The
highest expression of our human nature is to purify our minds. To clear
away the clouds, the sheets of snow, the ice that we’re encased in.
—Ayya Medhanandi Bhikkhuni, "The Dharma of Snow"
—Ayya Medhanandi Bhikkhuni, "The Dharma of Snow"
Monday, February 15, 2016
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Via Ram Dass / Words of Wisdom:
February 14, 2016
There is a being on another plane that guides, protects, and helps you. That loves you so incredibly. Does your sense of unworthiness prevent you from being loved as much as this being loves you? Unworthiness has to go. You have to be able to say, "Christ, God, Baba, let me feel your love. Let me fill up with your love, let me be absorbed into your love." Breathe in and out of your heart; with each in breath, you take in that love a little more. With each out breath, you get rid of that which keeps you from acknowledging that you are love.
Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia -Flor del día - Flower of the day 14/02/2016
“Costumo chamar os comandos do coração de ‘sim’ e tudo o que vem da
mente condicionada de ‘não’. O sim é a ação que nasce da presença; é o
amor em movimento. O não nasce do passado, da agitação interna. Ele é
uma forma de se defender e se proteger das possíveis ameaças da vida. O
não é, portanto, uma reação. E sempre que estamos reagindo criamos um
sintoma muito fácil de ser identificado: as situações negativas e destrutivas que se repetem nas nossas vidas.”
“Acostumbro nombrar a los comandos del corazón 'sí' y todo lo que
viene de la mente condicionada 'no'. El sí es la acción que nace de la
presencia; es el amor en movimiento. El no nace del pasado, de la
agitación interna. Es una manera de defenderse y protegerse de las
posibles amenazas de la vida. El no es, por lo tanto, una reacción. Y
siempre que estamos reaccionando creamos un síntoma muy fácil de ser
identificado: las situaciones negativas y destructivas que se repiten en
nuestras vidas.”
"I refer to the commands of the heart as a 'yes' and everything that comes from the conditioned mind as a 'no.' The yes is an action that is born of presence; it is love in motion. The no is born from the past, from inner agitation. The no is a reaction, a way to defend and protect ourselves from life’s potential threats. Whenever we are reacting, we generate easily identifiable symptoms, which are all the negative and destructive situations that repeat in our lives.”
"I refer to the commands of the heart as a 'yes' and everything that comes from the conditioned mind as a 'no.' The yes is an action that is born of presence; it is love in motion. The no is born from the past, from inner agitation. The no is a reaction, a way to defend and protect ourselves from life’s potential threats. Whenever we are reacting, we generate easily identifiable symptoms, which are all the negative and destructive situations that repeat in our lives.”
Via Daily Dharma: How to Notice Love
Our
society provides no curriculum or schooling on how to notice love or to
recognize the many people who have transmitted its life-giving power.
Most of us haven’t been taught that to receive love deeply and transmit
it wholeheartedly is a real human possibility, that it can be learned,
and that to do so is the key to our deepest well-being, our spiritual
life, and our capacity to bring more goodness into this world.
—John Makransky, "Love Is All Around"
—John Makransky, "Love Is All Around"
Saturday, February 13, 2016
Via GayBahai.net: To the Universal House of Justice and the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States of America
Letter to the UHJ and NSA of the USA
Friday, February 12, 2016
To the Universal House of Justice and the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States of America,
Last time I wrote you I was writing to ask permission to travel to Iran in order to pursue my study of Persian and Baha'i history. It was my hope to become a scholar of the Faith. That letter marked, in many ways, the pinnacle of my immersion in the Baha'i community. Growing up, Baha'i children's classes were held at my house every weekend, and feasts, holy days, firesides, and potlucks joyfully paraded through my home with comforting regularity. I remember crawling out of bed and dangling my legs over the second floor banister to listen surreptitiously to the late night consultations and deliberations of the Local Spiritual Assembly, which included both of my parents. One day I hoped to join their ranks.
