Ram Dass' 1971 book, "Be Here Now," was the gateway drug into spirituality for a lot of young people seeking answers in the era of Vietnam.
Dass first tried being a psychology professor at Harvard, where he and colleague Timothy Leary, sought God through experiments with psychedelics. Then, he went to India and found his guru, who taught him how to feel high without the drugs.
Many young people followed him to India. They chose to feed the hungry and serve the people, just as Ram Dass would tend to the dying, the blind, and the incarcerated. They searched for meaning away from the political tumult of 1960's America.
There are parallels to today.
Ram Dass diedlast month. But his words and life are inspiring a new generation of followers who are using the teachings of Ram Dass to find something bigger than the division and hatred evident in this political moment.
GUESTS:
- Chris Grosso is a writer, public speaker, and author with Simon & Schuster. He’s also the host of The Indie SpiritualistPodcast on Ram Dass Be Here Now Network.
- Mirabai Bush- is a Senior Fellow of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society and a founding board member with Ram Dass of the Seva Foundation. She is co-author with Ram Dass of Walking Each Other Home: Conversations on Loving and Dying
- Sharon Saltzberg is the Cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society in and the author of 10 books, including NYT bestseller, “Lovingkindness." Her newest book, “Real Change: Mindfulness To Heal Ourselves and the World,” will be published this summer.
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Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contribute to this show.
