LSRF has this old documentary movie up on YouTube now. Is Monday 23 Dec. Not certain how long it will be available to view.

https://www.youtube.com/live/HFvWZYCh50c?si=E91EcAYz_Hd_b5G2

I unknowingly bought Be Here now when googling about Steve Jobs and was inducted in Maharajjis world. Thank you Ramdass for everything am because if it hadn’t been your books I wouldn’t be loving awareness. Thanks!

Also does anyone knows if Ramdass ever said that “one needs to get on bit of darker side to appreciate the light”

Ram Dass often spoke of finding presence in every moment. But can the way we live impact how we show up for ourselves and others? I’ve been reflecting on how mindful, simple living—like tending to the land, growing food, or embracing renewable energy—can create a peaceful environment. How does your surroundings help cultivate your spiritual presence?

Spent the day with my mother and partner , listening to some of Ram Dass’ teachings to honor 5 years since he left his body. Had some beautiful conversations and felt such love sitting with his energy today. Created this in my journal and wanted to share, I hope y’all enjoy and have a beautiful day. I love you 🤍

(I wrote this as sort of a meditation for Baba earlier today. I thought I’d share it.)

Ram Dass never claimed to be a guru.

He wasn’t seeking disciples or followers.

He never claimed to be enlightened or to have supernatural mystical powers.

Richard Alpert had discovered a way to be totally ok and in love with who he was, just as he was and with the universe just as it is. He didn’t find it by using his intellect, however, he found it by listening to his heart.

Ram Dass taught that this way of being was available to everyone at any time, because that’s who we are, that’s our true nature.

No matter what method you use to get there, be it taking up your cross and following Christ and dying in love, practicing compassion for others and letting go of your attachments, or recognizing that Allah is as close to you as your juggler vein, by chanting the names of God, through shiviti, or whatever belief you hold, if you practice, you will always arrive at a place where everything is, perfect, just as it is.

He called it the path of the heart, the path of love.

If you don’t have a method, that’s ok, Ram Dass said that you could always borrow his.

One of my favorite stories from Ram Dass is onein which he speaks about having to take care of his sick father. Ram dass has to leave India and after arriving at his dad’s home, he started to become so frustrated. With his dad, himself, the circumstance. He wanted to feel close with his father but felt so different from him and wasn’t sure how to relate. It started making him feel “low”. After some struggle with that, “ah, so.” AH SO as in “ah so I want to be all high above all this like I’m used to but all I have right now is yatzi so I’m gonna play Yatzi with my dad”. And he did. And through that, ram dass not only found relief and connection needed with his dad but he also found a new form of yoga.

Practice.

I don’t know how to word it, but do you have the sensation that when you listen or look at Ram Dass, you see your own reflection?

I feel like I am Ram Dass, like in a sense where he’s familiar and relatable but also literally if I woke up from a coma and ended up in his body, I wouldn’t even question it, it would make sense to me, of course I am Ram Dass

Here’s something I just wrote for myself as a reminder, maybe it could be yours :

You need to know that in this incarnation, your spiritual work will mainly focus on your relationship with food, food is going to be your exercise, your practice to work on your spirituality (along with working on being TRUE to yourself and others)

Everytime you want to use food to cope, here’s your guru testing you, everytime you wanna eat when you’re not hungry, here’s your guru testing you, everytime you’re obsessing over food in your head, here’s your guru testing you, everytime you link your value to how your body looks like, here’s your guru testing you

In one of the talks I listened to, Ram Dass talks about chasing that heightened level of consciousness, and getting stuck in the act of trying to stay in the state as often as possible. How does one balance it? How do become at peace with the world around me and my every day life?

Some quick background: I've had depression/anxiety for as long as I can remember. I have been on medications for years with limited success. I decided to discontinue my traditional medication and try psychedelics, which has had good results so far. Through the use of psychedelics, I shifted my stance from atheist to open about spirituality. This curiosity led me to Ram Dass, which has also be positive so far. I feel like I am making great strides, and overall do feel less depressed / have fewer bad days.

The issue is that whether it be tripping on mushrooms, meditating, breathing exercises, or listening to Ram Dass talks, I still can't help but feel like it's still a form of escapism. Looking inward has become comfortable, maybe too much so. I feel like I keep trying to go up, when what I need to do is come back down and "take the curriculum" as Ram Dass may say.

Does this make sense? I hope I am conveying it correctly. I almost feel as though I'm abusing the tools by just using them to escape, rather than actually learn and grow.

I hope that it is just part of the natural progression, like it will all start to come together if I just keep at it and keep meditating, learning, and listening.