My father founded one of the first theater companies in the world to dedicate itself to themes and stories from Baha'i history, and when I was fifteen I began touring with him across the USA, UK, and Canada – enacting plays about the beloved heroes and heroines of the Faith. When I was eighteen I served at the Lotus Temple in New Delhi and later at my university plunged headlong into what could have been subtitled a degree in Baha'i Culture (Persian, Arabic, and Middle Eastern Studies). My marriage vows were Baha'i vows, my daily prayers Baha'i prayers, and my hopes for humanity and myself — those hopes outlined in the sacred writings of the Faith. I write all this, not to brag about my Baha'i pedigree, or to prove a legitimate degree of devotion, but to illustrate how fundamentally rooted I have been in the Faith and to contextualize my profound grief that this is a letter of resignation.
There was a time when the Faith was everything to me and the Baha'i community a family like no other, but for the last ten years I have had difficulty feeling that I belong to it or want to belong to it.
There are perhaps several issues at play, but the most fundamental of them has been the official position espoused by the Universal House of Justice on homosexuality. I am a heterosexual woman and I am married to a man, but many of my dearest friends and colleagues belong to the LGBTQ community. You advise that I should consider their sexual orientation to be a kind of "handicap" which they should "pray to overcome", but I find this position impossible to maintain.
As a child and young adult, I prided myself in belonging to a religion that was not weighed down by outdated social laws, not caught up in untangling and interpreting archaic customs to fit the modern age. In comparison to other religions, the principles of gender and racial equality which the Baha'i Faith upheld often felt revolutionary and refreshingly modern. Even in 1914, Abdu'l- Bahá encouraged the marriage of people of different races in America! It felt good to be ahead of the curve and on the right side of history. But when it comes to the civil rights issues pertaining to the LGBTQ community, Baha'is are so woefully behind the curve, that I have for many years been embarrassed to be associated with the community. Current attempts to legitimize the LGBTQ community, such as legalizing gay marriage, do not only represent "changing trends in popular thought" (which to my ear sounds like characterizing significant changes as a superficial fad) but the emancipation of a community that has existed in human society as long as men and women have existed.
Some years ago, when people asked me about my religious affiliation, I started answering that "I was raised as a Baha'i" instead of saying "I am a Baha'i." After the birth of my first child a few months ago, I fell into a deep depression in regards to my ambiguous relationship to my own faith community. It grieves me deeply that I will not raise my daughter within the embrace of the Baha'i Faith, which has meant so much to me. But it disturbs me further that she would be raised to believe that to be loyal to Bahá'u'lláh means to categorize a substantial and precious portion of the human race as "self-indulgent", "shameful", "aberrant", "abhorrent", "immoral", "disgraceful", "handicapped", or "afflicted". When my daughter was born I plunged into a studious and thorough interrogation of the writings on the subject of homosexuality, hoping I would be able to justify a way to return. When I found your letter – dated 9 May 2014 – I realized instead that I would prefer to officially resign.
My father has pleaded with me in the past to stay — to remain in a state of questioning while maintaining my role in the community.
He tells me that the Baha'i community needs ardent seekers to ask difficult questions, or it has no chance of evolving and meeting the needs and ailments of the current age. "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water," he has said – a metaphor that rings more profoundly in my ears now that I have a baby of my own! But when I read this sentence from your May 9th letter — "It would be a profound contradiction for someone to profess to be a Bahá'í, yet reject, disregard, or contend with aspects of belief or practice He ordained" — it feels as if the Universal House of Justice is calling me a hypocrite rather than encouraging those believers who struggle with aspects of the Faith to persevere. Regardless, I no longer want to live in a constant state of schizophrenia and contradiction. For a long time I maintained that the writings of Bahá'u'lláh are in fact not clear on the issue of homosexuality, and therefore the retrograde attitudes towards homosexuality in the Baha'i community might shift. In regards to the passage often quoted from the Kitab-i-Aqdas ...
We shrink for very shame, from treating the subject of boys.
I was under the impression that "the subject of boys" implied the practice of pederasty, and did not extend to homosexuality in general. Why should it, when sex between an adult and a child (boy or girl) is so very different than sex between two consenting adults? The other passage which is often quoted...
