Via Daily Dharma / April 11, 2016: Our Dangerous Romance with Anger

As a culture we swing from being afraid of anger to romanticizing it. I try to see anger for what it is, in myself, and neither fear it nor idealize it.

—Sharon Salzberg, "The Deluding Force"

How Will NC 'Bathroom Law' Be Enforced?

Via Ram Dass:

April 10, 2016

There’s no clinging to that which dies. For who we are, was, is and will be, these are just processes of transformation. Just like it’s hard for a pre-pubescent to understand that a time will come when his baseball cards aren’t that relevant; so the time will come when even our mortal coil is not that relevant.

Via The Christian Left / FB:

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor del día - Flower of the day 10/04/2016

“Precisamos nos harmonizar com a natureza e resgatar a nossa naturalidade. Porque, em algum momento, nós perdemos a naturalidade e nos tornamos artificiais. Isso ocorreu porque fomos contaminados pelo medo e deixamos de confiar na vida. Então desenvolvemos máscaras através das quais nos protegemos e fingimos ser algo que não somos para agradar alguém; para conseguirmos alguma coisa em troca. E o que nós queremos em troca é amor. Este é o grande medo: o de não sermos amados.” 

“Necesitamos armonizarnos con la naturaleza y rescatar nuestra naturalidad. Porque en algún momento, perdimos la naturalidad y nos volvimos artificiales. Esto ocurrió porque fuimos contaminados por el miedo y dejamos de confiar en la vida. Entonces desarrollamos máscaras a través de las cuales nos protegemos y fingimos ser algo que no somos para agradarle a alguien, para conseguir algo a cambio. Y lo que nosotros queremos a cambio es amor. Este es el gran miedo: el de no ser amados.” 

“We need to become more in harmony with nature and rescue our own naturalness. At some point in time, we lost our naturalness and we became more artificial. This happened because we were contaminated by fear and lost our trust in life. Consequently, we developed masks to protect ourselves and pretended to be something that we aren’t in order to please the other and to get something in return. What we want in return is love. Our greatest fear is not to be loved.”

Via Daily Dharma / April 10, 2016: Let Go of Your Ego

Liberation does not come when you conquer your ego, silence it, or through repression and denial get it to behave “properly.” Liberation comes when we release our attachment to the habitual conditioned nature and structure of our temporary egos.

—Jun Po Denis Kelly Roshi, "Liberation"

Via FB:

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor del día - Flower of the day 09/04/2016

“Com as brutais mudanças a que já estão ocorrendo no planeta, talvez até mesmo algumas das nossas tradições sociais e culturais precisem ser revisadas, porque elas deixarão de fazer sentido. Se a natureza passa a funcionar de outra maneira, isso vai gerar um descompasso ainda maior entre os nossos hábitos e os fenômenos naturais. E isso é uma das consequências da nossa total desconexão com a natureza. É a nossa falta de naturalidade se manifestando nela.”

“Con los brutales cambios que están sucediendo en el planeta, tal vez hasta algunas de nuestras tradiciones sociales y culturales necesiten ser revisadas, porque dejarán de tener sentido. Si la naturaleza pasa a funcionar de otra manera, esto va a generar un desajuste aún mayor entre nuestros hábitos y los fenómenos naturales. Y esto es una de las consecuencias de nuestra total desconexión con la naturaleza. Es nuestra falta de naturalidad manifestándose en ella.”

“In lieu of the brutal changes that are already taking place on our planet, it may be time to revise some of our social and cultural traditions as they no longer make sense in this era. Nature is acting in totally unprecedented patterns, due to our habits that treat the environment as something entirely disconnected from ourselves. We disregard our inner nature, and that gets reflected all too clearly in Mother Nature herself.

Via Daily Dharma / April 9, 2016: One Thing, Then Another

You may say, "I must do something this afternoon," but actually there is no "this afternoon." We do things one after the other. That is all.

—Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, "Breathing"

Via Thich Nhat Hanh - Pema Chödrön - Dalai Lama / FB:

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor del día - Flower of the day 08/04/2016

“Estando perturbado, você atrai mais perturbação; e isso vai se transformando numa bola de neve. Ação gera reação e as consequências podem ser infinitas. A única maneira de parar esse processo é identificando onde a sua mente ficou presa. Isso é feito através da auto-observação e da presença. Sente-se, alinhe o corpo, feche os olhos e permita-se observar os pensamentos e emoções. Aos poucos você verá que existe uma canção psicológica, um fluxo de pensamentos repetitivos. Isso significa que você está identificado com esses pensamentos pois eles te dão um senso de identidade. Mas, ao observar-se a identificação começa a perder força, pois você se dissocia dos pensamentos.”

