More Baba Ram Dass

Here’s more from Baba Ram Dass, whose observations about the energy crisis appear elsewhere in this issue. Ram Dass was in Durham last month, on his way from nowhere to nowhere:

EGO — People who make the greatest spiritual progress start with the greatest ego strength . . . You start with the energy to be somebody, then use it to become nobody . . . There’s nothing bad about ego. It’s functional for survival. It’s attachment to ego. . . .

PSYCHEDELICS — Mahariji (Ram Dass’ guru) said if you’re alone, feeling much peace, with your mind turned towards God, and in a cool place, psychedelics can be useful. It’s a way of visiting with the saints. But you can only stay for a couple of hours. It’s better to become a saint than to visit him. Still, it’s useful to visit. It strengthens the will.

I may never take LSD again or I may take it tomorrow. I have no models anymore, no methods. You only listen to your heart.

LOVE — In romantic love, hate and love are clear polarities. You want to possess the beloved, but you can’t possess another human being. That desire goes hand in hand with the illusion you are a separate being who needs something . . . Truly conscious beings come together because it’s the best route to God.

DIET — I feel lighter and healthier when I don’t eat meat, but I don’t feel as if I’ve been damned and all hell will break loose if I do . . . I don’t see any clear moral issues. . . .

REALIZATION — I’m not a controlled, conscious being. I’m just working on myself.

There isn’t anybody that’s realized. There is realization, and a state of non-attachment.

Hurt is a grace for teaching.