Ye are forbidden to commit adultery, sodomy and lechery.
might seem more explicit, but in fact sodomy (if defined as "anal sex") is anatomically impossible between two women and not strictly a necessity between two men who wish to bring each other to a sexual climax. It feels foolish to delve into the nitty-gritty particulars of the sex act, when it is our immaterial souls that religion should occupy itself with. As you write in your letter dated the 9th of May 2014, it is the role of religion "to cultivate spiritual qualities and virtues – the attributes of the soul which constitute one's true and abiding identity." And yet you have involved yourself in tracing clear prohibitions against the sexual acts of people of the same gender in the Baha'i community. So I feel it is important to be equally explicit that sodomy and pederasty are NOT synonymous with homosexuality. Even if this was not your opinion, you would be amiss to say that two women or two men cannot be part of the "the bedrock of the whole structure of human society" which supports and nurtures the next generation because they cannot issue forth children. I've witnessed many healthy households headed by same-sex parents. Surrogate motherhood, sperm and egg donation, not to mention adoption, has redefined the family structure in the contemporary world.
You write "if such statements are considered by some to be unclear, the unambiguous interpretations provided by Shoghi Effendi constitute a binding exposition of His intent." I agree that the writings of Shoghi Effendi are less ambiguous than those enshrined within the Kitab-i- Aqdas, but are you not an infallible institution, capable of redefining his interpretations in a more enlightened manner without negating the divine covenant that has linked the series of institutions and individuals shepherding the Baha'i community towards its true potential? Do you not exist, not only to interpret and uphold what has already been written, but so that the Faith does not become calcified and intransigent — so that the Faith continues to be a living, thinking entity, able to adapt and respond to the needs and challenges of the age? As I write this letter, I realize I am writing it more for myself and my own sense of clarity than to enact any kind of response or change. I know a single letter cannot change the culture of a worldwide religion, and yet I would feel cowardly to leave the community without some clear act of protest or an attempt to communicate my grief. I wonder if you realize the emotional pain that you are inflicting upon the ardent believers of your community; radiant souls who want more than anything to be able to call themselves Baha'is.
Perhaps I am too rigid when I insist that this is a letter of resignation. The fact that I have decided that I can not be a part of the Baha'i community without being entirely a part of it, and so I must take myself entirely out of it, might, in itself, express a divisive breed of orthodoxy. Still, after much deliberation, I have concluded that this is the route I want to take.
I hereby relinquish my voting rights, and I ask that you strike me from the rosters.
I have no doubt that I will continue to love and respect the founders of the Faith, and to turn to their writings for guidance. I desperately hope that the official position of the Baha'i community in regards to LGBTQ individuals will change one day. If that day should come in my lifetime, I will be your valiant ensign once more.
Sincerely, Anisa George Philadelphia, PA
Read the original here
Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia -Flor del día - Flower of the day 13/02/2016
“Proponho um trabalho de harmonização com o fluxo da vida e de resgate
do estado de desprendimento e naturalidade original. Então, para aquele
que está iniciando esse caminho comigo, eu sugiro que identifique tudo
aquilo que o impede de ser natural e desprendido, ou seja, trabalhe para
identificar os condicionamentos mentais, as crenças e as imagens que
sabotam a sua felicidade. Identifique os aspectos da personalidade que
estão trancados em negação e que o fazem ir na direção oposta daquela
determinada pelo coração. Pois somente ao identificar esses aspectos
será possível desbloquear o fluxo.”
“Propongo un trabajo de armonización con el flujo de la vida y de
rescate del estado de desprendimiento y naturalidad original. Entonces,
para aquél que está iniciando este camino conmigo, sugiero que
identifique todo aquello que le impide ser natural y desprendido, es
decir, que trabaje para identificar los condicionamientos mentales, las
creencias y las imágenes que sabotean su felicidad. Que identifique los
aspectos de la personalidad que están atascados en negación y que lo
hacen ir en la dirección opuesta de aquella determinada por el corazón.
Porque solamente al identificar estos aspectos será posible desbloquear
el flujo.”
"I propose that we harmonize ourselves with the flow of life and rescue our original state of detachment and naturalness. For those who are just beginning on this path with me, I suggest that you identify everything that prevents you from being natural and unattached. Work towards identifying the mental conditioning, beliefs and images that sabotage your own happiness. Identify aspects of your personality that are locked up in denial and that make you move away from the heart's calling. Only by identifying these aspects can you unblock the flow.”
