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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Intention: Cultivating Appreciative Joy

 

RIGHT INTENTION Cultivating Appreciative Joy Whatever you intend, whatever you plan, and whatever you have a tendency towards, that will become the basis upon which your mind is established. (SN 12.40) Develop meditation on appreciative joy, for when you develop meditation on appreciative joy, any discontent will be abandoned. (MN 62)  Appreciative joy is the way to purity for one who has much discontent. (Vm 9.108)

Reflection Entangled as we are in a consumer economy that depends on the cultivation of desire and discontent, it can be hard to simply take joy in what we already have and feel joy in the good circumstances of others. Yet this can be practiced as an antidote to always feeling desire for one thing or another. Cultivate appreciative joy, or gladness for the happiness of others, at every opportunity and feel its cleansing and shielding effects. Daily Practice Discontent can be subtle and insidious. It can poison us slowly in small but steady doses, or erupt in episodes of jealously and resentment. By paying careful attention to the details of your experience, notice the next time you feel bad in some way about what others have or get. Now recognize that as a form of discontent and counter it with appreciative joy, deliberately taking pleasure in the good fortune of another person. Tomorrow: Refraining from Harsh Speech One week from today: Cultivating Equanimity Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

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Via Daily Dharma: Understanding Change

 

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Understanding Change Understanding change is not freeing ourselves in a fixed way, but it may help us to see there are different types of change.  Martine Batchelor, “Impermanence as Liberation” CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO

Via White Crane Institute -- RANDY P. CONNER, Ph.D.

 

1952 - RANDY P. CONNER, Ph.D., born on this date (d: 2022), was a gay spiritual seeker, activist, author, artist, and teacher. Conner received his B.A. and M.A. degrees in English literature/composition from the University of Texas at Austin. In the 1970s he taught the first gay and lesbian workshop at the Student Union there. His studies concentrated on the intersections of ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and pursuit of the sacred.   Conner received his doctorate in humanities and religion in 2007 from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. He taught at several colleges including Florida State University, the University of Texas at Austin, and the California Institute of Integral Studies. He was most recently Associate Professor of World Humanities at Moraine Valley Community College near Chicago where he created a successful state- and college-approved LGBTQ+ humanities course. Conner’s spiritual path was focused on LGBTQ+ spirit in history and culture, especially as related to European Neo-Pagan, Indigenous Native American and African Diasporic traditions.  He was an initiate and practitioner of both Haitian Vodou and Reglade Ocho (Santeria), studying primarily with Mama Lola, a well-known practitioner of these African Diasporic traditions. He received his “Elekes” (spiritual beads for the orishas/deities) as a Santero in Cuba, later earning the title of Oungan. Also a practitioner of Neopaganism and Wicca, he studied metaphysics and psychic arts with Tama Diaghilev, and Wicca/Witchcraft with ecofeminist leader Starhawk. Conner also studied Tarot and mystical symbology with spiritual teacher and scholar Angeles Arrien.  He became a Radical Faery in the 1980s and attended many gatherings over the years. As an activist for LGBTQ+ rights, Conner testified in the mid-1970s at the Texas State Legislature for inclusion of gay and lesbian student organizations on campuses for which he was fired from his graduate teaching position. After moving to the Bay Area in 1978, he became a member of Bay Area Gay Liberation, campaigned against the Proposition 6 Briggs initiative, and for social/political justice for the queer and people of color communities. He also co-curated with his husband, David Hatfield Sparks, the El Mundo Surdo poetry series at Small Press Traffic in Noe Valley, created by Gloria Anzaldúa, his "hermana espiritual," and participated in Mainstream Exiles organized by San Francisco trans-activist Tede Mathews. Conner was a contributor to several LGBTQ+ publications including the Advocate, the old San Francisco Sentinel and White Crane Journal. He also served as fiction editor for RFD magazine and taught a course in gay spirit at the Harvey Milk Institute in the mid-1990s. Among his many essays, articles, books, speeches, presentations, and other publications, several were nominated for Lambda Literary Awards, including the seminal  Blossom of Bone: Reclaiming Connections between Homoeroticism and the Sacred (Harper San Francisco 1993); the Encyclopedia of Queer Myth, Symbol and Spirit (Cassell 1997) and Queering Creole Spiritual Traditions: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Participation in African-Inspired Traditions in the Americas (Routledge 2004).  In 2019, Conner published his five-volume study, The Pagan Heart of the West: Embodying Ancient Beliefs and Practices from Antiquity to Present (Oxford).  An expanded, revised edition of the Encyclopedia, re-titled The LGBTQ+ Companion to Symbol, Mythology, Folklore, and Spirituality, is forthcoming from Equinox Publications (London). These many interests and projects he shared with his long-time companion/husband of forty-three years, David Hatfield Sparks. Conner went to ride with Charon to the Otherworld on May 5, 2022.  He is also survived by their daughter Mariah.

|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8| 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 |8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|

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World Hold On - Soweto Gospel Choir x Groove Terminator (Official Lyric ...

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right View: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering

 

RIGHT VIEW Understanding the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering What is the cessation of suffering? It is the remainderless fading away and ceasing, the giving up, relinquishing, letting go, and rejecting of craving. (MN 9) When one knows and sees formations as they actually are, then one is not attached to formations. When one abides unattached, one is not infatuated, and one’s craving is abandoned. One’s bodily and mental troubles are abandoned, and one experiences bodily and mental well-being. (MN 149)

Reflection The aggregate of formations includes all our habitual volitional and emotional responses to whatever information the senses are presenting to consciousness. This is where we love or hate what is happening, where we yearn for something different or accept peacefully what occurs. This is where suffering either is born or dies, depending on whether we respond in the moment with craving or with mindful equanimity. Daily Practice Suffering is not built into any given situation but is optional. Stress is not caused by external stressors but is an internal reaction to circumstances. See if you can bring the profound wisdom of this insight into your lived experience by bringing the cessation of suffering to every moment. Find what it is that you are yearning for, turn that craving into mindful observation, and watch the suffering attached to that moment disappear. Tomorrow: Cultivating Appreciative Joy One week from today: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Way to the Cessation of Suffering Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

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Via Daily Dharma: Befriending Pain

 

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Befriending Pain While pain can be distracting, alienating, and upsetting, it can also be a powerful way to practice being present with what is—without stories or expectations.  Annalisa Rakugo Castaldo, “The Noble Truth of Pain” CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

The Wall By Douglas Penick Author Douglas Penick explores what remains when the mind goes. Read more »

Via NPR // A theologian’s work was used to exclude LGBTQ people from church. In a new book, he and his son argue the exact opposite.

 

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