Remember, Be Here Now
by Ram Dass
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Book Reviews of Remember, Be Here Now
Book Review: I hope we've grown up since then
Summary: 1 Stars
Like many others, I read this in college and was sucked in. However, reading "Ringolevio" later I uncovered the Richard Alpert used the same approach he used in B.H.N. to promote a beatific vision for drug use prior to his India trip. In other words, the message was the same, the theatrics were the same - only this time a unique journey through India offered him a new pedestal upon which to preach from, one that made him feel 'special'. Why would someone wish to actively seek such world acclaim. Perhaps the answer lay in my also having met his boarding school master from when Alpert was a teenager. From this older man's own words, Alpert was gay and felt forced to hide it - one must remember the times he lived in back then. He was, however, also very much ostracized by his fellow classmates for possibly this very same reason. In short - my amateur interpretation: a teen with a secret, lonely and shunned, seeks mass approval later in life, and a solution for stifling his own inner demons - first through an incredibly heavy use of drugs, which he openly pushes in an effort to make society more like him (so that they might like him more), and later through a pseudo eastern philosophy, that he pushes using the same tactics he used before when he pushed his (addictive & DNA altering) drugs onto others. I attended several of his 'spiritual' retreats and, to my surprise, found his compatriots insulting and intentionally demeaning to those of us who attended looking to them for answers. But the most revealing was when one time Mr Be Here Now was asked a serious question and, after an embarrassing silence, Dr. Alpert/Ram Dass admited he didn't know the answer. And that, when he didn't know, he admitted that he often made up an answer, but in this case, he couldn't even think of an answer to 'make up.' And I thought, why am I sitting here being treated this way, listening to a man who is knowingly lying to us. I got up and left. Some time later I sat next to a woman on a plane who's own mother used to help Dr. Leary distribute drugs to his college students and others when they lived up in the country. This would have been after Dr Leary had been fired from Harvard. She was his right hand in passing them out. This woman shared that her mother, now older, lives with a sense of remorse that, after all those drugs they took, that she still feels no closer to God or her own inner spirituality. I suspect the same may be said about anyone who followed Ram Dass from when he preached a pseudo spirituality mixed in with admitted lies. Part of why I had been so pulled in was Dr Alpert's credentials. Had he not been a professor at Harvard? And even from Dr Leary's own autobiography, wasn't his being fired from Harvard for political reasons more than that he pushed LSD onto his students? One must respect 'the' institution, right? Yet, in the past year, Harvard's very own president has insinuated that females may have an inherent weakness when intellectually competing with men. Re; this book and those times: strip away the 'feel good', explore what is really true, and then move on to something that's a lot more honest, I would humbly suggest.Book Review: awakening to the eternal present
Summary: 5 Stars
So, here I am about a year ago and I am in the process of knowing "whats up" with things. I had had pychedelic expierences with psilocybin and LSD and whatnot, I I thought, wow
they don't tell you this is skills for adolesence class! Then I hop on the ol' internet, read psychedelics encyclopedia and realized that alot of people, doctors included
that believed drugs can actually expand the mind. It wasn't just me and my exclusive, aparrently misguided friends. My Parents, "what is happening to our son!" But I show them the studies and the opinions of well known "smart respectable people"
many scientist and philosophers, and they say, "well perhaps there not all nuts afterall, or maybe there lunicy is hiding under a viel of legetamasy.... Anyway the guy who sold me my '79
v-dub bus says have you ever read "Be Here Now?" and I say, no, but I've heard of Ram Dass, the guy from harvard with leary, yeah I know whats up with that guy. Boy was I wrong, I thought Ram Dass was a footnote on america's psychedelic history, but I find that he is a true hero for those seeking truth, at least as big as leary for that sake. Any way he gives me a copy and says check it out. I start reading it and get to the dark part, And I'm thinking, Am I trippin, Is this really just some cracked-out
acid-head that is hiking down a trail of drug induced un-thuths? am I only down with this because he has done psychedelics, what if he were'nt into drugs would I be down with this, and the drawings and all this, and I began to test my faith in the guy. But as I read it I thought"well he isn't preaching any religion, he doesn't tell me what to do with my life he simply says listen what I believe to be true. And I began to see, no matter how skeptical I was trying to be, I couldn't deny that it made sense, real sense to me. And then I look at what the Dali Lama says and ghandhi and krisnamurti and infinite more and they all say the same thing! If Ram Dass is nuts then vitually every religious leader and holy people are all on the bandwagon of deception. To add to this rather comforting thought is that the words ring true in my heart, which can't be wrong. The first part of the book may seem far fetched, but he says it happened this way, he is still alive, and was a harvard professor, look at christianity and think that was 2000 years ago, his deciples were farmers, Neem Karoli Baba died about 30 years ago and Ram Dass is HERE NOW. I met mim a month ago in San Rafeal, he has had a stroke but is doing well, if you are skeptical, talk to him your self, I did, he'll be in the open secret book store again soon. Search google to find out the details. Don't take my word for it; take yours,read it. After all its the only opinion you can trust. There are may great books that say things very similiar this. in that respect, this book is not unique, but the way the information is delivered and Ram Dass's wonderfull way of communicating what's in his heart. And this is what makes the book a classic, a must read. pure love egoless love thats Ram Dass. Good luck on your journey. Namaste:)
Book Review: The 'truth' in three words?
