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Ram Dass: Still Here

Embracing Aging, Changing, and Dying

Ram Dass had a dear friend who was confined to a wheelchair due to a sporting accident he received when he was younger. Asked to introduce him at one of his lecture, Dass agreed with some trepidation. This courageous young man was brought onto the stage and spelled out the following on his board (he was unable to speak): “R.D. says we are not our bodies. Amen.”

This is one of the most profoundly moving lines I have ever digested from a book. What powerful words! We are not our bodies! Yet, how much advertising/media goes into trying to prove and/or convince ourselves that we are?

  • Easy to see oneself as a collection of symptoms rather than an entire being
  • The media has a massive influence on the view of aging individuals
  • Our culture paints a picture of aging as some sort of failure
  • Aging is a part of the continuity of life – part of mainstream culture, not opposed to it
  • The difference between being lonely and being alone is an affair of the Ego
  • It is the Ego that experiences aging and death; beyond ego lies the Soul
  • Constrain the Ego and get it to loosen its grip by learning how to Be Here Now
  • Letting go of the past is not denying it, but rather preventing it from colouring the present

“You will find that each time you’re able to welcome your own pain, you’ll also be welcoming the Soul, and the Soul is what can defeat the fear and suffering of pain.”

This is a mind and life-altering book. Enjoy and reflect.

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 24th, 2009 at 8:30 pm and is filed under Books, Spirituality. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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