Nothing Else to Do | September 30, 2014
The practice is to make the non-arising of grasping and clinging absolute, final, and eternally void, so that no grasping and clinging can ever return. Just that is enough. There is nothing else to do.
- Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, "A Single Handful"
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Monday, September 29, 2014
Via JMG: British Survey: 16% Have Had Gay Sex
A dwindling number of Brits believe that homosexuality should be made illegal again.
Reposted from Joe Jervis
Attitudes to homosexuality are clearly becoming more liberal but there are still pockets of resistance. In total, 16% of Britons continue to believe that homosexuality should be outlawed. Men (19%) are more likely than women (13%) to advocate the banning of gay sex, and rejection of homosexuality peaks in London and the south-east, where more than one in five (21%) feel it should be illegal. However, at a total level, the proportion of Britons who believe gay sex should be illegal has reduced by eight percentage points, from 24%, since 2008.According to the same survey, same-sex marriage support stands at 63%.
Flower of the Day: 09/29/14
“Sometimes
it’s good to be alone in order to redirect the focus of our willpower,
especially when we are very addicted to codependency. Being alone helps
us to get an objective perception of reality, and this perception will
help us become free from the game of lust. At some point, we will be
truly ready to surrender ourselves to a spiritual life, not as an escape
from relationships, but because we have learnt what we had to learn
through them.”
Sri Prem Baba
Via Daily Dharma
Lifting the Veil | September 29, 2014
With study and practice, we can move beyond our reductive thinking, lifting the veil to reveal the true nature of reality.
- Wendy Hasenkamp, "Brain Karma"
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Via Daily Dharma
Internal Revolution | September 28, 2014
There are so many levels to this anti-greed, anti-hatred, anti-delusion teaching that says, in this world that’s filled with confusion, let’s be unconfused. In a world filled with hatred and greed, let’s be generous and loving and forgiving. The teachings are revolutionary on a societal level, but there’s also an internal revolution, because craving that creates addiction comes from inside, from the human survival instinct that craves pleasure and hates pain, and that left to its own devices will turn us into addicts.
- Noah Levine, "The Suffering of Addiction"
There are so many levels to this anti-greed, anti-hatred, anti-delusion teaching that says, in this world that’s filled with confusion, let’s be unconfused. In a world filled with hatred and greed, let’s be generous and loving and forgiving. The teachings are revolutionary on a societal level, but there’s also an internal revolution, because craving that creates addiction comes from inside, from the human survival instinct that craves pleasure and hates pain, and that left to its own devices will turn us into addicts.
- Noah Levine, "The Suffering of Addiction"
Flower of the Day: 09/28/14
“Relationships are crucial for growth, and doing group work helps tremendously. Beyond that, the sangha, or spiritual community, is a sacred jewel, because each person gives strength to the other. Still, the crossing takes place individually, and it’s natural at some point for you to start withdrawing yourself. There comes a moment when some people need this solitude, precisely because the journey is internal. This universe is sustained by lust and attachment, and we spend much of our time on relationships; but even so, at some point it will become necessary to turn within.”
- Sri Prem Baba
- Sri Prem Baba
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Flower of the Day: 09/27/14
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“This is my prayer: ‘Oh Lord! Come and inhabit my body, inhabit my mind and intellect, inhabit my heart, so that no one may tell us apart. May I be one with you. May every word that comes out of my mouth be an expression of your holy word. May every act that I practice be an expression of your holy will.’
Our prayers should be made towards this direction, because we know there is no other request to be made. Intellectually, we have already understood that we are here to move from a state of separation and isolation to a state of oneness. We are moving from selfishness to altruism, from fear to trust, and from hatred to love.”
- Sri Prem Baba
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Via Daily Dharma
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It's About Being Connected | September 27, 2014
My path to enlightenment will only come from being connected to the world around me. It’s not just about being centered inside; it’s about being connected to your world.
- Njeri Matheu, "People’s Climate March"
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Friday, September 26, 2014
Via JMG: IOC: All Future Olympics Host Cities Must Agree To LGBT Discrimination Protections
The International Olympic Committee today announced that future Olympics host cities must sign a contract with an added clause vowing to protect LGBT participants and attendees from discrimination. Via press release from All Out:
“This is a significant step in ensuring the protection of both citizens and athletes around the world and sends a clear message to future host cities that human rights violations, including those against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, will not be tolerated,” said Andre Banks, co-founder and executive director of All Out, the global movement for love and equality. “This is a particularly important moment for the world’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens who face discrimination and persecution not only in Russia but in countries all over the world. We will continue working to make sure this change is powerfully enforced - these new rules must prevent a replay of Sochi.”RELATED: The 2016 Summer Games will be held in Rio De Janeiro, where robust LGBT protections already exist. The 2018 Winter Games will be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, where homosexuality is legal, but anti-discrimination laws do not exist.
According to IOC Sports Director, Christopher Dubi, the new clause will include “the prohibition of any form of discrimination, using the wording of Fundamental Principle 6 of the Olympic Charter." This clause will ensure that future host cities must abide by international human rights standards in order to host the games, including the protection of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens and athletes. “By adopting a non-discrimination clause into its host city contracts, the IOC is showcasing its own realization that we must protect the rights of every athlete to live free and openly,” said Hudson Taylor, Executive Director of Athlete Ally. “The Principle 6 campaign sought to shed light on the responsibility of host countries to uphold the olympic values, and this action validates all of the hard work by organizations and individuals across the world who’ve engaged in the fight for LGBT equality.”
