The Benefit of Awareness
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The more unified, stable, luminous, and attentive the mind is at this moment, the more profound the experience. |
Thursday, September 3, 2015
Today's Daily Dharma: The Benefit of Awareness
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Via Huffington: Glitter in the Woods: A Week at 'Camp' Camp
Nestled in the woods alongside a splendid lake, about 45 minutes
outside of Portland, Maine, there emerges once a year the most wonderful
LGBT space in the country. No, Disney World hasn't set up a new outpost
and no, it's not an Indigo Girls theme park. It's called 'Camp' Camp,
a LGBT adult summer camp, and for nineteen years, folks from all over
the world who identify with some color on the LGBT gender and sexuality
rainbow have been flocking to this Brigadoon-like place for a magical
summer experience.
I first heard about 'Camp' Camp five years ago after reading Joel Derfner's wonderful memoir Swish, but the stars didn't align themselves for me to go until this summer. I had never been to overnight camp before and I was hesitant, but from the handful of 'Camp' Camp alumni whom I met over the years, they always spoke about the place as if they had drunk some crazy Kool Aid, returning there summer after summer. Could it really be that good? In the end, I realized, there was only one way to find out, and so, with my single bag packed -- I was a light packer compared to many of the gay men who schlepped two or three suitcases, some with just shoes -- I boarded my flight to Portland, not knowing a single soul and a bit petrified. Would this just be like almost every gay bar experience in my life in which I felt myself standing along the sidelines while cliquely gaggles of gays ignored me?
The answer quickly made itself apparent. As I walked into the lodge at 'Camp' Camp, it was like being welcomed in a big warm embrace, at times, literally so. People couldn't wait to greet me, ask me questions and make me feel right at home. There were over two hundred people there this summer from so many walks of life. Men, women and folks who didn't identify with any one gender category. Folks in their 20s up through those in their 60s and 70s. Teachers, pastors, professional opera singers and retirees. Singles and couples (some with and without their partners present). Urban dwellers and individuals who lived in remote outposts.
As if I had fallen through Alice's looking glass, the week that followed was one of sublime fun and exuberant liberation, coupled with a profound sense of being accepted for who I am as a gay man. 'Camp' Camp has everything you could imagine at a great summer camp: arts and crafts, sports, boating and swimming, plus some delicious food (don't worry, there's no bug juice or chicken nuggets on the menu). But it's at night when 'Camp' Camp really comes into its own. On the night of the first full day, the camp hosts its Barn Dance and campers, many outfitted in cowboy shirts, boots and bandanas, square danced all night to a live band. As I promenaded and dosey-doed around the room to the caller's instructions (all with a handsome boy on my arm), watching the smiling faces of my fellow campers, I felt like I was having a bit of an out-of-body experience. When was the last time I felt so uninhibited and free? Honestly, I couldn't remember. In the evenings that followed with a game show night and karaoke, I found myself laughing and grinning in ways that I hadn't for a long time.
I first heard about 'Camp' Camp five years ago after reading Joel Derfner's wonderful memoir Swish, but the stars didn't align themselves for me to go until this summer. I had never been to overnight camp before and I was hesitant, but from the handful of 'Camp' Camp alumni whom I met over the years, they always spoke about the place as if they had drunk some crazy Kool Aid, returning there summer after summer. Could it really be that good? In the end, I realized, there was only one way to find out, and so, with my single bag packed -- I was a light packer compared to many of the gay men who schlepped two or three suitcases, some with just shoes -- I boarded my flight to Portland, not knowing a single soul and a bit petrified. Would this just be like almost every gay bar experience in my life in which I felt myself standing along the sidelines while cliquely gaggles of gays ignored me?
The answer quickly made itself apparent. As I walked into the lodge at 'Camp' Camp, it was like being welcomed in a big warm embrace, at times, literally so. People couldn't wait to greet me, ask me questions and make me feel right at home. There were over two hundred people there this summer from so many walks of life. Men, women and folks who didn't identify with any one gender category. Folks in their 20s up through those in their 60s and 70s. Teachers, pastors, professional opera singers and retirees. Singles and couples (some with and without their partners present). Urban dwellers and individuals who lived in remote outposts.
