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Via White Crane Institute // Inaugurations

 

Noteworthy

George Dubyah Bush

2001 -

On this date some 25,000 protesters gathered in Washington, DC for the inauguration of President George W. Bush along with some 7,000 police. George Bush, the so called "1st President with an MBA," was inaugurated as the nation's 43rd President in Washington DC. The "compassionate conservative" vowed to lead "through civility, courage, compassion and character."

 

Four years later on this date in 2005 the inauguration ceremony for Bush was held in Washington DC. Anti-Bush demonstrators jeered the president's motorcade during the inaugural parade. The event was expected to cost $40 million the administration asked DC to use $11.9 million of its own federal homeland security funds to help pay costs. Pres. Bush pledged to spread democracy and support democratic movements worldwide.

 

In case anyone has forgotten in the current atmosphere of rehabilitation for Dubyah by comparison to Trump, after eight years involving two wars, three attacks in the country, near economic collapse that dwarfed the Great Depression Black Monday Crash, massive hurricane damage with little response from the Feds, and more than can be enumerated on this list (like his being the first president to call for the codification of anti-Gay legislation into the constitution), Bush left office with the lowest approval rating of any U.S. President in history (22%, beating the former record holder -- Truman who had 32%). But wait! There would be so much more!...

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President Barack Hussein Obama

2009 -

President Barack Obama was inaugurated into office in Washington, DC with great expectation to make sweeping change. It was a great day with great fanfare (Aretha's hat!) and record crowds for an inaugural in bitterly cold weather. Though his administration took on one of the most dire economies since the Great Depression he continued to be blamed by many Americans for the economic predicament (forgetting the prior right years of disastrous economic and politics.)

 

And while he was a disappointment to some progressives, he did manage to fulfill the promise of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the legalization of Marriage Equality. Whatever his shortcomings he would be sorely missed as we bore up under the Dark Age of Donald J. Trump, now, thankfully, out of office...for now.

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Separated at birth

2017 -

Donald J. Trump received the nuclear codes. Post-swearing in on this date he appointed as many or more Wall Street executives to a variety of positions in his administration, many of whom were formerly adamantly opposed to the missions of their appointed agencies. At the same time his Secretary of State, a lifetime employee and finally CEO of Exxon-Mobil, Rex Tillerson, while he lasted, relentlessly gutted the state department. The Foreign Service officer corps at State lost 60 percent of its Career Ambassadors since January of that first year. Ranks of Career Ministers, State's three-star equivalents, were down from 33 to 19. The ranks of two-star Minister Counselors fell from 431 right after Labor Day to 369 —and continued to fall. 

Trump, a vulgar narcissist, praised racists and white nationalists, which should come as no surprise considering he installed tinfoil-hatted nationalist Steve Bannon in the White House (and pardoned on his way out). Bannon departed but the damage he continues to wreak from the sidelines is no less worrying. 

And then there was the whole matter of Trump's seeming love affair with Vladimir Putin and the trail of crumbs and bums that lead back to Moscow. A self-proclaimed sexual predator, and under investigation for conspiracy and collusion he will go down in history as the Worst President in American History, and as the only president ever to be impeached twice. Stay tuned. We await the  indictment of the Orange Menace, his slimy family and his greedy cronies. As one of his last gasps while declining to acknowledge his loss in the 2020 election, he incited a mob of his followers to invade the Capitol in an attempt at a coup. Stay tuned.

A draft-dodging three times-divorced liar and grifter who wraps himself in a false flag of patriotism he remains the darling of the craven right wing theocrats. He is a disgusting person. It is impossible to run out of negative things to say about him because as soon as you think you've hit on it, he goes lower. 

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Via Daily Dharma: Perpetual Flowing

 

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Perpetual Flowing Instead of separate, discrete entities, everything is flowing, interacting, and impinging on each other. We and the sun and the trees, all is perpetual flowing. Joanna Macy, “Positive Disintegration” CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE

These Are Not “Your” Thoughts By Joseph Goldstein Insight meditation teacher Joseph Goldstein explains how to treat consciousness as the object of meditation. Read more »

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right View: The Noble Truth of Suffering

 

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RIGHT VIEW Understanding the Noble Truth of Suffering When people have met with suffering and become victims of suffering, they come to me and ask me about the noble truth of suffering. Being asked, I explain to them the noble truth of suffering. (MN 77) What is suffering? (MN 9) Sickness is suffering. (MN 9)

