It's all real and it's all illusory: that's Awareness! Ram Dass More Quotes by Ram Dass More Quotes From Ram Dass The cosmic humor is that if you desire to move mountains and you continue to purify yourself, ultimately you will arrive at the place where you are able to move mountains. But in order to arrive at this position of power you will have had to give up being he-who-wanted-to-move-mountains so that you can be he-who-put-the-mountain-there-in-the-first-place. The humor is that finally when you have the power to move the mountain, you are the person who placed it there--so there the mountain stays. Ram Dass giving-up order moving I remember my first visit with my guru. He had shown that he read my mind. So I looked at the grass and I thought, My god, hes going to know all the things I dont want people to know. I was really embarrassed. Then I looked up and he was looking directly at me with unconditional love. Ram Dass unconditional-love mind people The witness is always in the here and now and it lives in each instant of living. To be in the witness is to listen with a still heart, with a waiting, open soul, without clinging, without opinions. Ram Dass soul waiting heart I think the question is, how do we live with change? Change in our friends, change in our lovers? Change in me and change in my body, from the stroke. Things have changed this plane of consciousness. We've tried to keep things the same. It causes suffering. This suffering is another step in your spiritual life, in your spiritual journey. Ram Dass journey spiritual thinking My life is a creative act--like a painting, or a concerto. Ram Dass creativity creative life Science and religion both teach that we are all interconnected, and thus interdependent. And at the very core, we are all One. But how do we live as if we know this? Ram Dass science-and-religion teach knows When you concentrate on the middle of your chest - this is where loving awareness lives. This is the spiritual heart. Not the beating heart, not the emotional heart. This spiritual heart goes way back - goes back many incarnations. We call it the soul. Ram Dass emotional spiritual heart Aging has its own beauty. It is a beautiful stage for doing inner work. You have a chance to not be so dependent on social approval. You can be a little more eccentric. You can be more alone. And you can examine loneliness and boredom instead of being afraid of them. There is such an art and a possibility of aging. Ram Dass loneliness beautiful art The satsang is - within the mass culture - like little mushrooms here and there, and somebody, maybe a Christian and a Hindu and a Buddhist, come together; doesn't matter, because those are paths. They're paths to the One. But those satsangs are what the world needs. And as I say - heart to heart - that's what satsang is. Ram Dass buddhist christian heart You're afraid, you will just keep making the fear. If you want to change it, you change from your soul. Ram Dass your-soul soul want I've got to love the souls of people. Because I can't love every incarnation. To love their souls, I have to identify with my own soul. Ram Dass because-i-can soul people We've been proceeding so long on the plane of consciousness, we don't realize we are spiritual beings. Our minds, our senses, and the society around us all say, "Come on, you're getting into fantasy. Ram Dass spiritual mind long Caring is a reflex. Someone slips, your arm goes out. A car is in the ditch, you join others and push... You live, you help. Ram Dass arms caring helping There can be conscious revolution. Ram Dass revolution conscious In an evolutionary perspective, the rational mind takes a certain distance and no further, & we must be able to transcend it. Ram Dass distance perspective mind Heaven & Hell are both creations of desire. Ram Dass hell desire heaven There are no accidents. Ram Dass accidents I don't think too much about the future. Not because I'm hiding my head in the sand but because I figured out that whatever the future was going to be, the thing I had to do was to quiet my mind and open my heart and do what I could to end suffering. Ram Dass mind heart thinking Compassion is the ability to see how it all is. Ram Dass ability-to-see ability compassion If we are to help heal the world, we need to remember that it is a sacred place. Our actions need to be positive statements, reminders that even in the worst times there is a world worth struggling for. Ram Dass being-positive struggle needs
