Ram Dass explores the art of how to bring the past into the present as we age, leads a powerful exercise centered around the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and talks about working with grief.
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This episode of Here and Now is from a recording of a study group on aging hosted by Ram Dass in 1995.
In the face of aging and death, part of the spiritual work we should consider doing is what Ram Dass calls the art of how to bring the past into the present. Using the example of his mother’s death, he shares the importance of processing events from our past with the perspective we hold in the present.
We can also bring the past into the present in a cultural and historical context. Ram Dass leads an exercise centered around the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, having us contemplate and recognize that we are part of a culture that has models of reality that would legitimize the dropping of that bomb.
Ram Dass explores the issue of grieving, especially as it relates to aging and loss. He reads a letter he had written to a family who lost their young daughter, and he talks about the importance of moving from the realm of ego to the realm of the soul.
“There is a tendency that we do in our mind to romanticize our own existence. We become the center of ‘As the World Turns,’ we are the leading actor, we have been cast. We keep milking our history to justify our existence, to give our existence meaning. I want to suggest to you that there is a cost to that.” – Ram Dass
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Ep. 116 - A Deeper Source
Ep. 115 - Satsang and Taking Risks
Ep. 114 – Honor Our Incarnation
Ep. 113 - Wrestling with Uncertainty
Ep. 112 - The Notion of Ego
Ep. 111 - Ram Dass Receives the "True Secret Teaching"
Ep. 110 - Live Awake
Ep. 109 - The Five Invitations with Frank Ostaseski, Roshi Joan Halifax and Raghu Markus
Ep. 108 - Geography of the Journey
Ep. 107 - The True Revolution
Ep. 106 - Who Are You?
Ep. 105 – Keeping our Quietness and Love
Ep. 104 - Mindfulness and Food
Ep. 103 – Individual Differences
Ep. 102 - Soul Complex
Ep. 101 - Separation, Lust & Kali
Ep. 100 - Imagination, Faith, and Gratitude
Ep. 99 - Being Here Now: An Odyssey into the Essential Teachings of Ram Dass
Ep. 98 - Spiritual Practices
Ep. 97 – Being Free Together
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