Saturday, October 28, 2023

Via White Crane Institute // ANNA ELIZABETH DICKINSON

 

This Day in Gay History

October 28

Born
Anna Elizabeth Dickinson
1842 -

ANNA ELIZABETH DICKINSON (d: 1932) was an American orator and lecturer born on this date. An advocate for the abolition of slavery and women’s rights, Dickinson was the first woman to give a political address before the United States Congress. A gifted speaker at a very young age, she aided the 19th century Republican Party in the hard-fought 1863 elections and significantly influenced the distribution of political power in the Union just prior to the Civil War.

Dickinson was the first white woman on record to summit Colorado's Gray's Peak, Lincoln Peak, and Elbert Peak, and she was the second to summit Pike's Peak. She was the third white woman on record to climb Colorado’s Longs Peak in 1873, and was certainly the first well-known woman to do so.

She spoke publicly first in 1857 when she addressed a man who derided women at a Progressive Friends meeting. After that, she spoke regularly about temperance and abolition. In 1860, she spoke in Philadelphia at the Friends of Progress meeting at Clarkson Hall about The Rights and Wrongs of Women and then she addressed the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society in the fall of that year. 

She gave her first major speech, a two-hour discussion of The Rights and Wrongs of Women, on February 27, 1861 in Philadelphia. Lucretia Mott, who delivered abolitionist speeches for decades in Quaker meetinghouses, provided leadership to sell 800 tickets for the Concert Hall event. Mott arranged for a lecture tour, sponsored by the Massachusetts Anti-slavery Society, for the 19-year-old, who quickly became a popular speaker. The series of speeches helped lead the Emancipation movement.

Having heard her speak, abolitionist, William Lloyd Garrison arranged for her to speak in 1862 in the Palmer Fraternity Course of lectures at the Boston Music Hall. Named "The Girl Orator" by Garrison, she spoke about The National Crisis. She visited hospitals and camps during the war to speak to the soldiers. In 1862, she visited soldiers wounded in the war, and then gave a lecture about "Hospital Life" in New England.

During the 1863 U.S. Senate elections, with the deepening of the Civil War, Dickinson campaigned for several pro-Union Republican candidates in New York, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and Connecticut to audiences that included people who did not support the war. She spoke eloquently and powerfully in support of the Radical Republican's anti-slavery platform and for the preservation of the Union. She spoke to coal miners in Pennsylvania soon after draft riots in the area and converted men who had not previously supported abolition. 

No less than Mark Twain himself praised her, “She talks fast, uses no notes what ever, never hesitates for a word, always gets the right word in the right place, and has the most perfect confidence in herself. Indeed, her sentences are remarkably smoothly-woven and felicitous. Her vim, her energy, her determined look, her tremendous earnestness, would compel the respect and the attention of an audience, even if she spoke in Chinese—would convince a third of them, too, even though she used arguments that would not stand analysis.”

Dickinson was named the "Civil War's Joan of Arc” for her promotion of the Union. When she spoke at Cooper Institute in New York City more than 5,000 people attended the event. It was reported that she "could hold her audience spellbound for as much as two hours. She gave the impression of being under some magical control.” She earned a standing ovation in 1864 for an impassioned speech on the floor of the United States House of Representatives. In attendance were President Abraham Lincoln and civic and military leaders. Invited by Republican leaders, she was the first woman to speak to Congress.

After the Civil War, she remained one of the nation's most celebrated speakers for nearly a decade. She made as much as $20,000 (equivalent to $397,514 in 2017) a year, making a speech every other day on average, and gave most of her earnings away to charity, friends, and relatives. She also maintained a townhouse in Philadelphia, with expensive personal possessions, for her mother and sister.

She was a friend of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Quaker lecturers Lucretia Mott and Susan B. Anthony. In her letters, Anthony sometimes addressed Dickinson as "Chickie Dickie". Benjamin F. Butler, a Civil War general and a politician, pursued her romantically and in futility. Nevertheless, he remained her friend, a legal advisor, and source of money over many years. Unpublished correspondence with a woman named Ida caused one late-20th century author to claim that she was a Lesbian


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Friday, October 27, 2023

Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Living: Abstaining from Intoxication

 

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RIGHT LIVING
Undertaking the Commitment to Abstain from Intoxication
Intoxication is unhealthy. Refraining from intoxication is healthy. (MN 9) What are the imperfections that defile the mind? Negligence is an imperfection that defiles the mind. Knowing that negligence is an imperfection that defiles the mind, a person abandons it. (MN 7) One practices thus: “Others may become negligent by intoxication, but I will abstain from the negligence of intoxication.” (MN 8)

When I look on with equanimity, some particular sources of suffering fade away in me; thus that suffering is exhausted. (MN 101)
Reflection
We saw last month how some sources of suffering diminish with effort. Now we hear that other sources of suffering are resolved when we simply look upon them with equanimity. In other words, some things are better handled by not striving to change them overtly but simply by changing your relationship to what is happening. Desire can be a form of intoxication, and equanimity can transform negligence into clarity.
Daily Practice
Knowing when to step forward to try to change things with effort and when to step back and allow them to change by natural processes is a skill to be learned and a practice to be developed. Never underestimate the transformative power of equanimity. Sometimes it is our own desires, our wanting and not wanting, that cause problems; in such cases learning to look on with equanimity can make all the difference. 
Tomorrow: Maintaining Arisen Healthy States
One week from today: Abstaining from Harming Living Beings

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Via Daily Dharma: Respond to Life with Wisdom

 

Respond to Life with Wisdom

By cultivating skillful attitudes of mind, we will respond to more and more of life with awareness and wisdom.

