Via Movimento Endireita Brasil / FB:

Via Daily Dharma

Completely Grounded | February 19, 2015 We need to realize the ultimate truth [of nonduality], but as Nagarjuna, one of the great Indian ancestors, says, 'in order to realize the ultimate truth you must be completely grounded in the conventional truth,' which means the precepts of ethical conduct, and so on. If we neglect how we are taking care of ourselves and other people, then it is actually impossible to realize the ultimate truth. - Kokyo Henkel, "Tripping with the Buddha" Read More →

Via Viva! Mais

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia - Flor del Día - Flower of the Day - 18/02/2015

“A desconstrução do falso eu não é fácil devido ao apego que desenvolvemos por aquilo que foi construído. Quanto maior o apego, maior o sofrimento. Quando você está consciente do processo da desconstrução, e do quanto ela é positiva e necessária, a travessia se torna um pouco mais fácil. Mas, não estando consciente, você acha que está simplesmente perdendo tudo o que construiu, e sente isso como algo muito negativo. Assim o processo pode ser bastante desafiador, pois a desconstrução é permeada pelo medo: da escassez, de ficar sozinho, de não conseguir completar a travessia, de morrer, de não ver nada no lugar daquilo que está indo embora... Medo de tudo. E o medo abre portas para todos os tipos de ‘demônios’. Por isso, a compreensão a respeito desse processo é de grande valia.”

“La deconstrucción del falso yo no es fácil debido al apego que desarrollamos por aquello que fue construido. Cuanto mayor es el apego, mayor es el sufrimiento. Cuando estás consciente del proceso de deconstrucción, y de cuán positivo y necesario es, la travesía se vuelve un poco más fácil. Pero no estando consciente, crees que estás simplemente perdiendo todo lo que construiste, y sientes esto como algo muy negativo. Así el proceso puede ser bastante desafiante, porque la deconstrucción es permeada por el miedo: a la escasez, a quedarse solo, a no conseguir completar la travesía, a morir, a no ver nada en el lugar de aquello que se está yendo... Miedo de todo. Y el miedo abre las puertas a todo tipo de "demonios". Por eso, la comprensión acerca de este proceso es de gran valor.”

"Deconstructing the false self is difficult due to the attachment we develop to what this false self has created. The greater the attachment, the greater we suffer. When we are aware of the deconstruction process and that it is both positive and necessary, this passage becomes a little easier. However, when we are not aware of this process, and we think we’re simply losing everything we have built, this feels like something very negative. Consequently, the process can be quite challenging because the deconstruction is permeated by fear: the fear of scarcity, of being alone, of not completing the journey, of death, of nothing coming to replace what is going away... There is the fear of everything. This fear opens the door to all types of ‘demons.’ Therefore, comprehending this process is of great value."

Via Daily Dharma

A Feast of Dharma | February 18, 2015 All the teachings, all the words, all the sutras, are skillful means for liberating the mind, rather than statements of absolute truth. When we take words to be statements of ultimate truth, then differences of opinion will inevitably result in conflict. This is where ideological wars come from, and we see in the history of the world an endless amount of suffering because of it. But if we see the words and the teachings as different skillful means for liberating the mind, then they all become part of a great dharma feast. - Joseph Goldstein, "One Dharma" Read More →

Via Baha'i Inspired Clinical Counselling Services: Short Prayer for Decision

The prayer is to be recited 19 times, followed by (1) meditation on the problem, (2) the formulation of a solution, and (3) the implementation of the conceived solution:

"O my God! Thou seest me detached from everything save Thee and clinging to Thee.

Guide me then, in my doings, in a manner which profiteth me for the glory of Thy Cause and the loftiness of the state of Thy servants."

~ Baha'u'llah

"The Research Department of the Universal House of Justice has advised that the prayer... was revealed by Bahá’u’lláh to Jináb-i-Samandar [Shaykh Kázim Samandar], the father of the Hand of the Cause of God, Tarázu’lláh Samandarí, to assist him in making a difficult decision." ~ From a letter dated August 21, 2001 from the Department of the Secretariat

Via Sri Prem Baba: Flor do Dia - Flor del Día - Flower of the Day - 17/02/2015

OM NAMAH SHIVAYA

“Estamos aqui chamando pelo senhor Shiva. Quando chamamos com o coração, ele se manifesta; e quando ele se manifesta, precisamos dar conta. Porque Shiva é a consciência cósmica, mas também é o poder de transformação. Antes que a consciência cósmica possa se manifestar, é preciso transformar o que precisa ser transformado. Isso implica em um processo de desconstrução do sistema de condicionamentos e crenças, e de todas as estruturas criadas pelo falso eu - inclusive ele próprio.” 