Summary: 5 Stars
I know it's a cliché, but this book changed my life. I read it in 1973 when I was an angst-ridden twenty-something searching for a spiritual direction. I bought the book because I recognised Dr Richard Alpert from his association with Dr Timothy Leary and was curious to hear his post acid-haze spin on spirituality. What I found in the pages of this book planted the seed of a philosophy which has grown in my own consciousness, becoming the foundation for a spiritual life. The first part of the book deals with Dr Alperts spiritual awakening through the grace of his guru and his subsequent metamorphosis into the disciple called Baba Ram Dass. It is an inspiring tale for those not afflicted by cynical preconceptions and it inspired in me the desire to seek out my own guru. The central portion of the book was perfect for the times, when people who had opened the gates of their perception with the aid of psychotropic substances, were looking for more natural means to help keep them open. Using the words and teachings of many different spiritual masters, from Jesus to Ramakrishna, the book uses psychedelic, cartoon-like images to get the message across. And the message is Be Here Now. When I first meditated on the meaning of this exhortation, ten thousand bells began to ring in my mind. Of course! The past is gone, an illusion which exerts all kinds of negative influences on the human psyche. The future is even more illusory, in that it is so transient. It could be years long, or it could be seconds - who knows? Life can only be truly experienced in the present - in the here and now - and if we are to find peace and spiritual freedom, we must first do away with our attachment to the past and the future. This is the central premise of the books teaching and it is a profoundly important teaching. We live so much of our lives in the past or the future, we forget to experience the joy of the moment and in the third part of the book entitled `Cook-book for a Sacred Life', Ram Dass offers the reader some practical techniques. Meditation, yoga, posture, mantra, recipes - there is everything here for the novice spiritual aspirant wishing to bring a sense of sacred-ness into all aspects of his or her daily life. As a young man seeking spiritual knowledge and a pathway towards salvation, the rituals, techniques and teachings expounded in this book brought a magic to each day and a kind of unseen connection with Ram Dass and his other readers. Be Here Now was a vital component of my spiritual awakening and I would like to address my words to any open-minded person looking to tread the rock-strewn road towards self-knowledge, compassion and spiritual illumination. Read this book now!Book Review: Introduction to Places Your Mind Needs to Go
Summary: 4 Stars
I picked up this book about 8 years ago for the first time and as I was reading it I felt as if my mind was being [pulled] in the pages. I have bought it 3 separate times but always feel compelled to give it away to someone who I feel could benefit from the wisdom inside. This book comes in 3 parts...the first part is an account of the author's pre "Ram Dass" life as a PhD and scholar....then to make a long story short, he did some psychedelic drugs, and discovered that he actually liked what was inside his mind and wanted to try to find a way to live in "the now" without the drug experience attached. His journey took him to finding a guru..interesting stuff but then to my favorite part of the book:
the middle....this is a brown paper rambling section full of rich artwork, roughly drawn cartoons, biblical and buddhist references, and what I found to be great truths....all about what it means to "be here now."
While some of it is overly simplistic, and some of it is gratuitous reference to organized religion, most of it is just an alternative way of thinking about yourself, your problems, lifestyle, and family issues. What I took away from this book was a renewed sense of self awareness and it even made me realize that different is not bad, its just different. I guess I was at the point in time in my life where I needed that insight into my own behaviors and thought processing capabilities. In any event, it OPENED MY EYES!!! It made me look at everything differently, and almost instantaneously changed my perception of the world and others in it.
The third part, which is called something like "cookbook for a sacred life" really gets into the practice of buddhism and meditation, which was not the route I chose to go with my life...but in any case, a great and interesting read for anyone interestied in gaining valuable insight into the mystery of their life and life in general.
Book Review: the way
Summary: 5 Stars
i read this book a couple of years ago.i cannot describe the change which has occurred in me since reading it. i am now a vegetarian,and i am living *the way*. after reading some others' reviews of this book, I was initially hurt & offended by the negative reactions. then i realized that the person who was disappointed by the book must have had some expectations from it. this is natural; however; Baba Ram Dass does not proclaim to write of the "truth". From a spiritual prospective;this is not a book which teaches *truth*. this is a book which causes one to look within oneself, and recognize the truths in everyday events. and again; one cannot say one is done with ones caterpillarness and is now ready to be a butterfly..one just becomes. the moment you give it up you can have it ALL. anyone who opens these pages with an intent to become "realized" or "aware" will be sadly disappointed, for the knowledge is conveyed so subtlely that one can NEVER see what one is not ready to see. an important thing to note before making the decision to live the "right" way...you cannot go back. once you SEE, once you SEE the right way vs. the wrong way...you are responsible for choosing the right path. and only you know if you are living the right way. this book was the start of a beautiful and eternal path I've chosen to make every day matter, and to really live in the Here and Now. this is not to say there will not be hang-ups...that there will not be obstacles. the old saying goes, "the higher you get, the harder you fall" and this is true...but through the suffering, comes enlightenment. i welcome anyone's thoughts on this...i welcome a global realization of these ideas...but i recognize that we can all move only as fast as our slowest link. so, *help everyone*. :-)