Limits

The lesson from German Fascism and Russian Stalinism is simple. If you are going to succeed in survival, you must draw a line over which you will not allow the evil of bigotry to corrupt your vision of your basic human rights. Man and his environment are one. If you allow the evil of homophobia into your life, into your heart, you are your own oppressor. If you participate in organizations, like Right-Wing political groups, most organized religions, homophobic family, you are your own oppressor and the oppressor of other homosexual people. You needn't hate your oppressors. You must stand up to them, distance them and condemn their homophobic actions. Only then will they recognize the repercussions of their bigotry. To plead, to bargain, to deny is a form of self-abuse, which has repercussions for all homosexual people. Liberation begins in the individual hearts of brave human beings who assert their human right to exist peacefully within their own lives.

Reactionary

A reactionary is someone with very little to offer and very much to say.
A 'proactionary' is someone with much to offer and little to say.
The reactionary reacts. The 'proactionary' creates.
My practice entails being proactive.
Being proactive entails fostering peace and honesty in my own life.

Others

The most difficult step to compassion can be practicing the awareness that others can have a completely different reality from the reality you assume to be universal. This understanding in every moment and every human contact requires the mindfulness of Bodhisattva, if not Buddha, mind. The misery of the current human condition is magnified by the widespread lack of interest in fostering this kind of mindfulness in the human mind. 'Spreading freedom' is a good example of this on a massive scale. The American President cannot possibly seek mindfulness and compassion. If he were to seek mindfulness and compassion, he would immediately take American soldiers out of Iraq. He would understand that the vague 'freedom' he intends to spread by violence is not freedom but more human suffering. So we can see mindfulness and compassion or their absence once we begin to seek them. This is the benefit of practice. We can then focus our energies on those who can help us with our quest for enlightenment and world peace. And we can turn from those committed to lies, violence and human suffering in order to satisfy their greed.