“Estando perturbado, atraes más perturbación; y esto se va transformando en una bola de nieve. Acción genera reacción y las consecuencias pueden ser infinitas. La única manera de detener este proceso es identificando dónde quedó atrapada tu mente. Esto se hace a través de la auto-observación y de la presencia. Siéntate, alinea el cuerpo, cierra los ojos y permítete observar los pensamientos y emociones. Poco a poco verás que existe una canción psicológica, un flujo de pensamientos repetitivos. Esto significa que estás identificado con estos pensamientos porque te dan un sentido de identidad. Sin embargo, al observarse la identificación comienza a perder fuerza, pues te disocias de los pensamientos.”

“When we are disturbed, we attract even more disturbances, and so the snowball effect continues. One action generates a reaction, and the consequences can be infinite. The only way to halt this process is to identify where our minds got trapped. This is done through self-observation and presence. We can sit down, align our bodies, close our eyes and allow ourselves to observe our thoughts and emotions. Slowly, we will see that there is a psychological soundtrack, a flux of repetitive thoughts, playing in our minds. This means that we are identified with these thoughts because they give us a sense of identity. But, as we continue to observe, the identification begins to lose its strength and we can begin to disassociate from these thoughts.

A Statement from Bruce Springsteen on North Carolina

 Friday, April 8, 2016

 

As you, my fans, know I’m scheduled to play in Greensboro, North Carolina this Sunday. As we also know, North Carolina has just passed HB2, which the media are referring to as the “bathroom” law. HB2 — known officially as the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act — dictates which bathrooms transgender people are permitted to use. Just as important, the law also attacks the rights of LGBT citizens to sue when their human rights are violated in the workplace. No other group of North Carolinians faces such a burden. To my mind, it’s an attempt by people who cannot stand the progress our country has made in recognizing the human rights of all of our citizens to overturn that progress. Right now, there are many groups, businesses, and individuals in North Carolina working to oppose and overcome these negative developments. Taking all of this into account, I feel that this is a time for me and the band to show solidarity for those freedom fighters. As a result, and with deepest apologies to our dedicated fans in Greensboro, we have canceled our show scheduled for Sunday, April 10th. Some things are more important than a rock show and this fight against prejudice and bigotry — which is happening as I write — is one of them. It is the strongest means I have for raising my voice in opposition to those who continue to push us backwards instead of forwards.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s Sunday April 10th show is canceled. Tickets will be refunded at point of purchase.

 

brucespringsteen.net

Via Daily Dharma / April 8, 2016: Building Helpful Habits

Karma is basically habit. It’s the momentum of repeated actions that become habitual. It’s in our best interest to develop as many positive habits as we can.

—Andrew Holecek, "The Best Possible Habit"

Via EQUALITY FOR THE WORLD / FB:

Via facebook.com/celebratepride

Created with facebook.com/celebratepride

Via FB:

Just some thoughts: On Pie Fights and Politics

I have to be really honest here, since coming into contact with Bahá’í in the mid-70-s; I have never really understood, or bought for that matter, the whole disconnectedness from politics vibe. I remember being so excited by conversations about Central America (having returned from pioneering in Guatemala during the civil nightmare) in the 80’s, and how dismayed I was when the dialogue was shut down by Bahá'í Adminstration. 

So like a few other rules, I just ignored it. OK, confession is a no no as well in the Bahá’í Faith, but what the hell, I have had my rights removed for marrying the one I love, (marriage rules are one more weird Bahá’í mystery to me as well) and there is no way they will ever ask us to return to the Faith anyway. So, as I watch the political system in both my countries enter a very, very, very scary melt down, I am actually coming to see the wisdom of not engaging in this whole clown-party-pie-fighting partisan politics thing. I can hear the gasps, and the visualize the clutching of pearls by both of my dedicated readers of this blog…

OK, so I don’t really understand this allegiance to a particular party, its like a sports team thing (GO Giants!) though I confess that I can never ever be a republican, after they went after and continue to go after the GLBTQ community. I lean towards a very, very, very socialist democrat paradigm… and I do have a very hard time keeping civil around my Fox TV tea party evangelical bible thump’n family of mine. This is where my Buddhist work really came in handy recently, and where Bahá’í just didn’t… my last two trips went pretty well, and I didn’t throw one pie, even ducking a few hurled at me by my Fox Media-lov’n relatives. 

