Image: Elegy 2011 by Cara Barer
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It Starts with Humility
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Humility
is . . . the ground zero of spirituality, from which other helpful
conditions may arise, such as gratitude and compassion.
- Henry Shukman, "The Art of Being Wrong" |
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Free of Fear
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Being
free of fear is not a matter of never feeling it, but of not being
flattened when we do. We can feel it and know it is a natural
phenomenon, also an impermanent one, which will have its say and be
gone.
- David Guy, "Trying to Speak: A Personal History of Stage Fright" |
The real-world surveys show that the overwhelming majority of presidential candidates are running negative favorability scores. Quinnipiac has Bernie Sanders at +1 overall, although that's partly because 62 percent of Americans say they haven't heard enough about him to form an opinion. The closest Republican is Marco Rubio — the same number of Americans say they view him positively as those who view him negatively, meaning his score nets out to exactly zero. Clinton and Obama are tied at -4. And it's all downhill from there, all the way down to Donald Trump. Only 15 percent of Americans view him favorably, compared to 71 percent who have a negative opinion. That gives him a net favorability of -56, more than twice as bad as the next-lowest candidate, Chris Christie, with his -26 score.(Tipped by JMG reader Daddy Ray)
We affirm that any judicial opinion which purports to redefine marriage will constitute an unjust law, as Martin Luther King Jr. described such laws in his letter from the Birmingham Jail. We are Christians who love America and who respect the legitimate rule of law. However, we will not honor any decision by the Supreme Court which will force us to violate a clear biblical understanding of marriage as solely the union of one man and one woman. We affirm that Marriage, as existing solely between one man and one woman, precedes civil government. Though affirmed, fulfilled, and elevated by faith, the truth that marriage can exist only between one man and one woman is not based solely on religion but on the Natural Law, written on the human heart.Bolding is theirs. (Tipped by JMG reader Jim)
Amazon.com today announced its fifth annual list of the Most Well-Read Cities in America – just in time for summer reading season. The ranking was determined by compiling sales data of all book, magazine and newspaper sales in both print and Kindle format from April 2014 to April 2015, on a per capita basis in cities with more than 500,000 residents. Seattle, Wash., the home of Amazon headquarters, not only purchased the most books overall but also purchased the most Kindle books, magazines, and newspapers. Washington, D.C. residents, ranked #5 overall on the list, prefer the print book, outranking Seattle as the city with the most purchases of print books. California is for readers with three cities making the top 20 list this year: San Francisco, San Diego, and San Jose.The most-purchased book in seven of the above cities was Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans expect the Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide when it rules on the issue within the next few weeks, according to a new poll. Only 25 percent expect the high court to leave existing state bans on gay marriage intact, while 65 percent expect the bans to be overturned, according to the poll conducted by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute. Its nationwide survey of 1,009 adults was conducted from June 3 to June 7. Mirroring the findings of several other recent national polls, the new survey found 55 percent of Americans in favor of allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry legally, and 37 percent opposed.See more about the poll here.
The survey found sharp divisions over same-sex marriage along religious lines. Majorities of religiously unaffiliated Americans (79 percent), white mainline Protestants (60 percent) and Catholics (58 percent) favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry. But gay marriage was supported by only 29 percent of white evangelical Protestants and 35 percent of nonwhite Protestants. The survey also asked about perceptions of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Three-quarters of Democrats, 61 percent of independents and 50 percent of Republicans said there is a lot of discrimination against transgender people.
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Replacing Addiction with Compassion
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The
real purpose of Buddhist practice is to cut down your addictions and to
correct your habitual patterns and this can be achieved as a layperson
or as a monk or nun. That brings us to the question of Buddhist
ethics?changing habitual patterns and getting rid of the old addictions,
such as attachments, and replacing them with love, compassion,
generosity, and patience.
- Gelek Rinpoche, "A Lama for All Seasons" |
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To know the truth of what is there . . . is the beginning and end of mindfulness.
- Joan Duncan Oliver, "Do I Mind?" |
