Via Daily Dharma

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Not What You Think | October 13, 2014

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The early teachings deconstruct many habitual ways of being and seeing. We think we’re permanent, but we’re not. We think that by craving things we’ll find happiness, but we won’t. One after another the Buddha challenges our established views, our ways of constructing our version of the world, and takes them apart: you think it’s one way but it’s not; you want an answer, but the problem is your very wanting of an answer. 

 

- Henry Shukman, “The Unfamiliar Familiar”

 

Flower of the Day: 10/13/14

"I have called your attention to this cycle of time we are living in. I have almost no words to express the characteristics of this period; suffice it to say that it’s a very strange or different period. We are entering the peak of Parivartan, the great planetary transformation, so fasten your seatbelts, for we are entering turbulence. Tightening one’s seatbelt means becoming steadfast in one’s sadhana, one’s spiritual practice, because everything will shake. At the same time, we are having wonderful opportunities to serve and to grow in all aspects."

Sri Prem Baba

Via JMG: UPDATED: Wikipedia Marriage Map

Labels: Alaska, marriage, United States


Via JMG/ Comments: 

Top 10 schadenfreude marriage equality states (so far):

1. Utah (LDS)
2. Virginia (Matt Barber, Liberty U., so many others)
3. Oklahoma (Sally Kern)
4. California (Frank Schubert, Randy Thomasson, many others, prop 8 voters)
5. Alaska (Palins)
6. Illinois (Peter LaBarbarian)
7. Massachusetts (MassResistance)
8. North Carolina (a whollllle lotta folks)
9. Hawaii (5000 speakers at the House hearings)
10. Colorado (James Dobson)

More to come, including Mississippi & Texas!

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: BREAKING: Alaska! Alaska! Alaska!

 

State number 30!

Labels: Alaska, LGBT rights, marriage equality

Reposted from  Joe Jervis

Why biblical interpretation has no authority on the matter of sexual orientation.

Flower of the Day: 10/12/14

"As you cultivate silence, even if it may be in one-minute intervals, you begin to lord over your mind, until you are able to abandon it and use it only when necessary. You can use the mind to make calculations or plan your day, but should be able to let it rest when it is not needed. This is the key to freedom."

 

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

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What to Do When Anger Gets Hot | October 12, 2014

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Americans think it is beneficial to ‘get in touch with’ their anger. That’s just the first step—recognizing your anger. The second step is analyzing and meditating on your anger. 

 

- Ngawang Gelek Demo Rinpoche, “What to Do When the Anger Gets Hot”

 

Via Daily Dharma

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The Science of Enlightenment | October 11, 2014

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It is tempting for teachers to leverage the prestige and power of science to promote a particular religious view. Scientists used to quote scripture. Now religious leaders quote scientific theories! 

 

- Brad Marston, “The Science of Enlightenment”

 

Flower of the Day: 10/11/14

"We want to sustain the idea of ​​'me' and 'mine,' and to maintain what we call the ego. We want to keep our story, however miserable it may be, because it is our story, and gives us some sense of identity. But getting closer to a spiritual master means giving up this story of ours, or at least beginning a new story, which is now based on the present, not the past. Therefore, becoming a disciple actually means being reborn."

 

Sri Prem Baba

Flower of the Day: 10/10/14

"Transformation refers to a structural change that is possible only when we are able to identify the fragmented parts of our personality. This occurs when we predispose ourselves to studying these parts of our personality, understanding that they are there to protect us from pain. When we realize how attached we are to the negative pleasure they activate, a pleasure that keeps us repeating negative actions, then we create the conditions for the transformation to take place."

 

Sri Prem Baba

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The Moon Reflected on the Water | October 10, 2014

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Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken. Although its light is wide and great, the moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide. The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in dewdrops on the grass, or even in one drop of water. 

 

- Eihei Dogen, "Genjokoan"

 

Flower of the Day: 10/09/14

"Another way to understand karma is as the traces that we leave behind. It is our open accounts: the words unspoken or feelings unexpressed. Presence is the master key, because only through presence can we act without leaving a trace. If there are still traces left, then it isn’t possible to merge with the ocean and free ourselves. We have to erase all of our traces by settling our open accounts with all others. This is why I have been focusing on the work of reconciliation."

 

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

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The Power of Custom | October 9, 2014

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That the Buddhist religion has survived so long in the world is a result not so much of the durability of manuscripts as of the power of ideas embodied in custom; and custom, for all our abundant sources of information, is what we lack and cannot in the long run do without. 