Ommmm... breathe in, breathe out...

Here in Brasil, while watching the impeachment proceedings (about as dignified as a Three Stooges episode) and watching and listening to those around me blame the media or the politicians for the problem, and not asking if just possibly our leaders could take a modicum of responsibility for their actions. At the same time, watching from afar the terrifying fascist-Cruz/Trump phenomenon ramp-up in the states… I am beginning to see the wisdom in it. Perhaps.

I confess a fascination of, and support for Sanders, and an outright fear of and disgust for Trump. But that being said, I have moved to an “independent” status USA-wise, and will probably change to it after this next round of primaries is over – I still vote as an ex-pat here in Brasil. I am not yet a Brazilian citizen, and as permanent resident – because of marriage, I am exempt here from voting, which is obligatory. Once I become a citizen, I’ll have to vote. And that’s a good thing.

My husband and most of his family detest the obligation part. Brazilians, don't like being required to do anything, as one easily sees in their driving habits.  I rather think obligatory voting is good. You must vote here if you are a public servant (we are federal employees), or if you want to travel abroad, obtain a passport, get the (not so good but free) healthcare, when they leave the country, immigration checks to see if they have voted, in the last 5 elections, if not you are fined. Simply put it forces most people to pay attention, something not required of in the States. 

Elections are pretty straightforward here… 100% electronic (when 90% of the population who can vote 16 to 18 if you want, 18 to 65 obligatory, and then it has to be on a Sunday and electronic). The bars are closed from around sunset Saturday to Sunday evenings, after the polls close (that to me is really why people hate the obligatory aspect, but I digress). You know who won the election an hour after the polls close, there are maybe 70 political parties and one national primary and a month later those candidates that didn’t get a 51% majority have a run off.  Every night during voting season there is an hour of free ads, I think they are interesting as does my husband… some very well made and very professional… others very home made “vote for me… I like horses!”  The ridiculously long, painful and horrifyingly expensive process of primaries in the USA that in the end only go to make people angry and cynical to just get delegates to a convention and the whole electoral college stuff is just backwards, and Brazilians ask me over and over to explain it. I can’t very well.

So on that one: obligatory, electronic and quick and fast… Brasil is a model.

Where it is not a model, except if you regard perhaps winning at corruption, is the overall attitude of the “rules don’t apply to me”. It is why they are terrible drivers, but again I digress. This has led us to the current crisis here, that threatens to run us like a party of hungry lemmings or a buffalo stampede, over a cliff (hmm... there are no lemmings or buffalo to my mind in South America, imagine a flock of hysterical and panicked emus). The corruption here is oh so spectacular! As I said somewhere else I cannot to my mind understand how anyone can move from point A to point B in this country and not acknowledge the suffering.  But, to be fair, there is corruption in the States, and in fact part of the reason for the impeachment hearings here are because the President is being accused of using funds taken from PETROBRAS (the state owned energy company) for her re-election. The party mud slinging here, has caused the government to grind to a halt, just when we have a major outbreak of deadly mosquito born diseases, the Olympics and an economic meltdown to attend to. The sense that we are all going to get zika and dengue and the world will laugh at our inability to hold an Olympics is palpable and well, warranted.

Years ago, when I was doing house repair work for Helen Bishop, she used to make a great tea and tell scary WWII/Nazi stories. I asked her, what were people supposed to do when the Nazis took over, she shared many thoughts and tales, but I remember that she personally traveled around and took all the Bahá’í books and randomly put them on the shelves of the libraries, completely out of order – the Reich loving order so much that they never really noticed books out of order in their uber-libraries.  She had dozens of creative things the Baha’i’s who were eventually completely obliterated did. Some were very brave and scary to me. She was the ambassador to the League of Nations for the Bahá’í Community so with her great beauty, intellect, her big hat and a pair of annoying Pekinese dogs, she traveled around Nazi territory and visited with both sides and the Baha’i’s.

That being said, and so I wonder if, Baha’i’s might not be a little more aggressive, a little bit more creative, a little bit more engaged in the outward community, in encouraging a positive focus on the data, on the problem, on the solution. In the end we might all be vaporized, but at least we will be for doing something! Just being passive, disconnected, uninformed, anti-politic, or not participating at all, to me is part of the problem, and offers no solution, and will eventually get you vaporized as well anyway. That is what I saw when I lived in Guatemala.

