Via Salon: Pope Francis met with openly gay couple — and unlike Kim Davis, who ambushed him, he did so intentionally

 

(Credit: Reuters/Aristide Economopoulos)

 

Pope Francis met with a gay couple the day before he met with same-sex marriage opponent Kim Davis, CNN’s Daniel Burke reports.

Yayo Grassi and his partner, Iwan — old friends of the pope from Argentina — visited the pontiff and were greeted with warm hugs. In an interview with CNN, Grassi said that “three weeks before the trip, he called me on the phone and said he would love to give me a hug.”

Unlike the publicity stunt manufactured by Kim Davis, her lawyers, and elements within the church hostile to Francis’ agenda, this meeting was both deliberate and purposive. 

Referring to the Vatican’s statement about Davis, in which Reverend Federico Lombardi said that “the only real audience granted by the Pope at the nunciature was with one of his former students and his family,” Grassi said “that was me.” Pope Francis taught him at Inmaculada Concepcion high school in Flores, Argentina, from 1964-1965.

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Via JMG: BREAKING: Vatican Distances Pope Francis From Kim Davis, “Meeting Should Not Be Seen As Support”

 

October 2, 2015 Marriage Equality, Religion

 

This morning the Vatican formally distanced Pope Francis from Kim Davis in a statement which declares that his meeting with her “should not be considered a form of support.” The Associated Press reports:

After days of confusion, the Vatican issued a statement Friday clarifying Francis’ Sept. 24 encounter with Davis, an Apostolic Christian who has become a focal point in the gay marriage debate in the U.S. In a statement, the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Francis met with “several dozen” people at the Vatican’s embassy in Washington just before leaving for New York. Lombardi said such meetings are par for the course of any Vatican trip and are due to the pope’s “kindness and availability.” He said the pope only really had one “audience” in Washington: with former students and his family members. “The pope did not enter into the details of the situation of Mrs. Davis and his meeting with her should not be considered a form of support of her position in all of its particular and complex aspects,” Lombardi said.

Davis said earlier this week that she and her husband met briefly with the pope at the Vatican’s nunciature in Washington and that he encouraged her to “stay strong.” She later told ABC: “Just knowing that the pope is on track with what we’re doing and agreeing, you know, it kind of validates everything.” The Vatican statement made clear the pope intended no such validation. News of the audience sent shockwaves through the U.S. church, with Davis’ supporters saying it showed the pope backed her cause and opponents questioning whether the pope had been duped into meeting with her and truly knew the details of her case. Initially the Vatican only reluctantly confirmed the meeting but offered no comment. On Friday, Lombardi issued a fuller statement to “contribute to an objective understanding of what transpired.

Last night CBS News reported that a Vatican insider says the Pope was “blindsided” by the meeting.

A highly placed source inside the Vatican claims the Pope was blindsided. It is a meeting some charge was orchestrated by the man who lived there, the Pope’s representative here, Carlo Maria Vigano. Not even the Papal Spokesman Federico Lombardi knew about it ahead of time. Nor did the leadership of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which would have opposed it. Others claim the Pope knew about the meeting and had ordered Vatican diplomats, perhaps even Vigano, to set it up. CBS 2’s Vatican source doesn’t think so. A close advisor to Pope Francis tweeted that the Pope was, in his words, “exploited” by those who set up what the CBS 2 source says was a “meeting that never should have taken place.” Some call it an attempt by highly placed church leaders in the U.S. to diminish the impact of the Pope’s visit.

Also yesterday Esquire Magazine speculated that Pope Francis was “swindled” into the meeting by his own enemies within the Vatican. That story also blames Vigano and notes that he participated in NOM’s hate march earlier this year.

The man is a real player within the institutional church. He first came to prominence as a whistleblower during one of the several investigations of the Vatican Bank, which may be what got him exiled to this godless Republic in the first place. Despite that fact, Vigano is well-known to be a Ratzinger loyalist and he always has been a cultural conservative, particularly on the issue of marriage equality. In April, in a move that was unprecedented, Vigano got involved with an anti-marriage equality march in Washington sponsored by the National Association For Marriage. (And, mirabile dictu, as we say around Castel Gandolfo at happy hour, one of the speakers at this rally was Mat Staver, who happens now to be Kim Davis’s lawyer.) In short, Vigano, a Ratzinger loyalist, who has been conspicuous and publicly involved in the same cause as Kim Davis and her legal team, arranges a meeting with Davis that the legal team uses to its great public advantage.

It will be VERY enjoyable to watch the Liberty Counsel attempt to spin today’s bombshell from the Vatican, which will surely set off a firestorm of inquires about who actually set up the meeting.

NOTE: Also complicit here, in my mind, is ABC News. It was their reporter who lobbed that “conscientious objector” question on the papal plane as the Pope departed Philadelphia. And then the next day it was ABC News who somehow had the exclusive interview with Kim Davis. This was probably not a coincidence.
UPDATE: Here is Reuters’ take on today’s bombshell.

