Flower of the Day: 10/25/14

“Desire adds value to the idea of ‘me.’ When one buys a new car and then drives it, one feels fulfilled and self-satisfied. One identifies with it – one actually becomes the car. But this satisfaction doesn’t last very long. Soon we yearn for something else to add value to the idea of ‘me’ – maybe a house or a partner. So we live our lives seeking and wishing for things that could fill the inner void. This desire becomes compulsive and stimulates comparisons, envy, jealousy and many other negative feelings. But at some point this compulsive desire starts to weaken because you notice that nothing outside you will bring the satisfaction you are seeking.”

Sri Prem Baba

Via JMG: Lisa Kudrow - Gay Men Are Superior

"The people I work with are gay. I don't know who I'm going to offend by leaving them out, but I need to say that I think gay men are superior beings in my mind. I do believe that. It's all so tricky. I studied biology and the brains are anatomically different. They just are. There's a stronger connection with the corpus callosum (in gay men). The two sides of the brain communicate better than a straight man's, and I think that has to be really important. They're not women - they're still men - and women also have thicker corpus callosums, so I think it's the combination of those qualities that makes them like a superhuman to me." - Lisa Kudrow, speaking to Pride Source.

Labels: HBO, Lisa Kudrow, movies, television

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Rest Wherever We Are | October 24, 2014 Through meditation we learn how to work skillfully with thoughts and emotional patterns that interfere with simply being able to rest wherever we are, with full presence.    - Mark Coleman, "A Breath of Fresh Air"

Flower of the Day: 10/24/14

“There is an inner path that leads you to acceptance and gratitude. We begin by recognizing and dissolving the frozen images in our system. Next, we become aware of our desire for negativity and pacts of revenge. We recognize our identification with the victim in the form of the wounded child. Through all this, we go on liberating our denied feelings. We do our part until we break through even just one layer of the veil of illusion that makes us see everything as a threat. Eventually we are able to enter the inner sanctum that allows us to perceive everything as a gift, even challenging situations that bring deep discomfort.”

 

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

The Depths of Our Experience | October 23, 2014 The work of Buddhism is to awaken, to come out of the sleepy dreams and notions of reality that we hold to be true and replace them with a direct experience of what is more accurately occurring. To awaken in this way, we need to become conscious of what’s actually going on at the very depths of our experience.    - Will Johnson, "Full Body, Empty Mind"

Flower of the Day: 10/23/14

“I can’t explain what oneness is, I can only show you the path that will lead you to this experience. Silence is needed for this phenomenon to take place, even if you are the only one in silence and the whole world is making noise. If you are in silence, I will be able to guide you towards this experience. Without silence you will find it difficult to absorb the teachings that are being transmitted. Most of what is transmitted is not picked up or received, because of the noise. Great and rare opportunities for healing are being wasted, and this healing is what prepares the field for the experience of oneness.”

Sri Prem Baba

Flower of the Day: 10/21/14

“It is important to commit to becoming aware of your paradoxes, of your lack of integrity. When are you dishonest in life? How do you fake love to sustain the games of your lower nature? A certain kind of courage is needed in order to love, because you need to be whole and integral. To love, you need to be aligned with the truth because love is a fragrance of the truth. I am talking about the truth of the divine self, not the transitory truth of the small self that is sustained by the mask. The mask is not at all committed to the truth: it is merely a pretense.”

 

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

The Insight of Impermanence | October 22, 2014   To those whose knowledge is developed, everything within and without oneself, within and without one’s house, within and without one’s village and town, is an object at the sight of which the insight of impermanence may spring up and develop.    - Ledi Sayadaw, "Meditation en Masse"

Flower of the Day: 10/22/14

“It is necessary to have an ego to live in this realm. This is one of the laws of this world, just like gravity. We need to have a mediator between the inner and outer world, and the ego is this mediator. It is formed from the impressions we receive from the outer world which give us an idea about who we are. But it has a very important role within the game, because the ego is the one that makes the journey. The ego identifies the lower self and becomes identified with the divine self.”

