Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the Day 18/10/2015

“Você já ouviu alguém dizer que Deus mora dentro e muito provavelmente acredita nisso. Porém, no nível mais profundo, você não tem certeza disso e acredita que Deus é um controlador punitivo, um tirano cruel que não hesita em te castigar e te lançar ao sofrimento. A grande maioria das pessoas carrega essa imagem reforçada pelas grandes tradições religiosas que nos ensinam a temer Deus e a andar na linha para não sermos punidos. E mesmo que você não pertença a nenhuma religião, essa crença lhe é transmitida através da figura de autoridade dos pais. E isso inevitavelmente é projetado na sua imagem de Deus.”

“Ya escuchaste a alguien decir que Dios vive dentro y muy probablemente crees en eso. Sin embargo, en un nivel más profundo, no tienes certeza de ello y crees que Dios es un controlador punitivo, un cruel tirano que no duda en castigarte y lanzarte al sufrimiento. La gran mayoría de las personas carga con esta imagen reforzada por las grandes tradiciones religiosas que nos enseñan a temer a Dios y a caminar en línea recta para no ser castigados. E incluso si no perteneces a ninguna religión, esta creencia te es transmitida a través de la figura de autoridad de los padres. Y esto inevitablemente es proyectado en tu imagen de Dios.”

“You have already heard that God lives within, and it’s likely that you believe this to be true. But on a deeper level, you’re not so sure about this and you believe that God is a controlling punisher. You see God as a cruel tyrant that doesn’t hesitate to punish you and cast you into suffering. The vast majority of people carry this image within them, and it is reinforced by the great religious traditions that teach us to fear God and to stay in line so as to avoid punishment. Even if you don’t belong to any religion, this belief is transmitted to you through your parents’ authoritative figure. Eventually, this gets projected onto your own image of God.”

Today's Daily Dharma: What the Buddha Taught

What the Buddha Taught

The Buddha taught that we should practice helping others while cultivating deep concentration, compassion, and wisdom. He further taught that enlightenment is not a mystical, transcendent experience but an ongoing process, calling for intimacy and transparency; and that suffering diminishes when confusion and fear change into openness and strength.

—Joan Halifax, "The Lucky Dark"

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Via LIORA / FB:

Via The Anti-Media:

Today's Daily Dharma: Meditation and Creative Imagination

Meditation and Creative Imagination

As we meditate, we become more aware of the habitual nature of our thoughts. I think of this level as consisting of the mental grooves that our thoughts habitually follow. Meditation helps us break free of these habitual patterns and unleash the original and creative power of thought.

—Martine Batchelor, "Meditation, Mental Habits, and Creative Imagination"

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Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the Day 16/10/2015

“Alguns compreendem satsang como uma palestra, mas é um equívoco. Satsang é uma experiência - a experiência de estarmos juntos. Nessa experiência, um instante de silêncio pode ser mais eloquente do que todas as palavras. As palavras surgem na forma de conhecimento, instrução e guiança, mas elas não são o mais importante.”

“Algunos entienden satsang como una conferencia, pero es un error. Satsang es una experiencia -la experiencia de estar juntos- . En esta experiencia, un instante de silencio puede ser más elocuente que todas las palabras. Las palabras surgen en forma de conocimiento, instrucción y guía, pero no son lo más importante.”

“Some people understand the word ‘satsang’ to be a talk, but this is not entirely correct. Satsang is the experience of togetherness. In this meeting, an instance of silence can be more eloquent than any spoken word. Words may appear in the form of knowledge, instruction and guidance, but they are not the most important element in this kind of encounter.”

Today's Daily Dharma: Intention Is Everything

Intention Is Everything

As long as our intentions of dharma practice remain untransformed, we only settle for more of the suffering of samsara, for life in the same old cage. Through attention . . . we come to understand that to practice the dharma with a mind that is not imbued with dharma values is to sell the dharma short, and to settle for less than freedom.

