Tonglen Practice: Turning Suffering Into Compassion...


When you run after your thoughts, you are like a dog chasing a stick: every time a stick is thrown, you run after it. Instead, be like a lion who, rather than chasing after the stick, turns to face the thrower. One only throws a stick at a lion once.

Milarepa 

“Just as it is known that an image of one's face is seen depending on a mirror but does not really exist as a face, so the conception of "I" exist dependent on mind and body, but like the image of a face the "I" does not at all exist as its own reality."   Nagarjuna 
"Thanks to impermanence, everything is possible."    Nagarjuna 
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Gnosticism - The Gospel of Mary Magdalene - Salvation through Self-Knowledge of the Soul & Mind...

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  When you run after your thoughts, you are like a dog chasing a stick: every time a stick is thrown, you run after it. Instead, be like a lion who, rather than chasing after the stick, turns to face the thrower. One only throws a stick at a lion once. Milarepa “Just as it is known t hat an image of one's face is seen d epending on a mirror b ut does not really exist as a face, s o the conception of "I" exist d ependent on mind and body, b ut like the image of a face t he "I" does not at all exist as its own reality. Nagarjuna "Thanks to impermanence, everything is possible."       Nagarjuna
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Newt Gingrich... Anti-Conservative as Well as Anti-American and Anti-Liberty

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by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -v s- Tyranny The holiday season is upon us. For those more conventionally inclined, and not intimidated by the PC Police (that would definitely be me) the season is best known as the Christmas Season. Sorry all you over sensitive anal atheists (and that from a tolerant atheist), please stuff a nice big Christmas stocking in your over bloated and insensitive blow holes. That aside, preceding what will be my last post prior to December 26th, Rational Nation USA wants to wish all its readership A Very Merry Christmas and A Happy and Prosperous New Year . Please drink responsibly, and use a designated driver whenever common sense dictates. Moving forward... In the interest of providing clarity Rational Nation USA can no longer represent itself as a conservative site. To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, I didn't leave the republican party and conservatism, rather the republican party and conservatism has left me. As unfortunate
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Our Biggest Creditor {China} Tells Us "The good old days of borrowing are over"

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by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Birthplace o Independent Conservatism Liberty -vs- Tyranny As the chickens come home to roast... Unbelievable we have been this stupid. ( Reuters ) - Global leaders on Saturday arranged a round of emergency calls to discuss the twin debt crises in Europe and the United States that are causing turmoil in financial markets . After a week that saw $2.5 trillion wiped off global stock markets, they are under pressure to show political leadership and reassure markets that Western governments have both the will and ability to reduce their huge and growing public debt loads. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who chairs the G7/G20 group of leading economies, conferred with Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron ahead of a call planned for this weekend by G7 finance ministers and central bankers. "They discussed the euro area and the U.S. debt downgrade. Both agreed the importance of working together, monitoring the situation closely
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At OWS ... Swank Hotels in the Picture for Some Protesters, and Leaders

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -v s- Tyranny Another look at OWS and some of the forces behind it. { New York Post ) Hell no, we won’t go — unless we get goose down pillows. A key Occupy Wall Street leader and another protester who leads a double life as a businessman ditched fetid tents and church basements for rooms at a luxurious hotel that promises guests can “unleash [their] inner Gordon Gekko,” The Post has learned. The $700-per-night W Hotel Downtown last week hosted both Peter Dutro, one of a select few OWS members on the powerful finance committee, and Brad Spitzer, a California-based analyst who not only secretly took part in protests during a week-long business trip but offered shelter to protesters in his swanky platinum-card room. KYLE SMITH: OBAMA PRETENDS TO SYMPATHIZE WITH OWS, BUT PROTESTERS GET NO REFORMS, NO CANDIDATES -- NO IMPACT RABBLE RETURNS TO ZUCCOTTI TO 'DRUM' UP SUPPORT “Tents are not for me,” he confessed, when confr
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Martin Luther King, Jr., on Communism