Pope Francis did not ask to meet a Kentucky county clerk who had been jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples and did not offer her unconditional support, the Vatican said on Friday. Looking to limit controversy after last week’s meeting in Washington between the pope and Kim Davis, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said she was one of “several dozen” people who had been invited by the Vatican ambassador to see Francis. A senior Vatican official, who declined to be named, said there was a “sense of regret” within the Holy See over the encounter, which sparked widespread debate in the United States, overshadowing almost all other aspects of the pope’s visit. He added that Davis had been in a line of people the pope had met at the Vatican embassy in Washington before he left for New York. “The only real audience granted by the Pope at the Nunciature (Vatican embassy) was with one of his former students and his family,” the statement said.

Today's Daily Dharma: Rest in Lovingkindness

Rest in Lovingkindness

We suffer because we do not understand the openness of our true nature. This is the ignorance that the Buddha taught is the root of all suffering. . . . If we take the time to shift to a place where we can actually rest in openness and lovingkindness, our suffering diminishes.

—Lama Palden, "Practicing with the Five Hindrances"

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Via Towleroad: Dan Savage on Kim Davis and the Pope: Homophobia ‘Unites People Across Different Christian Faiths’

On All In with Chris Hayes last night, Dan Savage spoke about why Kim Davis’ secret meeting with Pope Francis is troubling and how it contradicts his message that the Catholic Church should focus less on social issues.

Said Savage of the meeting,

“I think it’s very revealing. You know, the Pope has said the church needs to de-emphasize social issues, needs to not just talk about gay marriage and abortion, but this secret meeting where he encouraged this woman to continue to discriminate against LGBT couples and then framed her as a conscientious objector….I think it really reveals what goes on with the Catholic church under the Pope, which is that this de-emphasizing of these social issues is – I don’t want to call it a racket or a scam, but it’s kind of a smoke screen that the Pope still believes these things, the church – the church said it is not going to change its position on same sex marriage, but then for the Pope to turn around and meet with someone like Kim Davis, and tell her – and encourage her to keep it up, keep discriminating against LGBT couples, it just shows that the church wishes it could engage in this activity.”

Hayes noted the irony that evangelical, protestant and Catholic Christians are now united given their historical ability to not always play nicely with one another. To which Savage replied, “It just shows you that homophobia is really what unites people across different Christian faiths now and it’s disgusting.”

Make the jump here to read the full article and see the video

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the Day 02/10/2015

“O homem é uma semente, um potencial que pode ser manifestado ou pode ser desperdiçado. A colheita espiritual é sempre um mistério: plantamos pensamentos, palavras e ações, mas não sabemos quando vamos colher os grãos. Nosso trabalho é plantar pensamentos, palavras e ações que estejam alinhados com a Verdade maior. Em outras palavras, é plantar o bem para colher o bem. Mas, muitas vezes estamos colhendo coisas que não lembramos quando plantamos.” 

“El hombre es una semilla, un potencial que puede ser manifestado o puede ser desperdiciado. La cosecha espiritual es siempre un misterio: plantamos pensamientos, palabras y acciones, pero no sabemos cuándo vamos a cosechar esos granos. Nuestro trabajo es plantar pensamientos, palabras y acciones que estén alineados con la Verdad mayor. En otras palabras, es plantar el bien para cosechar el bien. Pero muchas veces estamos cosechando cosas que no recordamos cuándo las plantamos.”

“A human is a seed, a potential that can be manifested or wasted. The spiritual harvest is always a mystery: we plant thoughts, words and actions, but we don’t know when we are going to harvest the grain. Our work is to plant thoughts, words and actions that are aligned with a higher truth. We strive to plant the good in order to harvest the good. But oftentimes we end up harvesting things that we don’t even remember having planted.”

Anuncios Google 3:29 / 4:15 New Teacher Encounters Homophobia In Second Week.

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Via LGBTQ Nation: A gay dad’s note to the Pope: You snubbed us for Kim Davis? Really?

Pope Francis

 
Last week, I invited the pope to join my family for dinner. It was largely a symbolic gesture, although I had a housecleaning action plan and menu picked out in case he accepted.

It wasn’t that I wanted him to meet my family specifically. I wanted him to simply sit face to face with a family like mine. My two sons were adopted out of foster care and were both in situations that were life-threatening and dire. Our family in the world of LGBT parents is not unique. A great number have stories about kids who’ve gone from lives of potential abuse and neglect to homes where their parents love and honor them.

My point to the pope was simply: Before you judge us, you can at the very least sit with us and see what we are about.

The pope covered a lot of ground during his visit to America. But one thing he didn’t do is meet with any LGBT families. To his credit, while he was here, he didn’t overtly bash of us either.

At least, not until he was on his way out.

Like a kid who’s been an absolute angel all afternoon, only to totally prank out at the end, the Pope shot a spit-wad to the LGBT community as his parting gift:

He secretly met with Kim Davis and put his seal of approval on her behavior.

Dear Pope Francis,

We sat staring at the empty chair at our dinner table. We had hoped it would be filled by you. True, the chance that you’d accept our invitation was a long shot.