—Lama Jampa Thaye, "Parting from the Four Attachments"

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Via The Huffington Post: Federal Report Calls For End To 'Conversion Therapy' For LGBT Youth The practice is "inappropriate and reinforces harmful gender stereotypes."

 

Evan Vucci/ASSOCIATED PRESS

 

WASHINGTON -- The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration released a report Thursday calling for an end to the practice of "conversion therapy" for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth.

Advocates of conversion therapy argue that gay people can change their sexual orientation with help, which often includes religious efforts. The therapy stems from the once accepted -- but now discredited -- belief that homosexuality is a mental disorder that can be cured.

SAMHSA's report concludes that "none of the existing research" supports that premise.
"Directing the child or adolescent to conform to any particular gender expression or identity, or directing parents and guardians to place pressure on the child or adolescent to conform to specific gender expressions and/or identities, is inappropriate and reinforces harmful gender stereotypes," SAMHSA's report says. 

The report follows the White House's criticism of the practice in April, in response to an online petition following the death of 17-year-old transgender youth Leelah Alcorn, who died after her parents forced her to attend conversion therapy. Senior adviser Valerie Jarrett said at the time that the administration "supports efforts to ban the use of conversion therapy for minors."

On Thursday, she told reporters that the administration was pleased to present SAMHSA's report, which is the first in-depth federal look at conversion therapy.

"It's not our job to tell parents how to raise their children. But it is our responsibility to provide parents with the scientific evidence necessary in order for them to make the best possible decisions when raising their children," Jarrett said. "We do strongly believe that young people should be valued for who they are, no matter what they look like, where they're from, the gender with which they identify or who they love."

In May, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) introduced the Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act, which would classify conversion therapy as a fraudulent practice that would be illegal under the Federal Trade Commission Act. If passed, Lieu's bill would also ban all advertising that claims the therapy can successfully change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity.

In a statement Thursday, Lieu said the new report "makes it clear that so-called ‘conversion therapy’ is psychological child abuse -- plain and simple."

SAMHSA recommends a number of steps to end conversion therapy for minors, including reducing discrimination toward LGBT individuals and providing better information and training for behavioral health providers, as well as taking legislative or legal action.

Four states and the District of Columbia have already passed laws banning the practice for minors, and 21 other states have introduced similar legislation, according to the report.

"We recognize that the significant health disparities faced by LGBT youth -- in particular, issues related to suicide, depression, substance abuse and homelessness, among many others -- often relate to experiences of family rejection due to their sexual orientation, their gender identity or their gender expression," said Elliot Kennedy, special expert on LGBT affairs at SAMHSA, on Thursday.

Major health organizations have rejected conversion therapy as well, with many concluding that it can cause significant physical and psychological harm.

Read about The Huffington Post's Gabriel Arana's experience undergoing this "ex-gay therapy" as a teenager, from his article in The American Prospect in April 2012.  

Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

Make the jump here to read the original and full story

Via Mavaddat Javid: Bahai Faith Discriminates on Homosexuals

There is literally not a single accredited medical institution in North America that regards being gay as cognitively or psychologically aberrant in anyway. What you wrote is a reflection of the current +Bahai Faith dogma, but the Bahá'í belief has no correspondence to reality. Your ignorant claim that "Homosexuality is a behavioral and mental disorder" stands in contradiction to the professional judgment of every accredited medical and psychological institution in North America (including the +American Medical Association (AMA), +American Psychiatric Nurses Association, +American Psychological Association, +American Academy of Pediatrics. They all agree there's no medical, psychological, or social reason to judge same sex relationships immoral or unhealthy.

Today's Daily Dharma: The Act of Apology

The Act of Apology

The act of apology and forgiveness is like a sacrament of human community. It is how we remember who we really are to each other.

—Rosemarie Freeney Harding, "Brief Teachings Fall 2015"

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Via WGB: America, the Hateful (Part Two)

America, the Hateful

By Lawrence Pfeil, Jr.

