices
It started when the family called 20-year-old Daniel Pierce to an “intervention.” He left his phone recorder going during the confrontation and was later posted online as “How not to react when your child tells you he is gay.” It has now gone viral.
In the video, Daniel explains to what sounds like his mother, step-mother and father that he is gay. The choices this set of parents makes as a reaction are almost as bad as they possibly could be.
His mother makes a statement at the outset that becomes increasingly shocking as the video proceeds and the parenting adults collectively verbally attack and physically abuse the young man.
The mother’s statement is: “I have known since you were a young boy that you were gay.” If there was ever clear pointed evidence that Daniel was “born that way,” her comment would be it.
She knows who her child is, yet due to her own personal agenda she pretends he is making a choice and coldly rejects him as a result.
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2014/08/a-gay-dads-open-letter-to-the-homophobic-parents-who-threw-their-gay-son-away/
I have written about this on a number of occasions covering such events in the United States, Nigeria and Uganda.
This time the event was recorded. Trying to imagine the evil some people can impart on their children is no longer necessary. Now we can hear them in their own self righteous voices
It started when the family called 20-year-old Daniel Pierce to an “intervention.” He left his phone recorder going during the confrontation and was later posted online as “How not to react when your child tells you he is gay.” It has now gone viral.
In the video, Daniel explains to what sounds like his mother, step-mother and father that he is gay. The choices this set of parents makes as a reaction are almost as bad as they possibly could be.
His mother makes a statement at the outset that becomes increasingly shocking as the video proceeds and the parenting adults collectively verbally attack and physically abuse the young man.
The mother’s statement is: “I have known since you were a young boy that you were gay.” If there was ever clear pointed evidence that Daniel was “born that way,” her comment would be it.
She knows who her child is, yet due to her own personal agenda she pretends he is making a choice and coldly rejects him as a result.
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2014/08/a-gay-dads-open-letter-to-the-homophobic-parents-who-threw-their-gay-son-away/
Via JMG: Religion Maps
Earlier this summer, on World Population Day, we explained that half of the world’s population lives in just six countries. In many cases, the world’s major religious groups are even more concentrated, with half or more of their followers living in one or a handful of countries. For several years, demographers at the Pew Research Center have been studying the demographic characteristics of eight groups: Buddhists, Christians, adherents of folk religions, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, the religiously unaffiliated and followers of other religions. While Christians and Muslims are more widely distributed around the world, the other groups have a majority of their populations in just one or two nations, according to 2010 estimates from our Global Religious Landscape report.More maps are at the link.
While there continues to be much attention paid to the growth of the religiously unaffiliated population in Europe and North America, more than half (62%) of the world’s 1.1 billion unaffiliated people live in one Asian country: China. China also is home to 50% of the world’s 488 million Buddhists and 73% of the 405 million global adherents of folk religions. Since China is the world’s most populous nation, it may not be altogether unexpected that it has a lot of people in a variety of categories. While China accounts for 19% of the world’s overall population, it is home to majorities of all Buddhists, unaffiliated people and adherents of folk religions.
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