 

- Bhikkhu Nyanasobhano, "Selective Wisdom"

 

Via JMG: xkcd On Same-Sex Marriage

 

Details.(Tipped by JMG reader Bruce)

Labels: marriage equality, polls, xkcd

Reposted from  Joe Jervis

God Only Knows - BBC Music

Flower of the Day: 10/08/14

"Divine justice makes use of human injustice to bring about the ultimate justice. The human mind, although it is a great power, has its limitations. One of the aspects of the mind is memory, but human memory is flawed. We send out an invitation and forget we sent it, so that when the guests arrive we don’t think we invited them. This limitation prevents us from noticing the relationship between cause and effect. But there is no effect without a cause."

 

Sri Prem Baba

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The Presence of Beauty | October 8, 2014

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Thomas Aquinas said that beauty arrests motion. He meant, I think, that in the presence of something gorgeous or sublime, we stop our nervous natterings, our foot twitchings and restless tongues. Whatever that fretful hunger is, it seems momentarily filled in the presence of beauty. 

 

- Barbara Hurd, "On Silence"

 

Via JMG: Human Rights Campaign Inducts 19 Members Of Congress Into Hall Of Shame

The Human Rights Campaign today announced the induction of 19 member of Congress into its Hall Of Shame for anti-LGBT actions.

“If you want to understand why LGBT equality has hit a roadblock in Congress, you don't need to look any further than these leaders of anti-LGBT obstruction and animus,” said David Stacy, HRC’s Government Affairs Director. “These members go out of their way to oppose any step toward equal protection under the law or to protect LGBT Americans from violence, discrimination and harassment. They proactively work to undermine existing legal protections and promote anti-LGBT discrimination.”

Released in advance of the HRC Scorecard for the 113th Congress, HRC identified these elected officials as the most anti-equality members of Congress by looking at their voting records in this and previous Congresses, their introduction and co-sponsorships of anti-LGBT legislation, and their public statements. While there are other anti-LGBT members of Congress, these elected officials’ legislative actions, votes and anti-LGBT vitriol unfortunately marks them with a modern day scarlet letter.

The only Democrat on the list, Rep. Mike McIntrye, has signed Rep. Randy Weber's laughably doomed bill that would limit the federal government to only recognizing same-sex marriages that are legally conducted in the state where the married couple resides. McIntrye is retiring after the current term.

Labels: GOP, HRC, Jeff Sessions, LGBT rights, Louie Gohmert, Michele Bachmann, Mike Lee, Randy Weber, Steve King, Tea Party, teabaggers, Ted Cruz, Tim Huelskamp

Reposted from  Joe Jervis

Via JMG: UPDATED: Wikipedia Marriage Map

 

UPDATE: JMG reader Bill directs us to the Flag Of Equal Marriage, which after today will be adding more stars.

Labels: marriage equality, United States, Wikipedia

Reposted from  Joe Jervis  

Flower of the Day: 10/07/14

"It would be tremendously positive for the evolution of human consciousness if parents were aware of the significance of bringing a child into the world. I have inspired people to see children as Atma, the divine spirit in development. Although the child is in a body, they have the spark of Parmatma, the supreme ineffable Absolute, and they have much to teach us. The child arrives on this plane with a well-defined purpose. They already arrive with their talents, and with a vision to share with the world. What they need is support so that this vision may be revealed."

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

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What Haiku Requires | October 7, 2014

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[Basho] practiced Zen without insignia or ordination. Every decade he experienced a catastrophic reordering of his life. 'Let my name be "Traveler,"' he implored, following the narrow road of poetry to the far north. He shattered clever wordplay haiku to create a new mosaic of language, solitary and raw. 'The old verse can be about willows,' he observed, 'but haiku requires crows picking snails in a rice paddy.' 

 

- Wendy Johnson, "Seventeen Syllable Medicine"

 

Via Freedom to Marry / FB:

Via Vestiário / FB: Luciana Genro

Luciana Genro, você sempre agradece a sua repercussão. Hoje, você teve pouco mais de 1,5 milhão de votos.

Na verdade, somos nós que temos que te agradecer, e muito, por ter olhado com carinho e defendido com amor a gente. Num país tão homofóbico como o Brasil, você foi a nossa esperança.

Valeu!

Via ACLU Nationwide / FB:

Via Daily Dharma

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On Transience | October 6, 2014

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The photograph reflects a moment that is happening out in the world, and also one that is happening in the minds of the photographer and the viewer. The fact that the moment is fleeting and will never get repeated adds to its appeal. A photograph acknowledges this transience. The best ones attach meaning to it. 

