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.
Wednesday, June 24, 2020
Via Daily Dharma: Rediscovering an Unscathed Mind
At
the heart of the teachings is our discovery that inside all of us there
is a Pristine Mind unscathed by life experiences, awaiting our
rediscovery.
—Orgyen Chowang Rinpoche,“Living the Yogi-way”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
—Orgyen Chowang Rinpoche,“Living the Yogi-way”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - June 24, 2020 💌
The devotional path isn’t necessarily a straight line to enlightenment.
There’s a lot of back and forth, negotiations if you will, between the ego and the soul. You look around at all the aspects of suffering, and you watch your heart close in judgment. Then you practice opening it again and loving this too, as a manifestation of the Beloved, another way the Beloved is taking form. Again your love grows vast.
In Bhakti, as you contemplate, emulate, and take on the qualities of the Beloved, your heart keeps expanding until you see the whole universe as the Beloved, even the suffering.
In Bhakti, as you contemplate, emulate, and take on the qualities of the Beloved, your heart keeps expanding until you see the whole universe as the Beloved, even the suffering.
- Ram Dass -
Tuesday, June 23, 2020
Via Medium-Politics // Exploring the ‘Liberal Bias’ of Reality
Right now, conservatives have a reality problem. This is incredibly
well-documented. The willingness of the right to eat up obviously fake
news from Russia or 4Chan is an area of intensive academic study. The
problem is one of the greatest facing a country that wants to continue
to improve. How did we get to this point? There are multiple
contributing factors—and four major ones.
Via Daily Dharma: Internalizing Unity
To
understand that others are much like oneself creates a different
perspective, a startlingly changed worldview. When this is internalized,
you are not confronting another over a divide, but meeting someone with
whom you have so much in common.
—Jeffrey Hopkins, “Equality”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
—Jeffrey Hopkins, “Equality”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
Monday, June 22, 2020
Via Daily Dharma: Revealing and Clarifying Our Minds
We
have two faces: our intrinsic nature and our reactive patterns—the bad
habits of the psyche. Effective practice mirrors both, gradually
revealing our nature, while at the same time, clarifying what obstructs
it.
—Interview with Anne C. Klein by Donna Lynn Brown,“Across the Expanse”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
—Interview with Anne C. Klein by Donna Lynn Brown,“Across the Expanse”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
Sunday, June 21, 2020
Via Budismo e Sociedade // Um Guia Budista para “sobreviver” ao Apocalipse
O mundo passa por um momento delicado. Deterioração do meio
ambiente, pandemia, tensões sociais e raciais. Como budistas, nos
perguntamos como “sobreviver” ao Fim do Mundo? Bhante Akaliko nos
recorda que o Buda já fez essa pergunta séculos atrás ao Rei Pasenadi e o
diálogo entre os dois serve como ensinamento para os dias de hoje.
Make the jump here to read more
Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - June 21, 2020 💌
You and I are not only here in terms of the work we’re doing on
ourselves. We are here in terms of the role we’re playing within the
systems of which we are a part, if you look at the way change affects
people that are unconscious.
Change generates fear, fear generates contractions, contraction generates prejudice, bigotry, and ultimately violence. You can watch the whole thing happen, and you can see it happen in society after society after society.
The antidote for that is a consciousness that does not respond to change with fear. That’s as close to the beginning of that sequence as I can get.
Change generates fear, fear generates contractions, contraction generates prejudice, bigotry, and ultimately violence. You can watch the whole thing happen, and you can see it happen in society after society after society.
The antidote for that is a consciousness that does not respond to change with fear. That’s as close to the beginning of that sequence as I can get.
- Ram Dass -
Via Daily Dharma: You Are Deserving of Love
Not only are we buddhas (or at least in the process of becoming buddhas), we are somehow, remarkably, deserving of being loved.
—Taylor Plimpton, “Who My Dog Thinks I Am”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
—Taylor Plimpton, “Who My Dog Thinks I Am”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
Saturday, June 20, 2020
Via Daily Dharma: Connecting Through Prayer
Prayer
involves opening, and in that opening a connection forms. That connection is formed through devotion, a combination of respect, and an appreciation that is hard to put into words.
—Ken McLeod, “Where the Thinking Stops”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
—Ken McLeod, “Where the Thinking Stops”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
Friday, June 19, 2020
Via Daily Dharma: The Benefits of Gratitude
It’s very difficult to be caught up in lots of distracting thoughts when there is a strong sense of appreciation in your life.
—Andy Puddicombe, “10 Tips for Living More Mindfully”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
—Andy Puddicombe, “10 Tips for Living More Mindfully”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
Via NPR // Juneteenth
Juneteenth is getting unusually widespread attention this year, as Americans protest police brutality and racism.
But some Americans have, for years, celebrated it as the day that marks our ancestors' emancipation.
June 19, 1865 was the day U.S. Army troops landed in Galveston, Texas. It was the aftermath of the Civil War. The troops informed some of the last enslaved Americans that they were forever free. They enforced President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which took effect on January 1, 1863.
The proclamation declared freedom for the slaves of rebels in the South. It came after almost two years of war, and it took more years of war to enforce it. The order did not free every slave, and the document specified places it did not apply.
Frederick Douglass, the activist who'd been enslaved himself, said Lincoln was slow, even "slothful" in making this "obvious" move. But Douglass celebrated that "the dictation of humanity and justice have at last prevailed."
But some Americans have, for years, celebrated it as the day that marks our ancestors' emancipation.
June 19, 1865 was the day U.S. Army troops landed in Galveston, Texas. It was the aftermath of the Civil War. The troops informed some of the last enslaved Americans that they were forever free. They enforced President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which took effect on January 1, 1863.
The proclamation declared freedom for the slaves of rebels in the South. It came after almost two years of war, and it took more years of war to enforce it. The order did not free every slave, and the document specified places it did not apply.
Frederick Douglass, the activist who'd been enslaved himself, said Lincoln was slow, even "slothful" in making this "obvious" move. But Douglass celebrated that "the dictation of humanity and justice have at last prevailed."
Make the jump here to listen to it read
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