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The Role of Faith | November 20, 2014
As a factor of the Buddhist path, faith (saddha) does not mean blind belief but a willingness to accept
on trust certain propositions that we cannot, at our present stage of development, personally verify for ourselves.
- Bhikkhu Bodhi, "The Role of Faith"  |
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Via Daily Dharma
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Via JMG: Former "Ex-Gay" Leader Marries Man
Smid has been living as an out gay man for several years now, and he's been in a relationship with [Larry] McQueen for one year. Gay marriage just became legal in Oklahoma last month. The couple live in Paris, Texas, where Smid moved from his Memphis home in the summer of 2013. Smid's journey from ex-gay leader to happily out gay man has been a long one. He was promoted to the role of executive director of Love in Action in September 1990, and in 1994, the organization moved its ministry to Memphis. Love in Action operated here quietly until 2005, when protests over a youth "straight" camp called Refuge sparked a national media firestorm. Smid met McQueen three years ago, but they were just "acquaintances with common friends," wrote Smid in his Facebook announcement of their marriage Sunday. "I gradually got to know him over time until we reached a place in our lives that we saw we wanted to get to know one another through a dating relationship. As we dated we shared our vision for life, our personal philosophies, and our faith values. We found a compatibility that was comfortable and exciting," Smid said.In August of this year Smid and eight other former "ex-gay" leaders issued a joint letter denouncing "reparative" torture. Love In Action now operates as Restoration Path. (Tipped by JMG reader Lynda)
Labels: brainwashing, ex-gay, gay weddings, John Smid, LGBT youth, Love In Action, Oklahoma, religion, torture
Via JMG: South Carolina Earns Stripes Of Progress
Yesterday the Fourth Circuit Court refused South Carolina Attorney
General Alan Wilson's demand to continue the stay on same-sex marriages
during his appeal. Almost simultaneously, a separate federal court ruled
that South Carolina must recognize
out-of-state marriages, prompting Wikipedia's marriage map monitor to
apply the above blue stripes of progress. Late last night Wilson took
his stay extension demand to SCOTUS. Barring action from that court,
marriages will commence at noon tomorrow.
Labels: Alan Wilson, Fourth Circuit Court, lawsuits, LGBT rights, marriage equality, SCOTUS, South Carolina, Wikipedia
Via JMG: Procter & Gamble Endorses Gay Marriage
P&G executives say they want to attract top talent from all backgrounds and part of that strategy is providing a welcoming work environment. "We have always supported our employees and fostered a culture of inclusion and respect – this includes the right to marry whomever they choose and to have that union legally recognized," said Deborah P. Majoras, P&G's chief legal officer and executive sponsor to GABLE – the company's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender-allied employee group.That boycott list just got a few hundred brands longer.
One of the world's largest and most valuable companies, P&G's public stance won't go unnoticed in corporate America. Still, the company says it continues to focus on making consumer products from Pampers diapers, Tide detergent and Head & Shoulders shampoo. "At the heart of it all, P&G is a company heavily dependent on innovation – what's critical are new insights and new ideas," said William Gipson, P&G's chief global diversity officer. "For our company, it's not a political statement, but a statement of support for our employees."
Flower of the Day: 11/19/14
“If
you are able to cultivate five minutes of silence in your day, you will
have won a great victory over the material world. Matter, which
includes your body and mind, has to be at service of the spirit. All of
the misery that we see and experience in the world comes from spirit
serving matter instead. The mind has become the ruler of the house, when
really it's only a vehicle, a place of pilgrimage. The higher self can
pass through the mind, but so can the lower self, which manifests
through the form of destructive thoughts, causing you to believe that
you are isolated and inferior or superior to others. These voices act
through your mind creating dark clouds that prevent you from seeing the
wind that dances in the leaves. They inhibit you from understanding that
all is one. We are connected by an invisible thread that unites
everything and everyone.”
Sri Prem Baba
Via Dialy Dharma
Foundation, Practice, Fulfillment | November 19, 2014
Starting with this most simple of expressions—When this is, that
is—[Thich Nhat Hanh] explicated dependent origination as a vision of
radical interdependence, or what he called “interbeing,” in which all
beings support and are in turn supported by all other beings. This
elaboration . . . encompassed the foundation, the practice, and the
fulfillment of spiritual life.
- Andrew Cooper, "The Debacle"
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Flower of the Day: 11/18/14
“Cultivating
silence for just five minutes a day is enough. Divide these five
minutes into periods of one minute each to be practiced before your main
activities of the day. When the mind is going in all directions, simply
withdraw for one minute and make yourself completely present. Let go of
all your worries, expectations, desires, and thoughts. Feel yourself
occupying your body and focus on the emptiness between your thoughts.
You can prepare the field for this minute of silence through soft, deep
breaths through the nostrils. This is a magical one minute because your
mind may be wherever it is, but in this moment it returns to presence.”
Sri Prem Baba
Via Daily Dharma
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The Great Heart Way | November 18, 2014
If we learn to keep our mind quiet through meditation, to just stay
present with our feelings, to connect with our heart, to let go of the
story lines, and to directly feel all the unpleasant sensations
associated with our emotional hurts, then the heart will open and we can
approach each situation from a wider perspective.
- Gerry Shishin Wick, Roshi, "The Great Heart Way" |
Monday, November 17, 2014
Via JMG: Michael Sam Is A GQ Man Of The Year
Via the Washington Post:
Reposted from Joe Jervis
This fall, GQ magazine found room for an athlete on its annual list of celebrities who have left a mark on pop culture. This isn’t any athlete, though. It’s Michael Sam, the first openly gay player taken in the NFL draft last spring. Sam joins “Guardians of the Galaxy” star Chris Pratt, comedian Dave Chappelle, actors Ansel Elgort and Shailene Woodley of “The Fault in Our Stars” and “Foxcatcher” star Steve Carell. The magazine revealed all six covers Monday, with a story on each honoree being rolled out daily this week. Sam was drafted by St. Louis Rams and he quickly crossed from a sports story into a cultural one when he kissed his partner in celebration.Sam was cut by the Dallas Cowboys last month and remains unsigned.
Flower of the Day: 11/17/14
“We
need to understand the designs of karma, ceasing to fight with the
situations life brings us, which is karma itself. Since we haven’t yet
taken in this point, we lose a lot of time fighting and wanting things
to be different. It is merely a question of understanding why God has
placed us in a particular place. Suffering occurs when we refuse to
understand this and go on believing that God is our enemy. God is our
best friend: the universe is conspiring in favor of the evolution of
consciousness.”
Via Daily Dharma
Apply Yourself | November 17, 2014
If you separate from . . . everything you have done in the past,
everything that disturbs you about the future . . . and apply yourself
to living the life that you are living—that is to say, the present—you
can live all the time that remains to you until your death in calm,
benevolence, and serenity.
- Marcus Aurelius, "The Present Moment"
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Via Budistas Gays / FB:
Translation: Lack of understanding, generates prejudice which generates violence"
Flower of the Day: 11/16/14
“There
comes a moment when we perceive the senselessness of insisting on a
certain negative situation: we see the stupidity of jealousy or envy, of
rejecting others or being rejected, of feeling powerless, and so forth.
Still, we want to continue dreaming in this sweet sleep, identified as
we are with negatively oriented pleasure. Life will continue to give us
wake up calls until we decisively choose to get out of this state. By
looking at this aspect consciously, it is possible to renounce this
behavior, enabling us to exchange a negative habit for a positive one.”
Sri Prem Baba
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