 

- David Butow, "Seeing Buddha: A Photographic Journey" 

 

Flower of the Day: 10/06/14

"You are not the body, nor are you the mind. But as long as you are identified with the body and the mind, you become a victim of compulsive desires. Desire is a bottomless pit. The point is not to fulfill one desire or another, but to stop desiring altogether. Satisfying a desire is simple. The question is: how long does the contentment that comes from fulfilling this desire last? Behind that desire is a devouring fire, an unceasing desire. There is a disconnect with the source."

 

Sri Prem Baba

Via JMG: BREAKING: SCOTUS Denies Review In All Seven Marriage Equality Cases, Marriage Comes To Five More States

Via JMG: TAIWAN: Thousands Of Gay Marriage Supporters Demonstrate In Taipei

 

Via AsiaOne News:

An alliance of more than one hundred non-governmental organisations yesterday staged a rally outside the Legislative Yuan urging the government to complete the necessary amendments that will pave the way for the legalization of gay marriage. Dubbed the "rainbow siege," reports indicate that more than 4,000 members of the public participated in yesterday's demonstration at the Legislative Yuan. Demonstrators attached 112 padlocks symbolizing the strangleholds of homophobic opinions labelled with the names of lawmakers on the gates of the Legislative Yuan facing Qingdao East Road. In response to the appeals of activists, 21 lawmakers accepted the invitation to unlock and remove the padlocks with "keys of equality." Demonstration organizers stated that among the 21 lawmakers openly expressing their support for equal marriage rights yesterday, four are aligned to the ruling party while 14 are from the opposition party, with two being independent lawmakers.

The leader of Taiwan's opposition party has announced a public hearing on marriage equality later this month. Same-sex marriage is not presently legal anywhere in Asia, unless you count New Zealand. (Tipped by JMG reader Lulu)

RELATED: In December 2013 a massive crowd in the tens of thousands marched against same-sex marriage in Taipei. American anti-gay sites, including NOM, claimed that the crowd numbered as many as 300,000. Homocon Robert Oscar Lopez is praised the protest on his blog, English Manif.

Labels: activism, marriage equality, Taiwan

Reposted from  Joe Jervis

Via JMG: BREAKING: SCOTUS Denies Review In All Seven Marriage Equality Cases

Via USA Today:

The Supreme Court refused to get involved in the national debate over same-sex marriage Monday, leaving intact lower court rulings that will legalize the practice in 11 additional states. The unexpected decision by the justices, announced without further explanation, immediately affects five states in which federal appeals courts had struck down bans against gay marriage: Virginia, Indiana, Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Utah.
It also will bring along six other states located in the judicial circuits overseen by those appellate courts: North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Colorado, Kansas and Wyoming. The action will bring to 30 the number of states where gays and lesbians can marry. Appeals courts in Cincinnati and San Francisco are considering cases that could expand that number further, presuming the Supreme Court remains outside the legal fray.

Story developing...

Labels: Indiana, LGBT rights, marriage equality, Oklahoma, SCOTUS, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin

Via FB: Healthcare / Ebola

Via JMG: HomoQuotable - Frank Bruni

"Repeatedly over the last year and a half, I’ve written about teachers in Catholic schools and leaders in Catholic parishes who were dismissed from their posts because they were in same-sex relationships and — in many cases — had decided to marry. Every time, more than a few readers weighed in to tell me that these people had it coming. If you join a club, they argued, you play by its rules or you suffer the consequences. Oh really? The rules of this particular club prohibit divorce, yet the pews of many of the Catholic churches I’ve visited are populous with worshipers on their second and even third marriages. They walk merrily to the altar to receive communion, not a peep of protest from a soul around them. They participate fully in the rituals of the church, their membership in the club uncontested. The rules prohibit artificial birth control, and yet most of the Catholic families I know have no more than three children, which is either a miracle of naturally capped fecundity or a sign that someone’s been at the pharmacy." - Frank Bruni, writing for the New York Times.

Labels: Catholic Church, employment, Frank Bruni, religion

Reposted from  Joe Jervis

Via JMG: Engage!

 

Via Reddit: "I proposed to my boyfriend yesterday on the bridge of the Enterprise, he said yes and I couldn't be happier." (Tipped by JMG reader Ray)

Labels: bears, gay geeks, gay proposals, Star Trek

Reposted from  Joe Jervis

Via Daily Kos / FB:

Flower of the Day: 10/05/14

"Devotion is love in its most refined form. Devotion is when we become lovers of the Supreme, lovers of life itself. Devotion happens when the love within us can manifest in this way, establishing communion with the Holy Spirit. This communion feeds us, forming a benign circle. Therefore, it is true to say that love is sufficient unto love."

