Friday, October 1, 2021

Via White Crane Institute // DENMARK & Lakenheath

 


1989 -

DENMARK: The world's first legal, modern same-sex civil union are sanctioned and called "registered partnership."


Anglo-Saxon besties
2008 -

Construction of the Royal Airforce Base at Lakenheath was held up in 2008 when relics of this base’s ancient inhabitants were unearthed during a routine construction project. The base must work with British archaeology officials for every base construction because of the area’s dense concentration of buried artifacts.

Before the Air Force set up shop at Lakenheath more than 60 years ago, it was home to the Anglo-Saxons — ancient peoples who inhabited the south and east of the country from the early fifth century through the Norman conquest of 1066.

Toiling alongside a construction crew that rebuilt the traffic circle on the northside of the base in August, a team of British archaeologists dug up three Anglo-Saxon graves dating to between 450 and 650.

They found two unusually large bodies dating from before the Norman Invasion of 1066 that appeared at first glance to be a husband and wife. The bodies were buried embracing each other, but genetic testing revealed both were men. It remains unknown if they were lovers, relatives, warrior companions, or just good friends…but I think we know.


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Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute

"With the increasing commodification of gay news, views, and culture by powerful corporate interests, having a strong independent voice in our community is all the more important. White Crane is one of the last brave standouts in this bland new world... a triumph over the looming mediocrity of the mainstream Gay world." - Mark Thompson

Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989!
www.whitecraneinstitute.org

ViaDaily Dharma: The Heart Has No Choice

If we truly wish to be free of our difficulties, our heart has no other recourse than to acknowledge the core issue (even if we have studiously avoided it for decades!) and accept its connection to the suffering we are experiencing.

—Ajahn Amaro, “Practicing with the Five Hindrances”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

 

Thursday, September 30, 2021

"Spectrum" (HC) - Michigan vs Rutgers - Sept 25, 2021 - Michigan Marchin...

Via White Crane Institute // This Day in Gay History: JALAL AL-DIN MUHAMMAD RUMI

 This Day in Gay History

September 30

Born
Jalal Al-Din Muhammad Rumi
1207 -

JALAL AL-DIN MUHAMMAD RUMI, Persian mystic and poet born (d. 1273) also known as Mawlānā Jalāl-ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī, but most famously known to the English-speaking world simply as RUMI.

Rumi was a 13th century Persian (Tajik) Muslim poet, jurist and theologian. His name literally translates as "Majesty of Religion", Jalal means "majesty" and Din means "religion." Rumi is a descriptive name meaning "the Roman" since he died in Anatolia which was part of the Byzantine Empire two centuries before.

Rumi was born in Balkh (in present-day Afghanistan), then a city of Greater Khorasan in Persia and died in Konya (in present-day Turkey). His birthplace and native language/local dialogue indicates a Persian (Tajik) heritage. His poetry is in Persian and his works are widely read in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and in translation especially in Turkey, Azerbaijan, the US, and South Asia. He lived most of his life in, and produced his works under, the Sejuk Empire. Rumi's importance is considered to transcend national and ethnic borders. Throughout the centuries he has had a significant influence on Persian as well as Urdu and Turkish literature. His poems have been widely translated into many of the world's languages in various formats. After Rumi's death, his followers founded the Meylevi Order, better known as the "Whirling Dervishes," who believe in performing their worship in the form of dance and music ceremony called the sema.

It was his meeting with the dervish Shams-e Tabrizi on November 15th 1244 that changed his life completely. Shams had traveled throughout the Middle East searching and praying for someone who could "endure my company." A voice came, "What will you give in return?" "My head!" "The one you seek is Jalal al-Din of Konya." On the night of December 5, 1248, as Rumi and Shams were talking, Shams was called to the back door. He went out, never to be seen again. It is believed that he was murdered with the connivance of Rumi's son, 'Ala' ud-Din; if so, Shams indeed gave his head for the privilege of mystical friendship.

Rumi's love and his bereavement for the death of Shams found their expression in an outpouring of music, dance and lyric poems, Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi. He himself went out searching for Shams and journeyed again to Damascus. There, he realized:

Why should I seek? I am the same as

He. His essence speaks through me.

I have been looking for myself!

For more than ten years after meeting Shams, Mawlana had been spontaneously composing ghazals, and these had been collected in the Divan-i Kabir. Rumi found another companion in Salaḥ ud-Din-e Zarkub, the goldsmith. After Salaḥ ud-Din's death, Rumi's scribe and favorite student Hussam-e Chelebi assumed the role. One day, the two of them were wandering through the Meram vineyards outside of Konya when Hussam described an idea he had to Rumi: "If you were to write a book like the Ilāhīnāma of Sanai or the Mantiq ut-Tayr of 'Attar it would become the companion of many troubadours. They would fill their hearts from your work and compose music to accompany it."

Rumi smiled and took out a piece of paper on which were written the opening eighteen lines of his Masnavi, beginning with:

Listen to the reed and the tale it tells,

How it sings of separation...

Hussam implored Rumi to write more. Rumi spent the next twelve years of his life in Anatolia dictating the six volumes of this masterwork, the Masnavi to Hussam. In December 1273, Rumi fell ill; he predicted his own death and composed the well-known ghazal, which begins with the verse:

How doest thou know what sort of king I have within me as companion?

Do not cast thy glance upon my golden face, for I have iron legs.

He died on December 17, 1273 in Konya; Rumi was laid to rest beside his father, and a splendid shrine, the Yesil Turbe "Green Tomb" (original name:قبه لخزراء), was erected over his tomb. His epitaph reads:

"When we are dead, seek not our tomb in the earth, but find it in the hearts of men."