20.01.15

OM NAMAH SHIVAYA
“Estamos aquí llamando al señor Shiva. Cuando llamamos con el corazón, él se manifiesta; y cuando él se manifiesta, precisamos percibirlo. Porque Shiva es la conciencia cósmica, pero también es el poder de transformación. Antes de que la conciencia cósmica pueda manifestarse, es necesario transformar lo que precisa ser transformado. Esto implica un proceso de deconstrucción del sistema de condicionamientos y creencias, y de todas las estructuras creadas por el falso yo - incluido él mismo.”
20.01.15

OM NAMAH SHIVAYA
“We are here calling for Lord Shiva. When we call him with our hearts, he manifests himself, and we must take account when he does so. Not only is Shiva the symbol of cosmic consciousness, but he is also the power of transformation. Before cosmic consciousness can manifest, it’s necessary to transform that which needs to be transformed. This implies a process of deconstructing our conditionings and belief systems, and all the structures created by the false ‘I’ – including the false ‘I’ itself.”

Via Daily Dharma

What Our World Needs | February 17, 2015 The path of personal transformation and the path of social transformation are not really separate from each other. We must reclaim the concept of awakening from an exclusively individualistic therapeutic model and focus on how individual liberation also requires social transformation. Engagement in the world is how our personal awakening blossoms. - David Loy, "Awakening in the Age of Climate Change" Read More →

Via Believe Out Loud / FB:

WOOHOO! GAY COUPLE MAKES HISTORY WITH NAVY'S FIRST MAN-ON-MAN HOMECOMING KISS!!

"After a seven-month WestPac deployment, the USS San Francisco (SSN 711) submarine warship returned home to Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego yesterday. With every return comes the ceremonial "first kiss" of sailors disembarking from the vessel, and Monday's kiss was particularly notable as it was the first time ever a male same-sex couple was chosen" smile emoticon heart emoticon

Read more: http://ow.ly/J2dhk

Flor do Dia - Flor del Día - Flower of the Day - 15/02/2015

“Em ambientes de crueldade, onde as forças contrárias ao Amor atuam livremente, é muito difícil sustentar a conexão. Sustentar a conexão, em outras palavras, significa sustentar a presença do amor. E o que te faz sentir-se bem é justamente o amor fluindo do seu coração. Mas, o amor não pode se expressar em um ambiente de crueldade, pois essas forças restringem sua capacidade de amar - elas fecham seu coração. Isso acontece quase como uma proteção, para a sua sobrevivência. Porque ao manter-se aberto a crueldade entra e você começa a se machucar.”

Acesse ao Satsang Completo: bit.ly/16rNZe0

“En ambientes de crueldad, donde las fuerzas contrarias al Amor actúan libremente, es muy difícil sustentar la conexión. Sustentar la conexión, en otras palabras, significa sustentar la presencia del amor. Y lo que te hace sentir bien es justamente el amor fluyendo de tu corazón. Pero el amor no puede expresarse en un ambiente de crueldad, porque esas fuerzas restringen tu capacidad de amar – ellas cierran tu corazón. Eso sucede casi como una protección para tu supervivencia. Porque al mantenerte abierto, la crueldad entra y tú comienzas a lastimarte.”

"In cruel environments where the forces opposing love reign freely, it’s very difficult to maintain our connection by sustaining the presence of love. What makes us feel good is feeling love flowing from our heart. However, love cannot express itself in a cruel environment because these forces restrict our ability to love, and they close our heart. This happens almost like a protection mechanism for our own survival. If we remain open, the cruelty enters and we begin to get hurt.”

- Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

The Buddha's Footprint | February 16, 2015 Buddhism is generally conceived as the environmental religion par excellence. Yet, as scholars have shown over the past 20 years, the development of eco-Buddhism is a modern one. In many ways it is also an inversion of the classic orientalist paradigm whereby the West is male, active, and practical while the East is feminine, passive, and intuitive. And while this binary opposition was often utilized to explain and justify Western domination in both practice and theory, it was also the case that the dynamic of the framework could be flipped. - Johan Elverskog, "The Buddha's Footprint" Read More → Share

Via BNR LGBT / FB:

 

If you haven't already, sign for LGBT marriage equality! 38 down, 12 more states to go: http://actionsprout.io/C345D4

Flor do Dia - Flor del Día - Flower of the Day - 15/02/2015

“Em ambientes de crueldade, onde as forças contrárias ao Amor atuam livremente, é muito difícil sustentar a conexão. Sustentar a conexão, em outras palavras, significa sustentar a presença do amor. E o que te faz sentir-se bem é justamente o amor fluindo do seu coração. Mas, o amor não pode se expressar em um ambiente de crueldade, pois essas forças restringem sua capacidade de amar - elas fecham seu coração. Isso acontece quase como uma proteção, para a sua sobrevivência. Porque ao manter-se aberto a crueldade entra e você começa a se machucar.”

Acesse ao Satsang Completo: bit.ly/16rNZe0

“En ambientes de crueldad, donde las fuerzas contrarias al Amor actúan libremente, es muy difícil sustentar la conexión. Sustentar la conexión, en otras palabras, significa sustentar la presencia del amor. Y lo que te hace sentir bien es justamente el amor fluyendo de tu corazón. Pero el amor no puede expresarse en un ambiente de crueldad, porque esas fuerzas restringen tu capacidad de amar – ellas cierran tu corazón. Eso sucede casi como una protección para tu supervivencia. Porque al mantenerte abierto, la crueldad entra y tú comienzas a lastimarte.”

"In cruel environments where the forces opposing love reign freely, it’s very difficult to maintain our connection by sustaining the presence of love. What makes us feel good is feeling love flowing from our heart. However, love cannot express itself in a cruel environment because these forces restrict our ability to love, and they close our heart. This happens almost like a protection mechanism for our own survival. If we remain open, the cruelty enters and we begin to get hurt.”

- Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

Meditative Thinking | February 15, 2015 The work of meditative thinking is a collaboration between these two natures—the seer that remembers and the seen that always forgets. As in rowing, if you pull more on one oar than the other, you go round in circles, and, as in rowing, all I can see is what I have passed as I press forward toward a point that is hidden behind me. - Carl Lehmann-Haupt, "The Path of Writing" Read More →

Flor do Dia - Flor del Día - Flower of the Day - 14/02/2015

“Quando o buscador chega, inicio um trabalho de cura para tratar das suas feridas emocionais e purificar seu coração das mazelas do passado. Esse trabalho continua até que ele possa se harmonizar com seu passado e se libertar dele, ou seja, até que ele possa olhar para trás e verdadeiramente agradecer por absolutamente tudo que aconteceu na sua vida. Nesse momento, ele estará pronto para renascer no espírito. Na verdade, é nesse ponto que a jornada espiritual realmente inicia. Porque até então era um trabalho psicoespiritual de cura e transformação da natureza inferior.”

“Cuando el buscador llega, inicio un trabajo de cura para tratar sus heridas emocionales y purificar su corazón de los males del pasado. Ese trabajo continúa hasta que pueda armonizarse con su pasado y se libere de él, o sea, hasta que pueda mirar para atrás y verdaderamente agradecer por absolutamente todo lo que sucedió en su vida. En ese momento, estará listo para renacer en el espíritu. En verdad, es en ese punto que el camino espiritual realmente inicia. Porque hasta entonces era un trabajo psicoespiritual de cura y transformación de la naturaleza inferior.”

"When the seeker arrives, a healing work begins to address one’s emotional wounds and to purify the heart’s ailments from the past. This work continues until one can be in harmony with one’s past and be liberated from it; until one can look back and truly be thankful for absolutely everything that has happened in one’s life. At this moment, one is ready to be reborn in spirit. In fact, this is when the spiritual journey actually begins. Everything up until this point was merely a psychospiritual work of healing and transforming one’s lower nature."

