Monday, November 22, 2021

Via White Crane Institute // ANDRÉ GIDE

 This Day in Gay History

November 22

Born
Andre Gide
1869 -

ANDRÉ GIDE, French writer and Nobel laureate was born (d. 1951); French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1947. Gide's career spanned from the symbolist movement to the advent of anti-colonialism in between the two World Wars.

Known for his fiction as well as his autobiographical works, Gide exposes to public view the conflict and eventual reconciliation between the two sides of his personality, split apart by a straight-laced education and a narrow social moralism.

Gide's work can be seen as an investigation of freedom and empowerment in the face of moralistic and puritan constraints, and gravitates around his continuous effort to achieve intellectual honesty. His self-exploratory texts reflect his search of how to be fully oneself, even to the point of owning one's sexual nature, without at the same time betraying one's values. His political activity is informed by the same ethos, as suggested by his repudiation of communism after his 1936 voyage to the Soviet Union.

In 1908, Gide helped found the literary magazine Nouvelle Revue Francaise (The New French Review). In 1916, Marc Allégret, 16, became his lover. He was the son of Elie Allegret, best man at Gide's wedding. Of Allegret's five children, Andre Gide adopted Marc. The two eloped to London, in retribution for which his wife burned all his correspondence, "the best part of myself," as he was later to comment. In 1918, he met Dorothy Bussy, who was his friend for over thirty years and who would translate many of his works into English.

In the 1920s, Gide became an inspiration for writers like Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre. In 1923, he published a book on Fyodor Dostoyevski; however, when he defended homosexuality in the public edition of Corydon (1924) he received widespread condemnation. He later considered this his most important work.



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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

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Via Tricycle // ood Is Very Important

 


Food Is Very Important
By Lewis Richmond
A story about Zen master Suzuki Roshi illustrates both the spiritual significance of eating and a wise and compassionate approach to navigating disagreements.
Read more »

Via Daily Dharma: Noble Silence

 

Sometimes just listening without saying anything is the best recourse.

—Lewis Richmond, “Food Is Very Important”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Sunday, November 21, 2021

Via Daily Dharma: Walk Like a Buddha

 

When you live your daily life with the same heart and mind as a buddha, your life will be full of joy.

—Shinso Ito, “Unconditional Service”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Via Dhamma Wheel

 


RIGHT MINDFULNESS
Establishing Mindfulness of Body
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)
Reflection
The third foundation on which mindfulness is established, mindfulness of mind, involves noticing the impact of various emotions and attitudes on the mind. Consciousness simply reflects whatever object comes before it, but then we respond to the object with love or hate, wanting or not wanting, and all kinds of judgments favoring or opposing it. With mindfulness we are content with watching this as it occurs.

Daily Practice
After you gain skill in observing the bodily sensations that accompany breathing in and out and then bringing mindfulness to bear on pleasant and unpleasant feeling tones, next focus on the influence craving and aversion may or may not have on your mind in any given moment. When you like something, be aware of that. When you dislike something, be aware of that. This is the starting point of mindfulness of mind. 


RIGHT CONCENTRATION
Approaching and Abiding in the Third Phase of Absorption (3rd Jhāna)
With the fading away of joy, one abides in equanimity; mindful and fully aware, still feeling pleasure with the body, one enters upon and abides in the third phase of absorption, on account of which noble ones announce: “One has a pleasant abiding who has equanimity and is mindful.” (MN 4)
Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Way to the Cessation of Suffering
One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Mental Objects and Abiding in the Fourth Jhāna


Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media
#DhammaWheel

Questions?
Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - November 21, 2021 💌

 
 

When I wake up in the morning, I’m aware of the air, the fan on my ceiling, I’ve got to love them. I am loving awareness. But if I’m an ego, I’m judging everything as it relates to my own survival. The air might give me a cold that will turn into pneumonia. I’m always afraid of something in the world that I have to defend myself against. If I’m identified with my ego, the ego is frightened silly, because the ego knows that it’s going to end at death. But if I merge with love, there’s nothing to be afraid of. 

Love neutralizes fear.

- Ram Dass -

Saturday, November 20, 2021

GÊNERO, EDUCAÇÃO E POLÍTICA - com o Sen. Fabiano Contarato

Via White Crane Institute // Do You Believe In God? By Quentin Crisp

 

Today's Gay Wisdom
2017 -

Do You Believe In God?

By Quentin Crisp

Well, now, the last time You-Know-Who was mentioned, I began by saying I wouldn't like to say anything that gave offense. And someone in the audience said, "Why stop now?" But this is still something that worries me, so if at any moment anyone finds anything I say offensive, they have only to jump up and down, make a scene, and we will stop.

I believe, like most people, not that of which logic can convince me but what my nature inclines me to believe. This is so of nearly everybody. I am unable to believe in a God susceptible to prayer as petition. It does not seem to me to be sufficiently humble to imagine that whatever force keeps the planets turning in the heavens is going to stop what it's doing to give me a bicycle with three speeds.

But if God is the universe that encloses the universe, or if God is the cell within the cell, or if God is the cause behind the cause, then this I accept absolutely. And if prayer is a way of aligning your body with the forces that flow through the universe, then prayer I accept. But there is a worrying aspect about the idea of God. Like witchcraft or the science of the zodiac or any of these other things, the burden is placed elsewhere. This is what I don't like.

You see, to me, you are the heroes of this hour. I do not think the earth was ever meant to be your home. I do not see the sky as a canopy held over your head by cherubs or see the earth as a carpet laid at your feet. You used to live an easy lying-down life in the sea. But your curiosity and your courage prompted you to lift your head out of the sea and gasp this fierce element in which we live. They are seated on Mars, with their little green arms folded, saying, "We can be reasonably certain there is no life on Earth because there the atmosphere is oxygen, which is so harsh that it corrupts metal." But you learned to breathe it. Furthermore, you crawled out of the sea, and you walked up and down the beach for centuries until your thighbones were thick enough to walk on land. It was a mistake, but you did it.

Once you have this view of your past — not that it was handed to you but that you did it — then your view of the future will change. This terror you have of the atom bomb will pass. Something will arise which will breathe radiation if you learned to breathe oxygen.

So you don't have to worry. Don't keep looking into the sky to see what is happening. Embrace the future. All you have to do about the future is what you did about the past. Rely on your curiosity and your courage and ride through the night.

"Do You Believe in God" is from The Wit and Wisdom of Quentin Crisp (1984), edited by Guy Kettelhack.


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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

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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Effort: Developing Unarisen Healthy States

 


 

Reflection

What do you do when you are in the grip of an unhealthy mood, filled with a steady stream of unhealthy mental and emotional states? Sometimes you just have to take the initiative and change the channel, so to speak. Just as you might decide to prepare and eat a meal if you are hungry or take a walk if you are restless, so too you can decide to develop healthy states and, by various means, invite them to arise in your mind.

Daily Practice
You might adopt the practice of each day choosing a healthy state to develop and then working to deliberately bring it to mind. Maybe generosity one day, kindness another, or compassion all week. It is just a matter of making a decision to call to mind that particular positive quality. Choose to think kind thoughts about someone or decide to do a kind act, and you will find that the emotional state of kindness will naturally arise.

Tomorrow: Establishing Mindfulness of Mind and the Third Jhāna 
One week from today: Maintaining Arisen Healthy States

Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media
#DhammaWheel

Questions?
Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

 

Via Daily Dharma: Let Your Mind Be

 

When you are the control freak who treats your mind like a slave, no wonder your mind always tries to escape from you. It will think of useless memories, plan something that will never happen, fantasize, or fall asleep—anything to not get away from you. That is why you can’t keep still!

—Ajahn Brahm, “You Are a Control Freak”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Via Dhamma Wheel

 


 

Reflection

There are so many ways it is possible to misbehave among sensual pleasures. Anything that feels good has the power to seduce us, and it does not take much for us to want more and more of almost anything. It is not that such pleasures are bad or evil, just that the pursuit of them can expand out of proportion and distort our behavior. It is empowering to understand this and temper our relationship to pleasure accordingly.

