PREACH. Holy double standards, Batman!
Here's why we shouldn't tolerate double standards for PDAs:
http://www.bilerico.com/
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Via The Bilerico Project / FB:
PREACH. Holy double standards, Batman!
Here's why we shouldn't tolerate double standards for PDAs:
http://www.bilerico.com/
How not to react when your child tells you that he's gay
Fortunately, this mentality is slowly diminishing, but this video is proof it exists -- and in too many homes, as we know 40 percent of homeless runaways are LGBT kids, and 1.6 and 2.8 million youths run away each year.
Dan Savage writes:
That was hard to listen to. Jesus. Fucking. Christ. My heart breaks for that poor, brave, tough kid. What the fuck is wrong with these people?We could have a fundraiser up and running for this poor kid by morning—if we knew who he was and where he was.
Please remember, if you are an LGBT child or teen in need of help, the National Runaway Switchboard at 1-800-RUNAWAY can help you. The Ali Forney Center has a local and national LGBT youth online resource guide.
Hat tip: Joe Jervis
Via Daily Dharma
Forget Language | August 28, 2014
If you use a trap to catch fish, once
you succeed you can forget the trap. And if you use language to find
meaning, once you find it you can forget the language.
-Bodhidharma, "The Snaggletoothed Barbarian"
Flower of the Day: 08/28/14
"Being
alive is a miracle. If you are alive, it is only through the grace of
God. If you can blink your eyes, it's through God’s grace. It is
impossible to know when you are going to pass away, which is why it is
so important to know what to do with the time you have been given.
Perhaps the best use of your time may be to even meditate on
immortality, since in the end the myth of death imprisons your mind. The
truth is that when your body no longer serves you, you need to change
bodies, but the one who inhabits the body never dies."
- Sri Prem Baba
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Via Daily Dharma
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We End Liberated | August 27, 2014
There is no permanent Hell, there is no
permanent Heaven. Therefore, the suffering that we sense during this
transition of life is not a permanent condition that we need to be
afraid of. It's not where we're going to end up. We end liberated from
the suffering either by death, or in life, by waking up to the nature of
our situation and not clinging and grasping, screaming and being angry,
resentful, irritable or insulted by our existence.
-Allen Ginsberg, "Negative Capability: Kerouac's Buddhist Ethic"
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Flower of the Day: 08/27/14
"At
some point in time, one must learn how not to identify with one’s lower
nature, specifically with the games of lust, pride and revenge to name a
few. But, in order not to get identified with these games, one must
first recognize and identify them. This is the first stage of the
awakening process. This identification or recognition is only possible
through focused self-observation."
- Sri Prem Baba
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Via JMG: Ecuador Recognizes LGBT Relationships
"The LGBT community have the constitutional right to register on their union," Correa said during his weekly report. Previously, the Ecuadoran Civil Registry did not recognize these unions because they had no legal status according to law, however Correa said that from now on this right has to be respected and if denied, the authorities will take action on the matter. However, Correa said that although he supports these unions, he don't support gay marriage, which according to him corresponds to the union between a man and a woman. But he said he is committed to guarantee the rights of all Ecuadorans. Correa, a Catholic leftist, has expressed his opposition to same-sex marriage and adoption of children by gay couples in previous occasions. The Ecuadoran Constitution grants equal rights to "cohabitation partnerships" regardless if they are civil or Catholic marriages, so the LGBT community gains more legal recognition with this legislation.Same-sex marriage and adoption by gay couples or individuals remains banned in the national constitution.
Via JMG: AP Reports On Seventh Circuit
Via the Associated Press:
Federal appeals judges bristled Tuesday at arguments defending gay marriage bans in Indiana and Wisconsin, with one Republican appointee comparing them to now-defunct laws that once outlawed weddings between blacks and whites. Judge Richard Posner, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, was dismissive when Wisconsin Assistant Attorney General Timothy Samuelson repeatedly pointed to 'tradition' as the underlying justification for barring gay marriage. "It was tradition to not allow blacks and whites to marry — a tradition that got swept away," Posner said. Prohibition of same sex marriage, he said, is "a tradition of hate ... and savage discrimination."
Posner frequently cut off Indiana Solicitor General Thomas Fischer, just moments into his presentation and chided him to answer his questions. At one point, Posner ran through a list of psychological strains of unmarried same-sex couples, including having to struggle to grasp why their schoolmates' parents were married and theirs weren't. "What horrible stuff," Posner said. What benefits to society in barring gay marriage, he asked, "outweighs that kind of damage to children?" The answer has to do with "procreation," Fisher answered. "All this is a reflection of biology," Fisher said. "Men and women make babies, same-sex couples do not... we have to have a mechanism to regulate that, and marriage is that mechanism."