Part II

The fact that gay and lesbian Americans have won the battle for marriage equality may not bode well for hate crime trends in the future.  According to June’s vocative.com article:

“In the past, marriage equality legislation has been speculatively linked to violence against the LGBT community. When France legalized same-sex marriage in 2013, it was accompanied by a reported 30 percent increase in such attacks. In 2009, a surge in anti-gay hate crimes in California was blamed on controversy surrounding Prop 8, a state ban on same-sex marriage. At the time, a Santa Clara County prosecutor in charge of tracking hate crimes said, ‘My belief from having done this work for many years is that surges in types of hate incidents are linked to the headlines and controversies of the day.’”

With 2015 also being a high water mark for transgender people, there is certainly reason for those in the Community to be apprehensive as well.  On October 7th, Human Rights Campaign reported the murder of 22-year old Keisha Jenkins of Philadelphia, the 20th transgender person killed in America during this record setting year, with three months to go.  As transgender activist Bamby Salcedo put it, “We’re also living a double-edged sword. When there’s increasing visibility, there’s also increasing hate towards our community.”

To believe anti-LGBT violence in America will simply “blow over” or fade with growing acceptance is to live in a fool’s paradise.  One only needs to look at the explosion of new hate groups after the election of President Barack Obama; the systemic violence towards the Black community; or the massacre in Charleston at an AME Bible study to know it isn’t true.  People are addicted to their hate.

Social conservatives, evangelical Christians, as well as others who don’t want to know better are clearly outraged by the seismic shift in LGBT civil rights.  Fueled by media outlets, religious leaders, and political candidates bent on turning back the clock of equality, they’re not going to go away or change anytime soon.  

People like the Tennessee hardware store owner posting and selling “No Gays Allowed” merchandise and government officials imposing their personal beliefs on others by refusing to uphold the Constitution which they have sworn an oath to do, are prime examples of such.  Yes, they are guaranteed their freedom of speech and freedom of religion.  But if the merchandise said “No Blacks Allowed” and marriage licenses were being denied to interracial couples, the hate and discrimination would not be tolerated.

How is it different from anti-gay graffiti, transgender slurs, or gender nonconformity bullying? It’s not, including those against the most vulnerable, children.  Lambda Legal website states, “There is no constitutional right to be a bully…and the kind of behavior that school authorities are expected to control or prevent.”  And yet, many administrators fail to do so adding to the epidemic of “self-inflicted hate crimes,” LGBT adolescent suicide.

These various kinds of actions not only foster fertile ground, but plant the seeds of greater, more widespread, and ultimately violent acts of hate.  As Shannon Minter of the National Center for Lesbian Rights said, “We all have a responsibility to stop this violence.  We all have an obligation to speak up, to do something.”

For decades LGBTs have been urged to step out of the closet and into the Community.  Now it’s time for the Community and its allies to step up and step in when they witness hate and stop it before it can take root and grow into violence.  For America to become beautiful, it must have vigilant gardeners tending to it so life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness can hope to thrive.

Get Involved

State by state laws and advocacy

http://www.hrc.org/topics/hate-crimes

National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs

www.avp.org

If You Could Be Straight, Would You?

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the Day 14/10/2015

“Até hoje nós, enquanto sociedade humana, estivemos interessados em explorar e conquistar a matéria. Isso ocorre porque estamos em um estágio ainda primitivo de evolução. Mas a inteligência criadora já está podendo nos dar provas de que precisamos nos mover em outra direção, caso contrário seremos extintos. Nós precisamos nos mover em direção à consciência amorosa, e para isso precisamos deixar de explorar a matéria e nos tornar exploradores da consciência.”

“Hasta hoy nosotros, como sociedad humana, estuvimos interesados en explorar y conquistar la materia. Esto ocurre porque estamos en un estadio aún primitivo de evolución. Pero la inteligencia creadora ya está pudiendo darnos pruebas de que necesitamos movernos en otra dirección, si no seremos extinguidos. Precisamos movernos en dirección a la consciencia amorosa, y para eso necesitamos dejar de explorar la materia y volvernos exploradores de la consciencia.”

