Cleaning
the bathroom or chopping the onions is no less important than sitting
in deep meditation. Grasping this and acting on it is called waking up.
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Gallup reports today: The slight majority of American adults, 54%, consider gay or lesbian relations morally acceptable. Public acceptance of gay/lesbian relations as morally acceptable grew slowly but steadily from 38% in 2002 to 56% in 2011 and is now holding at the majority level. This Gallup trend mirrors the growth in public support for legalizing gay marriage, which has risen from 42% support in 2004 to 50% or greater support in the last two years. Americans' support for gay rights on both questions leveled off in this year's Values and Beliefs poll, conducted May 3-6.
Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee today ordered all state agencies to officially recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other jurisdictions. The executive order is expected to have many real-world implications. Same-sex spouses of state employees and anyone covered by an insurance company regulated in Rhode Island will be entitled to health and life insurance benefits, gay rights advocates say. Both partners in a same-sex couple will be able to list their names as parents on a child’s birth certificate, and same-sex couples will be entitled to sales tax exemptions on the transfer of property including vehicles. One couple who attended the signing ceremony — married in neighboring Massachusetts — described their disappointment of not being able to list both their names on their son’s birth certificate. “For our next child, we won’t have to go through the same kind of turmoil,” Martha Holt Castle said.Yay, guv!
There’s
no such thing as never getting angry. Enlightenment can and does use
all the available emotions. The idea that enlightenment means sitting
around with a beatific smile on our faces is just an illusion.
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