The Unified Theory of Ram Dass

#1

Post by adrice727 » Thu, Nov 29, 2018, 6:26 AM UTC

Re: The Unified Theory of Ram Dass

#2

Post by zafka » Thu, Nov 29, 2018, 6:15 PM UTC

It makes me happy to see this article here. I have always been impressed with the way Ram Dass has traveled through life.

Re: The Unified Theory of Ram Dass

#3

Post by neonate » Thu, Nov 29, 2018, 7:33 PM UTC

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2516424/ is an interesting documentary about the complicated, ambivalent relationship between Alpert and Leary, made when Leary was dying. Leary, characteristically, turned his death into a spectacle, but I find Alpert the more interesting of the two.

Re: The Unified Theory of Ram Dass

#4

Post by djsumdog » Thu, Nov 29, 2018, 7:54 PM UTC

I had his Be Here Now book in University. I didn't know he had a podcast. I'll have to add it.

I had a friend I was tripping on acid with, back in grad school, and he picked up the Be Here Now book, read the intro and said, "Wait, did he seriously change his name to 'Rammed ass?!'" .. I've always wondered about his intent after that. :-P

Re: The Unified Theory of Ram Dass

#5

Post by alexilliamson » Thu, Nov 29, 2018, 8:14 PM UTC

neonate wrote: post #3

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2516424/ is an interesting documentary about the complicated, ambivalent relationship between Alpert and Leary, made when Leary was dying. Leary, characteristically, turned his death into a spectacle, but I find Alpert the more interesting of the two.

I highly recommend How To Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan. He convincingly illustrates how detrimental to serious research were Leary and his penchant for the spectacular.

Re: The Unified Theory of Ram Dass

#6

Post by FraaJad » Thu, Nov 29, 2018, 8:26 PM UTC

djsumdog wrote: post #4

I had his Be Here Now book in University. I didn't know he had a podcast. I'll have to add it. I had a friend I was tripping on acid with, back in grad school, and he picked up the Be Here Now book, read the intro and said, "Wait, did he seriously change his name to 'Rammed ass?!'" .. I've always wondered about his intent after that. :-P

Ram Dass (dāsa=devotee (of Lord Rama)).

You might have known other people with similar last name (eg: Anil Dash).

The most common pronunciation is "Das"

Re: The Unified Theory of Ram Dass

#7

Post by everdev » Thu, Nov 29, 2018, 8:28 PM UTC

zafka wrote: post #2

It makes me happy to see this article here. I have always been impressed with the way Ram Dass has traveled through life.

I agree that the message is beautiful. I do have reservations however about gurus, in that the ones I'm aware of tend to live in isolated places where they are worshiped. I feel like it's easy to love and support others when you have peace, quiet, love and support in abundance around you. I'd like to see how these individuals operate in higher stress situations and if they've really perfected the art of love or if it's more a product of their circumstances.

Re: The Unified Theory of Ram Dass

#8

Post by davebryand » Thu, Nov 29, 2018, 8:46 PM UTC

Understanding and living his message (or any other non-dualist teacher) is the #1 to do if you want a successful startup.

(Really, it's the recipe for a successful life. In fact, when you've tasted what he's offering, you may find that stock options, sales funnels, and customer acquisition costs no longer excite you.)

Re: The Unified Theory of Ram Dass

#9

Post by maxxxxx » Thu, Nov 29, 2018, 8:49 PM UTC

everdev wrote: post #7

zafka wrote: post #2

It makes me happy to see this article here. I have always been impressed with the way Ram Dass has traveled through life.

I agree that the message is beautiful. I do have reservations however about gurus, in that the ones I'm aware of tend to live in isolated places where they are worshiped. I feel like it's easy to love and support others when you have peace, quiet, love and support in abundance around you. I'd like to see how these individuals operate in higher stress situations and if they've really perfected the art of love or if it…

Agreed. A lot of famous gurus are just very charismatic people that live a very nice life and don't really have to deal with the drudgeries of the life most regular people live. When you look under the cover a lot of them are abusive and really not nice people.

I think there are only very few people that are really spiritually enlightened and they are not necessarily the famous gurus.

I know nothing about Ram Dad's but when I was more involved in yoga I saw some very shady behavior of public gurus.

Re: The Unified Theory of Ram Dass

#10

Post by neonate » Thu, Nov 29, 2018, 8:59 PM UTC

alexilliamson wrote: post #5

neonate wrote: post #3

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2516424/ is an interesting documentary about the complicated, ambivalent relationship between Alpert and Leary, made when Leary was dying. Leary, characteristically, turned his death into a spectacle, but I find Alpert the more interesting of the two.

I highly recommend How To Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan. He convincingly illustrates how detrimental to serious research were Leary and his penchant for the spectacular.

Well, but Leary also turned into a convenient scapegoat a long time ago, and I'm not sure how fair that is. It was a wild time. He didn't create that.

Pollan's book comes at the fulcrum of the movement where a lot of people have been carefully, and strategically, working on rehabilitating psychedelics without spooking the state again. Leary as scapegoat fits into that perfectly. Maybe too perfectly?

Leary was brilliant and complex, more interesting than the caricatures, which he admittedly drew a lot of himself. And I would say tragic. I felt from the documentary that prison broke him. His daughter killed herself (also in jail) and his son publicly denounced him and refused to speak to him. The film didn't mention those things.