“Up until now, humanity as a whole has been interested in exploring and conquering the material world. This has been so because we are still in a relatively primitive stage of our evolution. However, the Creative Intelligence has already been showing us that it’s time for us to move in another direction; otherwise, we will become extinct. We need to move towards loving consciousness, which means leaving behind our exploration of the world of matter and instead becoming explorers of consciousness.”

day's Daily Dharma: Awareness Arises Naturally

Awareness Arises Naturally

Practice consisting of nothing but fierce desire simply upsets the mind and keeps it from being still. But when one's awareness of the mind is just right, an inner awareness will arise naturally of its own accord.

—Upasika Kee Nanayon, "A Clear Awareness of Nature"

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Via LionsRoar: Meditation: Be Kind to Yourself

 

A three-step contemplation to give yourself the compassion you need (and deserve).

1. Put both hands on your heart, pause, and feel their warmth. You can also put your hand anyplace on your body that feels soothing and comforting, like your belly or face.
2. Breathe deeply in and out.
3. Speak these words to yourself, out loud or silently, in a warm and caring tone:

This is a moment of suffering. Suffering is a part of life.
May I be kind to myself in this moment.
May I give myself the compassion I need.

The first phrase, This is a moment of suffering, is designed to bring mindfulness to the fact that you’re in pain. Other possible wordings are I’m having a really tough time right now, This hurts, or anything that describes the suffering you are experiencing.

The second phrase, Suffering is a part of life, reminds you that imperfection is part of the shared human experience. Other possible wordings are Everyone feels this way sometimes, This is part of being human, etc.

The third phrase, May I be kind to myself in this moment, helps bring a sense of caring concern to your present-moment experience. Other possible wordings are May I love and support myself right now, May I accept myself as I am, etc.

The final phrase, May I give myself the compassion I need, firmly sets your intention to be self-compassionate. You might use other words such as May I remember that I am worthy of compassion, May I give myself the same compassion I would give to a good friend, etc.

Find the wordings for these four phrases that are the most comfortable for you and memorize them. Then, the next time you judge yourself or have a difficult experience, you can use these phrases as a way of reminding yourself to be self-compassionate. This practice is a handy tool to soothe and calm troubled states of mind.

Make the jump here to read the original and more!

Calling My Childhood Bully

Via Sri Prem BabaFlor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the Day 13/10/2015

“De todos os estágios da desidentificação com a natureza inferior o mais difícil é a identificação do prazer negativo. Mas, estando verdadeiramente comprometido, você consegue. E quando você vê os desdobramentos e o impacto que essa condição causa na sua vida e na vida das pessoas a sua volta, você começa a querer largar esse padrão. Nesse momento você pode enxergar o que está te prendendo e encontrar o núcleo do apego. E esse é o início do desapego.”

“De todos los estadios de la desidentificación con la naturaleza inferior el más difícil es la identificación del placer negativo. Pero estando verdaderamente comprometido, lo consigues. Y cuando ves los desdoblamientos y el impacto que esa condición causa en tu vida y en la vida de las personas cercanas, comienzas a querer soltar ese patrón. En ese momento puedes ver lo que te está tomando y encontrar el núcleo del apego. Y ese es el inicio del desapego.”

“Of all the stages within the process of de-identifying from the lower self, the most difficult is to identify our negatively orientated pleasure. If we are truly committed to this endeavor, then we will succeed. When we see all of its unfoldings and the impacts it has had on our lives and the lives of those around us, we begin to truly want to let go of this pattern. In this moment, we are able to see what has been keeping us stuck and we encounter the root of this attachment. This marks the beginning of the detachment process.”

Today's Daily Dharma: Understanding Understanding

Understanding Understanding

The idea of understanding is linked to capture and containment, to a break in an ongoing flow of movement. As if understanding were a great tiger that we must take into custody and keep enclosed and tightly controlled. But . . . what if we were able to give up this way of understanding understanding and see it not as a captured stillness or singularity but rather as a momentary pause in an ongoing movement of unfolding, like a rest in a musical score, or a pause in a story, or a swirling eddy in an inexorable, ongoing river of meaning?

