said Ram Dass (1931-2019). “When you identify as a soul, you don’t fear death because the soul does doesn’t die. I Identify as a soul now, I’m not afraid.”
We fear the loss of our identity, our individuality, our self as knower. Give it all up and you come to know the soul. Knowing the soul isn’t about knowing anything esoteric or unknowable; it’s about releasing your need in the conventional way, giving up your sense of separation.
The soul teaches us the root of fear is separateness. If we want to be free, we have to overcome separateness. But usually it feels as if you’re yelling out of your room and I’m yelling out of mine. Even trying to get out of the room invests the room with reality. Who am I? The room that the mind built. Yet we’ve all had times when there was no room. The moment of crisis when we forget ourselves and do what is needed. For surfers, it is the moment when they come into equilibrium with the incredible force of the water. …
But we explain it away, ignore it or let it go by. We each come out of that We turn and look and realize we’re out–and we panic. We run back in the room, close the door, panting heavily. Now I know where I am, we think. I’m back home. Alone. Safe. No matter how squalid the room. *
* Ram Dass & Mirabai Bush. (2018/2022). Walking each other home, p. 40-1. Ram Dass, formerly Harvard professor Richard Alpert, also known as Baba Ram Dass, was an American psychologist, India-trained spiritual teacher, guru of modern yoga, and author. image credit: Randy Sarrow/Blue Wave Maui Photography.
Letting go, non-attachment, giving it all up, overcoming separateness, I’ve heard these teaching many times, but what I don’t hear is how to do this. This may be a dumb question and I think the answer is to practice and be patient. But I’d like to hear more remedies to these teachings.
Ruth Heyes
Yes, I would that as well Ruth.
Dear Ruth and Cathleen,
I share your dilemma (along with many others). I’m currently experimenting with “welcome everything”. Instead of aiming for fearlessness, say, I use don’t-know-mind to investigate (“what is this?) this thing called fear as it arises.
This approach is counter-intuitive: it means practicing against the grain. One Tibetan teacher[1] calls it reverse meditation in that “we do things that are opposite to what we usually associate with meditation … based on this tenet: if you can bring unwanted experience into into the sanctuary of sanity provided by meditation, you can transform that obstacle into opportunity. … If you can bring death onto the path, you can flip it into enlightenment.” Tonglen is a classic reverse meditation.[2]
p.s. In line with Zen Master Seung Sahn’s observation that “Understanding cannot help you”, you might practice what’s described above. Try and try, again and again. Daishin
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[1] Holecek, A. (2013). Preparing to die, p. 29.
[2] Pema Chödrön. (2022). “How to Practice Tonglen:, Lion’s Roar, https://www.lionsroar.com/how-to-practice-tonglen/.
Very helpful, thanks to all.
teri
Thank you for this. Ram Dass is a favourite. The quote you share here is particularly relevant for me, right now. A gentle reminder, as one hears. nx