A personal blog by a graying (mostly Anglo with light African-American roots) gay left leaning liberal progressive married college-educated Buddhist Baha'i BBC/NPR-listening Professor Emeritus now following the Dharma in Minas Gerais, Brasil.
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor del día - Flower of the day - 13/06/2016
“O desvendar do amor é um processo que se inicia com a identificação
das capas que o encobrem. Ao identificar seus padrões destrutivos, você
dá o primeiro passo em direção ao amor. E essa identificação só é
possível se houver honestidade – honestidade para aceitar suas
imperfeições.”
“El develardel amor es un proceso que comienza con la identificación de las capas que lo encubren. Al identificar tus patrones destructivos, das el primer paso en dirección al amor. Y esta identificación solo es posible si hubierahonestidad - honestidad para aceptar tus imperfecciones.”
“El develardel amor es un proceso que comienza con la identificación de las capas que lo encubren. Al identificar tus patrones destructivos, das el primer paso en dirección al amor. Y esta identificación solo es posible si hubierahonestidad - honestidad para aceptar tus imperfecciones.”
“The unveiling of love is a process that begins with actually
identifying the layers that cover our capacity to love. When we identify
our destructive patterns, we take the first step in the direction
towards love. This identification is only possible if we are capable of
honesty. We must be honest enough to accept our imperfections.”
Via Daily Dharma / June 14, 2016: The Consequence of Understanding
When you understand interconnectedness, it makes you more afraid of hating than of dying.
—Robert A. F. Thurman, "Rising to the Challenge: Cool Heroism" |
Monday, June 13, 2016
Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor del día - Flower of the day - 13/06/2016
“O desvendar do amor é um processo que se inicia com a identificação
das capas que o encobrem. Ao identificar seus padrões destrutivos, você
dá o primeiro passo em direção ao amor. E essa identificação só é
possível se houver honestidade – honestidade para aceitar suas
imperfeições.”
“El develardel amor es un proceso que comienza con la identificación de las capas que lo encubren. Al identificar tus patrones destructivos, das el primer paso en dirección al amor. Y esta identificación solo es posible si hubierahonestidad - honestidad para aceptar tus imperfecciones.”
“El develardel amor es un proceso que comienza con la identificación de las capas que lo encubren. Al identificar tus patrones destructivos, das el primer paso en dirección al amor. Y esta identificación solo es posible si hubierahonestidad - honestidad para aceptar tus imperfecciones.”
“The unveiling of love is a process that begins with actually
identifying the layers that cover our capacity to love. When we identify
our destructive patterns, we take the first step in the direction
towards love. This identification is only possible if we are capable of
honesty. We must be honest enough to accept our imperfections.”
Via Daily Dharma / June 13, 2016: Finding Balance Through Moderation
I
would say that not doing too much is the important thing. We tend to
try to overdo everything. Such conceptual actions just create more
karma. Consider nondoing, nonaction, for a while, and leaving things as
they are.
—His Holiness the Twelfth Gyalwang Drukpa, "Awareness Itself"
—His Holiness the Twelfth Gyalwang Drukpa, "Awareness Itself"
GoFundMe Campaign To Support Orlando Victims Surpasses $1.6 Million
2.8kshares
A GoFundMe campaign
set up by Equality Florida to help support the victims of Sunday’s
horrific shooting at Orlando’s Pulse Nightclub, has reached over $1.6
million thus far.
Equality Florida, the state’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, will ensure that all funds raised will go ‘directly to the victims and families affected by the horrific shooting at Orlando’s Pulse Nightclub.’
In its first 24 hours, the campaign has garnered over 40,000 donations, amounting to over $1.6 million.
The organisation is assuring donors that funds will be properly managed, saying, “We are working with a team of attorneys and experts, including the National Center for Victims of Crime, which deployed funds in both Chattanooga and Aurora, to ensure funds are distributed correctly.”
This fabulous button delivers
The Gaily Grind stories to you
on Facebook:
“We are heartbroken and angry that senseless violence has once again
destroyed lives in our state and in our country,” the organization
writes.
“Gay clubs hold a significant place in LGBTQ history. They were often the only safe gathering place and this horrific act strikes directly at our sense of safety. June commemorates our community standing up to anti-LGBTQ violence at the Stonewall Inn, the nightclub that has become the first LGBTQ site recognized as a national monument.”
“We have received a steady stream of emails and messages from those seeking to help or to make sense of the senseless. We make no assumptions on motive. We will await the details in tears of sadness and anger. We stand in solidarity and keep our thoughts on all whose lives have been lost or altered forever in this tragedy.”
If you would like to make a contribution to the fund, please visit: https://www.gofundme.com/PulseVictimsFund.