- Sri Prem Baba

Via JMG: From Alabama's Largest Newspaper

 

The Birmingham News has been absolutely relentless in their supportive coverage of Alabama's marriage battle and one of the stars of that coverage has been cartoonist JD Crowe. Hit the link for a slideshow of Crowe's work about Judge Roy Moore.

Labels: Alabama, JD Crowe, marriage equality, Roy Moore

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: Antonin Scalia: Don't Paint Me As Anti-Gay

 

"The issue of gay rights, on abortion, on many of the issues in which Ruth’s opinions and mine differ does not pertain to the substance. It doesn’t pertain to whether gay people ought to have those rights or whether there ought to be a constitutional right or a right to an abortion. That isn’t the issue. The issue is who decides. That’s all. I don’t have any public views on any of those things. The point is who decides? Should these decisions be made by the Supreme Court without any text in the Constitution or any history in the Constitution to support imposing on the whole country or is it a matter left to the people? But don’t paint me as anti-gay or anti-abortion or anything else. All I’m doing on the Supreme Court is opining about who should decide."  

 

- Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, speaking last night at the George Washington University event where Ruth Bader Ginsburg made her "not 100% sober" comment.

Labels: Antonin Scalia, marriage equality, SCOTUS

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: March Issue Of Texas Monthly

Labels: gay families, marriage equality, Texas

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: OREGON: Democratic Gov. John Kizhaber Resigns In Scandal Over His Fiance, Successor Kate Brown Is Openly Bisexual

 

Via Bloomberg:

Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber’s almost four-decade political career fell apart Friday, as he heeded calls from fellow Democrats to resign after a scandal involving his fiancee’s use of his office to generate business for her energy-consulting firm. Kitzhaber, a 67-year-old re-elected to a fourth term in November, announced his departure in a news release. Secretary of State Kate Brown, also a Democrat, will assume the office until 2016.

Oregon's now governor-to-be Kate Brown is married to a man and is openly bisexual, which will make her the first openly LGBT governor in American history. Unless you count former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevy, which you shouldn't.

Labels: Democrats, Kate Brown, Oregon, scandal

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via Daily Dharma

Dharma Dating | February 14, 2015 As human beings, we’re hardwired for connection. Of course, our practice helps us dissolve the illusion of a separate self and know that we are supported in every breath by the whole universe. But at the same time, it’s also good to feel supported by a real live person who actually cares that we had a bad day, that the kids were brats, that the boss was a tyrant, that the computer kept crashing, that we failed to solve our koan. - Anne Cushman, "Fifteen Weeks of Dharma Dating" Read More →

Flor do Dia - Flor del Día - Flower of the Day - 13/02/2015

“Ao praticar técnicas sexuais com várias pessoas diferentes você acaba criando situações perigosas. Isso porque você amplia seu poder e magnetismo, o que deixa seu ego mais robusto e astuto. E o principal poder que você desenvolve é o poder de manipulação. Mas porque você quer ter esse poder? Você quer manipular o outro para ter domínio sobre ele e para fugir de si mesmo. Ter domínio sobre uma pessoa não é diferente de ter um carro novo ou de ter bastante dinheiro na conta bancária – tudo agrega valor à falsa ideia de quem é você. No mais profundo, você está em busca de uma identidade; está tentando suprir uma carência.” 

Acesse ao Satsang Completo: bit.ly/prembaba01

“Al practicar técnicas sexuales con varias personas diferentes terminas creando situaciones peligrosas. Porque amplías tu poder y magnetismo, lo que deja a tu ego más robusto y astuto. Y el principal poder que desarrollas es el poder de manipulación. ¿Pero porqué quieres tener ese poder? Quieres manipular al otro para tener dominio sobre él y para huir de ti mismo. Tener dominio sobre una persona no es distinto de tener un auto nuevo o de tener bastante dinero en la cuenta bancaria – todo agrega valor a la falsa idea de quien eres tú. En lo más profundo, estás en búsqueda de una identidad, estás intentando suplir una carencia.”

"Practicing sexual techniques with many different people can end up creating dangerous situations. One may increase one’s power and allure, which makes the ego more robust and cunning, but the main power that develops is manipulation. Why would one want to have this power? In order to manipulate the other and dominate them, while avoiding looking at oneself. Having dominion over the other is no different than having a new car, or having a lot of money in one’s bank account. Everything adds value to the false idea of who we are. On a deeper level, one is seeking an identity, and this is an attempt to compensate for a neediness."

- Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

Tasting Buddhanature | February 13, 2015 Being told about buddhanature but never really making it our personal experience will not help anything. It's like staying hungry. Once we put the food in our mouth, we discover what the food tastes like. - Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, "As the Clouds Vanish" Read More →

Flor do Dia - Flor del Día - Flower of the Day -12/02/2015

“Muitas vezes damos passagem para determinados impulsos que não gostamos e não aceitamos, e que gostaríamos que fossem diferentes. O que faz uma pessoa refém do ciúme e da inveja? Refém da insegurança e da vingança? Refém do medo? É a ignorância a respeito da natureza desse impulso. Isso porque tudo o que é negado e relegado ao plano da sombra acaba ganhando força justamente por ficar no inconsciente.”
Acesse ao Satsang Completo: bit.ly/25012015

“Muchas veces damos pasaje a determinados impulsos que no nos gustan y no aceptamos, y que gustaríamos que fuesen diferentes. ¿Qué hace a una persona rehén de los celos, de la envidia? ¿Rehén de la inseguridad y de la venganza? ¿Rehén del miedo? Es la ignorancia al respecto de la naturaleza de ese impulso. Eso porque todo lo que es negado y relegado al plano de la sombra acaba ganando fuerza justamente por estar en el inconsciente.”

"Oftentimes we give way to certain impulses that we do not like nor accept, and that we wish would be different. What makes a person hostage to jealousy and envy? What makes one hostage to insecurity, revenge and fear? It is the ignorance about the nature of this impulse. Everything that is denied and banished to the realms of the shadow ends up gaining strength simply by remaining unconscious."

- Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

Democratizing Enlightenment | February 12, 2015 We must take care, in our age of scientific mastery, not to treat enlightenment as the ultimate technological discovery, a state in which everything is understood, a kind of unified field theory of the spirit where only experts reign. This is not the quality of real insight. Real awakening should bring home to us the inexplicability, even unknowability, of our world. - Lewis Richmond, "Enlightenment Needs a Minyan" Read More →

Flor do Dia - Flor del Día - Flower of the Day - 11/02/2015

“Ao entrega-se para a vontade divina, a vontade do seu Eu superior, você se torna uma testemunha silenciosa; um canal puro do amor. Cada ação é como uma prece ao Divino e sua vida se torna devoção. Nada do que você faz é para si mesmo: a graça, a alegria, a cura e o amor passam por você para chegar ao outro, e assim você vai experimentando a plenitude e o contentamento – você vai provando pílulas de samadhi, o êxtase místico. E a cada vislumbre do Eterno, a natureza inferior vai se dissipando, e você vai se aproximando da sua verdadeira essência.”

Acesse ao Satsang Completo: bit.ly/1CviIRC

“Al entregarse a la voluntad divina, la voluntad de tu Yo superior, te vuelves un testigo silencioso, un canal puro del amor. Cada acción es como una plegaria al Divino y tu vida se vuelve devoción. Nada de lo que haces es para ti mismo: la gracia, la alegría, la cura y el amor pasan por ti para llegar al otro, y así vas experimentando la plenitud y el contentamiento – vas probando las píldoras de samadhi, el éxtasis místico. Y a cada vislumbre del Eterno, la naturaleza inferior se va disipando, y vas aproximándote a tu verdadera esencia.”

"When you surrender to the divine will, the will of your higher self, you become a silent witness and a pure channel of love. Each action turns into a prayer to the Divine and your life becomes devotion. Nothing you do is for yourself. Grace, joy, healing and love pass through you to reach the other. In this way, you go on experiencing fulfillment and contentment. You experience samadhi pills: mystical ecstasy. At every glimpse of the Eternal, the lower nature begins to dissipate, and you come closer to your true essence."

- Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

Facing Extinction | February 11, 2015 There are a lot of decisions we’re going to be making, consciously or unconsciously, that are going to impact other species, and a lot of choices for us to make that will maximize or minimize that impact. I’m trying to bring those choices into consciousness, because right now we are simply making them unconsciously; we are making them by not making them. - Elizabeth Kolbert, "No Easy Answers" Read More →

Flower of the Day: 02/10/15

“Different spiritual traditions invoke the Divine in specific ways, but there is a common denominator amongst them. For example, bhajans, devotional chants, evoke the deities of the Hindu tradition. Through their symbolism, these deities, or names and forms of the Divine, represent aspects of the Divine that dwell within us all. Everything is inside of us. The Divine works through each one of us, and that which is not here is nowhere."