Has anyone else run into this issue or felt like this? Thank you in advance for reading this. This community has been such a positive outlet for me, I hope you know you are all appreciated!

Was listening to the lecture on Perspectives on Work and Money this morning on the 24/7 Lofi Radio and was just mind blown by how easily Ram Dass managed to explain a deep question when he was challenged.

In the QA a man responds to a point in RD lecture where RD says - As your faith gets stronger the need for security gets lesser. The man says this hasn't been his experience and doesn't understand it. He doesn't understand what RD means by the word Faith

RD: Faith is your your belief and understanding of the the spiritual nature of your existence more than the physical nature of your existence!
Such a simple and yet profound way of answering a 'big question' 🤯

I don’t have much to say but I want to point out a few notes.

Ram Dass died on this day 5 years ago. Doesn’t it seem so fitting that he passed away on the first day after the winter solstice? What a great way to remember his message.

I have no idea where I would be if I didn’t find ram Dass. Idk even know how he showed up in my life. But I know because of him, I am cooler, calmer, and wiser.

Love you all ram ram ram

Ram Dass spoke often about love, service, and oneness. In the modern world, as we face ecological challenges, how might his teachings guide us to reconnect with the planet and live in harmony? Share your reflections or favorite quotes that resonate with this theme.

Hi guys. I wish there was a ram dass discord for everyone interested in his work.

Does something like that exist or anything related? Maybe alan watts discord?

Hi All 🫶🏼

I remember hearing Ram Dass talk about the ember that, no matter how low, will always guide us. Always lead us back to God.

Well, I am convinced that my ember has gone out.

Some background to this: I first discovered IT after an ego death experience on LSD. I had never felt more fulfilled. This began my path Home. Life was wonderful for a while. I was very much on the pathless path. Another mushroom trip taught me that meditation was the Way. I was feeling very much like "I" was doing everything right; living in the moment, learning how to integrate my original experience, etc. Eventually, doubts that were present before my experience started to pop back up. As Jack Kornfield says, after the ecstasy, the laundry. I started to question my decisions leading up to this point and felt out of alignment with my true self. I started feeling awful. In an attempt to do what was right for me and my spiritual journey, I left my 3-year relationship and decided I needed to take time to "rediscover" myself. While I was attempting to get myself back in alignment, I continued to feel worse and worse. It was as if the closer to the Light I was, the deeper into darkness I sank, because I couldn't reach the light. It was like a rollercoaster going uphill, and I wanted to continue, but instead I fell with the coaster alllll the way back down. I eventually reached a point where I was a very suicidal. I made a plan, but ended up in a car accident that landed me in the hospital before being able to go through with it (thank goodness). I was pink slipped after explaining my ideations, and after treatment, began to feel like mySelf again. Home. I left the hospital with a small voice telling me "no, we are not quite ready. we are not stable yet." however, my longing to get out of the hospital overrode that, and I ended up leaving. Of course, I stayed in the Home space for awhile, and then crashed back down. Well, I managed to kind of build myself back up. I ended up very High. I saw all identity (I thought) dissipate. I struggled with internal conflict sparked by this feeling that I was "done" with this level of awareness, ready to move on, yet too terrified to. Like a wall of fear stood between me and ... Enlightenment? I clung to the fact that I still had the option to level myself up. That the doorway was still open. Well, I was still convinced by fear that I simply could not do it. (Insert ram dass' words on "going through the doorway too early"). As I went through life hanging on to my spiritualiy by a thread, one night I thought that maybe if I wrote down my journey this far, it would help in some way... I smoked some weed to settle down and maybe help myself access bits and pieces that I otherwise might've missed. Before I knew it, I was flooded with thoughts like, I need to go to the hospital and get psychiatric help again. Quickly. Before I could make it to my car to take myself to the hospital, I was flooded with "no... I don't need to go... This is ridiculous..." I lost control and ended up not going (after fighting with myself to go). Soon, I was losing myself. Losing my connection to the divine. Losing what felt like everything. My identity as a Spiritual Being. It was like I was being reborn into a lower realm. Since then I have felt like my conscious awareness has been in a downward spiral, with the affirmation resonating in my mind that "I have lost it" "there is no going back" and a knowing feeling that my consciousness is going to end up all alone... by it(my)self, no one and no thing to interact with... watching myself disappear further and further away... It has been a couple of weeks since that night and I feel as though my spark is gone. I feel very disconnected from my Spirit. Like I'm a robot.

