Via Ram Dass...

March 16, 2016

The pilgrim and the goal are the same. So how can you take a trip seriously when you know the end of the trip is awakening from the illusion that you’re on a trip? See, you just know it, you don’t BE it.

Via Daily Dharma: Creative Practice, Disciplined Understanding

Just as a yogi must return again and again to the mat or the meditation seat—to directly touch the reality of each moment—the writer must return to the empty page, the sculptor to the clay, the painter to the easel. And through this discipline, both yogi and artist become one with the worlds within and without.

—Anne Cushman, "The Yoga of Creativity"

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor del día - Flower of the day - 16/03/2016

“Um dos principais obstáculos na jornada evolutiva do ser humano é a negação. E o moralismo é um dos instrumentos que está a serviço desse mecanismo de negação. Ele é uma espécie de conhecimento emprestado que determina o que é certo ou errado. Você avalia os seus desejos e mede suas atitudes a partir desse conhecimento emprestado. E como você precisa agradar os outros porque acredita que somente assim será amado, você condena seus próprios desejos e passa a negá-los. Mas, como tudo o que é proibido é desejado, essa negação é apenas um combustível para o desejo.”

“Uno de los principales obstáculos en el camino evolutivo del ser humano es la negación. Y el moralismo es uno de los instrumentos que está al servicio de este mecanismo de negación. Es un tipo de conocimiento prestado que determina lo que es correcto o incorrecto. Evalúas tus deseos y mides tus actitudes a partir de ese conocimiento prestado. Y como precisas agradarle a los otros porque crees que solamente así serás amado, condenas tus propios deseos y pasas a negarlos. Pero como todo lo que es prohibido es deseado, esta negación es sólo un combustible para el deseo.”

"One of the main obstacles along the human being’s evolutionary journey is denial. Morality is one of the main instruments that further serves our denial mechanisms. Morality is like borrowed knowledge that determines what is right or wrong. We use these borrowed ideas of morality to evaluate and measure our desires and our very own attitudes. So long as we go on needing to please the other as we believe this is the only way we will be loved, we inadvertently wind up condemning our own desires and thereby denying them. However, everything that is prohibited is ultimately desired. So this denial only serves to ignite more desire."

Via Instinct: Sally Field Is 'Horrified' By Parents Who Do Not Accept Their Gay Children

Sally Field was recently bestowed the Human Rights Campaign‘s Ally for Equality Award, an honor that was presented to her by her gay son Sam.

During a recent EW Radio town hall on SiriusXM, she said:

"First of all, don’t be frightened. And don’t put your own prejudices or fears about sexuality – your own fears about sexuality – on your children. Sexuality is a glorious part of existence.

“What horrifies me is that there are parents who so disapprove, who are so brainwashed to think that this is something out of the Bible or ungodly or against nature. It’s not against nature if nature has actually done this. Sam was always Sam, this wonderful human that he is, from the time he was born. … Some people actually shut their children out of the house when they’re young, they’re teenagers – they’re having a hard enough time to be teenagers and own any part of sexuality. I’m still trying to figure it out!”

Read the original and more here

Via Daily Dharma: A Wise Response

By cultivating skillful attitudes of mind, we will respond to more and more of life with awareness and wisdom. With steady awareness of the way things are, the perseverance to stay with that awareness, and the willingness to learn from it, we maximize our sense of well-being.

—Steve Armstrong, "Got Attitude?"

Via Ram Dass

March 13, 2016

Whether you are a parent or a teacher, anything; whatever your gig is, the only thing you can offer to another being is your consciousness. You are an environment for everyone you meet, in which they can become as conscious as they are ready to become. Offer your most conscious being to others.

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor del día - Flower of the day - 14/03/2016

“Se o planeta Terra é uma escola e o principal curso é criar uma cultura de paz e prosperidade, nós estamos de recuperação. Só haverá paz se houver união, só haverá união se houver amor e só haverá amor se desaprendermos a odiar. E para desaprendermos a odiar, precisaremos ter coragem de perdoar. Isso é matéria básica nesse curso. Parece tão óbvio, mas o ser humano ainda não aprendeu.”

“Si el planeta Tierra es una escuela y el principal curso es crear una cultura de paz y prosperidad, nosotros estamos en recuperatorio. Solo habrá paz si hay unión, solo habrá unión si hay amor y solo habrá amor si desaprendemos a odiar. Y para desaprender a odiar, necesitamos tener coraje de perdonar. Esto es materia básica en este curso. Parece tan obvio, pero el ser humano aún no aprendió.”

