Ep. 227 – Awareness Without Identification

Ep. 227 – Awareness Without Identification

Author: Ram Dass / Love Serve Remember June 5, 2023 Duration: 45:18

In this Q&A session from 1993, Ram Dass explores an array of topics, including psychedelics as a method, assisted suicide, dealing with suffering, and awareness without identification.

Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass

In this episode, Ram Dass answers questions about:

- Psychedelics as a method

- Assisted suicide

- Emptiness and form

- Dealing with suffering

- The relationship between the One and the many

- Liberation and service

- Awareness without identification and attachment

- The concept of criticism

- Pushing against form and separateness

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“The term attachment has to do with where the awareness is, what it’s identified with. Like, at this moment, your heart is beating, but you’re not beating your heart; your awareness isn’t connected with your heart beating, it’s just going on. And as your awareness draws back, and you find a way to start to remain in awareness without identification, then the phenomena of the universe continue to happen, but the awareness is no longer identified with the act. It’s what the Gita calls breaking the identification with being the actor. It doesn’t mean that the actions aren’t happening.” – Ram Dass

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The voice of Ram Dass carries a unique and enduring warmth, a blend of profound spiritual insight and grounded, often humorous, humanity. Ram Dass Here And Now is a curated archive of this wisdom, drawing from a rich tapestry of lectures recorded over four decades. Each episode is a focused journey into themes of consciousness, love, service, and the intricate paths of awakening, all filtered through Ram Dass's distinctive heart-centered perspective. The podcast is presented by the Love Serve Remember Foundation, with longtime friend and director Raghu Markus providing contextual introductions that connect these timeless talks to our contemporary moment. Listeners will find themselves immersed in conversations that weave together Eastern philosophy, particularly from the Hindu and Bhakti traditions, with practical Western psychology, exploring how spiritual principles manifest in everyday life, relationships, and societal challenges. It’s less a formal lecture and more an intimate, meandering dialogue with a wise elder, offering reflections that feel both ancient and immediately relevant. This isn't about dogma, but about the shared, often messy, human experience of seeking meaning and connection. To spend time with this podcast is to encounter a gentle guide, one who points persistently toward the present moment, toward compassion, and toward the recognition of our shared essence.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 307

Ram Dass Here And Now
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