Saturday, March 15, 2014
Courage – Quotes on Living Exceptional Lives, from Lao Tzu, Pema Chodron, T.S. Eliot and Others
Bravery
is not about becoming superheroes – it is about living wisely in the
present moment, and learning to let go of the things and feelings that
hold us back from living full lives.
When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. (Lao Tzu)
– Only we can hold ourselves back. Only we can set ourselves free.
Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.(Andre Gide)
– Adventure may be dangerous, but so can staying in one place forever.
Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth. (Pema Chodron)
– It is said that the only mistakes on the road to wisdom are not starting, and not going all the way – keep walking.
Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. (T. S. Eliot)
– Teachers can show us the path, travelers can tell us how to walk it, but only the individual person can journey on it.
It’s not because things are difficult that we dare not venture. It’s because we dare not venture that they are difficult. (Seneca)
– How often do we make obstacles larger in our minds than they really are?
You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. (Eleanor Roosevelt)
– Fear can be a great, liberating, powerful experience when we use it to grow.
Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point. (C. S. Lewis)
– All good deeds in our lives come down to courage – the bravery required to make the right choice even when the right choice is unpopular.
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear. (Mark Twain)
– Bravery is never a sudden enlightenment or magic power – rather it is the humble effort to keep moving forward in the face of uncertainty.
To have striven, to have made the effort, to have been true to certain ideals – this alone is worth the struggle. (William Penn)
– What else is life, but an effort to do something worthwhile? Do what challenges you and makes you feel afraid.
Please take the jump here to read the original posting
Vi Daily Dharma:
Boundless Compassion | March 15, 2014
Traditional Buddhism describes
boundless love and compassion as liberations of the heart that free us
from ill will, cruelty, and indifference. They are called divine
dwellings because those who practice them radiate holy wishes for the
welfare, happiness, and security of all beings. Given, however, the
gravity of the crisis that confronts us today, it is questionable
whether the merely inward cultivation of such virtues is sufficient. If
love and compassion don’t find expression in concrete action, they could
remain purely subjective states, lofty and sublime but inert, unable to
exert any beneficial influence on others.
—Bhikkhu Bodhi, “The Need Of The Hour”
Friday, March 14, 2014
Via Daily Dharma
Great Questioning, Great Awakening | March 14, 2014
The most important part of the practice
is for the question to remain alive and for your whole body and mind to
become a question. In Zen they say that you have to ask with the pores
of your skin and the marrow of your bones. A Zen saying points out:
Great questioning, great awakening; little questioning, little
awakening; no questioning, no awakening.
—Martine Bachelor, “What is This?”
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Via JMG: SCOTLAND: Queen Elizabeth Gives Royal Assent For Gay Marriage Law
Queen Elizabeth II has signed same-sex marriage into law in Scotland today (13 March). By the end of the year, Scottish gay couples will be able to unite in matrimony. It is the last step in the long battle to get the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill through Parliament, making it an Act. Alex Neil, cabinet Secretary for Health and Well-being, said: "I am delighted that the Same Sex Marriage Bill has now received Royal Assent. We continue to work in close co-operation with Westminster on implementation of the Act so that the first same sex marriage can take place in Scotland as soon as is possible."The bill was approved by the Scottish Parliament last month in a lopsided vote of 105-18.
Via JMG: TEXAS: Joel Osteen's Prosperity Gospel Church Robbed Of One Week's Prosperity
But don't worry, they are insured. From the church:
Reposted from Joe Jervis We were heartbroken to learn today that funds were stolen from the church over the weekend. This includes cash, checks and envelopes containing written credit card information, and it is limited only to those funds contributed in the church services on Saturday, March 8 and Sunday, March 9, 2014. If you made a contribution during these weekend services, we would encourage you to pay close attention to your accounts over the next several days and weeks and report any suspicious activity to your financial institution or credit card company immediately. It is important to note this was not an electronic data breach, but was instead limited to donations made in the services on March 8 and 9, 2014. You were not affected if you put your offering in a drop box, you gave online or through other electronic means, or you made a bookstore purchase. We are working with the police to fully investigate the incident. The funds were fully insured, and we are working with our insurance company to restore the stolen funds to the church.Below: Joel Osteen's 17,000sf mansion.
Via Daily Dharma
The Path to Restoration | March 13, 2014
My advice for people is to love the
world they are in, in whatever way makes sense to them. It may be a
devotional practice, it may be song or poetry, it may be by gardening,
it may be as an activist, scientist, or community leader. The path to
restoration extends from our heart to the heart of sentient beings, and
that path will be different for every person.
—Paul Hawken, “The Movement With No Name”
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Via Emerson Collins
An Open Letter to Michele Bachmann
Michele Bachmann suggested that the gay community is bullying Americans and politicians. You can read the full article and hear the clip for yourself here. This is my response.Dear Michele Bachmann,
I would like to provide you with a definition of a word that, for all your legal experience, you seem not to comprehend. The word “bully” has become a buzzword, a convenient way for adults who are losing an argument to shut down the conversation. When your back is against the wall, you call someone a “bully” and if they don’t allow you to gracefully exit the argument you get to say, “SEE! They ARE a bully.”
Except, that’s incorrect. “Bully” is defined variously as “a person who uses superior strength or power to harm, intimidate or influence those who are weaker.”
