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Ram Dass has died
- okareaman 7y ago"If there is an enduring figure emblematic of the consciousness revolution of the 1960s and 70s, it is arguably the Harvard professor and LSD researcher-turned-spiritual leader born Richard Alpert but known the world over as Ram Dass."
- kick 7y agoThis hit like a truck. I don't feel sad, but I do feel strongly about it. Hope he met death in peace and excitement.
- okareaman 7y agoSame here. I surprised myself by shedding a few tears, but they were happy tears for a man and life well lived. His living example and teachings helped me in many ways over the years, starting with the practice of living in the moment or "Be Here Now" up to his talks on subjects like addiction. Here he discusses his own addiction to food and the anxiety behind it: Overcoming Addiction & Attachment - Ram Dass https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV7PyQDod40 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV7PyQDod40
- lostgame 7y ago“Be Here Now” absolutely clusterfucked my brain when I first read it, on LSD. This is sad news, but who knows what is beyond death’s door? He was done of the few who not only sought out Death’s address but also mapped out the neighborhood.
- dvfjsdhgfv 7y agoHis name is Ram, not RAM. I find this kind of headline editorializing inapropriate given the circumstances.
- okareaman 7y agoI don't know what happened there. I certainly didn't do that intentionally. I thought I just copied the title. I think I did and then the magazine revised their headline. Mods, please fix it.
- kick 7y agoIt's likely HN's common error fixer. You and the magazine probably did nothing wrong, don't worry.
- foolfoolz 7y agohe kept taking lsd trying to to recreate that specific feeling the trip can give you only to later learn you can get to that place without the drugs. i had no idea he had a debilitating stroke. imagine being someone who’s life is defined by your good ability to articulate ideas hard to explain and communicate with anyone and then instantly turn to someone who has trouble expressing your thoughts. and doing that 20 years. man getting old fucking blows
- kick 7y agoHe found peace in the stroke. It wasn't entirely bad, and he'd probably laugh that you felt more strongly about it than he did. Here's an interesting interview with him on just that: https://www.readthespirit.com/explore/the-ram-dass-interview-on-polishing-the-mirror-you-cant-help-but-smile-hes-still-teaching-us/ https://www.readthespirit.com/explore/the-ram-dass-interview...
- lambdaba 7y agoAbsolutely, there's an excellent documentary about this called Going Home https://www.netflix.com/title/80209895 https://www.netflix.com/title/80209895
- workthrowaway 7y ago> ...Going Home OMG not familiar with the person being talked about but "going home" resonates with me. leonard cohen wrote some powerful songs in his old age and "going home" is one of them.
- briga 7y agoI wonder if the chronic LSD use and the stroke were related.
- lambdaba 7y agoThere's absolutely no scientific basis for that, besides that I don't think he used LSD much if at all past the hippie period. Certainly not regularly (and there are people who have used LSD weekly for years with no apparent damage)
- kranner 7y ago> Curious to see how a spiritual adept would react to LSD, Alpert gave Maharaj-ji a whopping dose. It had zero effect on the holy man. This is oversimplified and maybe a bit misleading. Ram Dass's own account[1] of giving Neem Karoli Baba the "Yogi Medicine" is more colourful and to me suggests that there was some effect and that the Baba was able to tolerate it for the first hour, after which Ram Dass was possibly not present with the Baba for further observations. [1] https://www.ramdass.org/ram-dass-gives-maharaji-the-yogi-medicine/ https://www.ramdass.org/ram-dass-gives-maharaji-the-yogi-med...
- kick 7y agoYour comment is leaving out the last part, which is crucial: And then we waited. After some time he pulled the blanket over his face, and when he came out after a moment his eyes were rolling and his mouth was ajar and he looked totally mad. I got upset. What was happening? Had I misjudged his powers? After all, he was an old man (though how old I had no idea), and I had let him take twelve hundred micrograms. Maybe last time he had thrown them away and then he read my mind and was trying to prove to me he could do it, not realizing how strong the “medicine” really was. Guilt and anxiety poured through me. But when I looked at him again he was perfectly normal and looking at the watch. At the end of an hour it was obvious nothing had happened. His reactions had been a total put-on. And then he asked, “Have you got anything stronger?” I didn’t. Then he said, “These medicines were used in Kullu Valley long ago. But yogis have lost that knowledge. They were used with fasting. Nobody knows now. To take them with no effect, your mind must be firmly fixed on God. Others would be afraid to take. Many saints would not take this.” And he left it at that.
