Via White Crane Institute // SOL INVICTUS

 

The Unconquered Sun 2017 - SOL INVICTUS ("the Unconquered Sun") or, more fully, Deus Sol Invictus ("the Unconquered Sun God") was the late Roman state sun god. The cult was created by the emperor Aurelian in 274 CE and continued until the abolition of paganism under Theodosius I. The Romans held a festival on December 25 called Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, "the birthday of the unconquered sun." The use of the title Sol Invictus allowed several solar deities to be worshipped collectively, including Elah-Gabal, a Syrian sun god; Sol, the patron god of Emperor Aurelian (270-274); and Mithras. Oh, and a Jewish upstart named Jesus. December 25th was also considered to be the date of the winter solstice, which the Romans called bruma. It was therefore the day the Sun proved itself to be "unconquered" despite the shortening of daylight hours. (When Julius Caesar introduced the Julian Calendar in 45 B.C.E., December 25th was approximately the date of the solstice. In modern times, the solstice falls on December 21st or 22nd.) The Sol Invictus festival has a "strong claim on the responsibility" for the date of Christmas, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia. Solar symbolism was popular with early Christian writers as Jesus was considered to be the "sun of righteousness." The date for Christmas may also bear a relation to the sun worship. According to the scholiast on the Syriac bishop Jacob Bar-Salibi, writing in the twelfth century: "It was a custom of the Pagans to celebrate on the same 25 December the birthday of the Sun, at which they kindled lights in token of festivity. In these solemnities and revelries the Christians also took part. Accordingly when the doctors of the Church perceived that the Christians had a leaning to this festival, they took counsel and resolved that the true Nativity should be solemnized on that day." (cited in "Christianity and Paganism in the Fourth to Eighth Centuries", Ramsay MacMullen. Yale:1997, p155)

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Via Be Here Now Network // Madison Margolin – Set and Setting – Ep. 2 – Connecting the Dots with Jason Pinsky

  Madison Margolin – Set and Setting – Ep. 2 – Connecting the Dots with Jason Pinsky
December 21, 2021 Jason Pinsky joins Madison Margolin for a conversation about connecting the dots of The Pinsky Triangle, and the great power of plant medicines to...

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Via LGBTQ Nation Daily Brief // Utah billionaire leaves Mormon church with blistering accusation it is actively harming the world

 Utah billionaire leaves Mormon church with blistering accusation it is actively harming the world

The state's richest native will give $600,000 to an LGBTQ group to assist any queer students at the church's Brigham Young University who might be forced to leave. 

 

 

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Via Dhamma Wheel // Cultivating Equanimity

 

RIGHT INTENTION Cultivating Equanimity Whatever you intend, whatever you plan, and whatever you have a tendency toward, that will become the basis on which your mind is established. (SN 12.40) Develop meditation on equanimity, for when you develop meditation on equanimity, all aversion is abandoned. (MN 62)  The characteristic of equanimity is promoting objectivity toward beings. (Vm 9.93) Having seen a form with the eye, one is neither glad-minded nor sad-minded but abides with equanimity, mindful and fully aware. (AN 6.1)

Reflection Equanimity is the quality of mind in which we are neither drawn toward something that is enticing nor pushed away from what is repellent. Like a plate balanced on a stick, the mind does not tilt forward or backward but remains poised in the middle. We can still act from this state, and in fact our actions tend to be more balanced when we are grounded in the equipoise of equanimity rather than carried off by passion for or against something. Daily Practice Equanimity is cultivated with the practice of mindfulness. Being aware non-judgmentally means being aware of an object of experience without the mind being biased in favor of it or against it, without favoring or opposing what it is or what is happening. Practice bringing an attitude of "this is simply what is happening now" toward whatever occurs, instead of "I like [or don’t like] this," or "I approve [or don't approve] of this." Tomorrow: Refraining from Frivolous Speech One week from today: Cultivating Lovingkindness Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via Daily Dharma: The Gift of Uncertainty

 

When we let ourselves hang out in the space of not-knowing, there is enormous potential and life could unfold in innumerable ways. So, rather than avoid and fear this place of uncertainty, we can embrace it and all its gifts.