Via JMG: HRC Head Chad Griffin: Obama Should Consider LGBT Successor To Eric Holder
Labels: Barack Obama, Chad Griffin, DOJ, Eric Holder, HRC, LGBT rights, Obama administration, Obama cabinet
JMG Headline Of The Day
The Gathering is an annual event at which many of the wealthiest conservative to hard-right evangelical philanthropists in America—representatives of the families DeVos, Coors, Prince, Green, Maclellan, Ahmanson, Friess, plus top leaders of the National Christian Foundation—meet with evangelical innovators with fresh ideas on how to evangelize the globe. The Gathering promotes “family values” agenda: opposition to gay rights and reproductive rights, for example, and also a global vision that involves the eventual eradication of all competing belief systems that might compete with The Gathering’s hard-right version of Christianity. Last year, for example, The Gathering 2013 brought together key funders, litigants, and plaintiffs of the Hobby Lobby case, including three generations of the Green family. The evangelical right financial dynasties and foundations that meet each year at The Gathering dispense upwards of $1 billion a year in grants. But even that is overshadowed by the bigger sums that The Family and The Gathering have managed to route from the federal and state government to fund their movement via the Faith-Based Initiative program, USAID, PEPFAR and other multibillion-dollar programs.Many of the anti-gay hate groups involved will be familiar to you. Definitely hit that link.
Labels: Alliance Defending Freedom, Christianists, Daily Beast, Family Research Council, Focus On The Family, hate groups, religion, The Gathering, Tony Perkins, Truth Wins Out
Via JMG: Christian Group: Homosexuals And Gossips Both Deserve The Death Penalty
"We aren't just defending marriage - whether we call it natural marriage
or traditional marriage or Biblical marriage - because it's the way
we've always done things. We have a much more firm foundation than
tradition. We affirm marriage in the way that God himself intended it.
The church is not a Christian congress or Supreme Court. The laws of God
cannot be overruled or deemed unconstitutional. Of course, we ALL break
those laws and being a homosexual doesn't make a man a sinner any more
or less than being a gossip. Both crimes deserve the death penalty, and
only the one who relies on the righteousness of Christ can escape it." -
Chris Johnson, writing for the American Decency Association, which notes on its Facebook page that it is the former Michigan chapter for the American Family Association.
PREVIOUSLY ON JMG: The American Decency Association declares that while they totally hate that homosexual Michael Sam, they are not the group by the same name that called for protesting Dallas Cowboys games. The American Decency Association calls for a boycott of Target and for Christians to mail their destroyed charge cards to company headquarters. The American Decency Association says the DOMA ruling was as bad as the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Reposted from Joe Jervis
PREVIOUSLY ON JMG: The American Decency Association declares that while they totally hate that homosexual Michael Sam, they are not the group by the same name that called for protesting Dallas Cowboys games. The American Decency Association calls for a boycott of Target and for Christians to mail their destroyed charge cards to company headquarters. The American Decency Association says the DOMA ruling was as bad as the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Via JMG: Hate Groups Launch Joint Campaign: Don't Vote For Pro-Gay GOP Candidates
Posted yesterday on NOM's blog:
Three of the nation's top pro-family groups have announced an unprecedented campaign against three top Republican candidates for federal office because the candidates are supporters of same-sex 'marriage' and abortion. The National Organization for Marriage, Family Research Council Action and CitizenLink announced they will urge voters not to support Republican House candidates Carl DeMaio (CA-52) and Richard Tisei (MA-6), and will urge Oregon voters not to support US Senate candidate Monica Wehby. "The Republican Party platform is a 'statement of who we are and what we believe.' Thus, the platform supports the truth of marriage as the union of husband and wife, and recognizes the sanctity and dignity of human life. This is what Republicans believe," said Brian S. Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM). "It is extremely disappointing to see Republican leaders in Washington help push the election of candidates who reject the party's principled positions on these and other core issues. We cannot sit by when people calling themselves Republicans seek high office while espousing positions that are antithetical to the overwhelming majority of Republicans."CitizenLink is an arm of Focus On The Family.
Labels: 2014 elections, Brian Brown, Carl DeMaio, Focus On The Family, FRC, GOP, hate groups, marriage equality, Monica Wehby, NOM, religion, Richard Tisei
Flower of the Day: 09/26/14
“Once
we become independent, we may or may not end up helping to sustain our
parents, but we need to observe who in us is doing this. Where does our
sense of responsibility come from: guilt or love? Do we want to help
because our heart is open, or because we feel guilty? Many people help
their parents out of a sense of obligation, but they will later expect
'compensation,' even charging 'interest' and 'inflation adjustments.'
Rather than being monetary, this compensation comes in the form of
emotional pressure. One actually ends up subtly humiliating one’s
parents, taking revenge for having been hurt in the past.”
Sri Prem Baba
Via Dialy Dharma
The Things That Matter | September 26, 2014
If you’re not really what you stand
for, then the things that matter the most are always going to be at the
mercy of the things that matter the least.
- Cheri Maples, "She's Got the Beat"
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Flower of the Day: 09/25/14
“Gluttony
is related to sexual repression. There is a subtle channel that
connects the tip of the tongue to the sexual organ. You cannot fulfill
the objective of life without looking at sexuality. Once you are able to
free yourself from repression, your whole body can relax and an
internal space will open up. An awareness springs, which also helps
bring one’s eating habits into balance.”
Sri Prem Baba
Via Daily Dharma
Hanging Off a Rock | September 25, 2014
Hanging off a rock is an exaggerated
experience of facing the unknown. It is exhilarating, scary, and
completely vibrant. When we can’t find a foothold, the mind falls into
an open stillness—the same brief pause we encounter in any situation
where we lose our familiar reference points. If we have the wherewithal
to relax, we find our way.
- Elizabeth Mattis-Namgyel, "Open Stillness"
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