 

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

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Call It By Its Right Name | October 5, 2014

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If you know a view as a view, you can be free of that view. If you know a thought as a thought, you can be free of that thought. 

 

- Zoketsu Norman Fischer, “Beyond Language” 

 

The Castro San Francisco

JMG Quote Of The Day - Yvette Schneider

"I think the ex-gay movement will be dead within the next 10 years. As churches become more gay-affirming, parents and church leaders won’t seek parachurch ministries to 'fix' in gay Christians what isn’t broken. The fact that the ex-gay movement has been a monumental failure with no real, lasting change in those who have sought to negate same-sex attractions and become heterosexual will become more and more apparent to the average lay Christian. This is especially true in the age of social media, when information spreads like wildfire and can’t easily be suppressed. I’m sure there will be pockets of people here and there who will still try to change someone’s orientation. But the movement as a relevant entity in the push for LGBT rights will be defunct." - Former "ex-gay" activist Yvette Schneider, speaking to the SPLC.

Meanwhile in Washington DC...

Labels: brainwashing, Christopher Doyle, crackpots, ex-gay, LGBT youth, religion, self-loathing, still totally gay, torture

Reposted from  Joe Jervis

Via JMG: SCOTUSblog On What Could Happen Next

Lyle Denniston writes at SCOTUSblog:

It would be hard to find a close, or perhaps even a casual, observer of the Court who would predict with any confidence that the Court will deny review of all seven pending filings on same-sex marriage, from five states. The Court actually has been quite active on the issue this year: on three occasions, it has temporarily blocked lower court rulings that would have cleared the way immediately for same-sex marriages to begin or to be recognized, in Utah and Virginia.
Those orders suggest, if they don’t actually prove, that the Court is preserving either a chance for the issue to be explored further in lower courts without thousands of new same-sex marriages occurring, or a chance for the Justices themselves to weigh in on the issue before that happens.
Moreover, it would only take the votes of four Justices to grant review of any one of the seven new petitions, and there are four Justices who strenuously objected in dissent last year when the Court struck down a key part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act — a ruling that actually set off nearly three-dozen rulings by lower federal courts, striking down (with only one exception) state bans on such marriages.
When the Court privately discusses the new cases, as it almost surely did at last Friday’s closed-door Conference, it would not be hard to predict that those four Justices would be arguing energetically to take on the issue, provided that they had some reason to hope that, after such a review, they might gather a fifth, majority-making deciding vote from another Justice.
Those four Justices also surely know that, if the Court does opt to deny review of all of the cases at this point, such a denial would trigger the full implementation of appeals court decisions that would spread in a short period of time to eleven more states beyond the nineteen (along with Washington, D.C.) that currently allow same-sex marriage. That would almost certainly add an inevitability to the campaign to win same-sex marriage rights across the nation.
So, after the silence on Thursday, the focus now turns to Monday. The new list of orders, mostly denials, will emerge first and, before the end of the day, the Court will indicate whether it is rescheduling the same-sex marriage cases for another look, at a private Conference set for next Friday morning.

Labels: LGBT rights, marriage equality, SCOTUS

Reposted from  Joe Jervis

Flower of the Day: 10/04/14

"The human entity feels that suffering is bad, but is unable to give it up. This happens because at some point a marriage took place between the vital current, which is our sexual energy, and suffering. This is the reason why suffering remains in the world. This is why destructiveness continues even though we are aware that it is senseless."

 

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

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About the Present Moment | October 4, 2014

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Some important questions to ask are why people want to believe that mindfulness is good in every circumstance, that there are no negative side effects, and that it’s derived in a pure way from a 2500­-year-old practice. Why do contemplative practices, especially Asian contemplative practices, seem to elicit this type of positive response? Those are the really interesting cultural questions about the present moment. 

 

- Catherine Kerr, "Don’t Believe the Hype" 

 

Via Paulo Coelho / FB:

Flower of the Day: 10/03/14

"The vast majority of people are taught to deny the shadow. Most religions and even culture itself evoke the original goodness, but they do not teach us about what to do with evil. In order to reach the experience of oneness, we need to integrate all parts within us. We can only bring the kingdom of God to earth through unity, and unity includes everything."