Unfortunately my therapist and psychiatrist are on holiday ... And part of me feels like it's not worth getting help because I am beyond it.

I am just pleading, begging for any insight you may have. I don't want to be a black hole of nothingness that hurts myself and everyone around me. If this is a dark night of the soul, it feels like my soul isn't even present anymore.

Again, any insight is appreciated. I am very lost.

Thanks for reading. May all beings be well.

राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम राम

I’ve been abstinent for about 2.5 years. I overindulged in my youth, and decided to take some time off so I didn’t wind up with an STD or pregnancy. I also realized that if me and my significant other couldn’t have sex, our relationship wouldn’t last. That feeling made me very uncomfortable and made me wonder what I even meant by loving someone.

I fell in love with a woman a year ago and we slept together and then we were immediately separated under extremely stressful circumstances. We called it quits, and I started back on my abstinence.

Now, a year later, I find myself wondering what I’m doing with myself. Starting to realize my abstinence stems from a sexual hangup more than anything else.

Im curious what this community’s thoughts on abstinence are and if anyone else has ever tried it for a long portion of time. It’s very strange and hard to describe. Feels like stepping outside of society to a degree. But it also is beginning to feel like self denial.

Like this is cool as hell . I’m just a regular person and discovering this stuff is wild . I’m so happy for us. That’s all.

What does renunciation look like for you?

This is coming from a place of realization that I had within myself in which I realized that ram das was truly such a beautiful human soul. His documentary "fierce Grace" really shows just how brave and truly in touch he was with his humanity and everytime I'm complaining or feel like I need something I watch it and I realize o......there it is. Love.

I love you all.

This may be long, however I need to do this. I discovered psychedelics back in 2019. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. My interest in them led me to “the midnight gospel”, a show on Netflix; which led me to finding Ram Dass. He had such a way in explaining what I had experienced using these substances and the way he integrated spirituality and different religions just lined up. They made sense.

I started leaning into my spirituality, trusting to let go of myself and just let myself be. I’d do automatic writing, meditate, and I was fully submerged in the curiosity of ‘what is IT’.

During the height of all this, I was going to the gym, taking pole lessons, making dinners every night with my partner and just trying to lead a good life. While on the other hand my family started to implode.

Then came February of 2023. I felt so high spiritually high. I felt as though I was connecting to my guides, I was getting heavy downloads of information that I couldn’t bare not to write down. And when I’d start writing, my consciousness would fall to the back. Something else would take over. All I’d experience in these moments was darkness and silence. Then I’d come back after the writing was done. Whatever was taking over was strong, and unfortunately I trusted it, because why else would I feel so high??

Soon I stopped eating, which followed with no sleep. My consciousness started to phase between my inner world and outer world. It was like dreaming while awake. So…who was minding the store??? It wasn’t me. At least it didn’t seem like it. My body became aggressive in certain ways. I started having “dreams” or experiences within my consciousness that were quite scary. But in a spiritual sense, made sense. One experience was that I had boiled everything down to the 2. Light and dark. I was in the position of light in the presence of darkness. The main thing I remember is hearing “the darkness has gone to far”.

While having these inner experiences, my body was on auto pilot. Like I said, it became slightly aggressive but more afraid than anything. I had no grip on solid reality. I ended up slapping my boyfriend at some point and telling him I HAD to rape him. I personally don’t remember doing this, but the next thing I do remember is he was calling for help, as he should’ve.

I ended up in the ER for 3 days and inpatient for 2 weeks. I only remember snippets of the ER, and the last few days of being in inpatient. They’d started giving me antipsychotics which helped me come down back into my body.

It’s been almost 2 years since this happened. I’m afraid of myself because of it. I don’t know what happened, how it happened or why. I find it hard to trust in my spiritual practice for fear I may get “too high” again. Was that even what it was?

Therapy has been a help. My therapist describes this as a spiritual emergence, while doctors diagnosed me with some type of schizophrenia. So it’s really hard to know where I should stand….I guess the answer is nowhere right? Ever since this happened I’ve found it incredibly hard to do the good things I was doing for myself before. I don’t trust myself because of this incident. But it’s almost been 2 years and I’m stuck where it left me.

Confused, and a dramatic decrease in faith, I can’t say loss.

I love Ram dass and his teachings, I just don’t know how to not be afraid of practice anymore.

Wouldn’t saying the spirit and material and one and the same also be seen as a conclusive statement on how this “awareness” stuff works?

Who’s yours?

I’ve been having thoughts that I really want to have this Hanuman tattooed on my back but I do not want to disrespect him in any way.. any thoughts on that?