As if I had fallen through Alice's looking glass, the week that followed was one of sublime fun and exuberant liberation, coupled with a profound sense of being accepted for who I am as a gay man. 'Camp' Camp has everything you could imagine at a great summer camp: arts and crafts, sports, boating and swimming, plus some delicious food (don't worry, there's no bug juice or chicken nuggets on the menu). But it's at night when 'Camp' Camp really comes into its own. On the night of the first full day, the camp hosts its Barn Dance and campers, many outfitted in cowboy shirts, boots and bandanas, square danced all night to a live band. As I promenaded and dosey-doed around the room to the caller's instructions (all with a handsome boy on my arm), watching the smiling faces of my fellow campers, I felt like I was having a bit of an out-of-body experience. When was the last time I felt so uninhibited and free? Honestly, I couldn't remember. In the evenings that followed with a game show night and karaoke, I found myself laughing and grinning in ways that I hadn't for a long time.
Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the Day 02/09/2015
“O medo é um portal. Ele pode te levar para outras dimensões - pessoais e transpessoais - já que existe o aspecto individual e o aspecto coletivo dele. Muitas vezes você canaliza um grande medo, que não sabe de onde vem e não consegue relacionar com a sua vida. Mas, se você sente e se identifica, de alguma maneira isso está conectado a sua história pessoal.”
“El miedo es un portal. Él te puede llevar a otras dimensiones
- personales y transpersonales - ya que existe el aspecto individual y
el aspecto colectivo de éste. Muchas veces canalizas un gran miedo, que
no sabes de dónde viene y no consigues relacionarlo con tu vida. Pero si
lo sientes y te identificas, de alguna manera esto está conectado a tu
historia personal.”
“Fear
acts as a doorway. It can take you to other dimensions, both personal
and transpersonal, which stem from the individual and collective aspect
of fear. Oftentimes, we act as channels of a fear that comes out of the
blue and seems to have nothing to do with our own lives. Still, if we
feel this fear and get identified with it, then this fear must be
connected to our own personal story in one way or another.”
Today's Daily Dharma: Always a Full Moon.
Always a Full Moon
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If one seeks understanding with a vacant mind, the moon seems full each and every moment. |
Read More
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
JMG Quote Of The Day – John Corvino
RELATED: Several years ago Corvino co-authored Debating Same-Sex Marriage with former NOM president Maggie Gallagher.
Make the jump here to read the original on JMG
Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the Day 01/09/2015
“O verdadeiro amor só é possível quando nos libertamos do passado. E
nos libertamos do passado somente quando nos harmonizamos com ele. Não é
fugindo ou fingindo que ele não existe - é olhando de frente e
permitindo-se compreender porque as coisas aconteceram como aconteceram.
E uma forma de fazer isso é observando e estudando as repetições
negativas e fazendo a relação de causa e efeito, ou seja, relacionando o
passado com o presente.”
“El verdadero amor solo es posible cuando nos liberamos del pasado. Y
nos liberamos del pasado solo cuando nos armonizamos con él. No es
huyendo o fingiendo que no existe - es mirándolo de frente y
permitiéndose comprender por qué las cosas sucedieron como sucedieron. Y
una forma de hacer eso, es observando y estudiando las repeticiones
negativas y haciendo la relación de causa y efecto, es decir,
relacionando el pasado con el presente.”
“Real love is only possible when we can liberate ourselves from the past. We are only liberated from our past once we have harmonized ourselves with it, which can't happen by running away from it or pretending that it doesn’t exist. We must face our past and allow ourselves to understand why things happened as they did. This understanding dawns as we observe the negative repetitions in our lives, really studying the connection between cause and effect, and thereby relating our past to the present moment.”
“Real love is only possible when we can liberate ourselves from the past. We are only liberated from our past once we have harmonized ourselves with it, which can't happen by running away from it or pretending that it doesn’t exist. We must face our past and allow ourselves to understand why things happened as they did. This understanding dawns as we observe the negative repetitions in our lives, really studying the connection between cause and effect, and thereby relating our past to the present moment.”
Today's Daily Dharma: A Love-Hate Relationship with Our Time
A Love-Hate Relationship with Our Time
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There's a tension between the part of us that wants to move along at speed, infatuated with our ever-proliferating array of screens and gadgets, and the part of us that deeply hates them, too. There's the part that doesn't want to be bothered with other people's lives and is therefore comfortable with the false proximity that social media affords. But there's also the part that is heartbroken at the loneliness and isolation of the life we are living—the part that requires medication and constant distraction just to endure it. |
Monday, August 31, 2015
Ram Dass, Love Serve Rememberia Ram Dass, Love Serve Remember: Remembering Wayne Dyer by Raghu Markus
I met Wayne Dyer soon after Ram Dass was released from the hospital in
Maui, when he decided that he was going to remain in Maui to allow the
island to renew his healing. But there was the question of how Ram Dass
would be able to be sustained when in that moment, after having given
away most of his royalties for his books and no longer being able to
travel, he had no assets to support himself.