"I propose that we harmonize ourselves with the flow of life and rescue our original state of detachment and naturalness. For those who are just beginning on this path with me, I suggest that you identify everything that prevents you from being natural and unattached. Work towards identifying the mental conditioning, beliefs and images that sabotage your own happiness. Identify aspects of your personality that are locked up in denial and that make you move away from the heart's calling. Only by identifying these aspects can you unblock the flow.”
Via Dauly Dharma: Suffering World, Suffering Mind
Most
of the suffering in the world is happening because of manifestations of
people’s minds. But normally it’s not seen in that way. We are focused,
and rightfully so, on the actual events and what we can do about them.
But it’s also helpful to see where it’s all coming from.
—Joseph Goldstein, "Who Knows?"
—Joseph Goldstein, "Who Knows?"
Friday, February 12, 2016
Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia -Flor del día - Flower of the day 12/02/2016
“Parte da sua missão como trabalhador espiritual é tornar-se uma usina
de transformação do sofrimento coletivo. Estando no mundo,
principalmente nos grandes centros urbanos, é preciso aprender a
transmutar e a digerir as energias que nos circundam e passam por nós.
Cada um vai descobrir os instrumentos que o ajudam nesse trabalho: pode
ser a música, a arte, uma atividade física intensa ou uma simples
caminhada no parque; pode ser ficar em
silêncio, rezando, ou apenas olhando para o céu. Então, através desses
instrumentos, você vai se reconectando e realinhando. Esse é o trabalho
do karmayogi.”
“Parte de tu misión como trabajador espiritual es convertirte en una usina de transformación del sufrimiento colectivo. Estando en el mundo, principalmente en los grandes centros urbanos, es necesario aprender a transmutar y a digerir las energías que nos rodean y que pasan por nosotros. Cada uno va a descubrir los instrumentos que lo ayudan en este trabajo: puede ser la música, el arte, una actividad física intensa o un simple paseo por el parque; puede ser estar en silencio, rezando, o simplemente mirando hacia el cielo. Entonces, a través de estos instrumentos, te vas reconectando y realineando. Este es el trabajo del karmayogi.”
“Parte de tu misión como trabajador espiritual es convertirte en una usina de transformación del sufrimiento colectivo. Estando en el mundo, principalmente en los grandes centros urbanos, es necesario aprender a transmutar y a digerir las energías que nos rodean y que pasan por nosotros. Cada uno va a descubrir los instrumentos que lo ayudan en este trabajo: puede ser la música, el arte, una actividad física intensa o un simple paseo por el parque; puede ser estar en silencio, rezando, o simplemente mirando hacia el cielo. Entonces, a través de estos instrumentos, te vas reconectando y realineando. Este es el trabajo del karmayogi.”
"Part of your mission as a spiritual worker is to become a 'power
plant' that transforms the collective suffering. While being in the
world, especially in large urban centers, we must learn to transmute and
digest the energies that surround and pass through us. Each of us will
find the tools that help us in this work, whether it be through music,
art, intense physical activity, a simple walk in the park, being in
silence, praying, or just looking at the sky. Through these instruments,
we go on reconnecting and realigning ourselves. This is the work of the
karma yogi.”
Via Daily Dharma: Settled Mind
With
practice, that space—which is the mind’s natural clarity—begins to
expand and settle. We can begin to watch our thoughts and emotions
without necessarily being affected by them quite as powerfully or
vividly as we’re used to.
—Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, "The Aim of Attention"
—Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, "The Aim of Attention"
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia -Flor del día - Flower of the day 11/02/2016
“O que ocorre durante os nossos encontros é um fenômeno: nós criamos
condição para o Divino se manifestar e proporcionar o milagre da cura,
do insight, da abertura do coração, da lembrança de quem somos. Às vezes
somos levados para lugares de purificação, onde nada parece se
encaixar, mas tudo isso faz parte do processo de expansão da
consciência. Então, independentemente das palavras, o mais importante é a
transmissão de energia. Essa é a essência do jogo que chamamos satsang(encontro com a verdade).”
“Lo que ocurre durante nuestros encuentros es un fenómeno: creamos
condiciones para que lo Divino se manifieste y proporcione el milagro de
la cura, del insight, de la apertura del corazón, del recuerdo de
quienes somos. A veces somos llevados a lugares de purificación, donde
nada parece encajarse, pero todo eso es parte del proceso de expansión
de la conciencia. Entonces, independientemente de las palabras, lo más
importante es la transmisión de energía. Esta es la esencia del juego
que llamamos satsang (encuentro con la verdad).”
