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, November 20, 2021
Via White Crane Institute // Do You Believe In God? By Quentin Crisp
Do You Believe In God?
By Quentin Crisp
Well, now, the last time You-Know-Who was mentioned, I began by saying I wouldn't like to say anything that gave offense. And someone in the audience said, "Why stop now?" But this is still something that worries me, so if at any moment anyone finds anything I say offensive, they have only to jump up and down, make a scene, and we will stop.
I believe, like most people, not that of which logic can convince me but what my nature inclines me to believe. This is so of nearly everybody. I am unable to believe in a God susceptible to prayer as petition. It does not seem to me to be sufficiently humble to imagine that whatever force keeps the planets turning in the heavens is going to stop what it's doing to give me a bicycle with three speeds.
But if God is the universe that encloses the universe, or if God is the cell within the cell, or if God is the cause behind the cause, then this I accept absolutely. And if prayer is a way of aligning your body with the forces that flow through the universe, then prayer I accept. But there is a worrying aspect about the idea of God. Like witchcraft or the science of the zodiac or any of these other things, the burden is placed elsewhere. This is what I don't like.
You see, to me, you are the heroes of this hour. I do not think the earth was ever meant to be your home. I do not see the sky as a canopy held over your head by cherubs or see the earth as a carpet laid at your feet. You used to live an easy lying-down life in the sea. But your curiosity and your courage prompted you to lift your head out of the sea and gasp this fierce element in which we live. They are seated on Mars, with their little green arms folded, saying, "We can be reasonably certain there is no life on Earth because there the atmosphere is oxygen, which is so harsh that it corrupts metal." But you learned to breathe it. Furthermore, you crawled out of the sea, and you walked up and down the beach for centuries until your thighbones were thick enough to walk on land. It was a mistake, but you did it.
Once you have this view of your past — not that it was handed to you but that you did it — then your view of the future will change. This terror you have of the atom bomb will pass. Something will arise which will breathe radiation if you learned to breathe oxygen.
So you don't have to worry. Don't keep looking into the sky to see what is happening. Embrace the future. All you have to do about the future is what you did about the past. Rely on your curiosity and your courage and ride through the night.
"Do You Believe in God" is from The Wit and Wisdom of Quentin Crisp (1984), edited by Guy Kettelhack.
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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 Dhamma Wheel | Right Effort: Developing Unarisen Healthy States
Reflection
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One week from today: Maintaining Arisen Healthy States
Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media
#DhammaWheel
Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.
Via Daily Dharma: Let Your Mind Be
Via Dhamma Wheel
Reflection
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One week from today: Abstaining from Intoxication
Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media
#DhammaWheel
Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.
Via Love Serve Remember Foundation
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Friday, November 19, 2021
Via Daily Dharma: Control Your Mind
Thursday, November 18, 2021
Via Daily Dharma: The Middle Way
Wednesday, November 17, 2021
Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Speech: Refraining from Harsh Speech
Reflection
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One week from today: Refraining from Frivolous Speech
Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media
#DhammaWheel
Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.
Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - November 17, 2021 💌
Who dwells in the heart cave has no limit. Who dwells in the heart cave is beyond time, beyond space.
Each time you experience yourself as something or somebody, just notice
that it's another thought or sensation drifting across the walls of the
cave, and return to the spacious, formless, timeless essence.
- Ram Dass -
Via Daily Dharma: Living Fully
—Anthony Tshering, “How the Concept of Impermanence Can Help Anxiety-Ridden Millennials”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
Tuesday, November 16, 2021
Via White Crane Institute // The VAGINA MUSEUM
The VAGINA MUSEUM opened in London's Camden Market; In July we talked about the Penis Museum, one of the top tourist attractions in Reykjavic, Iceland. Now, in a sort of response to its erection, it has a sister museum across the pond, in London. The Vagina Museum is the first of its kind and is driven by a mission for social justice and public health initiatives.
Visitors to the museum will discover informational posters and sculptures, a small shop with vaginally themed products and an events calendar that includes a dinner for Trans Day of Remembrance and "Cliterature" (book club) meetings.
"The anatomy has such complex politics around it that we found it was best to first engage people through what they know, so we can teach them things they don't know," said the museum curator, Sarah Creed. "It's all about unpacking social constructs and changing perspective through engagement."
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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 // Dhamma Wheel
A 365-day program of dhamma study
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Via Daily Dharma: What Is Prayer?
Monday, November 15, 2021
Via The Elders
Via Daily Dharma: Heal Yourself and Others
We overcome deep-rooted self-centered habits by working compassionately for the healing of our societies and the healing of the earth. This is what’s required for the Buddhist path to become truly liberative in the modern world.