When Wayne heard about Ram Dass’ release from
the hospital he asked to pay a visit. I remember clearly how Wayne
expressed his gratitude for Ram Dass’ mentorship in the early part of
his life as he was transforming into the spiritual teacher he became to
so many people.
I
met Wayne Dyer soon after Ram Dass was released form the hospital in
Maui, when he decided that he was going to remain in Maui to allow the
island to rene
ramdass.org
Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the Day 31/08/2015
“Se existe um remédio para o planeta, esse remédio é a compaixão. A
compaixão é um transbordamento de amor. Quando o amor transborda a ponto
de você fazer empatia com o outro e verdadeiramente se colocar no lugar
dele, você não sente raiva ou trata mal. Mas, o que o ser humano tem
feito é justamente o contrário: temos tratado o mal com um mal ainda
maior. Essa é a raiz da miséria que vemos no mundo. Miséria é ausência de humanidade, ausência de compaixão.”
“Si existe un remedio para el planeta, ese remedio es la compasión. La
compasión es un desbordamiento de amor. Cuando el amor desborda al
punto de generar empatía con el otro y verdaderamente colocarse en el
lugar de él, no sientes rabia o no lo tratas mal. Pero lo que el ser
humano ha hecho es justamente lo contrario: hemos tratado el mal con un
mal aún mayor. Esa es la raíz de la miseria que vemos en el mundo.
Miseria es ausencia de humanidad, ausencia de compasión.”
“If there is a cure for the planet, the cure is compassion. Compassion is love overflowing. When love overflows to the point where we feel empathy for the other and we truly put ourselves in their shoes, we no longer feel anger towards them or treat them badly. However, human beings tend to do the exact opposite: we treat evil with an even greater evil. This is the root of all the misery we see in the world. Misery is the absence of humanity; it is the absence of compassion.”
“If there is a cure for the planet, the cure is compassion. Compassion is love overflowing. When love overflows to the point where we feel empathy for the other and we truly put ourselves in their shoes, we no longer feel anger towards them or treat them badly. However, human beings tend to do the exact opposite: we treat evil with an even greater evil. This is the root of all the misery we see in the world. Misery is the absence of humanity; it is the absence of compassion.”
Today's Daily Dharma: Rethinking Rebirth
Rethinking Rebirth
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Rebirth as a myth or metaphor, which is part of a larger architecture of the mind, asks us to resist the pressure to believe that the future will deliver or redeem us. It reminds us that we are bound to everyone, and that by helping others we discover an unacknowledged, undervalued part of ourselves. |
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the Day 30/08/2015
“Tenho focado naquilo que chamo de “espiritualidade prática”, cuja
principal ferramenta são os relacionamentos. Tenho dito que,
independentemente da montanha de defeitos do outro, você deve olhar para
o grão de defeitos em si mesmo. Porque, se você está incomodado com o
outro, significa que ele tem algo a te ensinar. Se você está aí é porque
precisa aprender alguma coisa nesse lugar.”
“He enfocado en aquello que llamo “espiritualidad práctica”, cuya principal herramienta son las relaciones. Como ya he dicho otras veces, independientemente de la montaña de defectos del otro, debes mirar el grano de defectos en ti mismo. Porque si estás molesto con el otro, significa que él tiene algo que enseñarte. Si estás ahí es porque necesitas aprender alguna cosa en ese lugar.”
“He enfocado en aquello que llamo “espiritualidad práctica”, cuya principal herramienta son las relaciones. Como ya he dicho otras veces, independientemente de la montaña de defectos del otro, debes mirar el grano de defectos en ti mismo. Porque si estás molesto con el otro, significa que él tiene algo que enseñarte. Si estás ahí es porque necesitas aprender alguna cosa en ese lugar.”
“I have been focusing on what I call ‘practical spirituality,’ whose
main asset is relationships. Regardless of the mountain of defects in
the other, we must look at the grain of defect in ourselves. If we are
bothered by the other, it means that they have something to teach us. If
we are in this position, it’s because we need to learn something here.”
Today's Daily Dharma: Whose Buddhism Is Truest?
Whose Buddhism Is Truest?
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Just
as our search for an original set of Buddha’s definitive words failed,
and all we were left with were provisional versions, in the same way a
search for the Buddha’s definitive meaning fails too. What we have are
traditions of interpretation. But that’s not the kind of authority we
imagine when we claim sectarian primacy. Sectarian authority claims
assume solid essentialist ground. That type of ground is just not there.
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