It turns out it was an even longer shot than we thought while in America, you gave plenty of moving speeches. You talked of family and how you wished young people would be inspired to start one. You talked of love and bonds and principles that I agree with.

As you were leaving, we could have walked away with the feeling that some common ground had been met. Instead, you disappointed and betrayed us.

The issue isn’t simply that you met with Kim Davis. It’s that you embraced her behavior and encouraged it. Following your “secret” meeting, you said, “Conscientious objection is a right that is a part of every human right.”

What you neglected to say is that you can’t expect to conscientiously object without consequences. As with the right to free speech, you have the right to speak freely without fear of imprisonment or jail, but it doesn’t preclude others from speaking back or reacting harshly to what you said.

Anyone who believes the Bible legitimizes racism and/or slavery can state their conscientious objections to anti-discrimination protections, but it doesn’t give them the right to discriminate. A firefighter who believes flames are “the will of God” doesn't have the right to let houses burn down. Your right to object doesn’t give you the right to demean others.

The most honorable objections are done with willing sacrifices.

Kim Davis reports that you thanked her for her “courage.” It makes me sad that your idea of “courageous” is someone who humiliates loving families.

If you want to understand conscientious objection and bravery, I ask you to look instead to LGBT activist Corporal Evelyn Thomas:

“I served in the Army National Guard and The U.S. Marine Corps prior to the enactment of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell; during a time when “homosexuality was prohibited” under the Uniform Code of military Justice (UCMJ).
I survived my military career with damages. I survived a corrective rape. I was raped by four Marines; in which a pregnancy was the result. I carried the child of my rapists. I reported the crimes. Although it was traumatic and terrifying time, I survived the physical, mental, and emotional abuse… Too many innocent lives have been lost in this war against inequality and injustice…

Many people have viewed the iconic photo. It feels strange to think of that moment in the LGBT Movement. My comrades and I stood along the White House fence with our hands handcuffed to the metal bars, as a drastic and imperative plea for President Barrack Obama to end the oppressive, barbaric, and archaic practices of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. This is our Civil Rights Movement. Each time I look at that photo, I see 6 heroes — humans that risked their professional careers and some cases personal relationships to perform a brave act. We did not perform this act for fame or money. We did it so that the women and men serving in our military know and understand they are of value, and “their lives do matter.” We will not allow any man, woman, or government determine our worth.”

Evelyn Thomas and her comrades were brave. They made a statement for their beliefs and they understood the consequences. They didn’t want to be made comfortable. They wanted to be heard. 

Kim Davis is not Evelyn Thomas. She’s asking for the world around her to conform to her narrow-minded point of view. The fact that you apparently share her worldview still doesn’t make it right for her to impose those beliefs on other people.

The afterglow of your trip is gone. Long gone. The tears Bernie Sander shed over your seemingly forward-thinking principles have dried. It wasn’t that you snubbed LGBT families and didn’t speak out for our rights. It’s who you decided to see and support instead of us. Salt, meet wound. 

We look at your empty chair at our dinner table and realize it’s small compared to the emptiness you left in our hearts. When you were told that you had been a “star” on this trip, you replied, “How many stars have we seen go out and fall?”

Point taken.

Rob Watson is a gay father of two, LGBT activist, businessman and blogger.

 

Opinions and advice expressed in our Views & Voices columns represent the author's or publication's own views and not necessarily those of LGBTQ Nation. We welcome opposing views and diverse perspectives. To submit a article, column or video, contact us here. Due to the volume of submissions received, we cannot guarantee publication, however you are invited to express your opinion in the comment section below.

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Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the Day 01/10/2015

“As pessoas às vezes estão tão distraídas, entretidas e encantadas com o próprio sofrimento, que nada além da oração pode ajudá-las. Por isso eu lhe convido a orar pelo outro. Por onde quer que passe, afirme internamente: ‘Acorde. Que o amor desperte em você. Que Deus desperte em você. Que você seja feliz.’ Permita-se emanar essa onda de luz e compaixão, esse querer bem sem saber a quem. O amor não tem endereço para se corresponder - ele é para todos.”

“Las personas a veces están tan distraídas, entretenidas y encantadas con el propio sufrimiento, que nada más allá de la oración puede ayudarlas. Por eso te invito a orar por el otro. Por donde quiera que pases, afirma internamente: ‘Despierta. Que el amor despierte en ti. Que Dios despierte en ti. Que seas feliz.’ Permítete emanar esa ola de luz y compasión, ese querer bien sin saber a quién. El amor no tiene dirección para corresponderse – él es para todos.”

“Sometimes people are so distracted, entertained and enchanted with their own suffering that nothing but prayer can help them. For this reason, I have been inviting you to pray for the other. Wherever you go, affirm internally: ‘Awaken. May love awaken in you. May God awaken in you. May you be happy.’ Allow this wave of light and compassion to emanate around you without needing to know towards whom this goodwill is directed. Love doesn’t need a delivery address – it is for everyone.”

Today's Daily Dharma: Life's Sacredness

Life's Sacredness

In trying to deny that things are always changing, we lose our sense of the sacredness of life. It’s easy to forget that life and death are part of the natural scheme of things, intrinsic to our lives in an eternally shifting universe.