"If planet Earth is a school and the main course is to create a culture of peace and prosperity, we are failing the course. There will only be peace if there is unity. There will only be union if there is love. We will only have love if we learn how not to hate. To stop the hate short in its tracks, we need to have the courage to forgive. This is the basic school material for this course. It seems so obvious, but we humans have not yet learned it.”

Via Daily Dharma: Testing the Truth

So what is the test of truth? The Buddha offers a simple formula: Test things in terms of cause and effect. Whatever is unskillful, leading to harm and ill, should be abandoned; whatever is skillful, leading to happiness and peace, should be pursued.

—Larry Rosenberg, "The Right to Ask Questions"

Via Daily Dharma: The Need for Narrative

The sense of nagging inauthenticity about my narrative self—the sense that when it comes down to it my story is a lie—persists, and one of the great joys of meditation is that it offers an opportunity to put the story aside for a while and abide, albeit briefly, in the images.

—Alex Gooch, "Being Somebody, Going Somewhere"

Via Daily Dharma: The Breath That Breathes Itself

As we begin to practice mindfulness of breathing, we often see ourselves, initially, as the breather, apart and separate from the breath itself. The direction and development of the practice is eventually to bridge this separation until our attention is absorbed fully into the breath. The breath breathes itself, and we experience a place of deep calmness, concentration, and ease.

—Christina Feldman, "Receiving the Breath: Meditation Q & A"

From my Amigo Nikos: As I have heard elsewhere, "hurt people hurt people."

"The French philosopher Émile-Auguste Chartier (know as Alain), was said to be the finest teacher in France in the first half of the 20th century. And he developed a formula for calming himself and his pupils down in the face of irritating people. ‘Never say that people are evil,’ he wrote, ‘You just need to look for the pin.’ What he meant was: look for the source of the agony that drives a person to behave in appalling ways. The calming thought is to imagine that they are suffering off-stage, in some area we cannot see. To be mature is to learn to imagine this zone of pain, in spite of the lack of much available evidence. They may not look as if they were maddened by an inner psychological ailment: they may look chirpy and full of themselves. But the ‘pin’ simply must be there – or they would not be causing us harm."

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On Being Unintentionally Hurt

One of the most fundamental paths to calm is the power to hold on, even in very challenging situations, to a distinction between what someone does – and what they meant to do.

In law, the difference is enshrined in the contrasting concepts of murder and manslaughter. The result may be the same; the body is inert in a pool of blood. But we collectively feel it makes a huge difference what the perpetrator’s intentions were.

We care about intentions for a very good reason: because if it was deliberate, then the perpetrator will be an ongoing and renewable source of danger from whom the community must be protected. But if it was accidental, then the perpetrator will be inclined to deep apology and restitution, which renders punishment and rage far less necessary. 

Picture yourself in a restaurant where the waiter has spilt a glass of wine on your (new) laptop. The damage is severe and your rage starts to mount. But whether this was an accident or a willing strategy is key to an appropriate response. A concerted desire to spill signals that the waiter needs to be confronted head on. You may have to take radical defensive steps: like shouting at them or calling for help. But if it was an accident, then the person isn’t your enemy. 

There’s no need to swear at them. In fact, it makes a lot of sense to be forgiving and kindly, because benevolence will imminently be heading your way.

Motives are, therefore, crucial. But unfortunately, we’re seldom very good at perceiving what motives happen to be involved in the incidents that hurt us. We are easily and wildly mistaken. We see intention where there was none and escalate and confront when no strenuous or agitated responses are warranted.

Make the jump here to read the full article

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor del día - Flower of the day - 11/03/2016

“Nós seres humanos, mesmo com tanta miséria e sofrimento, continuamos insistindo em acreditar que tudo se resume em dinheiro. Mas, precisamos ter coragem para admitir que o paradigma materialista caiu. O crescimento econômico não pode mais ser o indexador para medir o nosso desenvolvimento. O PIB não pode mais ser o fator determinante para o nosso sucesso. Dinheiro é apenas um dos aspectos da vida. É bom ter dinheiro, desde que ele não custe a destruição do planeta. Hoje não existe outra maneira de salvar o planeta a não ser a partir de uma mudança de paradigma. Chegou o momento de ampliarmos nossa visão, sem medo de fazer diferente - sem medo de sermos espirituais.”

