The Aging Process

Ram Dass:

Beyond Awakening, November 28, 2010
Internet interview regarding his new book: Be Love Now

the soul is filled with love
it doesn’t feel the fear

I register the situation
the world situation
and I feel
that I’m going inside
to manifest my peace

I don’t get scared
I’m not frightened
I’m not frightened by things like terrorism
but I don’t fly
Ha ha
I’m just an island boy

a week ago we had a earthquake here
and I didn’t get scared.
I experienced it in my body, but I didn’t register fear
We were over at a hotel and some of the hotel guests
were going to higher ground because they were afraid of a tsunami.
It was clear in their minds there was a tsunami,
The ocean was calm, it was obvious,
but there was an inner tsunami in their minds.

without future and past,
these moments are , oh, ah, precious, precious, how precisous
and they are ecstatic, just living in the moment

I’ve got a stroke and all that stuff and in this moment I’m just so satisfied, so content, ah,
so present, ah, so quiet, ummm, so with my guru, just this moment, this moment

I’ve spent many hours of serving in Seva Foundation,
things like that
and it is tremendously valuable to me,
I give, I give, I give,
I didn’t think that I, as satisfied as I was then,
that now I’m giving being
I’m giving souls,
I’m giving some help to God to uplift souls,
It’s very exciting to me,
Now I’m , because before, when I was involved with Seva,
we had working for many people lined, giving operations …
I know those operations weren’t as meaningful to those people
as spiritual things.
I remember that we were,
and believe me—bringing a person’s eyesight back was a big deal
—but even that, even that, was somebody
you could see their soul radiating.
Oh boy, oh boy.
And I was doing helping.
And now I’m help.

because people are stuck in this plane
and they’re wishing, wishing that they can be with the Beloved,
their hearts are wishing,
and now that’s the business
and that’s Jews and Christians
and Muslims and Hindus and Buddhists
they all have the same thing,
the same thing

you get back unconditional love
whatever you are in this moment,
you are loved for that

you get unconditionally loved

Question about spiritual by-passing? “Are you in some way having a different perspective on that from the radical place of being love right here, now, and always?”

we have two planes of consciousness
that we are both ME the ego and the SOUL
we’re two plane beings
and you don’t forfeit one of those planes for the other
you can get them all
you got to be in your ego and in your soul
and I don’t think I’ve forfeited my humanity,
I’ve added to my humanity
in fact I’ve made my humanity so much richer

If you are an emotion
then the soul is watching that emotion
and therefore you are both living the emotion
and also you’re watching the emotion
and that is enriching for your life

The incarnation is a teaching experiment
for you to rid yourself of karma you’ve done from past lives,
and you’re in this incarnation
you’re following your mother and your brothers and sisters
and friends in the culture you are in and the times you are in…
all of that is your teachings, your teachings,
so that you get into your soul.

I’m writing a talk today about Ageing and started to do some Internet research about how other people view the passing of their years. I came across this blog post and while I hardly see the author as ‘old’ – (must be the place I’m looking from!) – I thought the questions she posed were great and would love to hear your feedback? Comment on..

I have a lot of experience with body acceptance but, it turns out, not so much with age acceptance. I almost titled this post, in all caps, AGE ACCEPTANCE: PLEASE HELP ME.

In approximately a month, I’ll be turning 35. I’ve been noticing more gray hairs, a few wrinkles on my face. 35 is a big age for women because our eggs officially become geriatric, and so that’s happening too. And it’s freaking me out, you guys. I have fallen for all of those “you must look younger!” ads and actually purchased something called anti-aging serum that is probably not even real. And yet there’s no denying that next month, I will officially be one year closer to death. And it’s pretty sobering.

You see, the thing with “growing old gracefully” is that there is the whole mortality thing to consider, and it’s not some societal pressure, it’s an actual thing. It’s a thing that has preoccupied human beings (particularly poets) from time immemorial. So I’m not freaking out about nothing, exactly. But I still feel that I’m overreacting just a tad. There’s nothing I can do about it, after all, other than to live life to the fullest. And freaking out about wrinkles and gray hairs is just vanity, isn’t it?

So on the one hand, I’m turning to you for advice: how do I grow older gracefully? I already know that I should be more Helen Mirren than Melanie Griffith, and I won’t be injecting butt fat into my lips anytime soon. But coloring my hair seems harmless, wearing sunscreen seems like a wise idea. Where does one draw the line in the quest to extend one’s youth? How old are you, and how you feel about it? Do you accept your age, or do you rage, rage against the dying of the light?

And on the other hand, I’ve decided my theme for Year 35 is going to be carpe diem, and to that end, I’m going to try and cross 35 items off my lifelong to-do list. Carpe diem, man, it’s a classic. I mean come on, I don’t have that poetry degree for nothing!

Posted by mo pie