Equality Florida, the state’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, will ensure that all funds raised will go ‘directly to the victims and families affected by the horrific shooting at Orlando’s Pulse Nightclub.’
The organisation is assuring donors that funds will be properly managed, saying, “We are working with a team of attorneys and experts, including the National Center for Victims of Crime, which deployed funds in both Chattanooga and Aurora, to ensure funds are distributed correctly.”
This fabulous button delivers
The Gaily Grind stories to you
on Facebook:
“Gay clubs hold a significant place in LGBTQ history. They were often the only safe gathering place and this horrific act strikes directly at our sense of safety. June commemorates our community standing up to anti-LGBTQ violence at the Stonewall Inn, the nightclub that has become the first LGBTQ site recognized as a national monument.”
“We have received a steady stream of emails and messages from those seeking to help or to make sense of the senseless. We make no assumptions on motive. We will await the details in tears of sadness and anger. We stand in solidarity and keep our thoughts on all whose lives have been lost or altered forever in this tragedy.”
If you would like to make a contribution to the fund, please visit: https://www.gofundme.com/PulseVictimsFund.
Sunday, June 12, 2016
Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor del día - Flower of the day - 11/06/2016
Si amas de verdad, no pides nada a cambio. Si negocias amor justamente
es porque eres incapaz de amar. La negociación funciona así: ‘¿Lo que
quieres es atención? Está bien, te doy atención, pero tendrás que hacer
exactamente lo que yo quiero, como yo quiero'. Este es un juego nefasto
cuyo objetivo es hacer del otro un esclavo para atendertus necesidades y
expectativas. Esto genera codependencia, lo que implicadepender
de la miseria del otro para sentirse feliz. Necesitas hacer que el otro
se sienta débil para poder sentirte fuerte. De esta forma las
parejasquitan energía uno al otroy refuerzan la falsa idea de yo. Pagan
este precio exorbitante, que es la pérdida de la libertad, porque están
completamente dependientes. Y lo peor es que encima llaman a esoamor.”
Del libro “Amar y Ser Libre”
“When we truly love, we ask for nothing in return. When we try to bargain with love it is because we are not yet capable of truly loving. Negotiating with love looks like this: ‘Is it attention you want? Okay, I’ll give you attention, but you will have to do exactly what I want, in the way that I want it.’ This game’s objectiveis to make the other a slave in order to attend to our needs and expectations. This creates co-dependency and requires the other’s misery in order for us to feel happy. We need the other to feel weak in order for us to feel powerful. Subsequently, as partners, we suck energy from one another, reinforcing this false idea of self. We pay an exorbitant price: the loss of freedom.We become completely dependent on the other. Unfortunately, this is still what we call ‘love’.”
From the book To Love and Be Free
“When we truly love, we ask for nothing in return. When we try to bargain with love it is because we are not yet capable of truly loving. Negotiating with love looks like this: ‘Is it attention you want? Okay, I’ll give you attention, but you will have to do exactly what I want, in the way that I want it.’ This game’s objectiveis to make the other a slave in order to attend to our needs and expectations. This creates co-dependency and requires the other’s misery in order for us to feel happy. We need the other to feel weak in order for us to feel powerful. Subsequently, as partners, we suck energy from one another, reinforcing this false idea of self. We pay an exorbitant price: the loss of freedom.We become completely dependent on the other. Unfortunately, this is still what we call ‘love’.”
From the book To Love and Be Free
Via Ram Dass
June 12, 2016
I'm explicitly making my life a teaching, by expressing the lessons that I've learned through it so it can become a map for other people. Everybody's life could be like that, if they choose to make it so; choose to reflect what they've been through and to share it with others.
Via Daily Dharma / June 12, 2016: Make Your Mind Like the Earth
Disgusting
things get thrown on the earth, but the earth isn’t horrified by them.
When you make your mind like the earth, neither agreeable nor
disagreeable sensory impressions will take charge of it.
—Thanissaro Bhikkhu, "The Joy of Effort"
—Thanissaro Bhikkhu, "The Joy of Effort"
Saturday, June 11, 2016
Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor del día - Flower of the day - 11/06/2016
“O que é certo e o que é errado, no plano do coração, pode ser
completamente diferente do que é certo e do que é errado no plano da
mente. A mente segue tradições, segue elementos da cultura. A tradição
tem uma função na sociedade e durante uma fase da jornada ela é útil,
mas chega um momento em que ela sabota a possibilidade da
transcendência.”
