Ep. 246 – How to Be Responsive, Not Reactive

Ep. 246 – How to Be Responsive, Not Reactive

Author: Ram Dass / Love Serve Remember March 6, 2024 Duration: 1:10:29

In this classic talk from 1987, Ram Dass explores working with suffering, keeping our hearts open, finding the intuitive heart space, and being responsive rather than reactive. This episode is a continuation of the talk started in Here and Now Ep. 245 – Taking Off Our Spacesuit.

Want to be part of the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join us for the SoulPod Meet-Up on March 12 at 8 pm EST. Subscribe to the General Fellowship Group for more information.

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

This episode is also brought to you by Magic Mind, a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Use the code RAMDASS at checkout to get up to 50% off your subscription: Magic Mind

In this week’s episode:

  • Using his stepmother’s death as an example, Ram Dass explores how pain and suffering can become a curriculum through which one awakens.
  • Ram Dass discusses how he has begun to fall in love with everyone, and how his guru opened him up to the possibility of unconditional love. If we’re caught in our separateness, it’s hard to keep our hearts open.
  • Ram Dass shares classic stories of how other beings, including a dolphin, have helped him escape the trap of his own mind and find the intuitive heart space. He talks about taking care of his aging father and learning how to just be present with him.
  • Finally, Ram Dass explores the difference between being reactive and being responsive, reading a story from ‘How Can I Help?’ to illustrate his point. He talks about how, when we are quiet enough on the inside, we can begin to hear how to awaken through the journey of the spirit.

“As you quiet your mind just a little bit, you get so that you’re not automatically reacting to everything. You become what’s called responsive rather than reactive. In other words, something happens and there’s a moment when it’s just happening, you’re just with it. As your awareness expands to include more than your separate self, it’s as if you’re part of the gestalt of it all, and you experience the totality of it. And then, out of that quietness comes an act that is appropriate to that moment.” – Ram Dass


See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.


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
Podcast Episodes
Ep. 106 - Who Are You? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:36
In this talk from 1976, Ram Dass talks about what we are beyond this lifetime and asks, "Who are you?" Time after time we have experienced a cycle of birth and death. Each time we are born into a new identity and cling t…
Ep. 105 – Keeping our Quietness and Love [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:58
Ram Dass and Raghu have a conversation around social action and keeping our quietness and love in 2017. Ram Dass talks about balancing ourselves, social responsibility, why he puts President Trump on his puja (prayer) ta…
Ep. 104 - Mindfulness and Food [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:01
Ram Dass is joined by a young Joseph Goldstein and Jack Kornfield for a meaningful talk about mindfulness and food. This discussion is part of the Naropa University Bhagavad Gita Sessions of 1974. We are shown a new perc…
Ep. 103 – Individual Differences [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:53
In this lecture from 1974 at Naropa University, Ram Dass talks about our unhealthy preoccupation with our individual differences. We grow up with the identity of a separate self, building an entire character around that…
Ep. 102 - Soul Complex [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:22
On this episode of Here and Now, Ram Dass has a Sunday hangout session with Raghu Markus. The two chat about the concept of the 'soul-complex', how Ram Dass manages his suffering, as well as duality and devotion. Ram Das…
Ep. 101 - Separation, Lust & Kali [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:12:09
How would you answer the question of, "Who do you think YOU are?" You probably believe that you are somebody, but that somebody is the ego. On this episode of Here and Now, Ram Dass talks about our separation from the On…
Ep. 100 - Imagination, Faith, and Gratitude [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:37
On this special 100th episode of Here and Now, Ram Dass and Raghu Markus talk about imagination, faith, and gratitude. Ram Dass teaches us to see through our own delusions that mislead us and weigh us down with fear. Ram…
Ep. 98 - Spiritual Practices [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:55
When it comes to Spiritual Practices, Ram Dass poses the question, “why do we practice?” Raghu reads a passage from The Wisdom Teachings and Good Wishes of the Adi-Buddha Samanta-Bhadra which poses that the reality which…
Ep. 97 – Being Free Together [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:47
Ram Dass talks about disturbing emotions that may arise is potential wisdom the moment you relax into your natural mind. Look directly into it, don’t deliberately reject it, regard it as a fault, or indulge in it concret…