Now let’s reconsider your words. “…the gay community, they have so bullied the American people, and they’ve so intimidated politicians. The politicians fear them, so that they think they get to dictate the agenda everywhere.”
Let’s consider the fallacy here, shall we?
Via Daily Dharma
Rising to the Occasion | March 12, 2014
We cannot eliminate all of the
challenges or obstacles in life—our own or anyone else’s. We can only
learn to rise to the occasion and face them.
—Dzigar Kongtrul, "Old Relationships, New Possibilities"
Via JMG: Jason Collins Staying With The Nets
Sources told ESPN.com on Tuesday that the Nets, who feel they're getting everything they expected from Collins when they signed him for frontcourt depth Feb. 23, are already operating under the premise that the 34-year-old will finish the season with them even though his second 10-day deal doesn't expire until after Friday. Sources say that the internal expectation all along was that Collins would be a Net for the rest of the season, from the moment he signed his first 10-day deal, as long he proved that he could still be an effective defender, which he did immediately. Collins is averaging 9.8 minutes per game off the bench in eight appearances since his historic debut against the Los Angeles Lakers last month, which made him the first openly gay athlete in North America's four recognized major team sports. He most recently provided the Nets with some meaningful minutes defending against DeMarcus Cousins, logging 20 minutes in a 104-89 win over Sacramento last Sunday.
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Via HimalayaCrafts / FB:
Every morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most. ― Buddha
Via JMG: United Methodist Bishop: No More Trials For Pro-Gay Marriage Pastors
At a joint press conference today, United Methodist Bishop Martin McLee and Rev. Dr. Thomas W. Ogletree announced that the church was dropping the case against Dr. Ogletree for officiating at his son’s wedding. In a huge victory for the Methodist movement that is organizing ministry to all couples on an equal basis in open defiance of church law, the bishop dropped the case without any conditions. Furthermore, Bishop McLee said in his statement “I call for and commit to cessation of trials,” the first time ever a sitting United Methodist bishop has categorically declared he will not prosecute pastors for ministering to LGBTQ people. “I am grateful that Bishop McLee has withdrawn this case and the church is no longer prosecuting me for an act of pastoral faithfulness and fatherly love,” said Dr. Ogletree. “But I am even more grateful that he is vowing not to prosecute others who have been likewise faithful in ministry to LGBTQ people. May our bishop’s commitment to cease such prosecutions be the beginning of the end of the United Methodist Church’s misguided era of discriminating against LGBTQ people.”There's gonna be a big ole pile of sadz about this.
Via JMG: Forbes: 7 Billionaires Are Openly LGBT
With a combined net worth of nearly $16 billion, the select group of LGBT ten-figure fortunes includes media mogul David Geffen, PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel and Hyatt hotel beneficiary Jennifer Pritzker, one of the Pritzker family’s 11 billionaires. In August 2013, Jennifer became the first and only transgender billionaire in the world when she announced she would be identifying herself as a woman for all business and personal undertakings. A retired army lieutenant colonel, she is CEO of private wealth management firm Tawani Enterprises in Chicago and has a personal net worth of $1.8 billion. “This change will reflect the beliefs of her true identity that she has held privately and will now share publicly,” a statement in Crain’s Chicago Business explained. Among the openly-gay hyper-wealthy are Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, the duo behind fashion power house Dolce & Gabbana. The retail-rich pair are joined by Michael Kors, who became a billionaire this year. Some of these businessmen and women have used their fortunes to advocate for gay rights. Jon Stryker, heir to the Stryker Corp. medical equipment family fortune, is one of the world’s most prolific donors to LGBT charities.The seven listed above represent 0.4% of Forbes' list of 1645 billionaires worldwide.
Labels: David Geffen, Dolce and Gabbana, Forbes, Jennifer Pritzker, Jon Stryker, Michael Kors, Peter Thiel
Via JMG: Bill Donohue Is Very Upset About Cosmos
The propagandists involved in this show, represented most conspicuously by Seth MacFarlane, told viewers last night that “the Roman Catholic Church maintained a system of courts known as the Inquisition and its sole purpose was to investigate and torment anyone who dared voice views that differed from theirs. And it wasn’t long before [Giordano] Bruno fell into the clutches of the thought police.” The ignorance is appalling. “The Catholic Church as an institution had almost nothing to do with [the Inquisition],” writes Dayton historian Thomas Madden. “One of the most enduring myths of the Inquisition,” he says, “is that it was a tool of oppression imposed on unwilling Europeans by a power-hungry Church. Nothing could be more wrong.” Because the Inquisition brought order and justice where there was none, it actually “saved uncounted thousands of innocent (and even not-so-innocent) people who would otherwise have been roasted by secular lords or mob rule.” (His emphasis.)All that torture and disemboweling? Good thing! Cardinal Fang, fetch the comfy chair for Bill.
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Labels: Bill Donohue, Catholic Church, Catholic League, Cosmos, crackpots, Fox TV, Neil deGrasse Tyson, religion, Seth McFarlane
Reposted from Joe Jervis
Viaq Daily Dharma
Intimate Joy | March 11, 2014
When we are willing to be intimate with
what actually is here now, to look directly at all of our experience,
we might recognize that this is our life, however different from our
thoughts and ideas about it.
—Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara, “Simple Joy”
Monday, March 10, 2014
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