Ram Dass on Accepting Life As It Is – Here and Now Podcast Ep. 250

Be Here Now Network
Be Here Now Network
50,607
0
Published 2024-04-29
Who are you? What are you doing here? In this classic talk about identity and attachment, Ram Dass asks where you could possibly stand in a world filled with pain and suffering to ‘eat it like it is?’

Subscribe to The Here and Now Podcast with Ram Dass on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app! Proudly presented by the Be Here Now Network, home of official podcasts from thought leaders like Ram Dass, Alan Watts, Sharon Salzberg, Jack Kornfield and more!

Want to participate in the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join us for the SoulPod Meet-Up on May 7th at 8 p.m. EDT. Subscribe to the General Fellowship Group for more information.

Today's episode is also brought to you by Magic Mind, a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Use the code RAMDASS at checkout to get up to 50% off your subscription: magicmind.com/products/ramdass

In this talk from Austin, Texas, in the early 1990’s:
Ram Dass recalls a family saying from his youth, “Eat it like it is,” and asks how we can possibly apply it to the current world filled with pain and suffering.
Exploring the nature of identity, Ram Dass talks about how we have to become somebody in order to become nobody. He discusses his experiences with expanded states of mind and how the game shifted from how to get high to wondering why he came down.
Ram Dass talks about how the impeccable warrior is someone who exists on all planes simultaneously. He explores the nature of attachment and reads from Swami Ram Tirth, who helps us understand there is a place we can stand where we can see everything as the unfolding of law. This is the place where we can ‘eat it like it is.’

“The signs point to Armageddon. It looks like it’s really hit the fan. Where could you stand that you could ‘eat is like it is?’ Or you could love it as it is? Where could you possibly stand? Where could you allow that it is what it is? What perspective, what vector view would you need to have? Who would you be if you were seeing it that way?” – Ram Dass

================
Ram Dass on Accepting Life As It Is – Here and Now Podcast Ep. 250 -    • Ram Dass on Accepting Life As It Is –...  

Ram Dass – Here and Now – Ep. 250 – Eat It Like It Is
- beherenownetwork.com/ram-dass-here-and-now-ep-250-…

================
Make sure not to miss a single video podcast from Be Here Now Network! Click here to Subscribe:
   / @beherenownetwork  

Follow Be Here Now Network:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/BeHereNowNetwork
Twitter: twitter.com/beherenownet
Instagram: www.instagram.com/beherenownetwork

================
Be Here Now Network
Podcasts, Courses, and Articles to help you live a Life in Balance.
Heart-Centered wisdom from Ram Dass, Jack Kornfield, Sharon Salzberg, Krishna Das + many more!
Get a Free Guided Meditation from Sharon Salzberg when you first sign up at:
beherenownetwork.com/
All Comments (21)
  • @cecilcharlesofficial
    You can't choose to 'accept' anything (to 'eat it like it is')... though perhaps one day you'll find yourself in a moment in which you're doing exactly that. But in the same way that you can't say "I love you," and magically you love someone you didn't moments before, and in the same way you can't actually choose to have faith/trust (you just do or you don't), in that same way, you can't choose to accept the moment. Aka, your conscious mind can't have the thought of "I should really be accepting this moment" and have that thought FORCE your state of mind into something tranquil. We all think we can, whether we've ever articulated this idea to ourselves or not. But it's the key mistaken conclusion of humanity. As Alan Watts says, "We don't choose our thoughts. We don't choose our feelings." Ram says it too (paraphrasing, something like "You have zero control/free will until you've woken up"). I'm not sure he's right about 'having free will' once we've woken up, but I do think seeing that currently we have zero control is key. That doesn't mean you, your habits, your mindset can't change. Things change all the time. It means you're not in control of changing. It doesn't mean you can't make good habits that will directly affect your life. It means you're not in charge of whether or not changing your life is appealing, or if the habits seem doable, or if you wake up each day motivated to do them. It doesn't mean there's no morality. It means you don't control your conscience, even if it's not always right. It's always there. We're a world caught up in the idea that we can 'will' our way to feeling different. We're all tense inside, trying to physically force ourselves to feel different (that's the consequence of our mistaken idea about will). And, because we're not in control, the CHANGING of this entire situation isn't up to us either. Because you're not in control of the next thought you think, nor the next feeling you'll have. This is the necessary fundamental exasperation that Watts talks about people having as they begin to wake, and it's the thing most layperson-eastern wisdom avoids (not saying Ram is avoiding this). Even Watts didn't stress it enough though. We're not in control. But there's still morality and meaning. But we're not in control. Hence, faith. And then when you begin to give into the idea that you're not even in charge of 'giving in to the idea'... your body begins to relax inside and the "chronic muscle tension" behind the eyes and other places (that Watts calls the ego) begins to relax. And life begins to feel different. Wonderfully different. But only for the moments you remember, till you forget again and the remembering becomes the adventure it always has been.
  • @LydiaCeline
    Thank you so much for keeping the intro short! 🙏🏼💗
  • @Wacky-World
    i learned the less i am the more i get experience being everything. it's so easy. just disappear your self and all appears.
  • @nicox8913
    Thank you sincerely for the thoughtful intro, your humanity adds life to these recordings. ❤
  • @bellaqueenlechia6964
    It is remarkable how many years ago, I've been touched by a story of Andy Whitfield. His story inspired be greatly. Me and my husband made ourselves matching tattoo: Be Here Now. And many years later I found Ram Das. I feel so grateful. God bless everyone ❤️
  • @Magikblooms
    Such a fantastic convo as always… as always 🙏💗 Namasté all.
  • @Roseenmarie
    I go up into the nobody, but then my ego tells me im thinking in a grandiose manner, then i come back down into the somebody and i don't like it. Society has taught me that how i think is wrong, so i have to come listen to Ram to hear him talk about my thoughts, this makes me feel better ❤
  • @skrrskrr99
    Everyone in this comment section sounds like a baby ram dass, I love the baby ram dass. Ram dass is reborn in a small way in each of us. ❤❤❤