- kranner 7y agoI left out the whole thing, actually, but my opinion took that into account. I get the impression that Ram Dass was a bit of a Karoli Baba fanboy and certainly the drug had enough of an effect that Karoli Baba felt something, even if he didn't outwardly show it; or perhaps Ram Dass was too starry-eyed to note it as such.
- 7y ago
- rapsey 7y agoTo any podcast listener I highly recommend: Ram Dass Here and Now. It along with reading the Bhagavad Gita certainly changed my life and mindset forever.
- tim333 7y agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9I4SVWpfdM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9I4SVWpfdM I guess?
- rapsey 7y agoyes
- eric234223 7y agoBhagavad Gita also advocates for varna system which is one of the shames of hinduism.
- vppillai 7y agoBut not based on birth. It is advocated as a social structure based on the kind of work you do.
- rootkea 7y agoSure. Maybe that's why the newborn child of a Brahmin is a Brahmin. /s But seriously, as a Hindu I gotta ask, do we honestly think people are that clueless to fall for this bs?
- okareaman 7y agoI'm listening to Here and Now for the first time. Amazing stuff.
- blaeks 7y agotouch base here: "Be here now" transformed my brainz too. afaik Ram Dass is well and alive, and will be for many years to come
- starpilot 7y ago"RAM" in headline should not be all caps, right?
- a11th3th1ngs 7y agoFor those looking in like me and had to read to know who this guy was, and read the comments here - cut the crap. Sounds like a generally good human being who lived a life worth pondering if not more. Even if out of step, the level of untoward animosity because of the "My context is smarter than yours" factor isn't appropriate. Get over yourselves and your opining.
- Quipunotch104 7y ago"Now the whole idea of a meditative practice is the process of very simply extricating awareness from the identification with thought & sensation." - Ram Dass
- tim333 7y agoThere's an earlier article discussed on HN that kind of summarises who he was The Unified Theory Of Ram Dass https://www.gq.com/story/the-unified-theory-of-ram-dass https://www.gq.com/story/the-unified-theory-of-ram-dass HN nov 18 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18558488 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18558488
- reggieband 7y agoFrom the GQ article: > ... with his former life as a 29-year-old clinical psychologist on the faculty at Harvard named Dr. Richard Alpert. He'd been the pride of an esteemed Jewish family in Boston, with an impressive résumé (gigs at Stanford and Berkeley, a corner office and sterling reputation at Harvard) and all the trappings of success that came with his swinging young professorship, including a blue Mercedes-Benz, a Triumph motorcycle, a sailboat, a single-engine Cessna airplane, a live-in girlfriend in an apartment on one side of town and a live-in boyfriend on the other. Maybe I'm out-of-touch with Harvard compensation ranges ... but is this practical given solely his salary or would he have need to supplement his income with family wealth or other income sources?
- kirsebaer 7y agoHe had family money.
- kilpikaarna 7y agoThis part is more or less quoted from the talk in the first episodes of his podcast At least of the airplane he then later says ”well the bank owned it”. It was something he bought because Leary insisted they go to Mexico, he was still taking flight lessons at the time.
- Glosster 7y agoSpirituality and philosophy are for people who can't get into actually important fields related to science, right?
- nunodonato 7y agoscience is for people who can't get into the real important field of life, like spirituality :P
- deepvibrations 7y agoHa! Science can only get you so far and there are areas where it falls on it's face, for example explaining consciousness and that is where Spirituality and philosophy need to step in.
- collyw 7y agoOr for those for whom science has answered as much as it can and are still looking for answers.
- abdulhaq 7y agoThis is an important question that you must answer for yourself
- rapsey 7y agoScience will not help you with: * Dealing with your own death or death of loved ones. * Finding meaning and purpose to life. * Dealing with anger. * Coping with trauma. * Coping with adversity. * Dealing with addiction. * Coping with social anxiety, acceptance or isolation. * ...