Daily Practice
Notice when something feels pleasurable and examine the texture of that sensation closely. Then let it go, as all transitory episodes of experience will inevitably cease. It is okay to welcome pleasure into your house as a guest, so to speak, as long as you also escort it to the door and wave goodbye when the time comes. It is when we chase after pleasure or try to hold on to it that we are in danger of misbehaving. 

Tomorrow: Developing Unarisen Healthy States
One week from today: Abstaining from Intoxication

Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media
#DhammaWheel

Questions?
Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

 

Via Love Serve Remember Foundation

 


SAVE MY SEAT

Greetings everyone,

This December, we will embark on our first in-person retreat on Maui since Ram Dass passed away two years ago.

With that, we are overjoyed to invite you to our free virtual retreat for those who cannot make it in person.

We will honor Ram Dass's legacy by coming together to learn, contemplate, expand and practice in community - with the support of a lineup of world-renowned wisdom leaders.

We're calling this retreat Legacy of Love - Honoring Ram Dass, and it will take place December 3-5th.

The retreat will feature practical guidance along with ancient mystical traditions, poetry, chant, and meditation practice to help us ground ourselves and heal from the uncertainty and turmoil of the past few years.

You might recognize some of our retreat teachers 😉 : Jack Kornfield, Trudy Goodman, Krishna Das, Mirabai Starr, Dale Borglum, Mirabai Bush, Rameshwar Das, Raghu Markus & more!

We will also feature specially curated archival Ram Dass media, focusing on compassion, love & death and service & social action - with deeper exploration from our guest teachers.

So we hope you'll join us to celebrate Ram Dass's legacy while we dive into the depths of our own spiritual hearts.

See you soon!

The LSRF Team
 
JOIN THE VIRTUAL RETREAT




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Friday, November 19, 2021

Via Daily Dharma: Control Your Mind

 

Because the mind is the basis of everything good or ill, nothing is more important than gaining control over the mind.

—Khenpo David Karma Choephel, “Shantideva on Mental Discipline”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Thursday, November 18, 2021

Via Daily Dharma: The Middle Way

 

There’s a natural balance, a dance, between embracing and releasing: turning your surroundings into yourself, like the tree that absorbs carbon dioxide, and turning yourself into your surroundings, like the same tree releasing oxygen. This is what Buddhists call the Middle Way.

—Shozan Jack Haubner, “Consider the Seed”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Wednesday, November 17, 2021

OM SO HUM Mantra sung by CHOIR ** EXTREMELY POWERFUL ** Mantra Meditatio...

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Speech: Refraining from Harsh Speech

 


Reflection

The human capacity for speech is so nuanced and our languages are so varied that we always have a choice about how we express ourselves. Whatever you are about to say harshly, you can say gently instead. Whatever comes to mind as a stinging riposte can be toned down to be less hurtful. Even a cruel remark can be turned around entirely, and you can say something agreeable instead. It’s worth trying to do this as a practice. 

Daily Practice
Take care how you speak. Choose your words wisely and be wary of what you might blurt out without awareness. Right speech is mindful speech. Notice whether or not your words are gentle, spoken with an attitude of affection, and “go to the heart.” Even when others speak harshly to you, commit to being a person who refrains from harsh speech at every opportunity.

Tomorrow: Reflecting upon Mental Action
One week from today: Refraining from Frivolous Speech

Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media
#DhammaWheel

Questions?
Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.

Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation // Words of Wisdom - November 17, 2021 💌

 

 

Who dwells in the heart cave has no limit. Who dwells in the heart cave is beyond time, beyond space.   

Each time you experience yourself as something or somebody, just notice that it's another thought or sensation drifting across the walls of the cave, and return to the spacious, formless, timeless essence. 

- Ram Dass -

Via Daily Dharma: Living Fully

 

To live fully means to be in touch with the impermanence of living in the service of greater compassion and equanimity, like a steady bamboo reed on a windy day.

—Anthony Tshering, “How the Concept of Impermanence Can Help Anxiety-Ridden Millennials”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE