A personal blog by a graying (mostly Anglo with light African-American roots) gay left leaning liberal progressive married college-educated Buddhist Baha'i BBC/NPR-listening Professor Emeritus now following the Dharma in Minas Gerais, Brasil.
Equanimity
is not just a decision that we can will into being: “Let me be
equanimous, right now, in the face of this difficulty.” It’s based on a
deep understanding of the impermanent, unstable, changing, unreliable,
and conditional nature of reality.
I don't regret
for a single moment having lived for pleasure. I did it to the full, as
one should do everything that one does. There was no pleasure I did not
experience. I threw the pearl of my soul into a cup of wine. I went down
the primrose path to the sound of flutes. I lived on honeycomb. But to
have continued the same life would have been wrong because it would have
been limiting. I had to pass on. The other half of the garden had its
secrets for me also. Of course all this is foreshadowed and prefigured
in my books. Some of it is in THE HAPPY PRINCE, some of it in THE YOUNG
KING, notably in the passage where the bishop says to the kneeling boy,
'Is not He who made misery wiser than thou art'? a phrase which when I
wrote it seemed to me little more than a phrase; a great deal of it is
hidden away in the note of doom that like a purple thread runs through
the texture of DORIAN GRAY; in THE CRITIC AS ARTIST it is set forth in
many colours; in THE SOUL OF MAN it is written down, and in letters too
easy to read; it is one of the refrains whose recurring MOTIFS make
SALOME so like a piece of music and bind it together as a ballad; in the
prose poem of the man who from the bronze of the image of the 'Pleasure
that liveth for a moment' has to make the image of the 'Sorrow that
abideth for ever' it is incarnate. It could not have been otherwise. At
every single moment of one's life one is what one is going to be no less
than what one has been. Art is a symbol, because man is a symbol.
It is, if I can
fully attain to it, the ultimate realisation of the artistic life. For
the artistic life is simply self-development. Humility in the artist is
his frank acceptance of all experiences, just as love in the artist is
simply the sense of beauty that reveals to the world its body and its
soul. In MARIUS THE EPICUREAN Pater seeks to reconcile the artistic life
with the life of religion, in the deep, sweet, and austere sense of the
word. But Marius is little more than a spectator: an ideal spectator
indeed, and one to whom it is given 'to contemplate the spectacle of
life with appropriate emotions,' which Wordsworth defines as the poet's
true aim; yet a spectator merely, and perhaps a little too much occupied
with the comeliness of the benches of the sanctuary to notice that it
is the sanctuary of sorrow that he is gazing at.
I see a far more
intimate and immediate connection between the true life of Christ and
the true life of the artist; and I take a keen pleasure in the
reflection that long before sorrow had made my days her own and bound me
to her wheel I had written in THE SOUL OF MAN that he who would lead a
Christ-like life must be entirely and absolutely himself, and had taken
as my types not merely the shepherd on the hillside and the prisoner in
his cell, but also the painter to whom the world is a pageant and the
poet for whom the world is a song. I remember saying once to Andre Gide,
as we sat together in some Paris CAFE, that while meta-physics had but
little real interest for me, and morality absolutely none, there was
nothing that either Plato or Christ had said that could not be
transferred immediately into the sphere of Art and there find its
complete fulfillment.
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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
WILD BILL HICKOK
is born in Troy Grove, Illinois. His real name was James Butler Hickok.
Like many men in the wild west, Wild Bill really was wild with the men
on the frontier and used his Lesbian buddy, Calamity Jane as a blind.
Few people ever
knew the pair's secret, and in the movies about their lives, not a
mention was made by either Doris Day or Howard Keel. The American West
of the nineteenth century was a world of freedom and adventure for men
of every stripe—not least also those who admired and desired other men.
Among these
sojourners was William Drummond Stewart, a flamboyant Scottish nobleman
who found in American culture of the 1830s and 1840s a cultural milieu
of openness in which men could pursue same-sex relationships.
William Benemann’s recent book, Men In Eden
traces Stewart’s travels from his arrival in America in 1832 to his
return to Murthly Castle in Perthshire, Scotland, with his French
Canadian–Cree Indian companion, Antoine Clement, one of the most skilled
hunters in the Rockies. Benemann chronicles Stewart’s friendships with
such notables as Kit Carson, William Sublette, Marcus Whitman, and Jim
Bridger. He describes the wild Renaissance-costume party held by Stewart
and Clement upon their return to America—a journey that ended in
scandal.
Through Stewart’s
letters and novels, Benemann shows that Stewart was one of many men
drawn to the sexual freedom offered by the West. His book provides a
tantalizing new perspective on the Rocky Mountain fur trade and the role
of homosexuality in shaping the American West. For more: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13594189-men-in-eden
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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
RIGHT LIVING Undertaking the Commitment to Abstain from Taking What is Not Given
Taking what is not given is
unhealthy. Refraining from taking what is not given is healthy. (MN 9)
Abandoning the taking of what is not given, one abstains from taking
what is not given; one does not take by way of theft the wealth and
property of others. (MN 41) One practices thus: “Others may take what is
not given, but I will abstain from taking what is not given.” (MN 8)
On seeing a form with the eye, one does not grasp at its signs and
features. Since if one left the eye faculty unguarded, unwholesome
states of covetousness and grief might intrude, one practices the way of
its restraint, one guards the eye faculty, one undertakes the restraint
of the eye faculty. (MN 51)
Reflection
This is not a
practice for shutting out the world but for gaining some control over
what enters and influences your mind. Just as you don’t eat everything
that you encounter, so also you need not see, hear, touch, or think
everything that is capable of being discerned. Some objects impinge on
the senses with such force that they cannot be ignored, but most of what
we experience we seek out, driven by desire. We need not do this.
