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Via Daily Dharma: Changing Your Conditioning

Practicing mindful awareness of... our conditioning and habits of the mind helps us to know what we are up against within ourselves as we seek to make change in the world.

—Rhonda Magee,“Making the Invisible Visible”

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Via White Crane Institute / FEDERICO GARCÍA LORCA

Federico Garcia Lorca and Salvador Dali

1898 -

FEDERICO GARCÍA LORCA, Spanish poet, lyricist and dramatist (d. 1936); a Spanish poet and dramatist, also remembered as a painter, pianist, and composer. An emblematic member of the Generation of ‘27, he was killed by Nationalist partisans at the age of thirty-eight at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. Born in Fuente Vaqueros, province of Granada, on June 5, 1898, Federico García Lorca is internationally recognized as Spain's most prominent lyric poet and dramatist of the twentieth century. His poetry and plays have been translated into dozens of languages and have been the object of study by critics all over the world.

 

Since his murder in 1936 at the hands of Spanish fascist forces, Lorca has become a legendary tragic hero. One cannot help speculating about Lorca's unfulfilled projects, the many more works he had planned to write and would have written had he not been the victim of a death that to this day is still clouded with controversy.

 

Equally controversial are the thinly veiled homoerotic motifs and themes present in Lorca's work that have long been intentionally silenced and overlooked by those wishing not to "soil" the reputation of one of Spain's most respected bards; among them, the Franco regime, the Lorca family, and homophobic Lorquian scholars who have dedicated their lives and careers to Lorca's work yet refuse to acknowledge a line of criticism that takes into account homoerotic desire.

 

In 1919, Lorca went to study at the University of Madrid and lived at the Residencia de Estudiantes--a student residence founded in 1910 as a center of intellectual life for gifted students. Among the students at the "Resi," as it was familiarly known, were Spain's most talented young artists and writers. The surrealist painter Salvador Dalí, with whom Lorca fell deeply in love, and Luis Buñuel, later famous as a film maker, became close friends with Lorca, whose room soon became a popular meeting place for intellectuals around Madrid.

 

For a marvelous treatment of these relationships, see the film Little Ashes, directed by Paul Morrison. With Javier Beltrán, Robert Pattinson, Matthew McNulty. After what has been generally described as a "mysterious emotional crisis" (in fact, a depression brought on by Dalí's sexual rejection as well as by a stormy relationship with a young sculptor, Emilio Aladrén Perojo), Lorca traveled to New York City in 1927. This trip inspired some of his most singular poetic pieces, later collected under the title Poet in New York (1940).

 

After leaving New York City, Lorca spent three months in Cuba, a place he had dreamed of visiting ever since he was a child and where he spent, according to his own account, the happiest days of his life. Following his stay in New York City and Cuba, Lorca began to be more daring in the representation of homosexuality.

 

Far away from his family and conservative Spanish values, he was able to conceive and begin writing his most openly homosexual work: "Ode to Walt Whitman," the dramatic piece The Public, and the unfinished The Destruction of Sodom. "Ode to Walt Whitman," published in Mexico in 1934 in a limited edition of fifty copies, but never published in Spain during Lorca's lifetime, reveals the poet's own contradictions concerning homosexuality. The ode takes on a moralistic tone by marking a clear distinction between a pure and de-sexualized homosexual love, epitomized by Whitman the lover of nature, and a debased sexuality, associated with the "maricas" or faggots (effeminate homosexuals).

 

The Public, which with the exception of two scenes published in a Spanish magazine during Lorca's life was not published until 1978, and even then in an incomplete version, presents an examination of repressed homosexual desire as well as a defense of the individual's right to erotic liberty.

 

Lorca categorized The Public, his most experimental play, as belonging to his "impossible theater." Also belonging to the impossible theater is The Destruction of Sodom, of which Lorca apparently wrote one act, although today only the first page of the piece survives. The theme of this play, according to Ian Gibson, was to be "the pleasures of the homosexual confraternity, who have made such a contribution to world culture."

Via White Crane Institute / IVY COMPTON-BURNETT

Ivy Compton-Burnett

1892 -

IVY COMPTON-BURNETT, English novelist, born (d: 1969); Published as “I. Compton-Burnett,” all her many novels, which have been called “morality plays for the tough-minded,” are satires of the least attractive aspects of human nature as found among the nobility and landed gentry of the late-Victorian world. They are very strange and very intelligent novels by a very strange and intelligent woman. Compton-Burnett lived most of her life in a “romantic friendship” with Margaret Jourdain, a woman several years her senior and a well-established scholar and expert in 18th century furniture.

There was no question in the Jourdain/Compton-Burnett household as to who was numero uno. Jourdain talked and Compton-Burnett listened. Even when the novelist’s fame far exceeded the scholar’s, no one entered their sanctum sanctorum without paying court to Jourdain alone. They had no sexual contact with each other, nor with anyone else, Jourdain believing that only men experienced sexual desire and Compton-Burnett explaining that they were “essentially a pair of neuters.” When Jourdain died, the novelist was almost sixty, but her subservience and dependence never ended. She continued to talk with her friend” I say, what do you think? Do you like it? Would you advise me? What shall I do?” Strange. Fascinating. Eerie. Like her novels.

O que é o #somos70porcento ? Aumente o som e assista.

Via Daily Dharma: Act on Awakening

It is said that the Buddha, after emerging from his awakening under the Bodhi tree, distinguished himself from other enlightened beings by not dwelling in quiescence, but demonstrated his unsurpassed and complete awakening by speaking up.

—Duncan Ryuken Williams, “At Fort Sill, a Prayer That History Would Not Repeat Itself”

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Via Lion´s Roar / How to Practice Metta for a Troubled Time

How to Practice Metta for a Troubled Time

Mushim Patricia Ikeda teaches us how to generate loving-kindness and good will as an antidote to hatred and fear.

Via Lion´s Roar / Race, Reclamation, and the Resilience Revolution

Race, Reclamation, and the Resilience Revolution

In the wake of the death of George Floyd, a black man killed by police in Minneapolis, dharma teacher Larry Ward says we have to “create communities of resilience,” and offers his mantras for this time.

Via Daily Dharma: Keeping Steady with Emotions

The intention when meditating with emotion is to stay steady with every sensation, just as we might do with sound meditation. Just listening. No commentary.

—Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche with Helen Tworkov,“Leaving Everything Behind”

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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation / Words of Wisdom - June 3, 2020 💌

"Tall order: We’re asked to enter into this volatile environment of division and separateness, but with as much consciousness of unity as possible. So King sets out for Selma. Gandhi begins the Salt March, or any number of us join movements for peace and justice. Seeking to recruit others, experiencing divisions among ourselves, confronting opposing power, wrestling with fear and anger, trying to keep a clear sense of our goals… there are plenty of places to get lost in the struggle.
We need all the clarity and inspiration we can get in order not to violate, in our own behavior, the very principles and ideals we’re fighting for." 

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: What Is Genuine Happiness?

Genuine happiness doesn’t require that you take anything away from anyone—which means that it in no way conflicts with the genuine happiness of others.

—Thanissaro Bhikkhu, “Hang on to Your Ego”

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Via Daily Dharma: Get to Know Yourself

The more comfortable we are with ourselves, the more comfortable we are with others. We need to know ourselves fully and authentically, which requires work, before we can start to understand the absolute truth of non-self. 

—Interview with Kevin Manders by Emily DeMaioNewton,“A Gender-Diverse Sangha”

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Mt. Whitney, 1990 - It ain´t the same, but I get it...

I climbed Mt. Whitney (14,505 feet 4,421 m) a number of years ago with four colleagues, all gay men, all Ph.D´d. 

That normally would be a fun fact and irrelevant, but there was a hitch. Besides the fact that we thought we were prepared, and we should have over nighted at a higher elevation, we all made it to the top in a day - I with a great case of altitude sickness. After we finished, we decided instead to go down to Lone Pine, a small town at the base, and get a motel instead of camping. So, we checked in, took turns showering, and went to a restaurant for dinner. As soon as we ordered, I decided to run (Lower elevation = more air) 2 blocks down to an ATM. 

Upon returning, Kim asked me where the ATM was… and ran there too… dinner was served, Kim didn´t show up… we got worried, about an hour later, he showed up and this is what had happened. He was jogging to the ATM, a sheriff stopped asked him where he thought he was going, made him get in the car, and took him to the motel (on the edge of town) where, luckily, he had made the reservation and the desk folks remembered who he was. The sheriff then let him free, but Kim had to walk back. (1990, no cell phones). He was annoyed, we were outraged and wanted to file a complaint or whatever… he begged us to forget about it. But being the psychologist in the group,  explained to the well-meaning white guys, took the opportunity, went on to share how this was something most all black men were used to… I am all this time later, still shaking and enraged. 

The thing about owning a Ph.D. in multicultural education is that you only know enough to remind you that you only know enough… which is never enough. This came screaming home to me that evening and still haunts me, every time there is a shooting or  a family member says something uninformed about people of color.

Now that cities in both my countries are upside down in relation to social justice, racism, homophobia, and creeping fascism… I remembered that amazing weekend, with great guys on top of the world. And like many of the events that have taken this entire planet to the edge, a great day turned ugly in a moment because of the stupidity of people I had thought were there to protect us all. Since coming out, I have learned that if I keep my mouth shut in difficult situations I can pass, other friends, colleagues, family members do not have that luxury, especially in regards to racism. I am grateful, yet I also feel some responsibility. 

So, if my beautiful brothers and sisters of color will allow me, and forgive me when I step into it, I stand by us all. Check me when I do it wrong, but know you have an ally here!

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - May 31, 2020 💌

"There is no best or right kind of experience in meditation; each session is as different and unique as each day of your life. If you have ideas of what should happen, you can become needlessly disappointed if your meditation doesn’t conform to these expectations.

At first meditation is likely to be novel, and it’s easy to feel you are changing. After a while, there may be fewer dramatically novel experiences. You may be making the most progress when you don’t feel anything particularly significant is going on—the changes you undergo in meditation are often too subtle to detect accurately. Suspend judgment and let whatever comes come and go. "

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Flowing Between Inner and Outer Worlds

When we meditate, we develop a creative awareness that enables us to see that we are a flow of inner conditions meeting outer conditions. 

—Martine Batchelor, “The Woman in the Photograph”

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I am almost 65 and...

Via Lion´s Roar // Thich Nhat Hanh

This Is the Buddha’s Love: An Interview with Thich Nhat Hanh

In this interview from 2006, the great Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh talks about non-self, interdependence, and the love that expands until it has no limit.

Thich Nhat Hanh: We say, “I take refuge in sangha,” but sangha is made of individual practitioners. So you have to take care of yourself. Otherwise, you don’t have much to contribute to the community because you do not have enough calm, peace, solidity, and freedom in your heart. That is why in order to build a community, you have to build yourself at the same time. The community is in you and you are in the community. You interpenetrate each other. That is why I emphasize sangha-building. That doesn’t mean that you neglect your own practice. It is by taking good care of your breath, of your body, of your feelings, that you can build a good community, you see.   Make the jump here to read the full article and more

Via White Crane Institute

1903 -

Psychoanalyst DR. A.A. BRILL presented a paper at a joint meeting of the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychoanalytic Association in Boston on homosexuality and paranoia. He stressed that homosexuality was part of the normal sexual instinct and plays a useful part in social relationships and that homosexuality was only pathological when combined with adjustment difficulties. However, he also equated homosexuality with paranoia by saying homosexuals experienced delusions of persecution. (Now why would that be?

Via Daily Dharma: The Accomplishment of Slowing Down

Choosing to slow down and not accomplish anything is a revolution in itself.

—Hai An (Sister Ocean),“The Joy of Letting Go: Spring Cleaning Inside and Out”

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