Sri Prem Baba

Via Give a Damn Campaign: Wyoming!

Flower of the Day: 10/20/14

“I see many spiritual seekers who disregard the possibility of somatization, developing physical symptoms due to spiritual or emotional distress. They believe that everything occurs in the subtle bodies, so they don’t take enough care of their physical bodies. The opposite is also true: some people are so identified with their bodies that they fall into despair when they cannot find the causes of their symptoms. The middle way is of sensibility. When you are on the path to self-realization, you may have transcendental experiences as well as challenging ones, but it all depends on the amount of blockages you carry.”

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

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Cultivating Equanimity | October 20, 2014

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Classical mindfulness, unlike popular mindfulness, is all about the cultivation of equanimity. One is able to experience both pleasure and pain without clinging to anything in the world. 

 

- Andrew Olendzki, "The Mindfulness Wedge"

 

Via Daily Dharma

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Wildness of Mind | October 19, 2014

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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. 

 

- Gaylon Ferguson, "Fruitless Labor"

 

Flower of the Day: 10/19/14

“The denial of our feelings is our main poison. We can only open up to experiencing all of our feelings once we have understood enough about ourselves. If we have not yet cognitively understood our inner workings, we won’t allow ourselves to dive into this experience of our feelings. We don’t have any control over our feelings because they are completely protected by fear, arrogance and other aspects of our lower nature.”

 

Sri Prem Baba

MRF - Trying (Official Music Video) feat. Lisa Bello, Justin Waithe & Yasko Kubota

Via JMG: Wyoming And Florida: Cerulean Sisters

 

Cerulean is gayer than cyan. Because Miranda Priestly.

Labels: Florida, marriage equality, Wyoming

Reposted from Joe Jervis

JMG HomoQuotable - Matt Stolhandske

"As a gay man, I should hate Melissa and Aaron Klein. They’re the Portland-based Christian bakery owners who, in 2013, refused to make a cake for a lesbian couple’s wedding. And despite their insistence that they’re only morally opposed to gay marriage, not gays, they make their disdain for equality quite clear: 'I didn’t want to be a part of her marriage, which I think is wrong,' Aaron Klein recently said of one of the women he rebuked. I’m also an evangelical Christian. I can’t understand why Klein or any other Christians twist the words of Jesus Christ to justify this behavior. To me, it’s a deeply harmful and embarrassing bastardization of our faith. But I don’t hate the Kleins. In fact, I’m raising money to cover the $150,000 punitive fine they received from Oregon. [snip] To them I say: this is what an olive branch looks like. I am not rewarding their behavior, but rather loving them in spite of it. It is time for these two communities, which both cite genuine love as our motivation, to put aside our prejudices and put down our pitchforks to clear the path for progress." - Matt Stolhandske, writing for the Washington Post.

Labels: Christianists, HomoQuotable, LGBT rights, Matt Stolhandske, Oregon, public accommodations, religion, WaPo

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Flower of the Day: 10/18/14

“Many of the games of our lower nature which cause destruction in our lives and in the lives of those around us come from our inability to feel gratitude. Ingratitude results from a lack of understanding about the game of life. This feeds the victim within us who sees fault in absolutely everything, not just in difficult unpleasant situations, but also in the good things of life. One of the main characteristics of the victim is complaining and lamenting. This turns into an addiction which is oftentimes more powerful than even the addiction to chemical substances.”

 

Sri Prem Baba

Listen to the audio>

Via Daily Dharma

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Defining Emptiness | October 18, 2014

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Emptiness simply means an absence of reactivity. When you relate to somebody, there's not you and me and your little mind running its little comparisons and judgments. When those are gone, that is emptiness. 

 

- Charlotte Joko Beck, "Life's Not a Problem"