“Nosotros seres humanos, incluso con tanta miseria y sufrimiento, continuamos insistiendo en creer que todo se resume en dinero. Pero necesitamos tener coraje para admitir que el paradigma materialista cayó. El crecimiento económico no puede ser más el indicador para medir nuestro desarrollo. El PBI no puede ser más el factor determinante de nuestro éxito. El dinero es apenas uno de los aspectos de la vida. Es bueno tener dinero, mientras que éste no cueste la destrucción del planeta. Hoy no existe otra manera de salvar el planeta a no sea un cambio de paradigma. Llegó el momento de ampliar nuestra visión, sin miedo de hacer algo diferente, sin miedo de ser espirituales.”

"Us human beings, even with all our misery and suffering, continue to believe that everything boils down to money. However, we must have the courage to admit that the materialistic paradigm has collapsed. Economic growth can no longer be the index with which we measure our development. Gross National Product can no longer be the determining factor of our success. Money is only one aspect of life. It is good to have money, but not at the cost of destroying our planet. At this point in time, there is no other way to save the planet without a paradigm shift. It is time to broaden our vision and without being afraid to do things differently or to be spiritual."

Via Ram Dass

March 9, 2016

When you have your game all together, and there is still a yearning inside of you, and you say, “I don’t understand why I’m still unhappy; I’ve got it all.” Well, that yearning is your ticket to spiritual awakening.

Via Daily Dharma: Lasting Happiness

First we have to let go of fixation on material things. This does not necessarily mean jettisoning all our material possessions, but it implies that we should not look to material things for lasting happiness.

—Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche, "Letting Go of Spiritual Experience"

Obama and Trudeau at the White House: The complete speeches

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor del día - Flower of the day - 09/03/2016

“A essência disso que chamamos de ‘altruísmo’ é deixar Deus agir através de nós. Para isso, o ego precisa ser anulado, porque é ele que nos faz tomar direções equivocadas. Embora o ego seja uma criação divina, ele desviou-se da Meta e seguiu um caminho próprio. Portanto, somente a partir da rendição do ego o Amor divino pode agir através de nós.”

“La esencia de eso que llamamos ‘altruismo’ es dejar que Dios actúe a través nuestro. Para eso, el ego necesita ser anulado, porque es quien nos hace tomar direcciones equivocadas. Aunque el ego sea una creación divina, él se desvió de la Meta y siguió un camino propio. Por lo tanto, solamente a partir de la rendición del ego el Amor divino puede actuar a través de nosotros.”

"The essence of what we call 'altruism' is to let God work through us. For this to happen, the ego must be dissolved because it is precisely the ego that makes us take ‘wrong turns’. Even though the ego is a divine creation, it has gone astray from the greater goal and chosen to follow its own path. Therefore, only by surrendering the ego can divine love act through us.”

Via Daily Dharma: Meditation, Simply Defined

Meditation, simply defined, is a way of being aware. It is the happy marriage of doing and being.

—Lama Surya Das, "The Heart-Essence of Buddhist Meditation"

Just a note of thanks to all my devoted... OK, to both of my devoted readers... Thanks folks!

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor del día - Flower of the day - 08/03/2016

“Ninguém quer sentir dor, mas às vezes é necessário abrir mão dos anestésicos e amortecedores para poder encará-la de frente. É preciso ter coragem de lidar com a frustração daquilo que, por alguma razão, você evita entrar em contato. Quando umarepetição negativa se torna insistente na sua vida, quer dizer que ela quer te ensinar algo que você se recusa a aprender. Nesse momento, pare e pergunte: O que você quer me ensinar? O queeu preciso aprender? Assim, aos poucos, você vai dando passagem para as revelações da sua alma."

“Nadie quiere sentir dolor, pero a veces es necesario soltar los anestésicos y amortiguadores para poder encararlo de frente. Es necesario tener coraje para lidiar con la frustración de aquello que, por alguna razón, evitas entrar en contacto. Cuando una repetición negativa se vuelve insistente en tu vida, quiere decir que quiere enseñarte algo que te rehusas a aprender. En ese momento, detente y pregunta: ¿Qué quieres enseñarme? ¿Qué necesito aprender? Así, de a poco, vas dando paso a las revelaciones de tu alma.”

"No one wants to feel pain, but sometimes it’s necessary to let go of our numbing devices and shock absorbers in order to face our pain face to face. It takes courage to deal with the frustration of what we avoid getting in touch with for onereason or another. When a negative repetition becomes persistent in our lives, it is wanting to teach us something that we are refusing to learn. In such cases, we must stop and ask: ‘What do you want to teach me? What do I need to learn?’Thus, we gradually make way for our soul’s revelations.”