—Lisbeth Lipari, "Understanding Understanding"

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Via WGB: America, the Hateful

America, the Hateful

By Lawrence Pfeil, Jr.

Part I

Seventeen years ago today, a college student died from his injuries after being abducted by two men, bound to a fence, beaten beyond recognition, and left to freeze in the Wyoming night.  According to police reports, the only part of Matthew Shepard’s face not covered with blood when they found him was where his tears had washed it away.  

Two years ago, a Texan lured a man to his house; imprisoned and bound his wrists with an electrical cord. He brutally beat him, causing numerous skull/facial fractures before throwing the man in the trunk of his own car and driving to a friend’s.  The victim, A.K., was eventually taken to an EMS station and survived after spending ten days in the hospital.

Both men were targeted for violent and vicious crimes because of who they were, because they lived openly, because they were gay.

And while the perpetrators were brought to justice and imprisoned, little has lessened the occurrence of hate crimes against LGBTs in America, not even with the passage  of the Shepard/Byrd Federal Hate Crime Prevention Act in 2009.  What it has changed is the way federal hate crime data is collected and reported, and the numbers are nearly as shocking as the crimes themselves.

FBI Hate Crime Statistics 2013, released last December, showed 20.8% of the nearly 6,000 reported hate crimes were related to sexual orientation, 1,402 in total, 60.6% of which were against gay men specifically.  Break it down and someone in the LGBT Community is victimized roughly every four hours in America.

What’s more, these statistics may dramatically underappreciate the size of the problem as they only account for reported incidents that have been classified by police as hate crimes. In an article from June 22, 2015, on vocative.com, Senior Fellow, Mark Potok, of The Southern Poverty Law Center said, based on Bureau of Justice survey statistics, “The best estimates suggest that the real number of hate crimes are up to 40 times larger than the numbers contained in the FBI reports.”

A recent article in Time magazine (Aug 17, 20015) quoted, Shannon Minter, Legal Director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights as saying, “ Most state laws don’t require the collection of such [hate crime] statistics.”  Mara Keisling, of the National Center for Transgender Equality went on to say, “A lot of jurisdictions report zeroes, even in places where we know there are hate crimes.”

According to Human Rights Campaign website, “Currently, 15 states have laws that addresses hate or bias crimes based, but do not address sexual orientation or gender identity. Only five states (Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Wyoming) don’t have laws addressing the scourge of hate crimes.”

It’s interesting to note the dichotomy of hate crime incidents vs location as well.  States like California, New York, and Massachusetts which rate as most LGBT “friendly” are also consistently in the top ten places reporting hate crimes.  By contrast, states like Mississippi report little to no incidents of hate crimes.  Has the Southern Bible Belt suddenly become a bastion of LGBT acceptance?

One possible explanation may seem counterintuitive but holds a good deal of merit.  In “friendly” states LGBTs feel free to live out and openly making them A) more visible targets B) more likely to actually report hate crimes and C) find  sympathetic law enforcement with the training to address LGBT issues.  In conservative/religious/rural areas with open animosity towards LGBTs and the equality they’ve gained, the opposite of all three is likely to be true.

Case in point…  Bromwell antique store in Cincinnati Ohio, a pro-gay business displaying the pride colors, was vandalized two days after the SCOTUS marriage equality ruling in June.  While it was the only store front damaged on the street, police are not treating it as a hate crime and at least one City Councilman questioned the claim.

2015 may not be the turning point in LGBT equality and justice under law that the Community had hoped.  Part II of “America, the Hateful” will look at what the future may hold and the challenges it brings with it.

 

 

Lean More

10 Anti-gay Myths Debunked

https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2015/10-anti-gay-myths-debunked

“Assault on Gay America”

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/assault/

Read the oroginal at WGB: here