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

Too Busy Talking to Ourselves | October 3, 2014 Most of us are too busy talking to ourselves to even contemplate what might be vivid and apparent should we ever learn to shut up.   - Bonnie Myotai Treace, Sensei, "The Sword Disappears in the Water"

Until We Could - Richard Blanco

Flower of the Day: 10/02/14

"The first glimpse of God is a deep darkness. This darkness is the unknown that inhabits you, and this encounter with God is a portal to this same unknown part of you. What is unknown makes you fragile and vulnerable. A profound meeting between a more superficial center and a much deeper center of consciousness acts as a mirror that reflects the reality of who you are on all levels. So if you are not mature enough for this encounter with yourself, then you tend to run away from it."

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

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A Fathomless Foundation | October 2, 2014

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Buddhism is fundamentally a path of inquiry, a practice of looking at the mind’s tendency to cling, to adhere to opinions, beliefs, memories, emotions, moods. This is a remarkable foundation, because it’s fathomless. For as every moment gives way to the next, we come face to face with an infinite freshness of experience—a freshness that, if we have truly surrendered to the practice, cannot be solidified into a doctrine. 

 

- Noelle Oxenhandler, "Glass of Water, Bare Feet" 

 

Via Daily Dharma

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Body as Illusion | October 1, 2014

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There is no 'body' in the limbs,
But from illusion does the idea spring,
To be affixed to a specific shape—
Just as when a scarecrow is mistaken for a man. 

- Shantideva, "What Body?" 

Flower of the Day: 10/01/14

“For a while now I have been speaking about the cycle of time we are currently in. There are many people wanting to commit suicide, many unknown diseases appearing, and our whole system is entering collapse, from economics and politics to the environment. What is actually happening is that the ego is entering collapse. This crisis is most visible and intense within larger urban centers, where one’s patience is constantly tested. This is why it is important that you dedicate at least a few minutes of the day to sadhana, spiritual practice, because this is what makes it possible to keep the flame of connection ignited.”

Sri Prem Baba

Via JMG: New Report On LGBT Poverty

Via the Movement Advancement Project:

A landmark report released today paints a stark picture of the added financial burdens faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Americans because of anti-LGBT laws at the national, state and local levels. According to the report, these laws contribute to significantly higher rates of poverty among LGBT Americans and create unfair financial penalties in the form of higher taxes, reduced wages and Social Security income, increased healthcare costs, and more. The momentum of recent court rulings overturning marriage bans across the country has created the impression that LGBT Americans are on the cusp of achieving full equality from coast-to-coast. But the new report, Paying an Unfair Price: The Financial Penalty for Being LGBT in America, documents how inequitable laws harm the economic well-being of LGBT people in three key ways: by enabling legal discrimination in jobs, housing, credit and other areas; by failing to recognize LGBT families, both in general and across a range of programs and laws designed to help American families; and by creating barriers to safe and affordable education for LGBT students and the children of LGBT parents.

The report documents the often-devastating consequences when the law fails LGBT families. For example, children raised by same-sex parents are almost twice as likely to be poor as children raised by married opposite-sex parents. Additionally, 15 percent of transgender workers have incomes of less than $10,000 per year; among the population as a whole, the comparable figure is just four percent. To demonstrate the connection between anti-LGBT laws and the finances of LGBT Americans and their families, the report outlines how LGBT people living in states with low levels of equality are more likely to be poor, both compared to their non-LGBT neighbors, and compared to their LGBT counterparts in state with high levels of equality. For example, the denial of marriage costs gay and lesbian families money; same-sex couples with children had just $689 less in household income than married opposite-sex couples in states with marriage and relationship recognition for same-sex couples, but had an astounding $8,912 less in household income in states lacking such protections.

Read the full report (PDF).

UPDATE: NBC News reports on the study.

Shortly after her wife died in March, Arlene Goldberg had to give up the beloved South Florida home that the couple shared. Because Goldberg’s 2011 marriage to her partner of 47 years wasn’t recognized as legal in Florida, she was denied her wife’s social security benefits. Without that income, Goldberg, 67, couldn’t pay her mortgage. “I’m trying to figure out how I am going to get through this time,” she said from Fort Myers, Florida. “I really can’t even pay my bills.”

Goldberg is among an untold number of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people nationwide who suffer economic distress and in some cases, poverty, as a result of anti-gay laws such as same-sex marriage bans, or from a lack of legal protections, like non-discrimination ordinances, according to a new report by two think tanks, the progressive Center for American Progress and the pro-LGBT Movement Advancement Project.

Census data and other research over the last decade have shown higher rates of financial hardship and poverty among gays. But the report’s authors make the connection between those difficulties and specific laws and policies by analyzing current incomes and poverty rates for LGBT people and their heterosexual counterparts in states that have protections and those that don’t.

Labels: gay families, gay parenting, LGBT rights, poverty

Reposted from  Joe Jervis