by Beverly McNeff
Ram Dass was born Richard Alpert into a wealthy Boston family and received his PhD in psychology from Stanford. In the 1960s, while teaching at Harvard, he spent much of his time studying psychedelics with fellow psychologist Timothy Leary. Their goal was to understand the mind-body connection using these drugs. Harvard found their work too controversial, and both were fired.
Alpert and Leary parted ways. Leary became a well-known figure in the 1960s counterculture, popularizing catchphrases like “turn on, tune in, drop out.” Alpert started a spiritual journey and became a disciple of a Hindu guru in India, whom he called Maharajji. His guru gave him the name Ram Dass, which meant “Servant of God.” The rest of Ram Dass’s life would be focused on his spiritual awakening and breaking the “veil of separateness.”
As a student of A Course in Miracles, I can see a lot of similarities between Ram Dass’s focus and the Course’s teaching, for the goal is the same: to move past our feelings of separateness with each other and our Creator. As the Course asks us to affirm in workbook lesson 95,
“I am one Self, united with my Creator, at one with every aspect of creation, and limitless in power and in peace.”
Remember, we are “one Self,” which means there is no separation between us and another, and in that awareness, we realize that we are “united with our Creator.” This awareness opens a whole new world to us, which is always present and always our reality but often not seen by us because of our focus on the lie of separation and separate interests. When we can pierce the “veil of separateness,” as Ram Dass referred to it, we can awaken to the fact, as the Course says, that we are “limitless in power and in peace.”
Ram Dass and Maharajji
I remember a story I heard Ram Dass share many years ago. He was visiting his guru, Maharajji, and Maharajji asked about his experiences with LSD and if he had any of the drugs with him. Ram Dass did, and so he showed Maharajji a handful of the drugs. Maharajji asked if he could take them, and Ram Dass gave him one of the pills. The Maharajji shook his head. He did not want just one pill; he wanted the handful! Rather surprised, Ram Dass gave him the drugs, and he swallowed them all.
Needless to say, Ram Dass was a little worried, but after about a half hour, when the drugs should have taken effect, there was no change in the Maharajji. Ram Dass could not understand it, to which the Maharajji said, “LSD brings you into the room with Christ, but you cannot stay. It’s better to become the Christ than to visit him.”
There you have it! It is time to become the Christ. To remember once again the truth of our Self that has never changed. This awareness brings us back to our reality, which is our power and peace when we know Who we are and that we are always united with our Creator.
And we have a powerful tool for that awakening in our hands now. The Course lovingly gives us a way back to the Self we only thought we lost through its 365 lessons in a workbook, a comprehensive thought system in a text, and a clarification of terms and concepts in a manual. So let us not delay. It is not time to just visit the power and peace we are entitled to but to become the Self that knows its oneness with every living thing and its eternal connection with its Creator.
“Let us raise our hearts from dust to life, as we remember … that this course was sent to open up the path of light to us, and teach us, step by step, how to return to the eternal Self we thought we lost.” (W-rV.in.5)
The Course tells us our mind cannot be stopped in our journey back to the truth of our being unless we choose to stop it, for “it is merely taking its natural course.” (W-44.7)
Let us not delay in fear, we have a mighty power with us now. We can face anything we need to face since we do not face it alone.
“I am one Self, united with my Creator, at one with every aspect of creation, and limitless in power and in peace.” (W-95)
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