“Lo que está bien y lo que está mal, en el plano del corazón, puede ser completamente diferente de lo que está bien y lo que está mal en el plano de la mente. La mente sigue tradiciones, sigue elementos de la cultura. La tradición tiene unafunción en la sociedad y durante una fase del camino es útil, pero llega un momento en que sabotea la posibilidad de la trascendencia.”
“Lo que está bien y lo que está mal, en el plano del corazón, puede ser completamente diferente de lo que está bien y lo que está mal en el plano de la mente. La mente sigue tradiciones, sigue elementos de la cultura. La tradición tiene unafunción en la sociedad y durante una fase del camino es útil, pero llega un momento en que sabotea la posibilidad de la trascendencia.”
“What is
right and what is wrong at the level of the heart can be completely
different from what we deem right and wrong at the level of the mind.
The mind follows traditions; it follows cultural norms. Conditionings
have their place in society and, up until a certain phase of the
journey, are useful. However, there comes a time when these
conditionings sabotage the further possibility of transcendence.”
Via Daily Dharma / June 11, 2016: Everyday Enlightenment
Great enlightenment is the tea and rice of daily activity.
—Dogen, "Tea and Rice"
—Dogen, "Tea and Rice"
Friday, June 10, 2016
Via JMG: Gay Bicyclist Rushing To Hook-Up Gets Tackled By NYPD When He Barrels Into Obama’s Motorcade [VIDEO]
So this happened yesterday. Via TMZ:
President Obama got in the way of potential true love when the people protecting him opened a can of whoop ass on an unsuspecting NYC bicyclist. Daniel Provencio, 59, tells us he was hot to trot for a blind date — pumping “Call Me Maybe” through his headphones — when NYC cops tackled him for riding into a secured area just before the Prez breezed through. Turns out Daniel was on his way to hook up with a guy he met on an online dating website the night before … he wouldn’t say which.The Daily News is questioning the NYPD’s tactics:
A cop grabbed Provencio and knocked him off the bike onto the ground, then fell to the ground himself. A helmeted cop roughly grabbed Provencio’s arm and twisted it behind his back. Cops rolled Provencio over until he was face down, stuck a knee in his back and cuffed him as a Secret Service agent walked over to observe. Obama’s motorcade rolled past during the arrest. Provencio did not appear to be resisting during the encounter. He was issued a summons for disorderly conduct, police said.Provenico says his hook-up lost interest because he was hours late due to being interrogated by the cops. “Manhattan men are huge on punctuality.”
See the video and more here
Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor del día - Flower of the day - 10/06/2016
“Reconhecer nossas contradições internas é um passo fundamental dentro
do processo evolutivo, porque é o início de uma mudança de consciência; é
o início de uma mudança de identidade. Quando pode transcender suas
contradições, o que significa deixar de ser governado pela mente
condicionada e passar a ser guiado pelo coração, você sabe para onde
deve ir e paga o preço que tem que pagar para seguir os comandos do
coração.”
“Reconocer nuestras contradicciones internas es un paso fundamental
dentro del proceso evolutivo, porque es el inicio de un cambio
deconsciencia; es el inicio de un cambio de identidad. Cuando puedes
trascender tus contradicciones, lo que significa dejar de ser gobernado
por la mente condicionada y pasar a ser guiado por el corazón, sabespara
dónde debes ir y pagas el precio que hay que pagar para seguir los
comandos del corazón.”
“To recognize our internal contradictions is a fundamental step within our evolutionary process, because it is the beginning of a change in our consciousness. It signals the beginning of a change in our identity. When we can transcend our contradictions, it means we stop being governed by our conditioned mind and we start being guided by our hearts. We know where we have to go and we pay the necessary price in order to follow the commands of our hearts.”
“To recognize our internal contradictions is a fundamental step within our evolutionary process, because it is the beginning of a change in our consciousness. It signals the beginning of a change in our identity. When we can transcend our contradictions, it means we stop being governed by our conditioned mind and we start being guided by our hearts. We know where we have to go and we pay the necessary price in order to follow the commands of our hearts.”
Via Daily Dharma / June 10, 2016: Falling Blossoms, Scattering Leaves
Make
the universe your companion, bearing in mind the true nature of
things—mountains and rivers, trees and grasses, and humanity—and enjoy
the falling blossoms and the scattering leaves.
—Matsuo Basho, "Whirling Petals, Windblown Leaves"
—Matsuo Basho, "Whirling Petals, Windblown Leaves"
Thursday, June 9, 2016
Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor del día - Flower of the day - 09/06/2016
“Nosso grande desafio é superar nossas contradições, pois elas são a
fonte do sofrimento. O sofrimento nasce justamente pelo fato de
existirem duas forças opostas atuando dentro de nós. Dentro de você, um
eu quer a família e outro eu quer ficar sozinho. Um eu quer ir para a
esquerda e o outro quer ir para a direita. Essa divisão gera um cabo de
força, que gera tensão, gera stress e desdobramentos de sofrimento.