"What happens during our encounters is a phenomenon: we create the conditions for the Divine to manifest and deliver the miracle of healing, insights, heart-openings, and the remembrance of who we are. Sometimes we are led to places of purification where nothing seems to fit in place, but it's all part of the process of expanding consciousness. Regardless of what words are spoken, what's truly important in these encounters is the energy transmission. This is the essence of the play we call satsang, an encounter with the truth.”
"What happens during our encounters is a phenomenon: we create the conditions for the Divine to manifest and deliver the miracle of healing, insights, heart-openings, and the remembrance of who we are. Sometimes we are led to places of purification where nothing seems to fit in place, but it's all part of the process of expanding consciousness. Regardless of what words are spoken, what's truly important in these encounters is the energy transmission. This is the essence of the play we call satsang, an encounter with the truth.”
Via Daily Dharma: The True Self
What is the true self? It's brilliantly transparent like the deep blue sky, and there's no gap between it and all living beings.
—Kodo Sawaki Roshi, "The True Self"
—Kodo Sawaki Roshi, "The True Self"
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Via Ram Das
February 10, 2016
Everybody you know, you see, you remember, you will meet, is another face of God, is another doorway through. Is another way that God has come to you to awaken your attachments, to bring them to the forefront, to allow you to see through them.
Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor del día - Flower of the day - 10/02/2016
“A jornada evolutiva tem seus altos e baixos. Muitas vezes, vamos de um
extremo para o outro numa velocidade radical. Ora você está no vale,
ora está no pico. Às vezes você vai às profundezas das suas emoções e
acessa sentimentos aterrorizantes, verdadeiros infernos internos; e às
vezes vai para o céu. Mas, se puder apenas testemunhar esse movimento,
sem se identificar, você encontra a saída para o sofrimento. Você apenas observa até que possa ficar no céu, mantendo o coração aberto em qualquer situação; até que possa sustentar o êxtase".
“El camino evolutivo tiene sus altibajos. Muchas veces, vamos de un
extremo al otro a una velocidad radical. En un momento estás en el
valle, y otra en el pico. A veces vas a las profundidades de tus
emociones y accedes a sentimientos aterradores, verdaderos infiernos
internos; y a veces vas hacia el cielo. Pero si puedes simplemente ser
testigo de este movimiento, sin identificarte, encuentras la salida del
sufrimiento. Solo observa hasta que puedas permanecer en el cielo,
manteniendo el corazón abierto en cualquier situación; hasta que puedas
sustentar el éxtasis.”
"The evolutionary journey has its ups and downs. Oftentimes, we go from one extreme to the next at extreme speeds. At one moment we're in the valley, and then we’re at the peak. Sometimes we go to the depths of our emotions and access terrifying feelings that are truly like an inner hell. And sometimes we visit the heavens. If we were able to simply witness this movement without getting identified, we would find the way out of suffering. We simply observe until we’re able to remain in the heavens, maintaining an open heart in any situation, until we can sustain the ecstasy.”
"The evolutionary journey has its ups and downs. Oftentimes, we go from one extreme to the next at extreme speeds. At one moment we're in the valley, and then we’re at the peak. Sometimes we go to the depths of our emotions and access terrifying feelings that are truly like an inner hell. And sometimes we visit the heavens. If we were able to simply witness this movement without getting identified, we would find the way out of suffering. We simply observe until we’re able to remain in the heavens, maintaining an open heart in any situation, until we can sustain the ecstasy.”
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Via Daily Dharma: Commit to One Another
Hang
out with people who are capable of making a commitment to you and your
life, and who require that you make a commitment to theirs. Hang out
with people who care about you, with people who need you to develop and
who say so. Make such a commitment and don’t break that bond until you
and all beings are perfect.
—Reb Anderson, "In It Together"
—Reb Anderson, "In It Together"
Via Daily Dharma: The Head and the Heart
Your
heart needs the help of your head to generate and act on more skillful
emotions. Your head needs your heart to remind you that what’s really
important in life is putting an end to suffering.
—Thanissaro Bhikkhu, "Head & Heart Together"
—Thanissaro Bhikkhu, "Head & Heart Together"
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