The ACLU and Lambda Legal have essentially reiterated their equal protection arguments in appeals court filings, arguing that the bans deny gay couples state and federal legal protections and benefits that married straight couples enjoy. "The freedom to marry is a core aspect of personal liberty for all Americans," the ACLU said in its briefs. There was some levity during the hearing. As Samuelson struggled to offer a specific reason for how gay marriage bans benefit society, he suddenly noted a yellow courtroom light signaling his allotted time was up. "It won't save you," Williams told him, prompting laughter in court. Samuleson smiled, saying "it was worth a try."
Flower of the Day: 08/26/14
"True
service is a fragrance of the Being. It is a light that emanates from
your understanding. At a certain stage of the journey, you are able to
practice service as an intelligent austerity, which is a spiritual
practice that purifies selfishness. You choose to create some friction
in order to provoke your ‘no's’ towards love. Since it is a choice, I
call it an ‘intelligent’ austerity because it is born out of your
intelligence and comprehension. It is bitter medicine, but it works, so
you decide to try it out."
- Sri Prem Baba
Via Daily Dharma
Give It Away | August 26, 2014
Happiness is not happiness unless it is
shared. For happiness is the one thing in all the world that comes to
us only at the moment we give it, and is likewise increased by being
given away.
-Clark Strand, "The Wisdom of Frogs"
Monday, August 25, 2014
Via Daily Dharma
Derived from Mind | August 25, 2014
It is the various mental constructions
that we hold, and hold dear, that appear as time and space, extension
and duration. These—and all of the material world—derive from
consciousness, which ladles out time and space from a timeless,
spaceless sea.
-Steve Hagen, "Time and Now"
Flower of the Day: 08/25/14
"Death
is a myth that imprisons us, and what sustains this myth is forgetting
about the spiritual reality. Death needs to be understood, as it is this
myth that chains the soul to the body. At the time of your death, all
of your unresolved fears and issues visit you, and this drags your
awareness back to those places. Then, when you reincarnate, you are
stuck at the same point."
- Sri Prem Baba
Sunday, August 24, 2014
"Sometimes
one’s addiction to blaming the other is so deeply ingrained that one
doesn't even realize when one is accusing someone – it happens
automatically. But if accusations exist, then so do comparisons and
judgments, and this is what opens the doors to hell. With this, one
awakens one’s lower nature and ends up losing all of the silence and
love one has already gained."
- Sri Prem Baba
Via Daily Dharma
The Single Thing | August 24, 2014
I don’t envision a single thing that, when developed and cultivated, brings about such happiness as the mind. The mind, when developed and cultivated, brings about happiness.
-The Buddha, "The Single Thing"
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Flower of the Day: 08/23/14
"I
perceive the acute stages of mental disorder as spiritual emergencies.
The soul is expanding faster than the body can keep up with. The energy
centers are spinning at a frequency that is defined by the soul, but the
body carrying all of its marks and scars cannot handle this movement.
In other words, the soul is expanding, but the body is still committed
to destroying itself and this creates an internal tug of war between
opposing forces. This is the origin of suffering: two forces moving in
the opposite direction inside of us."
- Sri Prem Baba
Via Daily Dharma
A Spiritual Life All Our Own | August 23, 2014
We should never lose sight of the fact
that, however difficult the going may be at times, the living of the
spiritual life is ultimately our own responsibility. It should never be
abdicated to another, however venerable.
-John Snelling, “Beware the Charismatic Guru”
Friday, August 22, 2014
Via Dialy Dharma:
What We Need | August 22, 2014
Restraint means protecting the
integrity of our mind so that we’re less likely to depart from our
discipline; this way we avoid errors such as greed. So, not only should
we not take more than we need but also always practice consideration in
making sure that everyone has what they need.
-Venerable Yifa, "Thought for Food"
Flower of the Day: 08/22/14
“Paying
attention to synchronicities is very important because they are the
voice of your intuition or the voice of God coming from within. However,
I see that many of you are unable to perceive these signs as you are
attached to a particular outcome for situations, filled with
expectations. This is a limitation because you predetermine a way for
things to happen and hope that life will fit into your plan. But life
brings infinite possibilities, and it may offer something that is beyond
your own plans.”
- Sri Prem Baba
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