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.
Saturday, April 3, 2021
Friday, April 2, 2021
Daily Dharma: More Fully Embed in the World
I
don’t believe meditation exists to help me escape or retreat from the
world. I practice meditation because it can more fully embed me in the
world and prepare me to act more intentionally within it.
—Lauren Krauze, “The Negative Space of Meditation”
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Via White Crane Institute // This Day in Gay History: HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
This Day in Gay History
April 02
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN, born, (d: 1875); Forget the silly Danny Gay, um...er...Kaye movie of yesteryear in which Hans sings to inchworms and measures all the marigolds. Anderson was an odd duck, all right, but odd in ways not even hinted at in that Technicolor monstrosity.
The real story, on the contrary, might actually make a good film. One can already see the scene between his poor parents as they realize something is a little strange about the lad. When the other kids are out doing masculine things, like circle jerks and pulling wings off flies, all he wants to do is sew clothes for his dolls.
Then we can have the scene where he decides to leave his place as an apprentice to a tailor to try to make it as an opera singer. He’s really torn about leaving, because he just loves being surrounded by all those clothes to sew. Then there’s his time of starvation on the road until he’s taken in by two Gay musicians who see to it that the hunky young man is plenty stuffed.
Passed on to a middle-aged poet, and getting a little wiser, he decides it’s much more fun being kept than taking dancing lessons, as he had originally wanted, in return for services rendered. Eventually he makes it big as the greatest fairy tale writer in Europe, and the entire cast joins in the great production number, “It Takes One to Write One.”
Thursday, April 1, 2021
Via Daily Dharma: Notice the Emptiness
Zen invites us to empty our minds in order to gain insight into the emptiness of self, and through this emptiness into the nature of the world.
—John Kain, “The Beautiful Trap”
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Wednesday, March 31, 2021
Via FB // You Might Wanna Learn More About Trans People
Learning new vocabulary and identities can be difficult, but many of these words actually apply to you! So for this Trans Day of Visibility, take a little time to acquaint yourself with these terms so that you can be the best, most supportive ally possible.
As we learn more about each other, sometimes it's helpful for us to create new vocabulary to describe ourselves and find other folks who are like us in sexuality, romance, gender, or body.
We're so proud of the community work that went into creating this poster.
You can download all the files for printing in your classroom or office here: https://wannalearnmore.com/poster
If you want to be part of the wonderful community that created this graphic, come visit us
The full text of the poster is below:
--- Full Text ---
Image description and full text transcript of the infographic poster:
Image description: A cartoon human is centered on a poster. The human has a blue cartoon brain in their head, red/yellow flames in their chest, a pink heart in their chest, a green star where their legs meet their torso, and an orange aura surrounding them. There is a thought bubble over the person’s head with a question mark inside. The blue brain points to a blue section titled “Gender Identity”. The green star points to a green section titled “Assigned Gender/Sex At Birth”. The orange aura points to an orange section titled “Gender Expression”. The red/yellow flames points to a yellow section titled “Sexual Orientation”. The pink heart points to a pink section titles “Romantic Orientation”. There is a light purple box with a dark border at the bottom with extra text and a QR Code. Each section title includes a small image of a cartoon human with exclamation points over their head, and the light purple box with extra text and a QR code has a larger version of the same cartoon human with exclamation points on top of the box. The rest of this description is a transcript of the text on the poster.
Gender Identity: A person’s sense of self in relation to gender
Transgender: Person is not the gender assigned at birth
Cisgender: Person is the gender assigned at birth
Metagender: person identifies as neither cisgender nor transgender
Non-Binary: Person is neither exclusively a man nor exclusively a woman. Non-binary people may or may not identify as transgender
Agender: Person does not experience a gender
Gender Fluid: Identity that varies over time (man, woman, or any other identity)
Assigned Gender/Sex At Birth: The gender/sex assigned at birth based on a person’s genitals.
Assigned Male At Birth (AMAB)/Assigned Female At Birth (AFAB): Generally, this assignment is made based on a visual assessment of the baby’s genitalia
Intersex: A naturally occurring variation of sex characteristics, reproductive organs, and/or chromosomes that do not fit the typical definition of male or female (although many intersex people are assigned male or female at birth).
Note: Assigned gender/sex at birth is different than sex, which is based on many variable factors
Gender Expression: How a person presents themself (such as style, actions, demeanor, and more)
Feminine: Expresses qualities and characteristics typically associated with femininity
Masculine: Expresses qualities and characteristics typically associated with masculinity
Androgynous: Expresses both typically feminine and typically masculine qualities ambiguously, or expresses typically neither
Note: Gender expression may change over time or in different situations
Sexual Orientation: Who a person is sexually attracted to
Heterosexual: Sexual attraction to people of a different gender than your own
Homosexual: Sexual attraction to people of a similar gender to your own
Bisexual: Sexual attraction to people of more than one gender
Pansexual: Sexual attraction regardless of gender
Asexual: Experiences little to no sexual attraction
Demisexual: Experiences little to no sexual attraction until a close bond is formed
Romantic Orientation: Who a person is romantically attracted to
Heteroromantic: Romantic attraction to people of a different gender than your own
Homoromantic: Romantic attraction to people of a similar gender to your own
Biromantic: Romantic attraction to people of more than one gender
Panromantic: Romantic attraction regardless of gender
Aromantic: Experiences little to no romantic attraction
Demiromantic: Experiences little to no romantic attraction until a close bond is formed
Light Purple Box with dark border:
These definitions are commonly accepted but not absolute.
Some of these terms have some overlap. That’s okay! Just describe yourself with whatever terms you’re comfortable with, and respect the terms other people use for themselves.
There are so many more identities, orientations, expressions, and definitions that aren’t shown here. Ask your teacher for more resources or visit the link in the QR Code if you have questions!
WannaLearnMore.com
#transdayofvisibility #transweekofvisibility #tdov #TDOV #TDOV2021
Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - March 31, 2021 💌
Via Daily Dharma: Flourishing Together
Humanity as a whole flourishes best when we all flourish together.
—Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, “An Act of Conscience”
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Tuesday, March 30, 2021
Via Daily Dharma: Distinguish Your Motivation
We
do have the potential to awaken, but we must do the hard work of
distinguishing when we are motivated by greed, hatred, and delusion, and
when we are motivated by their opposites—generosity, kindness, and
wisdom.
—Lynn Kelly, “First Thought, Worst Thought”
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Monday, March 29, 2021
Via Daily Dharma: Nothing Is Extraneous
Call
something an obstacle, it is an obstacle. Call it an opportunity, it is
an opportunity. Nothing is extraneous to the spiritual life.
—Interview with Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo by Lucy Powell, “No Excuses”
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Sunday, March 28, 2021
VIA Tricycle // Awakening Together
Awakening Together
By Mindy Newman and Kaia Fischer
|
Via Daily Dharma: Mindfully Wise Up
Mindfulness
is about understanding. You have to use wise thinking to decide how to
handle things; you cannot limit your practice to continuously being
aware.
—Sayadaw U Tejaniya, “The Art of Investigation”
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Via Whitye Crane Institute // KATHARINE LEE BATES
KATHARINE LEE BATES, American poet (b. 1859) died on this date; The author of the words to the anthem "America the Beautiful," Bates was born in Falmouth, Massachusetts. The daughter of a Congregational pastor, she graduated from Wellesley College in 1880 and for many years was a professor of English literature at Wellesley. While teaching there, she was elected a member of the newly formed Pi Gamma Mu honor society for the social sciences because of her interest in history and politics for which she also studied.
Bates lived at Wellesley with Katharine Coman, who herself was a history and political economy teacher and founder of the Wellesley College Economics department. The pair lived together for twenty-five years until Coman's death in 1915. These arrangements were sometimes called "Boston marriages" or "Wellesley marriages". The 1999 play Boston Marriage by David Mamet depicts such a marriage as having an explicitly sexual component. In 2004, Massachusetts became the first state in the U.S. to allow legal same-sex marriages, which made Boston the only major city in the U.S. at the time where a "Boston marriage" could also be a legal marriage, if the couple wished it to be. Now, of course, that’s all history. Let’s hope it stays that way.
Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - March 28, 2021 💌
Bearing the unbearable is the deepest root of compassion in the world. When you bear what you think you cannot bear, who you think you are dies. You become compassion. You don't have compassion - you are compassion. True compassion goes beyond empathy to being with the experience of another. You become an instrument of compassion.
- Ram Dass -
Saturday, March 27, 2021
Via Daily Dharma: Break the Cycle of Hatred
It’s
simple to say that violence is wrong or that vengeance only begets more
vengeance. It’s far harder to break the chains of cause and effect in
our own lives that have conditioned so many cycles of oppression and
hate.
—Mike Gillis, “Press X to Awaken”
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Friday, March 26, 2021
By Daniel Burke
|
Via Daily Dharma: Deepen Intimacy with Yourself
A
meditation practice deepened in silence yields an intimacy with
oneself, and over time, a greater intimacy with others and with all of
life.
—Beth Roth, “Family Dharma: The Fragility of Silence”
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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - March 24, 2021 💌
Death is our greatest challenge as well as our greatest spiritual opportunity. By cultivating mindfulness, we can prepare ourselves for this final passage by allowing nature, rather than Ego, to guide us.
- Ram Dass -