—Kaira Jewel Lingo, “Trusting the Unknown”

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Via White Crane Institute // SOLSTICE

 

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Yule Santa with Antlers

2017 -

WINTER SOLSTICE - In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice, sometimes known as Yule, occurs on or very close to this date. In the Northern Hemisphere, it marks the first official day of Winter. In the Southern Hemisphere, the summer solstice occurs around this time.

YULE is a winter festival celebrated in Northern Europe since ancient times. In pre-Christian times, Germanic pagans celebrated Yule from late December to early January on a date determined by a lunar calendar. During the process of Christianization and the adoption of the Julian calendar, Yule was placed on December 25, in order to correspond with the Christian celebrations later known in English as Christmas. Thus, the terms "Yule" and "Christmas" are often used interchangeably, especially in Christmas carols.

In Denmark, Norway and Sweden the term jul is the common way to refer to the celebration, including among Christians. In these countries the highlight of the yule celebrations is the Yule Eve or Christmas Eve on December 24, which is when children get their Yule or Christmas presents by a character resembling Father Christmas called julemanden (Denmark), julenissen (Norway), or jultomten (Sweden).

In Finland, it is called joulu, in Estonia jõulud, and in Iceland and the Faroe Islands jól.

Yule is an important festival for Germanic neopagans, Wiccans and various secular groups who observe the holiday at the winter solstice (December 21 or 22 in the Northern Hemisphere, June 20 or 21 in the Southern Hemisphere).

As with other holidays at this time of the year, it is about the shortness of the day and the long dark night, and it is celebrated, traditionally, with the burning of a log all night to keep the light or carry the light over the divide of the old year to the new.

The burning of the Yule log, the decorating of Christmas trees, particularly with lights, the eating of ham, the hanging of boughs, holly, mistletoe, etc. are all historically practices associated with Yule. When the Christianization of the Germanic peoples began, missionaries found it convenient to provide a Christian reinterpretation of popular pagan holidays such as Yule and allow the celebrations themselves to go on largely unchanged, versus trying to confront and suppress them. The Scandinavian tradition of slaughtering a pig at Christmas (see Christmas ham) is probably salient evidence of this.

The tradition is thought to be derived from the sacrifice of boars to the god Freyr at the Yule celebrations. Halloween and aspects of Easter celebrations are likewise assimilated from northern European pagan festivals.

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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 Tumblr \\ Chris Emerson: When Causes and conditions come together

 

Via Tumblr \\ Dakotsu Lida

 

Via Tumblr \\ Geshe Langri Thangpa

 

Via Daily Dharma: Finding the Still Point

 

Do not cling to or demand pleasure, calm, bliss, silence, or peace, for they may come and go. Realizing such is true peace shining at the heart of all the world’s noise and calamity—the still point at the center of all coming and going.

—Jundo Cohen, “Four Steps You May Be Overlooking in Your Zazen Practice”

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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - December 19, 2021 💌

 

Water, when it flows downstream, doesn’t have a model of what it’s doing. It’s just being water, and water floats downstream, because that’s how water works. The thing that is extraordinarily hard for any of us to truly realize and to have sufficient faith to accept, is that if you stop having views, having models, planning, desiring, organizing, and structuring, it’s all right.

You don’t stop your desires as long as you stay in a human body. You break the identification with them. Thats all thats required.

It isn’t necessary to give up a thing. It’s necessary to give up attachment to the thing. That’s all that’s required.

- Ram Dass

Via Dhamma Wheel // Establishing Mindfulness of Mind

 Establishing Mindfulness of Mind

A person goes to the forest or to the root of a tree or to an empty place and sits down. Having crossed the legs, one sets the body erect. One establishes the presence of mindfulness. (MN 10) One is aware: "Ardent, fully aware, mindful, I am content." (SN 47.10)   When the mind is beset by desire, one is aware that "the mind is beset by desire." One is just aware, just mindful: "There is mind." And one abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)

Reflection

The third establishment of mindfulness is mindfulness of the quality of mind manifesting in any given moment. It is awareness of awareness itself, in particular of whether or not awareness is influenced by the influx of greed, hatred, or delusion. We start here with desire, a common state that can in many cases be quite subtle and hard to see. Here we are practicing becoming conscious of something that is normally unconscious.

Daily Practice

Sometimes the presence of desire can be detected in our experience. This is not bad or wrong—just something to be noticed. For example, seeing an object is one thing, while seeing it with a tinge of desire, of wanting it, is another. Notice that wanting is simply a quality of mind that is sometimes present and sometimes not. We are not trying to change anything here, just to learn to see what is really happening.

RIGHT CONCENTRATION Approaching and Abiding in the Third Phase of Absorption (3rd Jhāna)

With the fading away of joy, one abides in equanimity; mindful and fully aware, still feeling pleasure with the body, one enters into and abides in the third phase of absorption, on account of which noble ones announce: "One has a pleasant abiding who has equanimity and is mindful." (MN 4)

Reflection

Some people move easily and naturally through the stages of absorption, but many people do not. This is not something to be forced if it does not come on its own, and we should never judge our progress against the schema of four jhānas. As we can see, mindfulness and concentration each involve the other, so at a certain point it becomes unnecessary and unhelpful to compare the two and distinguish two different practices.

Daily Practice

As you settle into the pleasant feeling tones of the second level of absorption, the pleasure gradually subsides and resolves into a state of equanimity or even-mindedness. The body still feels tranquil and at ease, but the mind becomes more balanced as it becomes more mindful and fully aware. Simply rest at ease, doing nothing and striving for nothing, and let the mind settle naturally.

Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Way to the Cessation of Suffering
One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Mental Objects and the Fourth Jhāna

Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media
#DhammaWheel

Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Special Edition: The Week in Good News - December 18, 2021

 

11 ways LGBTQ rights improved around the world in 2021

Though 2021 presented many challenges for the LGBTQ community, it was also a year of hope and progress.

By Emily Bashforth Thursday, December 16, 2021    

Photo: Shutterstock

Though 2021 presented many challenges for the LGBTQ community, it was also a year of hope and progress. In several countries, new legislation was introduced while, in others, regressive laws were scrapped. New policies decriminalized homosexuality, provided protection for trans people against discrimination, and made it easier for the community to access healthcare.

Let’s take a look at eleven ways LGBTQ rights improved around the world this year. Here’s to more positive changes and safer spaces for LGBTQ people to exist in 2022.

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Via Love Serve Remember Foundation \\ Ever wonder how "Be Here Now" came to BE? Dive in! 📘

Coined the 'Counter-Culture Bible' for generations of free-thinkers, yogis, hippies, meditators, spiritualists, bhaktas, psychonauts, somebodies, and nobodies, Be Here Now continues to inspire individuals to awaken their minds and open their hearts now 50 years since its first publication. We welcome you to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Ram Dass' culture-transforming book by taking a historical dive into how Be Here Now came to be... To 'be here now,' first we have to go back there a little. It was a snowy Boston night in 1961 when Tim Leary invited Dr. Richard Alpert (Ram Dass) and Allen Ginsberg over to try psychedelic mushrooms. Dr. Alpert, a successful Harvard Professor, walked off into a dark room to quiet his mind, only to find himself in an escalating hypnagogic vision where he was asked to give up his roles as a professor, a son, an ego personality, and a body – leaving only pure awareness 'minding the store.' This timeless peak would spark cascading trips, experiments, research papers, news articles, lectures, light shows, contemplations, and difficult politics birthing from the Harvard psychedelic scene – with Leary & Alpert at the proverbial root. Diving full bore into consciousness expansion, these trips unearthed otherworldly experiences and transcendental wisdom. But Alpert noted: No matter how many psychedelics he took, what the dosage was, who guided him, and with what holy book—he still came down. Hitting wall after wall, Alpert began a quest to find "somebody who knew..."   Dive into the story of Be Here Now... Listen to Ram Dass tell his story in a new audio download: Journey, the Transformation Celebrating 50 years of Be Here Now, Ram Dass’ spiritual opus, we are ecstatic to share the Original 1968-1969 audio which created the ‘Our-Story’ section of his culture-defining classic. Unearthed by happenstance when our LSRF curator, Nathan, recognized and connected the fresh-from-India talks from which Be Here Now was extracted, this audio talk outlines Ram Dass’ courageous shift from Harvard professor to psychedelic explorer, and his transformational journey East to the feet of his Guru, Maharaj-ji, the inspiration behind Be Here Now... Download the New Audio