Some Persian pioneers who worked with a Highland Maya Bahá’í community hours from the capital when I lived there shared a story of how in that region the guerillas would wipe out villages aligned with the right-wing US supported dictatorship, and the government would wipe out communities of those supporting the guerillas. One particular community, survived, as an island of tranquility in a stormy chaotic sea. The Baha’i’s built a modest Bahá’í center. When the Catholics and Evangelicals saw this they wanted one too, so, the Baha’i’s let them use it! One day the community council observed that after the earthquake a good 10 years before, the government hadn’t repaired their water system, so they elected a young man to go to the capital to learn how to build one. Lesson learned for me, focus on the problem, focus on the data, find a way to solve the problem and you don’t owe any one any favors. As far as I know, the village managed to survive the war, and got its own water system.

So what do I suggest?

On the large stage, I suggest we focus on the data (I am a pie loving math professor after all) and the problem, a part from often dramatic and manipulative personalities and parties. Doing the right thing, being task oriented – not easy in this often very dramatic and charmingly chaotic environment even when things are going well here. Focusing on the data, asking our leaders what they will do about the “data” and/or the problem… seems one thing I can and will do. Doing so as kindly as possible, not being angry or arrogant, and with manners (breathe Orey, you can do this!) or as I am known for saying “with sensible shoes” seems entirely possible.

Trying to understand the other side (take a deep breath and try, Prof Orey, try and understand why they are doing xyz… is my mantra) and I see that it’s about fear. And do something to help allay the fear… last trip to the States, my Dad & I went for burgers and beers at a new brewpub downtown in our little town in S. Oregon. He began lamenting about how the whole world was going to hell in hand basket, and I stopped him, and said, “Dad look, things are serious, but its not the end of anything… look at the cool stuff… my gawd, I am here having an amazing beer or two with my dad and a amazing buffalo-emu –goat burger, and there are trains going by (when I was a kid they stopped running) and we are served by a beautiful Afro-American lesbian”. Just then, she walked by and said “thank you!” and we laughed…  and then he told me that, that all of this trendy new development is because of pot money you know… again we laughed.

This fear, is what is common to both sides… “I am afraid that my community is being engulfed by uncreative corrupt crazy people and drug running gangs”, I hear it a lot when I go back to the States, OK… Some form of positive action is needed, as I submit much of the anxiety around me here in Brasil is linked to a sense of helplessness, and fear of what might happen as well.

Many of the people around me are used to having someone take care of things for them (gads that makes me sound like a tea partier) but when I show by example, how I deal with it by simple acts of kindness, I noticed people react positively:  giving up a seat on the bus, smiling, greeting everyone, picking up a little bit of litter, etc.… the little things, that I still have control over. It seems naïve, I know, and I admit, I live in a lovely small town high in the mountains of Minas Gerais, and morning walks are every bit as charming as the opening of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, you know: "Good morning baker! Good morning smiling flower lady! Good morning Professor Orey!" It's true!

My mentor and Brazilian ethnomathematics guru Ubiratan D’Ambrosio talks about “glocalization” – very much like "think globally and act locally". Being kind, by gracefully raising awareness in our students and neighbors and colleagues about the seriousness and the moral consequences of our actions.

Its all we really can do anyway, now isn’t it? 

Odd, I have a strange desire for pie… alas I live in country that only throws them metaphorically, and does not make them. Just my luck.

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor del día - Flower of the day 07/04/2016

A gratidão é uma manifestação da luz. Se está podendo agradecer é porque encontrou luz dentro de você. Quem agradece é o seu coração. Se você pode agradecer é porque o seu coração está aberto. Um coração aberto é sinônimo de presença; e a presença é uma fragrância da divindade que te habita - um vislumbre do Eterno.”

“La gratitud es una manifestación de la luz. Si estas pudiendo agradecer es porque encontraste luz dentro de ti. Quien agradece es tu corazón. Si puedes agradecer es porque tu corazón está abierto. Un corazón abierto es sinónimo de presencia; y la presencia es una fragancia de la divinidad que te habita, un vislumbre de lo Eterno.”

“Gratitude is a manifestation of light. If we are able to give thanks, it is because we have encountered the light inside of us. The aspect within us that is capable of gratitude is our heart. We can only give thanks with an open heart, which is synonymous with being present. Presence is the fragrance of the divinity that inhabits us and it gives us a glimpse of the Eternal.”

Via Daily Dharma / April 7, 2016: Your Original Nature

Cease from practice based on intellectual understanding, pursuing words and following after speech, and learn the backward step that turns your light inwardly to illuminate your self. Body and mind of themselves will drop away, and your original face will be manifest.

—Zen Master Dogen, "The Principles of Zazen"