Tuesday, October 5, 2021
[GBF] new GBF talks
Enjoy 600+ free recorded dharma talks at www.gaybuddhist.org
| New talks have been added to the audio archive at the GBF website: | |||
Via White Crane Institute // JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS
This Day in Gay History
October 05
Born
1840 -
JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS, English poet and literary critic, born (d: 1893); Another of the great forefathers of Gay Liberation. To be a homosexual in Victorian England meant membership, if one dared, in an underground fraternity. For to speak candidly of one’s tastes was to open oneself to criminal prosecution, if scandal, or one’s enemies felt inclined to claim a pound of flesh. One of the few Englishmen of the day who came closest to crusading for public acceptance of “inversion,” as he called it, was John Addington Symonds. Homosexuality was his obsession.
It was the “problem” in modern ethics that most deeply touched on his life, and he refused to hold back both questions and intelligently considered answers. In 1877 he lost his chair of poetry at Oxford because he was openly “familiar” with boys and left England for Italy, dedicating the rest of his life to exploring the problem. The result of his labors was A Problem With Greek Ethics (1833) and A Problem in Modern Ethics (1891), pioneering works of sexual apology.
Symonds was a painfully honest man. Walt Whitman, who for reasons of his own, was not, was hounded for 20 years by Symonds who wanted to know whether the author of “Calamus” was Gay. The poet, to his eternal shame, said no. Had Whitman not died shortly after his response, Symonds would undoubtedly have asked again. He was not the kind to take no for an answer.
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Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute
"With the increasing commodification of gay news, views, and culture by powerful corporate interests, having a strong independent voice in our community is all the more important. White Crane is one of the last brave standouts in this bland new world... a triumph over the looming mediocrity of the mainstream Gay world." - Mark Thompson
Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989!
www.whitecraneinstitute.org
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Via Tricycle // The McMindfulness Wars
The McMindfulness Wars
By Ira Helderman
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Via Daily Dharma: Leave Yourself Alone
The
paradox of our practice is that the most effective way of
transformation is to leave ourselves alone. The more we let everything
be just what it is, the more we relax into an open, attentive awareness
of one moment after another.
Monday, October 4, 2021
Via White Crane Institute // John Cleese's Eulogy for Graham Chapman
Today's Gay Wisdom
2017 -
John Cleese's Eulogy for Graham Chapman
Widely considered one of the most notable eulogies of the last century, here is Cleese's eulogy for Graham Chapman:
Graham Chapman, co-author of the 'Parrot Sketch,' is no more.
He has ceased to be, bereft of life, he rests in peace, he has kicked the bucket, hopped the twig, bit the dust, snuffed it, breathed his last, and gone to meet the Great Head of Light Entertainment in the sky, and I guess that we're all thinking how sad it is that a man of such talent, such capability and kindness, of such intelligence should now be so suddenly spirited away at the age of only forty-eight, before he'd achieved many of the things of which he was capable, and before he'd had enough fun.
Well, I feel that I should say, "Nonsense. Good riddance to him, the freeloading bastard! I hope he fries. "
And the reason I think I should say this is, he would never forgive me if I didn't, if I threw away this opportunity to shock you all on his behalf. Anything for him but mindless good taste. I could hear him whispering in my ear last night as I was writing this:
"Alright, Cleese, you're very proud of being the first person to ever say 'shit' on television. If this service is really for me, just for starters, I want you to be the first person ever at a British memorial service to say 'fuck'!"
You see, the trouble is, I can't. If he were here with me now I would probably have the courage, because he always emboldened me. But the truth is, I lack his balls, his splendid defiance. And so I'll have to content myself instead with saying 'Betty Mardsen...'
But bolder and less inhibited spirits than me follow today. Jones and Idle, Gilliam and Palin. Heaven knows what the next hour will bring in Graham's name. Trousers dropping, blasphemers on pogo sticks, spectacular displays of high-speed farting, synchronized incest. One of the four is planning to stuff a dead ocelot and a 1922 Remington typewriter up his own arse to the sound of the second movement of Elgar's cello concerto. And that's in the first half.
Because you see, Gray would have wanted it this way. Really. Anything for him but mindless good taste. And that's what I'll always remember about him---apart, of course, from his Olympian extravagance. He was the prince of bad taste. He loved to shock. In fact, Gray, more than anyone I knew, embodied and symbolized all that was most offensive and juvenile in Monty Python. And his delight in shocking people led him on to greater and greater feats. I like to think of him as the pioneering beacon that beat the path along which fainter spirits could follow.