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Cross-posted at the Left Coast Rebel As I continue to plug along with my undergrad studies, consumed by work and schoolwork, once in a while I come across something amazing. For example, my entire weekend has been dominated by a 10-page paper on Martin Luther King Jr., particularly his "Letter from Birmingham Jail" essay that he literally wrote from the not-so-comfy confines of a Birmingham jail cell. Look it up . I wasn't particularly excited to write about diving into the topic, nevertheless the choices were bleak - "Letter" or Barack Obama's post-nomination speech. I loathe Obama in every sense of the word so opted for MLK. To compare Obama to MLK? Oh the humanity... Good : research has led me all across academia and I have found some extremely interesting things. For example, I read a 20-page essay by a professor that just happens to be an expert on MLK and Alexis de Tocqueville as well. I mean, she was quoting Tocqueville . My jaw dropped and hit the fl
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Sorry, In a Foul Mood

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -v s- Tyranny So, NPR, the paragon of fine journalistic reporting that it is recently aired a bit of info on Ayn Rand. As to be expected it is about as balanced as a lopsided watermelon, and as factual as calling Obama a Marxist. Driving home from work last night my thoughts were largely focused on the circus that American politics {and governance} has become. That and the fact politicians, lawmakers, bloggers, think tanks, and yes, what is considered the main stream media have lost sight of the need to present accurate data and unbiased reporting. Somehow this seems to have given way to the 30 second sound bite and two minute read. What has become a pet peeves of late is the political label game. The use of political labels has grown so commonplace they are rapidly becoming meaningless. Sure labels save time, but the downside is they quite often don't represent the truth. Especially when the label is attached to a person or a c
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Maxine Waters Expounds on Crimes and Death at OWS Protests... "That's Life and It Happens."

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by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -v s- Tyranny Maxine Waters. Anyone who has doubted her ability to think cogent thoughts should now have any doubt whatsoever removed. A stalwart of the "non thinking" fringe of the pandering democratic party had this to say about OWS activists turned criminal. ( CNSNews.com ) - When asked to comment Wednesday about the deaths and crimes that have occurred around Occupy protests being held across the country, Rep. Maxine Waters said “that’s life and it happens.” “That’s a distraction from the goals of the protesters,” Waters, who says she supports the Occupy movement, told CNSNews.com after an event at the Capitol sponsored by the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “Let me just say this: Anytime you have a gathering, homeless people are going to show up,” said Waters. “They will find some comfort in having some other people out on the streets with them. They’re looking for food. Often times, the criminal element will inv
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Tea Party Is Not So Different From OWS... So Sayeth Obama

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by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -v s- Tyranny   So we can draw our own conclusions. Indeed there are some valid concerns the OWS had in its beginnings. As the movement progresses,any similarities with the Tea Party protest have been lost in the muck of irrationality. OWS has degenerated into a unguided and directionless movement against whatever anyone chooses to believe it is. Quite typical of the hard left and hard right. Sad, truly sad. The saddest of all is the President's and the Democrat's apparent whole hearted support of the movement. Even given the visual confirmation as to the movement's dark side.
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And This Guy Wants America To Elect Him President?

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by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -v s- Tyranny I have known many gay individuals in my life. Most were honorable and decent people. None "chose" to be gay. None threatened my heterosexuality. They simply wished to be acknowledged for what they are. Productive members of the human race with the same rights and obligations all individuals have. Of course there are a few exceptions. They are not that hard to deal with when homosexuality is rationally viewed and accepted by the heterosexual community. And then we have those who just can't help themselves and make idiot statements in the exercise of creating straw bogeymen {women} for whatever benefit they perceive may exist for themselves. The Hill - Newt Gingrich signed on to an anti-gay marriage pledge while campaigning Thursday in Iowa and said that people choose to be gay in the same way that others choose to be celibate. The topic of homosexuality was first broached during an interview with The
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