Sunday, October 14, 2012
Tricycle Daily Dharma October 14, 2012
Taking Care of Things
Realization
needs to be actualized. And having realized the fact that there’s no
separation, an imperative arises to reach out to take care of things.
That’s compassion. We take care of things because everything is this
very body and mind itself.
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- John Daido Loori, "Straight Ahead"
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Saturday, October 13, 2012
Via JMG: The Census Wants Advice About Gays
Chris Geidner reports on an unprecedented move by the U.S. Census.
The U.S. Census Bureau announced Friday that it is seeking advice on how to address lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender populations in implementing the once-a-decade census. The census, which has never counted LGBT people directly, has indirectly referenced gay people through its count of same-sex married couples and "unmarried partner" households in the past. With the formation of the National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations, however, the Census Bureau today stated that it will be seeking advice from the 31-member committee "on topics such as housing, children, youth, poverty, privacy, race and ethnicity, as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other populations." Specifically, the Bureau noted, the committee will provide advice on "a wide range of variables that affect the cost, accuracy and implementation of the Census Bureau's programs and surveys, including the once-a-decade census."Geidner speculates that the Census Bureau may be seeking a method to more accurately count (or at least estimate) the number of LGBT Americans.
Labels: census, Chris Geidner, U.S. Census Bureau
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma October 13, 2012
Dethroning the Ego
The
ego must be dethroned, its arrogance must be dismantled, and we must
begin, before it is too late, to listen to the ensuing silence. All of
this is about becoming who we are in the deepest sense and about
surrendering to what creation is asking of us and needing from us just
now.
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- Reginald Ray, "Looking Inward, Seeing Outward"
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Friday, October 12, 2012
Via JMG: HomoQuotable - George Takei
"I came out publicly in 2005, though I had been out privately for many decades with friends and family. My decision stemmed from a desire to stand up and be counted, so that I could help people see the human side of how bigotry, hatred and intolerance affects others. Coming out is never easy, and often never ending. If you have gay, lesbian or bisexual friends who have come out to you, take the time to thank them today for their courage, and for helping to make a difference in the lives of others, especially of young people like Matthew Shepard who bear so much of the burden of homophobia, bullying and violence against LGBT people. Thank you. And Matthew, I promise you, we will remember." - George Takei, writing in observance of today's 14th anniversary of the murder of Matthew Shepard.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Via JMG: Big Bird Was Created By Gay Lovers
[Christopher] Lyall and [Kermit] Love were partners in work and life for half a century and in the 1980s traveled with Big Bird to the White House for the annual Easter egg roll. The most momentous results of that presidential nexus were the grass stains on Big Bird’s outsize feet. Nobody could have imagined that this puppet might someday play even the smallest role in deciding who would occupy the Oval Office. “We’ll see,” Lyall says. The possible political impact of this 8-foot-2 yellow plumed character takes a turn from the ridiculous to the delightfully apt when you consider this: Big Bird was the product of a profound partnership between two men that was in every way a marriage save for in the strictly legal sense that the law until very recently forbade.I encourage you to read Daly's full story.
Labels: LGBT History, Sesame Street, television
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Via AmericaBlog Gay:
Religious right attacks astronaut Sally Ride for being a lesbian
A lead religious right “research” group has concluded that Dr. Sally Ride’s pancreatic cancer may be due to her being a lesbian. They deduced this from looking at the obituaries of...
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Via JMG: 20% Of Americans Claim "No Religion"
The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life released an analytic study today titled, Nones on the Rise, now that one in five Americans (19.6%) claim no religious identity. This group, called "Nones," is now the nation's second-largest category only to Catholics, and outnumbers the top Protestant denomination, the Southern Baptists. The shift is a significant cultural, religious and even political change. Count former Southern Baptist Chris Dees, 26, in this culture shift. He grew up Baptist in the most religious state in the USA: Mississippi. By the time he went off to college for mechanical engineering, "I just couldn't make sense of it any more," Dees says. Now, he's a leader of the Secular Student Alliance chapter at Mississippi State and calls himself an atheist.The report also notes that for the first time the number of Protestants is under 50%. (Tipped by JMG reader Mark)
UPDATE: The Center For Inquiry reacts via press release.
“Though the ‘unaffiliated’ are not entirely made up of nonbelievers, the fact that one in five Americans have rejected traditional religion means that the enormous influence religion has had over policy and culture will continue to wane,” said Ronald A. Lindsay, President and CEO of the Center for Inquiry. “Furthermore, thanks to the high percentage of ‘nones’ among the younger generations, these numbers tell us that we are closer than ever to realizing a society in which religious dogma has no significant influence on public policy—that is, a society based on reason and science rather than myth and superstition.”
Via JMG: MINNESOTA: Viking Punter Chris Kluwe Fires Back At Archbishop Nienstadt
"As American citizens, we respect the right for everyone to practice whichever religion they so choose, including the right to not practice one at all. Haven’t we learned enough from the Crusades, the Inquisitions, the Talibans of the world? What does it benefit the Church to attempt to influence secular policy in this country, especially when that influence is to deny basic human rights to others? Will you now assume Caesar’s throne, grasping the transitory ephemera of worldly power and control, while forsaking the eternal kingdom of Heaven?" - Vikings punter Chris Kluwe, firing back at Minnesota Archbishop John Nienstadt's advice to reject gay children.
Read Kluwe's full response.
Labels: bigotry, Catholic Church, football, FTW, heroes, Minnesota, religion, sports, straight allies
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma October 9, 2012
Embracing Groundlessness
It’s
not impermanence per se, or even knowing we’re going to die, that is
the cause of our suffering, the Buddha taught. Rather, it’s our
resistance to the fundamental uncertainty of our situation. Our
discomfort arises from all of our effort to put ground under our feet,
to realize our dream of constant okayness.
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- Pema Chödrön, "The Fundamental Ambiguity of Being Human"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection through October 11th, 2012
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Monday, October 8, 2012
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma October 8, 2012
Ending Your Problems Forever
When
you are preoccupied with external, material objects, you blame them and
other people for your problems. Projecting that deluded view onto
external phenomena makes you miserable. When you begin to realize your
wrong-conception view, you begin to realize the nature of your own mind
and to put an end to your problems forever.
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- Lama Yeshe, "Your Mind is Your Religion"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection through October 10th, 2012
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Via JMG: UK Psychology Group Tells Members That "Ex-Gay" Therapy Is Forbidden
Britain's largest psychotherapy group has told its members that "ex-gay" or "reparative therapy" is now officially forbidden. Via James Watkins at Law On The Web:
The British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP) wrote to its near 30,000 members to inform them that so-called gay conversion therapy was now officially off-limits to them, after discovering that some members were still offering the controversial ‘treatments’. Lesley Pilkington was one such member. Last year, the BACP found her guilty of malpractice after being exposed by an undercover journalist to be offering “gay cure” therapies. Mrs Pilkington told the journalist that homosexuality is a mental illness akin to depression, with addictive qualities akin to alcoholism. Mrs Pilkington was struck off, and her appeal was rejected in May of this year. The letter from the BACP states that “BACP opposes any psychological treatment such as ‘reparative’ or ‘conversion’ therapy which is based upon the assumption that homosexuality is a mental disorder, or based on the premise that the client/patient should change his/her sexuality.” In the letter, the BACP adds that they recognise that “the diversity of human sexualities is compatible with normal mental health and social adjustment”.Note that the British group makes no distinction regarding children or adults.
Labels: Britain, psychology, UK
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma October 7, 2012
Looking Inward
Whatever
we attempt is a reflection of our inner thirst, which we hope to quench
in all these external ways. What we are looking for lies within us, and
if we gave out time and energy to an interior search, we would come
across it much faster, since that is the only place where it is to be
found.
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- Ayya Khema, "Thirsting for Enlightenment"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection through October 9th, 2012
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Saturday, October 6, 2012
Via JMG: Justice Antonin Scalia Tells Wingnuts: It's Easy To Rule Against LGBT Rights
"The death penalty? Give me a break. It's easy. Abortion? Absolutely easy. Nobody ever thought the Constitution prevented restrictions on abortion. Homosexual sodomy? Come on. For 200 years, it was criminal in every state," Scalia said at the American Enterprise Institute. He contrasted his style of interpretation with that of a colleague who tries to be true to the values of the Constitution as he applies them to a changing world. This imaginary justice goes home for dinner and tells his wife what a wonderful day he had, Scalia said. This imaginary justice, Scalia continued, announces that it turns out "'the Constitution means exactly what I think it ought to mean.' No kidding."Scalia also complained that it is too difficult to amend the U.S. Constitution. Mitt Romney has signed NOM's pledge to work to ban same-sex marriage in the federal constitution. Such an attempt could be thwarted by only 13 dissenting states.
Via JMG: AFGHANISTAN: Married Lesbian Soldier Killed In Suicide Bomber Attack
In memory of Army Staff Sgt. Donna R. Johnson who gave the ultimate sacrifice to our nation in a suicide bomber attack while on patrol in Afghanistan, on Monday, Oct. 1, 2012. Staff Sgt Johnson is survived by her wife Tracy Dice. In days to come, the American Military Partner Association will be sharing more of the story of Donna & Tracy and their commitment to each other and our nation. We ask for your continued thoughts, prayers, and privacy for Tracy and her family during this difficult time.The Army Times has published an Associated Press report.
The remains of Sgt. Donna R. Johnson, 29, of Raeford, Sgt. Jeremy F. Hardison, 23, of Browns Summit and Sgt. Thomas J. Butler IV, 25, of Leland, were flown into Dover Air Force Base Tuesday evening. The three died Monday in Khost, Afghanistan, after an insurgent detonated a suicide vest while the guardsmen were on patrol. The soldiers were assigned to the 514th Military Police Company, which is based in Winterville. The bomber struck about 9 a.m., shortly after the troops got out of their vehicles to walk through a market area in Khost, located in the eastern part of the country. The others killed included an Afghan translator working with the American troops, four local police officers and six civilians. Three more American soldiers were wounded, according to a military spokesman. About 60 Afghan civilians were also injured. A Taliban spokesman contacted Western media to claim responsibility shortly after the attack.The AP notes that both of the other two soldiers killed had wives, but makes no mention of Sgt. Johnson's wife, who also serves in the military.
Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:
Tricycle Daily Dharma October 6, 2012
Recognizing Our Inadvertent Training
The
wildness of mind that we experience when we sit quietly noticing our
body and breathing for five minutes is the result of everything we’ve
been doing before those five minutes. Frequently we discover that our
minds do not rest in radiant contentment for the entire meditation
session. Why not? Because we have been training for years in desiring,
reaching, grasping, getting, and then wanting more, and then, of course,
more—all reinforcing the underlying feeling that this moment is not
enough.
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- Gaylon Ferguson, “Fruitless Labor”
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection through October 8th, 2012
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