Some memories. I remember writing the undertaker speech with him, and him suggesting the punch line, 'All right, we'll eat her, but if you feel bad about it afterwards, we'll dig a grave and you can throw up into it.' I remember discovering in 1969, when we wrote every day at the flat where Connie Booth and I lived, that he'd recently discovered the game of printing four-letter words on neat little squares of paper, and then quietly placing them at strategic points around our flat, forcing Connie and me into frantic last minute paper chases whenever we were expecting important guests.
I remember him at BBC parties crawling around on all fours, rubbing himself affectionately against the legs of gray-suited executives, and delicately nibbling the more appetizing female calves. Mrs. Eric Morecambe remembers that too.
I remember his being invited to speak at the Oxford union, and entering the chamber dressed as a carrot—a full length orange tapering costume with a large, bright green sprig as a hat—and then, when his turn came to speak, refusing to do so. He just stood there, literally speechless, for twenty minutes, smiling beatifically. The only time in world history that a totally silent man has succeeded in inciting a riot.
I remember Graham receiving a Sun newspaper TV award from Reggie Maudling. Who else! And taking the trophy falling to the ground and crawling all the way back to his table, screaming loudly, as loudly as he could. And if you remember Gray, that was very loud indeed.
It is magnificent, isn't it? You see, the thing about shock... is not that it upsets some people, I think; I think that it gives others a momentary joy of liberation, as we realized in that instant that the social rules that constrict our lives so terribly are not actually very important.
Well, Gray can't do that for us anymore. He's gone. He is an ex-Chapman. All we have of him now is our memories. But it will be some time before they fade.
The video of Cleese delivering the eulogy can be seen online here: http://www.youtube.com/
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Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute
"With the increasing commodification of gay news, views, and culture by powerful corporate interests, having a strong independent voice in our community is all the more important. White Crane is one of the last brave standouts in this bland new world... a triumph over the looming mediocrity of the mainstream Gay world." - Mark Thompson
Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989!
www.whitecraneinstitute.org
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Via White Crane Insitute // C.A. TRIPP
1919 -
On this date the psychologist, writer and gay historian C.A. TRIPP was born (d. 2003). Born Clarence Arthur Tripp in Denton, Texas, Tripp studied at the Rochester Institute of Technology, and was a Naval Veteran. Tripp worked with Alfred Kinsey at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction in Bloomington, Indiana from 1948 to 1956. He earned a Ph.D. in Clinical psychology from New York University.
Tripp originally intended to spend his life as a photographer. Born in Denton, TX, he left home to master the art and science of photography at the Kodak Institute in Rochester, NY, and earned money taking headshots and promotional photos for the theater industry. In 1948, however, this path branched away when he was hired as a photographer by the Kinsey Institute for Sex Research. Here, he was introduced to the field of psychology and became intrigued with Kinsey's study of sex.
Dr. Alfred Kinsey, the director of the institute, eventually sponsored Tripp's application to New York University, where he earned a Ph.D. in psychology. After earning his degree, Dr. Tripp taught at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center, he left to start a private psychotherapy practice and pursue his own independent research into the origins and variations of human sexuality.
After ten years, his research culminated in The Homosexual Matrix, a groundbreaking book that was among the first scholarly works to deal with homosexuality from a scientific perspective, relatively free from bias or moralizing. The huge success of The Homosexual Matrix brought Dr. Tripp on speaking tours across the country as well as on radio and television, but he continued to practice clinical psychology in his New York City office as well as at his home in Nyack, NY.
Although his book The Homosexual Matrix was an early classic for many gay men seeking information, he is best known for his book The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln, which was published posthumously.
In the book Tripp details the evidence for Lincoln's attachments and sexual relationships with men throughout his life. It's a powerful book that Tripp devoted the last decades of his life to writing. It caused an understandable firestorm but also contributed greatly to the scholarship of the beloved president that had been ensconced in heterosexual wax of hagiography. A pretty interesting read all around.
