Revoked

Thursday, September 3, 2015

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the Day 03/09/2015

“Existe um tipo de ceticismo que pode ajudar na ampliação da consciência, porque através dele, você busca as respostas e as encontra através da própria experiência. Eu mesmo já fui um cético. Já fui um cientista da mente humana que queria encontrar Deus através da lógica e da matemática. E essa busca me levou à espiritualidade. Porque, quando você vai fundo na ciência, inevitavelmente ela desemboca na espiritualidade. E quando vai fundo na espiritualidade, ela encontra a ciência. Ambas são extremos da mesma coisa, assim como a meditação e a devoção.”

“Existe un tipo de escepticismo que puede ayudar en la ampliación de la conciencia, porque a través de él, buscas las respuestas y las encuentras a través de la propia experiencia. Yo mismo ya fui un escéptico. Ya fui un científico de la mente humana que quería encontrar a Dios a través de la lógica y de la matemática. Y esa búsqueda me llevó a la espiritualidad. Porque cuando te adentras en la ciencia, inevitablemente ella termina en la espiritualidad. Y cuando te adentras en la espiritualidad, ella encuentra la ciencia. Ambas son extremos de la misma cosa, así como la meditación y la devoción.”

“There is a certain type of skepticism that helps to increase awareness. This skepticism incites us to seek out answers through what we've experienced ourselves. I was also once a skeptic. I was a scientist of the human mind and I wanted to find God through logic and mathematics. This search led me to spirituality. When we get to the bottom of science, we eventually end up in spirituality. Simultaneously, at the depths of spirituality, we find science. Both are the extreme opposite of the very same thing, just as it is with meditation and devotion.”

Today's Daily Dharma: The Benefit of Awareness

The Benefit of Awareness

The more unified, stable, luminous, and attentive the mind is at this moment, the more profound the experience.

- Andrew Olendzki, "Busy Signal "

Bernie Sanders on the Obama Presidency

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.

Make the jump here to read the complete article

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

If one seeks understanding with a vacant mind, the moon seems full each and every moment.

- Jiaoran, "A Full Load of Moonlight "

JMG Quote Of The Day – John Corvino

September 1, 2015 Marriage Equality, Religion

“Many have commented on the fact that Davis herself has been divorced several times. As a strategic matter, this makes her a rather poor poster child for ‘traditional Christian marriage’: Jesus himself treats divorce and remarriage as akin to adultery. But the point is not merely ad hominem: Davis’s willingness to impose a standard of marriage on gays that she does not apply to others, herself included, shows that she’s less interested in enforcing a consistent traditional Christian view than in singling out gays for disapproval. In its Obergefell decision, the U.S. Supreme Court rightly rejected such treatment as an affront to dignity and equal treatment under the law. Private citizens are free to express their religious views about homosexuality — however hypocritically and inconsistently — and to practice their faith as they see fit. But religious liberty is not a “get out of your job free” card.” – Wayne University professor John Corvino, writing for the Detroit Free Press.

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.”

Today's Daily Dharma: A Love-Hate Relationship with Our Time

A Love-Hate Relationship with Our Time

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.

- Clark Strand, "A Gleeful Foreboding "

Via Daily Kos / FB:

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.

Continue Reading: https://www.ramdass.org/remembering-wayne-dyer/

Remembering Wayne Dyer - Ram Dass

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

The Horrible History of Ex-Gay Cures

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.”

Today's Daily Dharma: Rethinking Rebirth

Rethinking Rebirth

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.

- Kurt Spellmeyer, "After the Future "

Via Lizzy the Lezzy / FB:

Via Lizzy the Lezzy / FB

Via Grobanites for President Obama / FB:

Va Daily Beast: DOGMA DAYS - Pope Francis Blesses a Lesbian, Her Family, and Her Writing For Kids

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/08/29/pope-francis-blesses-a-lesbian-her-family-and-her-writing-for-kids.html

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.”

“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.”