Flower of the Day: 07/10/14

“Laziness is a psychological matrix created by blocked feelings and repressed energy. Laziness can manifest in the form of paralysis, or even as compulsive action. But in this case, the compulsion to do is a distraction that prevents you from doing what really needs to be done. There is something stopping you from accomplishing precisely that which is most important to you. So you are overcome with guilt about not doing what your consciousness demands. When this happens, it is important to open yourself up to understanding what is paralyzing you. In this way you begin a healing work that will lead you to confront the points of blockage that are robbing you of your energy and willpower.”

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daiy Dharma

---

Liberation through Insight | July 10, 2014

---

The whole point of Buddha-dharma is that liberation comes not by believing in the right set of tenets or of dogmatic assertions, or even necessarily by behaving in the right way. It’s insight, it’s wisdom, it’s knowing the nature of reality. It is only truth that will make us free.

 

—B. Alan Wallace, "What is True Happiness?"

 

Nothing Lasts Forever (1984)

Flower of the Day: 07/09/14

“Anxiety, sadness, depression and a constant anguish are all symptoms of that aspect of pride known as perfectionism. This is an aspect of the idealized self that is addicted to self-criticism and is always condemning and judging. The idealized self is a cruel tyrant who does not accept mistakes. We have to be the best of the best; the most precious stone. Thus, we begin to compulsively do things, and put pressure on ourselves demanding all sorts of things, as a constant form of self-punishment. This prevents us from relaxing enough to notice that we are already a diamond. We already are the most precious stone there is, and it is precisely this compulsion to prove something to the world that prevents us from truly shining.”

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

---

Complete Engagement | July 8, 2014

---

Only one thing
made him happy
and now that
it was gone
everything
made him happy.

 

—Leonard Cohen, "Leonard Koan"

 

Flower of the Day: 07/08/14

“Do not feed your sadness – this is unnecessary suffering created by the victim trying to sneak in through the back door. True pain doesn’t last long. You get in touch with it, and soon after it passes. Oftentimes, sadness is a messenger that prepares you for getting in touch with the deep-rooted pain that leads to your healing. This is a healthy sadness, while an unhealthy sadness is always linked to an accusation. It is born out of anger; and although anger’s role in the divine game is to take you somewhere, anger can also be a major distraction. In most cases, anger is merely an escape from this sadness that could get you in touch with the primordial pain.”

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

---

Complete Engagement | July 8, 2014

---

Ultimately, from the point of view of the dharma—at least, my understanding of it—cultivating your mind through meditation is also social radicalism. Because if the goal is to produce more people who are manifesting the attributes of enlightenment—namely, wisdom and compassion—then that, by necessity, is a transformation of the social situation as well.

 

—Richard Reoch, "The Path of Complete Engagement"

 

The Official Trailer for Campaign of Hate: Russia and Gay Propaganda

Via JMG: Russian Priest: The World Cup Is A Homosexual Abomination Because Shoes

Via the Moscow Times:

While thousands of Russian fans were left devastated by their team's early exit from the World Cup tournament, one Orthodox priest has openly rejoiced at their failure, denouncing the contest as a "homosexual abomination." Priest Alexander Shumsky seems to have taken particular exception to the brightly colored footwear on display in Brazil, writing in his column on Christian website Russian People's Line that players who wear green, yellow, pink or blue shoes helped promote the "gay rainbow." "Wearing pink or blue shoes, [the players] might as well wear women's panties or a bra," Shumsky wrote, adding that he was also offended by the "unthinkable" hairstyles of some of the players in Brazil.

(Tipped by JMG reader Kevin)

 

Labels: crazy people, religion, Russia, World Cup

Reposted from Joe Jervis

George Takei: Why I love a country that once betrayed me

Publicado em 04/07/2014

 

When he was a child, George Takei and his family were forced into an internment camp for Japanese-Americans, as a "security" measure during World War II. 70 years later, Takei looks back at how the camp shaped his surprising, personal definition of patriotism and democracy.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more.
Find closed captions and translated subtitles in many languages at http://www.ted.com/translate

Follow TED news on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tednews
Like TED on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TED

Subscribe to our channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/TEDtalksD...