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Kos

Via Daily Dharma

The Four Metaphors | February 10, 2015 Noble one, think of yourself as someone who is sick, Of the dharma as the remedy, Of your spiritual teacher as a skillful doctor, And of diligent practice as the way to recovery. - Shakyamuni Buddha, "Again 'Common Sense' Buddhism" Read More →

Flower of the Day: 02/09/15

"It is true that the spiritual master is One, that the truth is One, and that the path is One. However, it’s necessary to be aware of the importance of focusing and connecting with the channel that represents the bridge to this oneness for us at this precise moment. Compulsion can manifest in different ways in the many areas of life, and if we are in a particular place but cannot relax and surrender to the process, then we won’t be able to benefit from it. In order to benefit from the path we are on, we must enter into communion with it. For this to occur, we need to focus, surrender and relax."

Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

The Witness | February 9, 2015 When you sit with the earth, when you make it your witness and when you act as a witness for it—what do you see? What are you compelled to do? These are questions that take us beyond political stances, beyond principles, beyond arguments about engagement or detachment. They are questions, it seems to me, that can never be answered in any way other than the strictly personal. Sitting or acting; engagement or retreat; perhaps there need be no contradiction. - Paul Kingsnorth, "The Witness" Read More →

Via Daily Dharma

Through Every Jewel | February 8, 2015 All day long, creatures are bumping into other creatures, squashing them, killing and eating and drinking them, wearing and using them, walking and lying on them, destroying their homes. There is no personal boundary to this karmic responsibility—it radiates through every jewel in Indra's net. A karmic debt 'owed' by one is owed by all. Vegetarians owe as much as meat eaters, pacifists as much as fighters. There are no personal safe zones, no useful strategies for self-protection. - John McClellan, "Meat: To Eat It or Not" Read More →

Via Daily Dharma

Wisdom Will Resurface | February 7, 2015 Wisdom does accumulate—not in a linear arithmetic progression but in a complex, dynamic system. Each understanding sheds light upon the others in an interactive living process. Insights that seem unassailable may suddenly meet passionate doubt, all clarity shattered at the very moment it is most needed. Then, just as suddenly, wisdom will resurface, stronger for having vanished, wisdom that now knows of its own disintegration. - Nina Wise, "Sudden Awakening" Read More →

Via JMG: 81% Of College Freshmen Back Marriage

 

In its annual American Freshman Survey, UCLA researchers polled over 150,000 incoming freshmen at 227 colleges and universities. This year's result on marriage:

The survey last asked about same-sex marriage in 2012. In the interim, support for same-sex couples having the legal right to marry has increased 6.5 percentage points to 81.5%. This increase covers a span of time where the U.S. Supreme Court struck down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act and California’s state ban on same-sex marriage. Additionally, since these Supreme Court decisions, state-level same-sex marriage bans have fallen across the country in U.S. Circuit and District courts; as of January 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up four pending cases from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Figure 10 breaks support for same-sex marriage down by political ideology. The findings show that only students who identify as “far right” do not support same-sex marriage. Just 44.3% of students identified as “far right” either “agreed somewhat” or “agreed strongly” that same-sex couples should have the legal right to marry. This figure contrasts with 56.6% of “conservative” students, 84.7% of “middle-of-the-road” students, 93.9% of “liberal” students, and 90.5% of “far left” students. It is clear that same-sex marriage is no longer an issue for the vast majority of entering college freshmen.

We can't wait for Tony Perkins to spin this one.