Daily Practice
Even with
visual experience, we do not always have to take in more than what is
immediately presented to the eye. Practice seeing something,
acknowledging it, and then letting it pass away without chasing after
its details and associations. We can take what is given to sight, and
only what is given, and then move on to the next moment. In this way we
are not dragged into entanglements we don’t choose, and we remain free.
Tomorrow: Abandoning Arisen Unhealthy States One week from today: Abstaining from Misbehaving Among Sensual Pleasures
Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel
However the seed is
planted, in that way the fruit is gathered. Good things come from doing
good deeds, bad things come from doing bad deeds. (SN 11.10) What is the
purpose of a mirror? For the purpose of reflection. So too verbal
action is to be done with repeated reflection. (MN 61)
When you wish to do an action with speech, reflect upon that same verbal
action thus: “Would this action I wish to do with speech lead to both
my own affliction and the affliction of another?” If, upon reflection,
you know that it would, then do not do it; if you know that it would
not, then proceed. (MN 61)
Reflection
Habits of
speech follow the same principles as habits of body and mind. Whatever
you practice doing, you learn to do, and however you practice speaking,
you learn to speak that way. If you speak well of others, are kind in
your intentions, and always take care to say only what is true, your
character will be molded in that direction. The opposite is also true,
and it is not hard to pick up unhealthy and hurtful habits of speech.
Daily Practice
Practice
mindfulness of speech. This means speaking with conscious awareness
rather than reacting automatically to what others say or venting the
first emotion to surge into your mind. Reflect on the effect your words
are likely to have on others before you let fly, and take care not to do
harm to yourself or others. In fact, any time you are harming others
with your words, you are also harming yourself. Speak carefully.
Tomorrow: Abstaining from Taking What is Not Given One week from today: Reflecting upon Mental Action
Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel
Today's the birthday of beloved stage and screen actor and long time Gay Rights advocate and hero SIR IAN McKELLEN.
Born in Burnley, England, he studied at St. Catharine's College,
University of Cambridge. McKellen was nominated for an Oscar for his
role as Gay director James Whale ("Frankenstein") in GodsandMonsters becoming the first openly Gay actor to be nominated.
He is the
recipient of six Oliviers, a Tony Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen
Actors Guild Award, A BIF Award, two Saturn Awards, four Drama Desk
Awards and two Critic’s Choice Awards. He has also received two Academy
Award nominations, five Emmy Award nominations, and four BAFTA
nominations.
He's had quite a
career with roles in such classic plays (and films adaptations) of
Macbeth, Richard III and Edward II to name just a few. These are all
available on DVD and well worth the watching. Millions of fans the world
over know him as the bearded wizard Gandalf or the helmeted mutant
master of magnetism Magneto. He may be the best known out Gay actor in
the world. He's been out for decades becoming one of the first to do so
back in the 1980s. People told him it would mean the end of his career.
It hasn't.
In 2009 McKellen
premiered a one-man show in Washington, DC as a benefit for the
Washington Shakespeare Theater. He held an audience and this writer
spellbound as he performed soliloquy after soliloquy from Shakespearean
roles he's had over the years. He shared stories of the actors he has
known and called friend. Most moving of all was his telling the story of
being in South Africa after the end of apartheid. He was there for a
role but was asked by local gay activists if he'd be willing to speak to
Nelson Mandela about the need for Gay Rights protections in the new
country's constitution.
He told them he
would only agree if he were accompanied by South African Gay activist
leaders. The three of them, all friends, met with Mandela and spoke of
the need for the new country to place Gay Rights protections into the
constitution. Mandela agreed and it was his support that allowed for
South Africa to become the first country to place direct rights for Gay
and Lesbian people into its constitution. McKellen called it the
proudest moment of his life. We love you Sir Ian. Happy birthday!
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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
There
never was a self—only our identification makes us think so. So while
purification, kindness, and attention can certainly improve our habits,
no amount of self-denial or self-torture can rid us of a self, for it
was never there.
Jack Kornfield, “Identity and Selflessness in Buddhism: No Self or True Self?”
Malicious speech is
unhealthy. Refraining from malicious speech is healthy. (MN 9)
Abandoning malicious speech, one refrains from malicious speech. One
does not repeat there what one has heard here to the detriment of these,
or repeat here what he has heard there to the detriment of those. One
unites those who are divided, is a promoter of friendships, and speaks
words that promote concord. (DN 1) One practices thus: “Others may speak
maliciously, but I shall abstain from malicious speech.” (MN 8)
Disputes occur when a person is envious and avaricious. Such a person
dwells disrespectful and undeferential toward others, causing harm and
unhappiness for many. If you see any such root of a dispute either in
yourself or externally, you should strive to abandon it. And if you do
not see any such root of dispute either in yourself or externally, you
should practice in such a way that it does not erupt in the future. (MN
104)
Reflection
Malicious
speech separates, while right speech unites. It is unhealthy to separate
and healthy to unite, both individually and collectively. The world as a
whole suffers when people divide one group from another and benefits
when we have a sense of shared purpose. Envy and avarice can only occur
when people are separate from one another, for only then does it feel
like others have something that you do not.
Daily Practice
See if you can
break down the distinctions between yourself and others so that you are
content with whatever you have and feel no envy or yearning for what
others have. Practice this attitude in your mode of speech, praising
instead of blaming when others possess something you do not. Learn to
say “us” and “ours” more than “me” and “mine.” Disputes and quarrels
thrive on separation; harmony breeds peace.
Tomorrow: Reflecting upon Verbal Action One week from today: Refraining from Harsh Speech
Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel