I am sharing some of my favorite philosophers and lectures as well as my thoughts on them to help introduce others to some different schools of thought. I started with Alan Watts the other day as he is one of the most well known and generally regarded as a great entry point for many due to his charismatic style and voice. Today let's discuss another one of my favorite philosophers, Ram Dass.
Ram Dass is a fascinating character from the stories he shares in his lectures and writing. Netflix actually just released a special featuring him reflecting back over his life as he nears the end of it. He has experimented with LSD as a scientist and then started exploring the world and working on expanding his own consciousness and establishing deeper connections. So that leads me into a great starting point for getting acquainted with Ram Dass:
This lecture is one of my first Ram Dass experiences. He's basically just sharing his life story and talking about events and circumstances that lead him to the realization of how interconnected everything is and how important it is to be present. Similar to Alan Watts, there are a lot of funny stories and there's some discussions on experiences with Buddhism and other philosophies. My favorite part of this video is when he's talking about meeting Maharaj Ji. I feel that this is a great starting point because it really gives you a feel for Ram Dass and how he views the world.
Anyone that struggles with attachment and feeling love could really enjoy this lecture. I am a little late to the party, but from what I can tell this is the lecture that made Ram Dass well known in the philosophy community. He explores moving beyond romantic attachment and moving deeper into a spiritual heart place to truly grow in love as a spiritual union. It's all about establishing deeper meaningful connections based on love and being present with another person and to me that is what relationships are all about.
You can find some additional resources and written materials on his website. I haven't had a chance to watch the Netflix special yet as it wasn't heavily promoted like much of their other content. I actually just found out it had officially released when searching to check while writing this post. Hopefully this gives you some idea of what Ram Dass is about and why he is one of my favorite philosophers to draw inspiration from and I hope you'll check him out if you are unfamiliar. If there are any other fans that read this that want to share their perspective on Ram Dass in the comments, I invite that as well. Namaste.
Please note I do not own any of these YouTube videos and I'm sharing the links and my thoughts about the source speaker that they are all sharing. The first image is a dream art image of Ram Dass that I made.