- russellbeattie 7y agoI think HN needs an obituaries section. I'm not kidding.
- throwbackThurs 7y agoA truly beautiful human being.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- krn 7y ago"When you go out into the woods, and you look at trees, you see all these different trees. And some of them are bent, and some of them are straight, and some of them are evergreens, and some of them are whatever. And you look at the tree and you allow it. You see why it is the way it is. You sort of understand that it didn’t get enough light, and so it turned that way. And you don’t get all emotional about it. You just allow it. You appreciate the tree. The minute you get near humans, you lose all that. And you are constantly saying ‘You are too this, or I’m too this.’ That judgment mind comes in. And so I practice turning people into trees. Which means appreciating them just the way they are." – Ram Dass
- petrogradphilos 7y agoIt’s correct to regard trees, but not people, as products of their environment. Trees don’t make choices. People do.
- felixgallo 7y agoThen I advise you to read what you’ve posted on an obituary thread and change.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- blinkingled 7y agoPeople's choices also are in some way a product of their environment (heritage, parents, neighborhood and so on) and their suchness/nature, both of which they can't do much about - aren't they? Besides, judging them is hardly useful - they're what they are and society has already got the consequences part covered so what's judgment adding here?
- kgwxd 7y agoIsn't expecting society to take care of the consequences part just delegating judgment?
- fnord77 7y ago> LSD-75 lsd-25 ... > Curious to see how a spiritual adept would react to LSD, Alpert gave Maharaj-ji a whopping dose. It had zero effect on the holy man. This is so unlikely. Either the drug was no good, or Maharaj-ji was on something that negates the effects of LSD (anti-depressants, benzos, barbiturates, etc.)
- quickthrowman 7y agoAbsolutely, either he wasn’t given LSD or the dude was on a tremendous amount of benzos. I read elsewhere that the dose was 1200 mcg, which is a very strong dose. Most recreational tabs are 75-250 mcg LSD having no effect on Maharaj-Ji is about as likely as Prince Andrew not being able to sweat because of a scare during the Falkland War.
- zaph0d 7y agoMaharajji's (Neem Karoli Baba) only possession was a blanket and he was living in a remote village in North India in the 60's. There is little chance that he had access to the drugs you mentioned. And the LSD that was carried by Ram Dass was made by Sandoz, arguably the purest LSD that you could ever get. May be reading Ram Dass' account of the event in _Be Here Now_ will provide some much needed context.
- quickthrowman 7y agoAn anecdote being published in a book doesn’t make it true.
- armitron 7y agoCorrect and one should also point out that the field of yogis, spiritual teachers and holy men is full of fraudsters and charlatans. That people seem willing to give unwarranted credit to some famous guy's claims does not invalidate your point. Ram Dass has said and written a lot of nonsense.
- mistrial9 7y ago
- refset 7y agoRichard was a beautiful soul who recognised, embraced and embodied the primacy of love. His life was his message.
- ArtWomb 7y agoPrediction: resurgent Hindutva and global projection of Indian economic and cultural influence will result in a global awakening to the wisdom contained in ancient Vedic traditions. We might even see Sanskrit learning centers outside language departments like Oxford and Chicago. I think the best place to start is probably with the Ramayana. And the age old question troubling sages for ages: Why does Ram banish Sita? https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Ramayana https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Ramayana
- volume 7y ago“It’s entirely possible, as far as I’m concerned, psychedelics are another yoga” Ram Dass in “The Only Dance There Is” page 47. Published 1970 November 26, 2019 The FDA is fast-tracking a second psilocybin drug to treat depression https://www.popsci.com/story/health/psilocybin-magic-mushroom-fda-breakthrough-depression/ https://www.popsci.com/story/health/psilocybin-magic-mushroo...
- krn 7y agoRichard Alpert (before becoming Ram Dass) on LSD experience in the interview from the 1960s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P3TrGCMHNU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P3TrGCMHNU And Timothy Leary in the interview from 1966: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXBg3BVDVHM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXBg3BVDVHM What seems extremely impressive now, is how clear their thinking was, and how confident they felt in the importance of what they have to share. And it wasn't something one could have just found in the books.