Via Tricycle // Improvising Faith

 


Improvising Faith
By Emily DeMaioNewton
Dan Blake, a saxophonist, composer, activist, and Theravada practitioner, is building on the long tradition of jazz as fuel for social change.
Read more »

Via Daily Dharma: Being Present Is a Transformation

Like the Buddha, we examine our mind state, accept it, and watch it change. We are transformed simply by being fully in the present moment.

—Elizabeth Napp, “Mindfulness and the Bad Class”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

 

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Via Contemplative Monk // FB

 


Thich Nhat Hanh Quote Collectiveia Thich Nhat Hanh Quote Collective // FB

 

When we can find
space and calm inside,
then without effort we
radiate peace and joy. — Thich Nhat Hanh.
 

Via White Crane Institute \\ ANN BANCROFT

 


Explorer Ann Bancroft and her cock
1955 -

ANN BANCROFT, the first woman to trek to both the North and the South Pole was born on this date. Bancroft grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota. She described her family as one of risk takers. It is reported that she struggled with a learning disabiity, but nevertheless graduated from St. Paul Academy and Summit School.Bancroft became a wilderness instructor and a gym teacher in Minnesota (at Clara Barton Open School) and St. Paul.

She gave up her teaching post in 1986 in order to participate with the "Will Steger International North Pole Expedition". She arrived at the Pole together with five other team members after fifty-six days using dogsleds. This made Bancroft the first woman to reach the North Pole on foot and by sled.

She was also the first woman to cross both polar ice caps to reach the North and South Poles, as well as the first woman to ski across Greenland. In 1993 Bancroft led a four-woman expedition to the South Pole on skis; this expedition was the first all-female expedition to cross the ice to the South Pole. In 2001, Ann and Norwegian adventurer Liv Arnesen became the first women to ski across Antarctica.

Her achievements led to her induction into the National Women's Hall of Fame for the United States.

She currently co-owns an exploration company, Bancroft Arnesen Explore, with Liv Arnesen. In March 2007, Bancroft and Arnesen were taking part in a trek across the Arctic Ocean to draw attention to the problem of global warming. However, according to The Washington Post, the expedition was called off "after Arnesen suffered frostbite in three of her toes, and extreme cold temperatures drained the batteries in some of their electronic equipment."

Bancroft also received a number of other awards and honors. She is out Gay and in 2006, she publicly campaigned against a proposed amendment to the Minnesota Constitution to prohibit any legal recognition of marriages equality.

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation \\ Words of Wisdom - September 29, 2021 💌

 
 

Acting with compassion is not doing good because we think we ought to... It is giving ourselves into what we are doing, and being present in the moment. It is acting from our deepest understanding of what life is and not compromising the truth. 

- Ram Dass

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

Via Daily Dharma: Listen for Peace

 

It’s hard to listen without judgment, to tolerate ambiguity, paradox, and in some cases, ignorance. But if we are ever to experience any measure of true peace, this is something we will all need to learn.

—Tina Lear, “Having Real Conversations (Even with My Sister)”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Monday, September 27, 2021

Via Extra*

Lost during Nazi rule in Germany, one of the world’s first pro-gay films has finally been restored for modern viewers

Filmmaker and scientist Magnus Hirschfeld’s “Laws of Love” promoted his controversial views about sex




 

via FB


 

Via FB

 


Via Daily Dharma: The Miracle of Openness

 

When we open our hearts and our minds completely, we are in a place where we can experience something new, a new truth, a new reality, a miracle that we haven’t experienced in the past.

—Anam Thubten, “How a Tomato Opened My Mind”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Sunday, September 26, 2021

Via FB

 


Via FB

 


"The Beatles exist apart from myself. I am not really Beatle George. Beatle George is like a suit or shirt that I once wore on occasion, and until the end of my life, people may see that shirt and mistake it for me."
"When you've seen beyond yourself, then you may find, peace of mind is waiting there."
"The world is ready for a mystic revolution, a discovery of the God in each of us."
"In the end, you're trying to find God. That's the result of not being satisfied. And it doesn't matter how much money, or property, or whatever you've got, unless you're happy in your heart, then that's it. And unfortunately, you can never gain perfect happiness unless you've got that state of consciousness that enables that."
"At death, you're going to be needing some spiritual guidance and some kind of inner knowledge that extends beyond the boundaries of the physical world... it's what's inside that counts."
"If you want to be popular and famous, you can do it; it's dead easy if you have that ego desire. But most of my ego desires as far as being famous and successful were fulfilled a long time ago.
The nicest thing is to open the newspapers and not to find yourself in them."
"Basically, I feel fortunate to have realized what the goal is in life. There's no point in dying having gone through your life without knowing who you are, what you are, or what the purpose of life is. And that's all it is."
~ George Harrison

Via Tumblr

 


Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation -- Words of Wisdom - September 26, 2021 💌

 



Even though we find ourselves afraid, and not feeling peaceful, and less than fully loving and compassionate, we must act. There is no way you can be in an incarnation without acting. We cannot wait until we are enlightened to act. We all hear the way in which our silence is itself an act of acquiescence to a system. That is as much an action as walking. Since we must act, we do the best we can to act consciously and compassionately.    

But in addition, we can make every action an exercise designed to help us become free. Because the truth that comes from freedom, and the power that comes from freedom, and the love and compassion that come from freedom are the jewels we can cultivate to offer to our fellow sentient beings for the relief of their suffering.  ' Ram Dass
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