Labels: education, marriage equality, polls

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via Daily Dharma

Experiential Ethics | February 5, 2015 The wonderful challenge of Buddhism is that it does not offer any absolute formulas for virtuousness. In the Silabatta Sutta, the Buddha asks Ananda if every precept and practice taught by the dharma is holy. Ananda replies, 'Lord, that is not to be answered with a categorical answer.' - Hannah Tennant-Moore, "Personal Heaven, Personal Hell" Read More →

Flower of the Day: 02/06/15

"By deepening the practice of self-observation, we may reach the surprising conclusion that we feel pleasure through our negative actions in the world. There is a pleasure connected to the negative situation that repeats itself in our lives. Our vital energy is invested into this destructive action. As we deepen even further into this practice of self-observation, we realize that this may be the only way we know how to feel pleasure. Oftentimes, the positive manifestation of pleasure is a threat to the human being. Since we are so identified with this negativity, we suffer the terror of being annihilated in its absence. Unconsciously, we believe that letting go of this negativity would mean death."

- Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

You Can't Always Get What You Want | February 6, 2015 The chains of desire pull us into a life of frustration and suffering, while renunciation cuts those chains. Renunciation, though often understood to mean 'giving up,' is, more accurately, the willingness to experience things as they are, not as we want them to be. Here you discover true freedom, the deep, quiet joy that has always been present in you. - Ken McLeod, "You Can't Always Get What You Want" Read More →

Flor do Dia - Flor del Día - Flower of the Day - 04/02/2015

“Alguns seres que atingiram a meta da autorrealização enxergam esse planeta como uma prisão. Eu prefiro vê-lo como uma escola, onde a principal matéria é o amor desinteressado. Mas, para amar de forma desinteressada você precisa aprender a perdoar e agradecer, e para perdoar e agradecer, você tem que aprender muitas outras coisas.”

“Algunos seres que han alcanzado la meta de la autorrealización ven este planeta como una prisión. Yo prefiero verlo como una escuela, donde la principal materia es el amor desinteresado. Pero para amar de forma desinteresada, precisas aprender a perdonar y agradecer, y para perdonar y agradecer, tienes que aprender muchas otras cosas.”

"Some beings who have attained the goal of self-realization see this planet as a prison. I prefer to see it as a school, where the main subject matter is selfless love. To be able to love selflessly, we must learn to forgive and give thanks. In order to forgive and thank, we have to learn many more things."

- Sri Prem Baba

Via Daily Dharma

The Enlightened Life | February 4, 2015 When we call forth and base ourselves on the magnificent enlightened life that exists within each of us without exception . . . even the most fundamental, inescapable sufferings of life and death need not be experienced as pain. Rather, they can be transformed into a life embodying the virtues of eternity, joy, true self, and purity. - Daisaku Ikeda, "Faith in Revolution" Read More →

Via Daily Dharma

Liberation is Already in Effect | February 3, 2015 From the viewpoint of a leap philosophy, there is no causal connection between the liberated and the unliberated state; it is, therefore, impossible to build a bridge between these two wholly incompatible realms. If it is not possible to create a causal chain that will lead one from unliberated to liberated status, and yet, as is claimed, liberation is possible, it must be the case that liberation is already in effect. All we must do as practitioners is allow ourselves to see, and to acknowledge, that fact. - Jan Nattier, "A Greater Awakening" Read More →

Flor do Dia - Flor del Día - Flower of the Day - 03/02/2015

“Toda a entidade humana em evolução carrega partes dentro de si mesma com as quais não pôde chegar a um acordo; partes que, de alguma maneira, ela se envergonha ou não compreende, e por isso as mantêm separadas, trancadas em negação. Mas, a negação é o principal obstáculo para a felicidade, pois é somente através da integração dessas partes negadas e separadas que se pode ter um vislumbre da Unidade, e por consequência da paz e do amor.”

Acesse ao Satsang completo: bit.ly/1uTivU9

“Toda la miseria que vemos en este mundo es causada por el olvido de nuestra verdadera naturaleza espiritual. La crisis que vemos en todas las áreas de la sociedad se debe a este olvido. Podemos decir que nuestra sociedad está psicótica, porque existe una profunda identificación con el falso yo. Todos están demasiado ocupados en mantener y embellecer la propia historia, pero no saben que ella no es más que una ficción, una gran mentira; y para sustentarla son capaces de cualquier cosa.”

“All evolving human entities carry parts of themselves that they have not yet come to terms with. They somehow still feel ashamed of these parts within them or have not yet been able to fully understand them, so they keep these feelings separate, locked up in denial. Denial is the main obstacle towards happiness, because only by integrating these denied and separate parts can one have a glimpse of unity and, consequently, of peace and love.”

- Sri Prem Baba

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