Reflection While nobody would wish illness on another person, times of ill health or affliction are often excellent opportunities for practice. The scope of our experience contracts, sometimes to a very small point of breathing in and out, or to a specific part of the body that is in pain. Illness and affliction focus our attention and force us to abandon much that is taken for granted in times of health. This is where we all come face to face with suffering. Daily Practice Scan your body with your awareness and check in to see if there is anywhere you are experiencing pain or discomfort. Few of us are entirely free of any instance of distress. Rather than trying to overlook or avoid the discomfort, turn your attention deliberately to it. There is something to learn here, something to see and understand. If you can’t find any pain, be grateful for that. Tomorrow: Cultivating Lovingkindness One week from today: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

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Ali Youssefi - Love is the Light

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Via Alison Elizabeth Marshall blog

Paradise of Presence is a new challenge to Western readers

My book Paradise of Presence is a new challenge to Western readers. It is out now, available globally as an e-book and paperback. The UBL (universal book link) is https://books2read.com/Paradise-of-Presence. This takes you to a page that shows all the outlets where the book can be purchased. For Amazon, it shows only the US store; however, the book is available from all Amazon stores. 

 

Make the jump here to read the full blog post: https://alisonelizabethmarshall.com/paradise-of-presence-is-a-new-challenge-to-western-readers/

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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation \\ Words of Wisdom - January 19, 2025 💠

 

"If I can’t stop thinking, maybe I can just let my thoughts go by without getting all caught up in them. Feel the breeze on your face or your neck? See how it’s going by? You’re not all hung up with it. You don’t have to see where each breeze goes. You don’t have to look quickly to see if it hit those trees over there. It’s breezes, and they’re just going by. Make your thoughts like those breezes, those little breezes, just going by."

>> Want to dive deeper with Ram Dass? Click Here to Receive a Daily Wisdom Text from Ram Dass & Friends.

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Mindfulness and Concentration: Establishing Mindfulness of Mental Objects and the Fourth Jhāna

 

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RIGHT MINDFULNESS Establishing Mindfulness of Mental Objects 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 ill will is internally present, one is aware: "Ill will is present for me." When ill will is not present, one is aware: "Ill will is not present for me." When the arising of unarisen ill will occurs, one is aware of that. And when the abandoning of arisen ill will occurs, one is aware of that. . . . One is just aware, just mindful: "There is a mental object." And one abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)

Reflection The second of the five hindrances is ill will, which, like the first hindrance, sense desire, is a mental state that arises and passes away from time to time. Highlighting this factor in the swirl of experience and noticing when it is present and when it is not helps us realize that the annoyance we often feel is a fleeting phenomenon. This in turn gives us the ability to abandon that annoyance. We need not give in to it. Daily Practice Annoyance is a good way of practicing with ill will, because it is a mild form of it. Anger, hatred, and fear are more charged and thus more difficult to work with. See if you can notice when you are annoyed and also when you are not. See how annoyance is just a state that arises and therefore is a state you can let go of. Instead of holding on to the justification for the annoyance, see if you can just let it go and "abide without clinging."  RIGHT CONCENTRATION Approaching and Abiding in the Fourth Phase of Absorption (4th Jhāna) With the abandoning of pleasure and pain, and with the previous disappearance of joy and grief, one enters into and abides in the fourth phase of absorption, which has neither-pain-nor-pleasure and purity of mindfulness as a result of equanimity. The concentrated mind is thus purified, bright, unblemished, rid of imperfection, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability. (MN 4) Reflection This state of mind is the culmination of the four stages of absorption and represents the consummation of the meditative enterprise of focused, one-pointed awareness. With the mind thus purified of its imperfections it is capable of seeing clearly, and by becoming "malleable" and "wieldy" it can be used as a tool to penetrate the many distortions and delusions that normally prevent us from understanding the true nature of things. Daily Practice Allow your Sunday sitting meditation to slowly and gently mellow into a profound state of equanimity. The mind is steady and bright but also imperturbable in the sense that there is nothing in your inner or outer experience that is going to evoke an episode of yearning or aversion. Equanimity is balance, an evenly hovering attention. Notice also in this passage that equanimity is said to be the means of purifying mindfulness. Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of Suffering One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Body and Abiding in the First Jhāna Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel Questions? Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

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