RAM DASS
Ram Dass was born in 1931. His father, George, a lawyer, helped
to found Brandeis University and was President of the New York,
New Haven & Hartford Railroad. Ram Dass studied psychology,
specializing in human motivation and personality development.
Ram Dass received an M.A. from Wesleyan and a Ph.D. from Stanford.
He then served on the psychology faculties at Stanford and the
University of California, and from 1958 to 1963 taught and researched
in the Department of Social Relations and the Graduate School
of Education at Harvard University. During this period Ram Dass
co-authored (with Sears and Rau) the book Identification and Child
Rearing, published by Stanford University Press.
In 1961, while at Harvard, Ram Dass' explorations of human consciousness
led him, in collaboration with Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner, Aldous
Huxley, Allen Ginsberg, and others, to pursue intensive research
with psilocybin. Out of this research came two books: The Psychedelic
Experience; and LSD. Because of the controversial nature of this
research, Ram Dass was dismissed from Harvard in 1963.
Ram Dass continued his research under the auspices of a private
foundation until 1967. In that year he traveled to India, where
he met his Guru (spiritual teacher), Neem Karoli Baba. Ram Dass
studied yoga and meditation, and received the name Ram Dass, which
means "servant of God." Since 1968, he has pursued a
variety of spiritual practices, including guru kripa; devotional
yoga focused on the Hindu spiritual figure Hanuman; meditation
in the Theravadin, Mahayana Tibetan, and Zen Buddhist schools;
karma yoga; and Sufi and Jewish studies.
Ram Dass is a co-founder and advisory board member of the Seva
Foundation, an international service organization. He works with
the Social Venture Network, an organization of businesses seeking
to bring social consciousness to business practices. He continues
to teach about the nature of consciousness, and about service
as a spiritual path.
RAM DASS EXCERPTS FROM:
SELF-MASTERY. A JOURNEY HOME TO YOUR SELF
A TEXTBOOK FOR THE NEXT MILLENNIUM
SEVEN LEVELS OF REALITY
After you master the way to use the Laws of Karma and Dharma,
the next thing for you to understand is that physical reality
is only relatively real. Ram Dass taught me that there are seven
levels of reality, and all seven levels are real and happening
simultaneously. How real each level will feel is relative to which
one you are focusing your attention on.
A HU NOTE:
I visualize this spiritual phenomenon as seven clear,
glass chessboards
placed one on top of another, with 12 inches separating
them.
I'm playing all
seven chess games at once, and according to what
level I'm focusing my attention on,
that is the level that feels more real to me.
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THE SEVEN LEVELS OF REALITY ARE:
- PHYSICAL REALITY: A material, body-oriented, earth-plane reality
(food, money, sex). The majority of people are aware of ONLY
this level of reality, and therefore they live within it and
don't see beyond it.
- PSYCHOLOGICAL REALITY: In this reality we identify people
(and ourselves) as happy, sad, highly-functioning depressive,
neurotic, aggressive, etc. We see beyond their bodies and observe
their unique personalities.
- META-PHYSICAL REALITY: In this reality we see people from
the astral plane, but it's still another game of individual
differences. In this reality we group people within archetype,
astrological signs, etc.
- AWARENESS REALITY: At this level we see people as beings
that are just like us, another entity trapped in the illusion
of individual differences (body, personality, astrology). It's
a softer, more aware stage, but we still perceive separateness
and still feel separated from each other.
- NAMASTE REALITY: At this level of reality we perceive that
we are all ONE! When we look into another person's eyes we see
only ONE of us; we see only ONE appearing as the many. Up to
this point every reality felt real, but at this level of reality
we come to realize that all levels of reality are only relatively
real, meaning that no level of reality is any more real than
any other level.
- MEDITATION REALITY: At this level we return to the formless,
non-attached, no models, pure being-ness state of reality. At
this level we just "are." It is what God is. NOT the concept
of God, but God Itself. We live within the un-manifested Uni-verse
(one song)! It's the level where we realize that levels one
through five were mere experiences of the five senses.
- SELF-MASTERY REALITY: At this level a liberated, self-realized
(real) being is FREE to be in, but not attached to, ALL LEVELS
OF REALITY. At this level, you can be in level six, the meditation
reality, and still be in level one, form. As a self-mastered
being you have all levels of reality available to you simultaneously,
so you can play in any or all levels of the chess metaphor simultaneously.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN. ENLIGHTENMENT & EMPOWERMENT
Years ago I was listening to a lecture by Ram Dass on. Why many
seekers are hooked on the search for enlightenment, and I realized
that I was one of them! I enjoyed going away to spiritual intensives
and meditating with a guru, but it was hard for me to feel my
feelings that I had repressed since childhood! I was a spiritually
conscious person who spent much of my time getting high on how
enlightenment works, but I was unwilling to face my inner dragons.
I felt good as long as I was learning about various spiritual
methods, but as soon as I stopped and allowed myself to just be.
I would feel unhappy, sad, or depressed.
I was unconsciously using my search for enlightenment as a way
to keep my MIND busy so as to prevent me from facing and feeling
my fears. As long as I gave my mind something positive to think
about, I felt pretty good; but when I stopped, I would surface
feelings of discontent that were painfully undeniable. I was addicted
to spiritual study and research, and I used them as an emotional
escape.
I knew that if I truly wanted to be Self-empowered, I needed to
surface what I had suppressed for forty years. I had repressed
feelings and beliefs such as. I'm not good enough; I don't belong;
I don't deserve success. My parents loved me, but they were poorly
educated immigrants who did not understand child psychology. I
finally realized that if I were going to feel better I had to.
change me.not them! I needed to take full responsibility for my
feelings and forgive others and myself unconditionally.
Ram Dass shares with us about a statement in one
of the Gospels that states that, "men need not disfigure their
faces to know God." I mention this here because there is a type
of righteousness that usually creeps in when someone decides to
build a holistic practice. Suddenly the new practitioner becomes
all too serious. This serious, fear-based attitude doesn't work
well because it stops the flow of abundance.
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