Steve Armstrong, “Got Attitude?”


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Thursday, October 26, 2023

Via LQBTQ Nation \\ America’s first out elected officials were two civil rights warriors you’ve probably never heard of

 




Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Action: Reflecting upon Social Action

 

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RIGHT ACTION
Reflecting Upon Social Action
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 social action is to be done with repeated reflection. (MN 61)

A person is content with any lodging places they may get, speaks in praise of such contentment, and does not try to obtain these things in improper or unsuitable ways. Not getting these things, one does not worry, and getting them, one makes use of them without being greedy, obsessed, or infatuated, observing such potential dangers and wisely being aware of how to escape them. (AN 4.28)
Reflection
Just as you can practice contentment by appreciating whatever you eat or wear, so too can you take this approach to where and how you live. For monks and nuns, who in the early days wandered from place to place, this meant adjusting to a different lodging situation almost every night. The practice of feeling content wherever you are can be extended to laypeople as well. Contentment is a mental state that can be cultivated.
Daily Practice
It is not difficult to find the flaws in any situation. However, this leads to discontent, which is a state of mind conducive to suffering. Practice instead finding the benefits of things in your life, such as your living situation. It could always be worse. There is always something in any situation that can be noticed, raised in awareness, and appreciated. Practice doing this whenever you can; contentment contributes to your well-being.
Tomorrow: Abstaining from Intoxication
One week from today: Reflecting upon Bodily Action


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 Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.
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89 5th Ave, New York, NY 10003

Via Daily Dharma: Wake Up to How Life Is

 

Wake Up to How Life Is

When we wake up to how human life on this planet actually is, and stop running away or building walls in our heart, then we develop a wiser motivation for our life.

Ajahn Sucitto, “From Turning the Wheel of Truth: Commentary on the Buddha’s First Teaching”


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Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Via LGBTQ Nation \\ ‘Bury them in fruit jars.’

 


Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Speech: Refraining from Frivolous Speech

RIGHT SPEECH
Refraining from Frivolous Speech
Frivolous speech is unhealthy. Refraining from frivolous speech is healthy. (MN 9) Abandoning frivolous speech, one refrains from frivolous speech. One speaks at the right time, speaks only what is fact, and speaks about what is good. One speaks what is worthy of being overheard, words that are reasonable, moderate, and beneficial. (DN 1) One practices thus: “Others may speak frivolously, but I shall abstain from frivolous speech.” (MN 8)

A person should examine things in such a way that while examining them their consciousness is not stuck internally, and not clinging, they do not become agitated. Then there is no origination of suffering. (MN 138)
Reflection
Suffering arises when consciousness gets stuck internally. That is to say, the mind gets attached to the things flowing through it and cannot let go of one thing to allow the next thing to arise. This can happen a lot when we are communicating. How often do you appear to be listening to someone when in fact you are rehearsing what you are going to say next? Right speech requires unsticking the mind from its internal clinging.
Daily Practice
Encourage your mind to work like Teflon, encountering everything but not getting attached or stuck to the objects it becomes aware of. This requires listening to a person speak, for example, without grabbing hold of a particular word or phrase but remaining open to everything that is said. Stay focused on what is happening in the present moment and respond appropriately, without projecting your own internal attachments.
Tomorrow: Reflecting upon Social Action
One week from today: Refraining from False Speech

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#DhammaWheel

Questions?
 Visit the Dhamma Wheel orientation page.
Tricycle is a nonprofit and relies on your support to keep its wheels turning.
© 2023 Tricycle Foundation
89 5th Ave, New York, NY 10003

 

Via Daily Dharma: We All Screw Up

You Are Your Teacher

Everybody, even the best of us, will sometimes behave ingloriously, and to think otherwise is to be hemmed in by vanity.

Andrew Cooper, “The Debacle”


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Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation \\ Words of Wisdom - October 25, 2023 💌

 

What I used to do when I had to wait in line was mantra or breathing. I'd go into my Vipassana meditation. But now I'm interested in whether waiting in line at the bank itself can be the thing. I notice my impatience, notice the feeling in my feet as I'm standing there, notice the different levels of reality of the people I'm looking at. Am I seeing a bank teller, or am I seeing the Divine Mother as a bank teller? I allow myself to play with the moment more, dealing with the stuff of the moment rather than going away.

- Ram Dass -