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Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute
"With the increasing commodification of gay news, views, and culture by powerful corporate interests, having a strong independent voice in our community is all the more important. White Crane is one of the last brave standouts in this bland new world... a triumph over the looming mediocrity of the mainstream Gay world." - Mark Thompson
Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989!
www.whitecraneinstitute.org
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Via Daily Dharma: Let Love Unfold
The
essence of our consciousness is already love and wisdom. Karma,
concepts, and emotional patterns are only temporarily preventing our
consciousness from unfolding its enlightened nature.
Sunday, October 3, 2021
Via Daily Dharma: Happiness as an Offering
The
deep happiness of well-being comes from caring for yourself and loving
the world. It comes from offering what’s good in you to others, giving
your gifts to a world that needs it.
—Interview with Jack Kornfield by Marie Scarles, “Finding Freedom Right Here, Right Now”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - October 3, 2021 💌
We’re sitting under the tree of our thinking minds, wondering why we’re not getting any sunshine. - Ram Dass
Saturday, October 2, 2021
Via Leonardo Sakamoto // Encarar o homofóbico, como fez o senador Contarato, é lição civilizatória...
Encarar o homofóbico,
como fez o senador Contarato, é lição civilizatória ... - Veja mais em
https://noticias.uol.com.br/colunas/leonardo-sakamoto/2021/09/30/encarar-o-homofobico-como-fez-o-senador-contarato-e-licao-civilizatoria.htm?cmpid=copiaecola
Encarar o homofóbico,
como fez o senador Contarato, é lição civilizatória... - Veja mais em
https://noticias.uol.com.br/colunas/leonardo-sakamoto/2021/09/30/encarar-o-homofobico-como-fez-o-senador-contarato-e-licao-civilizatoria.htm?cmpid=copiaecola
Encarar o homofóbico,
como fez o senador Contarato, é lição civilizatória ... - Veja mais em
https://noticias.uol.com.br/colunas/leonardo-sakamoto/2021/09/30/encarar-o-homofobico-como-fez-o-senador-contarato-e-licao-civilizatoria.htm?cmpid=copiaecola
Via White Crane Instititue // DAN "MAHATMA" VERA
1967 -
Friend, poet, activist, Radical Faerie, former White Crane Managing Editor and co-creator of this Daily GayWisdom, DAN "MAHATMA" VERA, was born in South Texas on this day. He has studied and received degrees in history, anthropology, theology, and justice & peace studies. He is a graduate of Southwestern University and Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado.
In Vera’s early 20s Pablo Neruda "whispered in his ear" and his world went Technicolor. Consequently he's had a hard time seeing in black and white ever since. A writer of poetry for over a decade, his poetry has been featured in Shaping Sanctuary: Proclaiming God's Grace in an Inclusive Church, DC Poets Against The War: An Anthology, Red Wheelbarrow, and Raddish and the chapbook, Crepusculario. His poetry has also been featured on Pacifica Radio's nationally broadcast Democracy Now program. He is a founding member of Brookland Area Writers & Artists and a member of the Triangle Artists Group and Poets Against the War. Most recently he won the Oscar Wilde Poetry Prize. Dan is also an accomplished watercolorist.
Dan has worked in advocacy for working poor and homeless people in Denver, Colorado, and as field director and trainer for the LGBT-welcoming Reconciling Ministries Network in the United Methodist Church. In 2000 Dan authored the groundbreaking statement "United Methodists of Color for a Fully Inclusive Church" which lead to the first denominational people of color organization for LGBT inclusion, which he served as director. He served as poetry editor for RFD magazine.
He’s a hell of a knitter, a fine, sweet friend and an indispensible colleague. His other interests include cooking, gardening and occasionally walking the dog. He lives in the Brookland neighborhood of Washington, DC with his husband Peter Montgomery and their dog Blossom. The Tejano Cubano Radical Faerie poet had been a contributor to White Crane since 1998 and as its managing editor oversaw its redesign in the Summer of 2003. He has recorded his work for Grace Cavalieri's Poet and the Poem program at the Library of Congress.
Check it out here: http://www.loc.gov/poetry/
Dan won the Red Hen Press Letras Latinas Prize for his book, Speaking Wiri Wiri. It can be purchased here: http://www.amazon.com/
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Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute
"With the increasing commodification of gay news, views, and culture by powerful corporate interests, having a strong independent voice in our community is all the more important. White Crane is one of the last brave standouts in this bland new world... a triumph over the looming mediocrity of the mainstream Gay world." - Mark Thompson
Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989!
www.whitecraneinstitute.org
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Via White Crane Institute // MOHANDAS "MAHATMA" GANDHI
This Day in Gay History
October 02
Born
1869 -
MOHANDAS "MAHATMA" GANDHI , was born on this date (d: 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist, who employed nonviolent resistance (satyagraha) to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British rule, and in turn inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific Mahatma (Sanskrit:: "great-souled", "venerable"), first applied to him in 1914 in South Africa, is now used throughout the world.
Born and raised in a Hindu family in coastal Gujarat, western India, Gandhi trained in law at the Inner Temple, London, and was called to the bar at age 22 in June 1891. After two uncertain years in India, where he was unable to start a successful law practice, he moved to South Africa in 1893 to represent an Indian merchant in a lawsuit. He went on to stay for 21 years. It was in South Africa that Gandhi raised a family, and first employed nonviolent resistance in a campaign for civil rights. In 1915, aged 45, he returned to India. He set about organising peasants, farmers, and urban laborers to protest against excessive land-tax and discrimination. Assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns for easing poverty, expanding women's rights, building religious and ethnic amity, ending untouchability, and above all for achieving Swaraj or self-rule.
Was Mahatma Gandhi gay? A Pulitzer-Prize winning author Joseph Lelyveld claims the god-like Indian figure not only left his wife for a man, but also harbored racist attitudes.
According to Lelyveld, his lover was Hermann Kallenbach, a German-Jewish architect and bodybuilder. The couple built their love nest during Gandhi's time in South Africa where he arrived as a 23-year-old law clerk in 1893 and lived for 21 years.
Much of the intimacy between the two is revealed in Kallenbach's letters to his Indian friend. Gandhi left his wife, "Ba," -- an arranged marriage -- in 1908 for Kallenbach, a lifelong bachelor, according to the book.
In letters, Gandhi wrote to Kallenbach, "How completely you have taken possession of my body. This is slavery with a vengeance. "
"Your portrait (the only one) stands on my mantelpiece in the bedroom," he writes. "The mantelpiece is opposite the bed."
The book has been banned in one Western India state, Gujarat, after local press reports claimed the book maligns the father of modern India, according to the Associated Press. Its top state politician, Chief Minister Narendra Modi, called the book "perverse. "
Politicians in the state of Maharashtra, home to India's financial capital Mumbai, asked the central government to bar publication nationawide.
The Hindu religion, just as Christianity, frowns upon homosexuality. But in India today, discrimination against gays is illegal and many are open about their sexual orientation.
In Levyveld's book, the lovers' nicknames to each other were "Upper House" and "Lower House," suggesting one may have been in a stronger position of power.
At the age of 13 Gandhi had been married to 14-year-old Kasturbai Makhanji, but after four children together they broke up so he could be with Kallenbach. As late as 1933 Gandhi wrote a letter telling of his unending desire and branding his ex-wife "the most venomous woman I have met." Kallenabach emigrated from East Prussia to South Africa where he first met Gandhi. The author describes Gandhi's relationship with the man as, "the most intimate, also ambiguous relationship of [Gandhi's] lifetime."
"They were a couple," said Tridip Suhrud, a Gandhi scholar who met Lelyveld in India.
The source of much of the detail of their affair was found in the "loving and charming love notes" that Gandhi wrote to Kallenbach, whose family saved them after the architect's death. They eventually landed in the National Archives of India. Gandhi had destroyed all those from Kallenbach.
It was known that Gandhi was preoccupied with physiology, and even though he had a "taut torso," weighing 106 to 118 pounds throughout his life, the author says Gandhi was attracted to Kallenbach's strongman build.
The pair lived together for two years in a house Kallenbach built in South Africa and pledged to give one another "more love, and yet more love."
Gandhi implored Kallenbach not to "look lustfully upon any woman" and cautioned, "I cannot imagine a thing as ugly as the intercourse of men and women."
By the time Gandhi left South Africa in 1914, Kallenbach was not allowed to accompany him because of World War I. But Gandhi told him, "You will always be you and you alone to me...I have told you you will have to desert me and not I you."
Kallenbach died in 1945 and Gandhi died in 1948.
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Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute
"With the increasing commodification of gay news, views, and culture by powerful corporate interests, having a strong independent voice in our community is all the more important. White Crane is one of the last brave standouts in this bland new world... a triumph over the looming mediocrity of the mainstream Gay world." - Mark Thompson
Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989!
www.whitecraneinstitute.org
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