—Ronna Kobatznick, "Sea of Sorrow"

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Today's Daily Dharma: Right Attitude

Right Attitude

Right attitude in meditating and practicing is when the mind is not colored by greed or ill will or hatred or confusion. Then we can investigate, and wisdom will develop.

—Carol Wilson, "If We Watch, Wisdom Comes"

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Via Sri Prem BabaFlor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the Day 30/09/2015

“Tenho dito que o principal veneno do ser humano é a negação. Ela é um mecanismo de defesa muito complexo que usa todo o repertório da mente para encobrir partes da nossa personalidade que não aceitamos e queremos esconder. Isso é o que nos mantém nos círculos da ignorância - brigando, disputando, competindo, acusando e defendendo. É isso que nos mantém na guerra.”

“Como he dicho otras veces, el principal veneno del ser humano es la negación. Ella es un mecanismo de defensa muy complejo que usa todo el repertorio de la mente para encubrir partes de nuestra personalidad que no aceptamos y queremos esconder. Esto es lo que nos mantiene en los círculos de la ignorancia – peleando, disputando, compitiendo, acusando y defendiendo. Es esto lo que nos mantiene en la guerra.”

“The primary poison human beings take is denial. It is a very complex self-defense mechanism that uses the mind’s whole repertoire to cover up the parts of our personality that we don’t accept and that we want to hide. This is what imprisons us in circles of ignorance; fighting, disputing, competing, accusing and defending. This keeps the war alive inside of us.”

Budismo no Ocidente: Refuge + Entrevista com Dalai Lama Inédito em Português.

Via Bilerico: How Homosexuality Stopped Being a 'Disease'

We had been jointly planning our tactics over the past month. I and my compatriots of the Gay Liberation Front and Gay May Day collective, friends from the Mattachine Society, and members of the newly formed Gay Activists Alliance were to gather on this bright morning during the first week of May in 1971, and carpool up Connecticut Avenue in northwest Washington, DC to the Shoreham Hotel. Also uniting with us were people from out-of-town who joined us as part of "Gay May Day" as we attempted to shut down the federal government for what we considered as an illegal and immoral invasion into Vietnam.

We parked about a block away since we didn't want hotel security and attendees at the annual American Psychiatric Association conference to notice a rather large group of activists sporting T-shirts and placards announcing "Gay Is Good," "Psychiatry Is the Enemy," and "Gay Revolution." Half the men decked themselves in stunning drag wearing elegant wigs and shimmering lamé dresses, glittering fairy dust wafting their painted faces.

A year before, activists demonstrated outside the APA conference held in San Francisco. As a result, conference organizers conceded to permit a panel to lead a discussion workshop at this year's annual conference in DC under the title "Lifestyles of Nonpatient Homosexuals." The panelists included Dr. Franklin Kameny, Director of Mattachine DC; Barbara Gittings, Director of the Philadelphia office of Daughters of Bilitis; and Jack Baker, first "out" U.S. student body president at the University of Minnesota.
In their capacity as official conference panelists, they were granted inside access to all proceedings, including admission to the annual Convocation of Fellows, in which all attendees were to hear U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark deliver the keynote address in the hotel's over-the-top Regency Ballroom. Earlier in the week, some of us checked out the hotel's layout. The day before, a comrade placed a wedge in a doorway coming from the Rock Creek Park woods into the hotel, where we gained access.

All along, the panelists were to serve as our Trojan Horses. After the Convocation was called to order, and half-way through Clark's address, our insiders opened the doors and in we poured, chanting, waving, shouting. On stage, we witnessed a stunned Attorney General surrounded by similarly stunned and also upset APA officials, and seated in the front rows we noticed elderly men who wore gold medals around their necks. When they saw us, they stood and began beating us with their medals while shouting "Get out of here. We don't want any more people like you here!" Others yelled: "You're sick, you're sick you faggots, you drag queens!" Other psychiatrists stood up from their seats and attempted to push us physically from the hall. I was able to escape their grasp, and I sat locking arms with a contingent on the floor just beneath the stage.
Then Frank Kameny rushed the stage and grabbed the microphone, his booming voice cracking through the pandemonium even after the technician cut the power. "Psychiatry is the enemy incarnate," he yelled, the anger seemingly oozing from his pores. "You may take this as a declaration of war against you!"

And this was, indeed, our intent: to declare war on the psychiatric profession for the atrocities, the colonization, the "professional" malpractice it had perpetrated over the preceding century in the name of "science," the biological and psychological pathologizing of sexual and gender transgressive people. From the so-called "Eugenics Movement" of the mid-nineteenth century though the twentieth century and beyond, medical and psychological professions have often proposed and addressed, in starkly medical terms, the alleged "deficiencies" and "mental diseases" of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.

Read more at http://www.bilerico.com/2015/06/how_homosexuality_stopped_being_a_disease.php#OdSvVVyPJOZj9vLh.99

Via urious Liberals / FB:

Via Subhi Nahas: Help Save LGBTI Refugee Lives

Neil Grungras campaign leader

 

'I was sure I’d be raped or killed. I was terrified': My life as a gay Syrian refugee who had to flee Isis
I first escaped to Turkey, but I wasn't even safe there – a childhood friend who had joined Isis threatened to kill me through a mutual friend

By Subhi Nahas
Originally published by the Independent.

Growing up in my small city Idlib, Syria, I always knew I was different. I didn’t know what the difference was or what it was called, but I knew I had a secret to guard. That was a decade ago. Even in my worst nightmare, I didn’t dream that one day my beautiful country would implode. And I couldn’t possibly imagine that one day I would address the UN Security Council on behalf of all refugees including LGBT people like me.

Once my family and community in Idlib found out that I was gay, they confirmed my worst fears. I was “abnormal” and “sick.” Most of them believed – and probably still do – that gay people like me should be hospitalized, imprisoned and even killed. I felt desperately alone.
The internet saved me. I was hungry for information about who I was, and I learned there were others like me who were able to live happily – with careers, travel, and even love. Many were free to tell the truth about who they are.

When I was 15, before I came to terms with my identity, my parents suspected something was “wrong” with me and sent me to a therapist. Breaching rules of confidentiality, he told them I was gay.

From that time, I became a prisoner in my home and my town. My father watched my every move. Authorities of the Syrian government and Jabhat al Nusra, a branch of al-Qaeda, raided cafes and parks where LGBT people secretly gathered. Militants promised the townspeople to cleanse our town of gender nonconforming people. Many people were arrested and tortured. Some were never seen again.

Then I became a target of the militants. In 2012, I was on a bus heading to university. We were stopped. The young people, including me, were taken to a remote house where we were all physically assaulted and harassed. The militants took special notice of me. They called me “sissy,” “faggot,” and other insulting Arabic epithets. I was sure I’d be raped or killed. I was terrified. In the Idlib of 2012, there was no law — only people with guns. Miraculously, they let me go.

The terror followed me home, where my father and I had our last fight. The scar on my chin is a constant reminder of his violent reaction to my being different.

My only hope was to flee. I escaped first to Lebanon and then to Turkey, where I lived for three years and began to advocate for other LGBT people and refugees like myself. I co-founded a group, LGBT Arabi, to bring LGBT refugees and non-refugees together. I wrote a blog about LGBT rights.

Read More>>> www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/i-was-sure-id-be-raped-or-killed-i-was-terrified-my-life-as-a-gay-syrian-refugee-who-had-to-flee-isis-10484304.html

 

 

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Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the Day 29/09/2015

“Todas as separações que existem em relação ao mundo exterior são por conta das separações que existem dentro de nós mesmos. Tem sido muito difícil criar união fora simplesmente porque tem sido difícil criar união dentro.”

“Todas las separaciones que existen en relación al mundo exterior son por culpa de las separaciones que existen dentro de nosotros mismos. Ha sido muy difícil crear unión afuera, simplemente porque ha sido difícil crear unión dentro.”

“All the separateness we see in the outside world comes from the separateness that exists inside of us. Creating union externally has been so incredibly difficult simply because we have not yet been able to create union within ourselves.”

Today's Daily Dharma: The Path, Simply Put

The Path, Simply Put

Buddhist teachings can be divided into three parts: sila, samadhi, and prajna: ethical conduct, concentration, and wisdom. Or to put it into the vernacular: clean up your act, concentrate your mind, and use your concentrated mind to investigate reality.

—Leigh Brasington, "Focus Comes First"

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Reposting: All the little things | Panti | TEDxDublin

The Queen Of Ireland | Official Trailer

For the Love of All Created by Thee - Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

Via WGB: Obama: Religious Freedom No Excuse to Deny Rights to Others

Freedom of religion isn't reason enough to deny any American their constitutional rights, President Barack Obama said Sunday as he addressed members of the LGBT community, one of his major sources of political and financial support.

Speaking at a Democratic Party fundraiser, Obama said it's important to recognize that some parts of the country remain uncomfortable with same-sex marriage and that it will take time for them to catch up to the majority of Americans who support such unions.

But while Americans hold dear the constitutional right to practice their religion free from government interference, he said that right can't be used to deny constitutional rights to others. Full story here!

WGB :: Well said Mr. President!

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the Day 28/09/20

“A grande maioria das pessoas escolhe sofrer através do isolamento. Por isso esse mecanismo de defesa precisa ser melhor compreendido. Você pode ser uma pessoa absolutamente silenciosa e não estar isolada. O isolamento é um estado de fechamento interno. São muros que você constrói a partir de crenças. Sair por ai tentando conversar e agradar o outro não significa que você está aberto. Enquanto não entra em contato com aquilo que sustenta esses muros, você segue culpando o outro pelo seu sofrimento e se isolando cada vez mais.”

“La gran mayoría de las personas elige sufrir a través del aislamiento. Por eso este mecanismo de defensa necesita ser comprendido mejor. Puedes ser una persona absolutamente silenciosa y no estar aislada. El aislamiento es un estado de cierre interno. Son muros que construyes a partir de creencias. Salir por ahí, intentando conversar y agradar al otro no significa que estás abierto. Mientras no entras en contacto con aquello que sustenta esos muros, sigues culpando al otro por tu sufrimiento y aislándote cada vez más.” 

“Most people choose isolation as their preferred form of suffering, so this self-defense mechanism really deserves to be better understood. We could be completely silent and yet not be isolated. Isolation happens when we shut down, building walls around us due to our beliefs. Attempting to converse with and please the other doesn’t mean that we are open. Until we are able to get in touch with the beliefs that sustain these walls, we will continue blaming the other for our suffering and isolate ourselves more and more.”

Today's Daily Dharma: Shining the Light

Shining the Light

Witnessing an atrocity, observing injustice in action, or otherwise directly encountering the things that have historically been invisible is a way of shining the light of awareness into the dark corners of our world—much as meditation shines a light into the unexamined shadows of our mind.

—Andrew Olendzki, "Shining a Light"

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Film Brilliant Moon-Life of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche-Budismo Tibetano-Legendas Português

Homossexualidade e Budismo. | Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

Via LionsRoar: Shamatha Meditation: Training the Mind

“The process of undoing bewilderment is based on stabilizing and strengthening our mind,” says Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. “Shamatha meditation is how we do that.”

We sometimes forget how the Buddhist teachings came into being. We forget why the Buddha left his father’s palace. Dissatisfied with maintaining an illusion, he wanted to understand his life—and life itself.

Just like the Buddha, most of us would like to discover some basic truth about our life. But are we really capable of knowing what’s going on? This is a question that relates to the most profound truth of the Buddhist teachings. The Buddha’s answer is, “Yes, ultimately we are. But we need to go on a journey of meditation to find out, because essentially we are in a state of bewilderment.” Why are we bewildered? Because we don’t understand how our mind works.

The process of undoing bewilderment is based on cultivating the ability to become familiar with, stabilize, and strengthen our mind. Being aware and observant of what’s happening in our mind gives us an opportunity to see a more profound level of truth all the time. In the practice of meditation, we learn to zoom back and get a bigger perspective, rather than always thinking so small.

The Buddha understood that if we want to go on any kind of journey—not just a spiritual one but also a secular one, such as studying or doing business—we need a mind that is workable. We need a mind that we can rely on. That’s the notion of training the mind, of making the mind workable so it can do whatever it needs to do.

Shamatha, or mindfulness, meditation is how we make this mind more stable, more useful. From this point of view, shamatha is not purely a Buddhist practice; it’s a practice that anyone can do. It doesn’t tie in with a particular spiritual tradition. If we want to undo bewilderment, we’re going to have to be responsible for learning what our own mind is and how it works, no matter what beliefs we hold.

The word shamatha in Sanskrit (Tib.: shi-ne) means “peacefully abiding.” Peacefully abiding describes the mind as it naturally is. The word “peace” tells the whole story. The human mind is by nature joyous, calm and very clear. In shamatha meditation we aren’t creating a peaceful state—we’re letting our mind be as it is to begin with. This doesn’t mean that we’re peacefully ignoring things. It means that the mind is able to be with itself without constantly leaving.

In meditation we learn how to calmly abide: we learn how to let ourselves just be here peacefully. If we can remember what the word “shamatha” means, we can always use it as a reference point in our practice. We can say, “What is this meditation that I’m doing? It is shamatha—calmly, peacefully abiding.”

At the same time we begin to see that our mind isn’t always abiding calmly or peacefully. Perhaps it’s abiding irritatingly, angrily, jealously. Seeing all of this is how we begin to untangle our bewilderment.

Meditation is a very personal practice. Just like the Buddha, we can approach it by way of valid cognition: “What is truly valid? What is the truth of my experience?” We begin to realize what we don’t know, and we become curious.

In doing so we leapfrog from question to answer, with each new answer leading to a new question. And if we persist we begin to experience another truth that the Buddha also discovered: in every situation there is the continuum of the truth. Each answer is followed naturally by the next question. 

It’s seamless.

With this kind of practice and inquisitiveness, the Buddha learned to look at the landscape of life in a clear, unbiased way. When he began to teach, he was just reporting his observations: “This is what I see. This is the truth about how things are.” He wasn’t presenting any particular viewpoint. He wasn’t preaching dogma; he was pointing out reality. We forget this. For example, most people would say that one of the key teachings in Buddhism is karma. But the Buddha did not create karma; the Buddha just saw it and acknowledged it. Saying that karma is a Buddhist belief is like saying that Buddhists believe water is wet. And if you’re a Buddhist, you must also believe that fire is hot!

In meditation, what we’re doing is looking at our experience and at the world intelligently. The Buddha said that this is how we learn to look at any situation and understand its truth, its true message, its reality. This is what a Buddha does—and we are all capable of being Buddhas, whether or not we are Buddhists. We all have the ability to realize our naturally peaceful minds where there is no confusion. We can use the natural clarity of our mind to focus on anything we want. But first we have to tame our minds through shamatha meditation.

Perhaps we associate meditation with spirituality because when we experience a moment of peacefully abiding, it seems so far-out. Our mind is no longer drifting, thinking about a million things. The sun comes up or a beautiful breeze comes along—and all of a sudden we feel the breeze and we are completely in tune. We think, “That’s a very spiritual experience! It’s a religious experience! At least worth a poem, or a letter home.” Yet all that’s happening is that for a moment we are in tune with our mind. Our mind is present and harmonious. Before, we were so busy and bewildered that we didn’t even notice the breeze. Our mind couldn’t even stay put long enough to watch the sun to come up, which takes two-and-a-half minutes. Now we can keep it in one place long enough to acknowledge and appreciate our surroundings. Now we are really here. In fact, this is ordinary. We can bring the mind under our own power. We can train it to be useful and workable.

This is the not just the point of being Buddhist, it’s the point of being human.

Make the jump here to read the original and more here

Por que o Budismo não apoia o amor romântico? | Thich Nhat Hanh

Cultivando sua mente e seu coração | Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo (Mind & Its Potential 2014)

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo no Brasil | Ensinamento #3: sabedoria, natureza da mente e meditação vipassana

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo no Brasil | Ensinamento #2: meditação shamatha

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo no Brasil | Ensinamento #1: introdução ao budismo e à felicidade genuína

Via FB:

Via my amigo Joseph on FB: Yesterday in a discussion on friendship

I said that I base my friendship philosophy on this passage:

' To make the most of yourself is to live so that your inner life will rejoice.

It is to live so that you will receive the feeling, at the very depth of your soul, that it is wonderful to be alive."

The answer is to help others.
Your life expands to embrace others.
You are able to rejoice because your life grows.
The people around us are mirrors on which we can look at our lives.

To help others - that is how man has been created"
Seicho no ie Book of Daily Life... so on a personal level - I treasure my friends who are so generous and kind to others - always trying to add beauty and joy to another persons life... Those are my friends

So I guess that's why
when I find out someone is a narcissist- only thinkkng about themselves ... I slowly but surely stop sharing energy and they surely but slowly go away.

Quite simple really .... " as the cliche goes " birds of a feather flock together."

Yeah to all my friends!!!!!!!!!!

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the Day 27/09/20

“Uma das crenças que permeiam a mente condicionada e que é um grande obstáculo para a liberdade, é acreditar que a felicidade vem de fora de nós. E essa crença alimenta outra crença: a de que somos vítimas indefesas da maldade do mundo. Vemos a maldade somente no outro, o que gera separação e isolamento, e ainda por cima acreditamos que somos colocados nesse lugar por ele.”

“Una de las creencias que permean la mente condicionada y que es un gran obstáculo para la libertad, es creer que la felicidad viene de afuera nuestro. Y esa creencia alimenta otra creencia: que somos víctimas indefensas de la maldad del mundo. Vemos la maldad solamente en el otro, lo que genera separación y aislamiento, y aún por encima creemos que somos colocados en ese lugar por él.”

“The belief that happiness comes from the outside is a core tenet of the conditioned mind and a great obstacle towards freedom. This belief in turn feeds another: that we are helpless victims of all the evil in the world. We only see evil in the other, and this generates separation and isolation. Worse yet, we then believe that we are in this painful state all because of what the other did to us.”

Today's Daily Dharma: Generosity Produces Peace

Generosity Produces Peace

Receiving is a powerful—and intimate—practice, for we are actually inviting another person into ourselves. Rather than focusing on our own practice, or on our own virtue, we can focus on providing an opportunity for someone else to develop generosity. . . . That moment itself is unsullied. For that reason it is said that generosity is the discipline that produces peace.

—Judy Lief, "The Power of Receiving"

Read More

United Future Organization - Tears Of Gratitude

Stephen Colbert’s All-Inclusive Wedding Cake Toppers

Via WGB: Guess Who Grindr Users Want in the Oval Office?

"In partnership with Rock the Vote, Grindr recently conducted a early election poll of its users to find out their presidential preferences.

The results?

• Bernie Sanders edges out Hillary Clinton 38% to 35% among Democrats.
• Donald Trump is topping the poll with 21% support among Republicans. John Kasich and Jeb Bush came next, each with 7%. Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina were both at the 5% level, with others candidates trailing behind.
• 76% of respondents said they vote in both general and presidential elections (for comparison, just 36.4% of eligible voters turned out in the 2014 midterm)
• When asked to name the “biggest issue” facing America today, “the economy, stupid” won the results with 50% support. Other issues were immigration (10.3%), healthcare (9.8%), minority rights (9%), and LGBT rights (3%)." 

After Marriage Equality, Then Comes... That said, LGBTQ matters still remain front and center on Grindr guys’ minds. Asked “After marriage equality, what’s next for the LGBTQ movement in the U.S.?” – 41% singled out “Pushing forward the Equality Act to end legal LGBTQ discrimination.” “Fighting HIV/AIDS” drew 15% of votes; then, “ensuring that states follow the law on marriage and adoption” was selected by 12.4% and after that “strengthening transgender rights” was the choice of 11.5%.