Quanto maior a contradição, maior o sofrimento.”
“Nuestro gran desafío es superar nuestras contradicciones, puesellas
son la fuente del sufrimiento. El sufrimiento nacejustamente por el
hechode existir dos fuerzas opuestas actuando dentro de nosotros. Dentro
de ti, un yoquierela familia y otro yoquiere estar solo. Un yo quiere
ir hacia la izquierda y el otro quiere ir a la derecha. Esta división
genera un tira y afloje, que genera tensión, genera estrés y
desdoblamientos de sufrimiento. Cuanto mayor La contradicción, mayor el
sufrimiento.”
“Our greatest challenge is to go beyond our contradictions as they are the source of suffering. Suffering is born out of the fact that there are two opposing forces acting inside of us. There is a part of us that wants a family and another part of us that wants to be single. There is a self that wants to go to the left and another self that wants to go the right. This division creates a tug-of-war within us, generating tension, stress and all other kinds of suffering. The greater the contradiction, the greater the suffering.”
“Our greatest challenge is to go beyond our contradictions as they are the source of suffering. Suffering is born out of the fact that there are two opposing forces acting inside of us. There is a part of us that wants a family and another part of us that wants to be single. There is a self that wants to go to the left and another self that wants to go the right. This division creates a tug-of-war within us, generating tension, stress and all other kinds of suffering. The greater the contradiction, the greater the suffering.”
Via Daily Dharma / June 9, 2016: Empowered Practice
We
call this mindful choice in action: our deeds and words should be in
line with ultimate reality. We call this well-balanced and perfect
practice. If you only understand ultimate reality but cannot use it in
your daily life, your practice is not well balanced; it is not
empowered.
—Venerable Chwasan, "The Grace in This World"
—Venerable Chwasan, "The Grace in This World"
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
Via Ram Dass:
June 8, 2016
The curriculum of service provides us with information about our strengths as well, and we discover how these contribute to genuinely help-full service. Each time we drop our masks and meet heart-to-heart, reassuring one another simply by the quality of our presence, we experience a profound bond which we intuitively understand is nourishing everyone. Each time we quiet our mind, our listening becomes sharp and clear, deep and perceptive; we realize that we know more that we thought we knew, and can reach out and hear, as if from inside, the heart of someone's pain. Each time we are able to remain open to suffering, despite our fear and defensiveness, we sense a love in us which becomes increasingly unconditional.
The curriculum of service provides us with information about our strengths as well, and we discover how these contribute to genuinely help-full service. Each time we drop our masks and meet heart-to-heart, reassuring one another simply by the quality of our presence, we experience a profound bond which we intuitively understand is nourishing everyone. Each time we quiet our mind, our listening becomes sharp and clear, deep and perceptive; we realize that we know more that we thought we knew, and can reach out and hear, as if from inside, the heart of someone's pain. Each time we are able to remain open to suffering, despite our fear and defensiveness, we sense a love in us which becomes increasingly unconditional.
Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do dia - Flor del día - Flower of the day - 08/06/2016
“Ao se deixar ser guiado pela mente condicionada, você inevitavelmente é
lançado ao sofrimento. A mente condicionada te leva para o caminho
oposto daquele que o seu coração determina; ela te leva a classificar o
que é certo e o que é errado e te faz agir a partir dessa classificação.
Então você aprende a fazer o que julga ser o correto apenas para
receber recompensas, mas isso não quer dizer que você está feliz com isso.”
“Al dejarte guiar por la mente condicionada, eres inevitablemente
lanzado al sufrimiento. La mente condicionada te lleva hacia el camino
opuesto al que tu corazón determina; te lleva a clasificar lo que es
correcto y lo que está equivocadoy te hace actuar desde esta
clasificación. Entonces aprendes a hacer lo que juzgasque escorrecto
solo para recibir recompensas, pero eso no quiere decir que estás feliz
con ello.”
“If we allow ourselves to be guided by the conditioned mind, we inevitably are catapulted into suffering. Our conditioned mind takes us to the complete opposite path of our heart; it makes us classify what is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ and makes us act from this set of rules. Then we learn to act according to what we believe to be correct in order to fulfill an expectation, but this is not what makes us happy.”
“If we allow ourselves to be guided by the conditioned mind, we inevitably are catapulted into suffering. Our conditioned mind takes us to the complete opposite path of our heart; it makes us classify what is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ and makes us act from this set of rules. Then we learn to act according to what we believe to be correct in order to fulfill an expectation, but this is not what makes us happy.”
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