Special Edition: The Week in Good News - December 18, 2021

 

11 ways LGBTQ rights improved around the world in 2021

Though 2021 presented many challenges for the LGBTQ community, it was also a year of hope and progress.

By Emily Bashforth Thursday, December 16, 2021    

Photo: Shutterstock

Though 2021 presented many challenges for the LGBTQ community, it was also a year of hope and progress. In several countries, new legislation was introduced while, in others, regressive laws were scrapped. New policies decriminalized homosexuality, provided protection for trans people against discrimination, and made it easier for the community to access healthcare.

Let’s take a look at eleven ways LGBTQ rights improved around the world this year. Here’s to more positive changes and safer spaces for LGBTQ people to exist in 2022.

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Betty White: 100 Years Young - a Birthday Celebration | January 17 Only

Via Love Serve Remember Foundation \\ Ever wonder how "Be Here Now" came to BE? Dive in! 📘

Coined the 'Counter-Culture Bible' for generations of free-thinkers, yogis, hippies, meditators, spiritualists, bhaktas, psychonauts, somebodies, and nobodies, Be Here Now continues to inspire individuals to awaken their minds and open their hearts now 50 years since its first publication. We welcome you to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Ram Dass' culture-transforming book by taking a historical dive into how Be Here Now came to be... To 'be here now,' first we have to go back there a little. It was a snowy Boston night in 1961 when Tim Leary invited Dr. Richard Alpert (Ram Dass) and Allen Ginsberg over to try psychedelic mushrooms. Dr. Alpert, a successful Harvard Professor, walked off into a dark room to quiet his mind, only to find himself in an escalating hypnagogic vision where he was asked to give up his roles as a professor, a son, an ego personality, and a body – leaving only pure awareness 'minding the store.' This timeless peak would spark cascading trips, experiments, research papers, news articles, lectures, light shows, contemplations, and difficult politics birthing from the Harvard psychedelic scene – with Leary & Alpert at the proverbial root. Diving full bore into consciousness expansion, these trips unearthed otherworldly experiences and transcendental wisdom. But Alpert noted: No matter how many psychedelics he took, what the dosage was, who guided him, and with what holy book—he still came down. Hitting wall after wall, Alpert began a quest to find "somebody who knew..."   Dive into the story of Be Here Now... Listen to Ram Dass tell his story in a new audio download: Journey, the Transformation Celebrating 50 years of Be Here Now, Ram Dass’ spiritual opus, we are ecstatic to share the Original 1968-1969 audio which created the ‘Our-Story’ section of his culture-defining classic. Unearthed by happenstance when our LSRF curator, Nathan, recognized and connected the fresh-from-India talks from which Be Here Now was extracted, this audio talk outlines Ram Dass’ courageous shift from Harvard professor to psychedelic explorer, and his transformational journey East to the feet of his Guru, Maharaj-ji, the inspiration behind Be Here Now... Download the New Audio

Via Lion´s Roar \\ Breathe

 

All You Need Is Breath

The Buddha taught mindfulness of breathing as a complete approach to awakening. Buddhist teacher Shaila Catherine outlines his 16-step breath practice that guides us to liberation.

The Buddha’s practice of mindfulness of the breath does not require extraordinary zeal or physical strength, nor does one need advanced education or ritual blessing. It is recommended for both beginners and accomplished meditators. By skillfully utilizing the natural breath, any person, monastic or lay, can realize the fruit of awakening. The broad appeal and availability of this practice is breathtaking!

Via Dhamma Wheel \\ Developing Unarisen Healthy States

 

RIGHT EFFORT Developing Unarisen Healthy States

Whatever a person frequently thinks about and ponders, that will become the inclination of their mind. If one frequently thinks about and ponders healthy states, one has abandoned unhealthy states to cultivate healthy states, and then one’s mind inclines to healthy states. (MN 19) Here a person rouses the will, makes an effort, stirs up energy, exerts the mind, and strives to develop the arising of unarisen healthy mental states. One develops the unarisen awakening factor of mindfulness. (MN 141)

Reflection

Effort is the tool we have to shape what we think, say, and do. Using it in healthy ways, we will become healthier. Just as we learn to guard against the arising of unhealthy states, we are also encouraged to develop healthy mental and emotional states. The text will take us through the seven healthy factors of awakening, beginning here with mindfulness. It is always beneficial to be aware, and we should practice doing so.

Daily Practice

Here you are invited to develop healthy mental states, which starts with creating the conditions that encourage them to arise. The first basic condition for healthy states to arise is mindfulness, for by being consciously aware of your experience you are not just reacting unconsciously to whatever comes up. Simply be attentive in every moment you can and notice what is happening. By doing so you participate in your life.

Tomorrow: Establishing Mindfulness of Mind and Abiding in the Third Jhāna
One week from today: Maintaining Arisen Healthy States

Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media
#DhammaWheel

Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via Daily Dharma: Change Requires Action

 

Simply wishing for things to happen won’t make them happen. Simply talking about the dharma or listening to dharma talks online won’t bring about an end to the effluents. It’s a path of action.

—Peter Doobinin, “Sutta Study: The Ship”

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Via White Crane Institute // Today's Gay Wisdom: The Wisdom of Saki (H.H. Munro)

 Today's Gay Wisdom

2017 -

The Wisdom of Saki (H.H. Munro)

• A little inaccuracy sometimes saves a ton of explanation.
• I always say beauty is only sin deep.
• Hors d'oeuvres have always a pathetic interest for me; they remind me of one's childhood that one goes through wondering what the next course is going to be like - and during the rest of the menu one wishes one had eaten more of the hors d'oeuvres.
• Great Socialist statesmen aren't made, they're still-born.
• He spends his life explaining from his pulpit that the glory of Christianity consists in the fact that though it is not true it has been found necessary to invent it.
• You needn't tell me that a man who doesn't love oysters and asparagus and good wines has got a soul, or a stomach either. He's simply got the instinct for being unhappy highly developed.
• It's no use growing older if you only learn new ways of misbehaving yourself.

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Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute

"With the increasing commodification of gay news, views, and culture by powerful corporate interests, having a strong independent voice in our community is all the more important. White Crane is one of the last brave standouts in this bland new world... a triumph over the looming mediocrity of the mainstream Gay world." - Mark Thompson

Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989!
www.whitecraneinstitute.org

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Via Be Here Now Network // Ram Dass – Here and Now – Ep. 190 – The Hollow Bamboo Game

 

Ram Dass – Here and Now – Ep. 190 – The Hollow Bamboo Game
December 16, 2021

  In this dharma talk from 1969, Ram Dass plays the hollow bamboo game, which is an exercise to help us enter into a place...

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Via Tricycle // Tara Brach on Overcoming Divisions

Tara Brach on Overcoming Divisions
Interview by Alison Spiegel

In a time of fear and “bad othering,” reconnecting with humanity’s basic goodness is a radical act.

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