- kilroy_jones 7y agoI never understood the fascination with these gurus. They repackage old ideas and dress them up a bit before using them to lure in weak-willed and gullible devotees. Most, and Ram Dass was no exception, were incredibly flawed people, albeit intelligent and charismatic, with clear psychogical issues. Dass bounced around between gurus that exploited women and men before returning to the US to do much the same. That, the drugs, and the lies over the years just makes whatever he says unpalatable.
- okareaman 7y ago"They repackage old ideas" Old in the East, new to the West. I'm sure Ram Dass would agree that he was a flawed person, except possibly the allegation that he lied. What kind of lies are you talking about? If you want to call students "gullible devotees" ok. You say "exploited women and men" to mean he had sex? You think he should have been celibate? You're looking at the finger, not at what the finger is pointing to.
- kilroy_jones 7y agoLet's say you get sick. So you get in your car and drive to what Google maps says is the nearest hospital. You arrive, and people dressed as nurses and doctors are bustling about. They check you in, perform some tests, give you some medicine, and you pay before you leave. The medicine sort of works you think, and with time you get better. A week later you find out that the hospital was actually run by people that had little formal training as doctors. Some took a few classes on Coursera or first aid training, but none really devoted themselves to the profession beyond a cursory level. But they seemed so professional you think, but then again without medical knowledge how would you know? On top of that you find they've been using their position to influence medical opinions behind the hospital, gain fame, and earn large sums of money from desperate people looking to be healed. Sure, they inadvertently cure some people, and others just got better due to time. To me this is like Ram Dass and so many other gurus. Their lies are layered under the façade they present and under the ideas they explain, most often poorly and without context. They may inadvertently help people, but just as much they are preying on those desperate for answers and help. They are unqualified scam artists who know just enough to be dangerous. The lie is embodied in who they purport to be and in the help they try to provide.
- lprubin 7y agoThrough that article I looked into an organization Ram Dass was involved in called Social Venture Network which seems to have rebranded as Social Venture Circle. The article seems to mistakenly say Ram Dass founded it (he's not mentioned in their wikipedia article at all) and a post on his blog seems to just say he "started to hang out with them" but it still seems like an interesting organization. Does anybody have any experience or thoughts on it or their initiatives? I believe this is the current website: https://www.svcimpact.org/ https://www.svcimpact.org/
- imroot 7y agoI did some work for him about 15 years ago -- helping him set up an ecommerce store with oscommerce. Really really bright guy, amazing staff that shared his values, and a quaint little office space where they'd send the books and other things out. Really pleasant guy.
- swayvil 7y agoA good man. He will be missed. I recommend his "Be Here Now". Such a fine book.
- carlagmail 7y agoThis was posted on Twitter: “I encourage you to make peace with death, to see it as the culminating adventure of this adventure called life. It is not an error. It is not a failure. It is taking off a tight shoe which you have worn well.” - @BabaRamDass ️️️️️️️
- 8bitsrule 7y agoOf all the bogus teachers of the 60-70s, Ram Dass was the real thing. He overcame a lot, thanks to the example of Neem Karoli Baba. Be Here Now was consonant with and a testimony to The Perennial Tradition. We live in times where that tradition - except where it's still living amongst people close to the Earth - is completely blanketed by bogus substitutes and diversions. Too bad, because we could sure use a macrodose.
- brooklyndude 7y agoNo Apple right? Be Here Now got Steve to India for a year. A year in India is a long time. And back he came, and so came Macintosh. There is a connection. Think different. India can do that to you. Along with blowing your mind.
- brooklyndude 7y agoIt's fascinating to me, how this demographics on HN is really generally clueless (except with a few exceptions), have NO CLUE to what happened in the 60's clueless. I guess it's just a generational thing. That was probably one of the most incredible mind fuck earthquakes to blow up our society and rebuild it. But I guess that's history. And each generation has it's own. Today we have Justin Bieber. Then we had Hendrix. Times sure have changed. :-)
- jjaredsimpson 7y ago9/11 and the financial crisis seemed pretty earthquake as well.
- indy1952 7y agoWhat an amazing person. He has somewhat been my guide and mentor although I have never met him personally. He will always be in my heart. Hope he achieves whatever he hoped for in his afterlife.