Via Daily Dharma

---

Thinking Like a Mountain | July 7, 2014

---

How do you watch a mountain? Nothing’s going to happen in any time frame that you can consider—except the light changes on it. And so that was my mountain watching. The changing light on the mountain was like the changing thoughts in my mind, just these little shifting shadows, that’s all that it is.

 

—Gary Snyder, “Thinking Like a Mountain”

 

Via Daily Dharma

---

The Everyday Sublime | July 6, 2014

---

To experience the everyday sublime one needs to dismantle piece by piece the perceptual conditioning that insists on seeing oneself and the world as essentially comfortable, permanent, solid, and mine. It means to embrace suffering and conflict, rather than to shy away from them, to cultivate the radical attention (yonisomanasikara) that contemplates the tragic, changing, empty, and impersonal dimensions of life, rather than succumbing to fantasies of self-glorification or self-loathing.

 

—Stephen Batchelor, “The Everyday Sublime”

 

Flower of the Day: 07/06/14

“Gratitude opens the portals to ascension. It has the great power of illuminating your life. When gratitude blossoms, the idea of the victim disappears from one’s system. All complaints, all self-criticisms, and all the games of accusation fall away. Gratitude is an immunizing agent that protects you against evil. It increases trust and opens the paths towards the Infinite. One can seek gratitude, but one cannot create it with the mind. Gratitude blooms when you are mature enough for it.”

Sri Prem Baba

Via Lizzy the Lezzy /FB:

Via AUSTRALIA: New Study Says Kids Of Gay Parents FB:

Via ABC News Australia:

Children of same-sex parents enjoy better levels of health and wellbeing than their peers from traditional family units, new Australian research suggests. In what they described as the largest study of its type in the world, University of Melbourne researchers surveyed 315 same-sex parents and 500 children about their physical health and social wellbeing. Lead researcher Doctor Simon Crouch said children raised by same-sex partners scored an average of 6 per cent higher than the general population on measures of general health and family cohesion. "That's really a measure that looks at how well families get along, and it seems that same-sex-parent families and the children in them are getting along well, and this has positive impacts on child health," Dr Crouch said.

Read the full study. (Tipped by JMG readers Alan and Str8 Grandmother)

 

Labels: Australia, gay families, gay parenting

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via Daily Dharma

---

Forget the Self | July 5, 2014

---

To forget the self is to be enlightened by all things. Buddhist teaching suggests that the Self is an illusion, and identity is an ongoing confluence of forces. That means that, very literally, our sense of self is shaped by the world around us.

 

—Richard Eskow, "DNA Sutra"

 

Flower of the Day: 07/05/14

“Mental equanimity means placing one’s mind on God. Setting one’s mind on God is like putting down your baggage on the train’s luggage rack and relaxing along the journey. But the mind prefers to carry the burden of the baggage because leaving it on the rack requires trust. At the nucleus of the conditioned mind is fear, and one of the main aspects of fear is control. The ways of God are mysterious, and it’s not always possible to understand what God has planned for you. So one creates many expectations about one’s life and hopes that God will meet them. Yet only God understands our hearts and knows what we really need. This is why we must become aware of our lack of trust that has caused us to carry such a heavy burden.”

Sri Prem Baba

Via Being Liberal / FB:

Via Pink News: United Nations to recognise same-sex marriage everywhere

Ban Ki-moon announced the policy shift yesterday

The United Nations has announced that it will globally extend its employee benefits to workers in same-sex marriages or other unions.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced the change yesterday, stating: “Human rights are at the core of the mission of the United Nations.

“I am proud to stand for greater equality for all staff, and I call on all members of our UN family to unite in rejecting homophobia as discrimination that can never be tolerated at our workplace.”

The move will impact the UN’s over 44,000 staff across the globe.

Hyung Hak Nam, of LGBTI group UN-GLOBE, said: “It is with great pleasure that I would like to inform you that, at long last, the UN will begin recognizing staff members’ legal same-sex unions.

Make the jump here to read the full article