Young with a Point of View. What’s the profile of these electorally savvy Grindr users? They are young or young-ish – 56% told us they were either in the 20-29 or 30-39 age groups. As for political affiliation – more than half of our respondents identified as Democrats (51%); with 19% Independents and 15% Republicans. (H/T - Towleroad via Grindr blog.)

Make the jump here to read the orginal on WGB

Via Gay Christians / FB:

Mercedes Sosa - Gracias a La Vida

Today's Daily Dharma: All is We

All is We

Somewhere this very moment, babies are born, fathers are dying, mothers are grieving. Yet, pervading all is a groundless awareness, delicate and strong at the same time. Everything becomes we, a beating heart with a transparent, radiant smile. And we are awake.

—Judith Simmer-Brown, "Insomnia"

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Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the Day 26/09/20

“Podemos dizer que iluminação espiritual é sinônimo de pureza de coração. Mas, o que é um coração puro? É um coração sem maldade, pois somente esse coração é capaz de ver a luz que está por trás da sombra do outro e perdoar. O coração puro vê a alma por trás dos corpos. Ele não olha os bons e os maus hábitos dos outros, ele olha a alma por trás disso. O coração puro é capaz de amar de verdade - e o Amor vê a si mesmo.”

“Podemos decir que iluminación espiritual es sinónimo de pureza de corazón. Pero ¿qué es un corazón puro? Es un corazón sin maldad, porque solamente ese corazón es capaz de ver la luz que está por detrás de la sombra del otro y perdonar. El corazón puro ve el alma por detrás de los cuerpos. Él no mira los buenos o malos hábitos de los otros, mira por detrás de eso. El corazón puro es capaz de amar de verdad - y el Amor se ve a sí mismo.”

“Spiritual enlightenment is synonymous with purity of heart. What is a pure heart? It is a heart without malice. Only this kind of heart can see the light behind the other’s shadow and thus be able to forgive. A pure heart doesn’t look at the good or bad habits of the other – it only sees the soul behind all of this. Only a pure heart can love in a true way, for love sees itself in everything.”

Via Buddhist Network / FB:

New Audio Download - Discover Forms of Yoga with Ram Dass

Are you searching for new methods or techniques that you can use to connect with and more fully embody a deeper state of awareness?

When we first begin to recognize that who we are is not limited to time and space, we often wonder how we can effectively investigate our growing curiosity.

In this new audio release, Ram Dass offers a detailed and informative exploration of several traditional forms of yoga that can be applied in our daily lives to facilitate working with, rather than against, our humanity.

In this talk, Ram Dass helps us to discover:

- Methods for escaping the prison of the mind, body and heart
- Practical applications of different Yogic forms in daily life
- How to become the creator, not the victim
- How to learn to let go when things inevitably change

A lengthy question and answer period concludes the discussion, covering a variety of topics including physical pain, the role of choice in our lives, emotions and awareness, obsessions, intuition versus ego, and conscious parenting.

Your download also helps to support the efforts of the Love Serve Remember Foundation to curate more enriching talks from Ram Dass and friends for years to come, making his teachings available for future generations.

Download the talk here.

Purchase the download so you can take it with you on a drive or hike while saving data on your cellular plan. You can also share with a friend.

**There will be a free streaming version available starting October 15th.

We hope you find this talk useful in cultivating more awareness in your day-to-day life.

Namaste,
Love Serve Remember Foundation  

Via FB:

Via Dalai Lama in Australia / FB:

Sri Prem BabaFlor do Dia- Flor del Día - Flower of the Day 25/09/201

Project Everyone - Metas Globais
17.PARCERIAS PARA ATINGIR METAS
“O ser humano tem se deixado levar pelo poderoso encantamento que o faz acreditar ser vítima do sistema e das situações negativas da vida. Mas as soluções que buscamos não serão encontrada enquanto estivermos apontando o dedo para o outro e reclamando de braços cruzados. Precisamos agir e unir forças para criarmos um mundo melhor. Nossa maior força se manifesta quando unimos nossos dons e talentos e os colocamos a serviço do bem maior.”

Project Everyone - Metas Globais
17.ALIANZAS PARA EL LOGRO DE LOS OBJETIVOS
“El ser humano se ha dejado llevar por el poderoso encantamiento que lo hace creer ser víctima del sistema y de las situaciones negativas de la vida. Pero las soluciones que buscamos no serán encontradas mientras estemos apuntando el dedo hacia el otro y reclamando de brazos cruzados. Necesitamos actuar y unir fuerzas para crear un mundo mejor. Nuestra mayor fuerza se manifiesta cuando unimos nuestros dones y talentos y nos colocamos al servicio del bien mayor.”

Project Everyone - Global Goals
17. PARTNERSHIPS FOR THE GOALS
"Human beings have been driven by the powerful enchantment that makes us believe we are victims of the system and the negative situations in our lives. However, the solutions we seek will not be found while we are pointing the finger at each other and complaining idly. We need to take action and join forces to create a better world. Our greatest strength is manifested when we unite our gifts and talents and put them at service of the greater good."