Ram Dass: life, teachings, and spiritual influence

Ram Dass Still Here

Ram Dass' Still Here: Embracing Aging, Changing, and Dying

What happens when we die? This unanswerable question is a controversial issue that many are simply not prepared to deal with when they begin to descend into the twilight years of their lives. Yet, Ram Dass asks us all not to be afraid when we reach that waning period. In his work, Still Here: Embracing Aging, Changing, and Dying, he continues to share his spiritual wisdom with the Baby Boomer generation, who by now are reaching their final stages of life. He tells us not to be afraid, and that death is just another step. By accepting one's mortality and physical frailty, one can better open oneself to God and the spiritual realm that awaits to embrace us all.

Ram Dass is a name that many Americans had been familiar with, especially the Baby Boomer generation. Since the early 1970s, with the release of his book Be Here Now, he had been active in preaching a new world philosophy to a massive generation of Americans who from the very beginning refused to live by the rules. In his work, Still Here: Embracing Aging, Changing, and Dying, Ram Das continues with this tradition, speaking to Baby Boomers about some of the toughest questions and issues about life and death as the largest generation of Americans continues to get older and older. Dass was inspired to write this work after suffering from a massive stroke that left him paralyzed and limited to moving around only with the help of a wheel chair. Essentially, Dass took this tragedy and turned it into something more meaningful so that he, and others, could learn valuable lessons about the ending period of life. In his work, he writes "What a gift the stroke has given me, to finally learn that I don't have to renounce my humanity in order to be spiritual -- that I can be both witness and participant, both eternal and aging body…at nearly seventy, surrounded by people who care for and love me, I'm still learning to be here now" (Dass 2001). From this perspective, Dass has gotten a window glimpse into the changing of the body from its material and physical form into its spiritual. In his tragedy, he saw the face of the beautiful spiritual world that awaits him. He writes in his work about how this change is not something to be feared or put off as long ass possible, but something to embrace, just as all other aspects of life.

One of the major points of the work is to not waste this twilight time of one's life in fear. Being afraid or being in denial of the natural part of life will only cause the individual to miss out on some of the beautiful changes and experiences that occur in this aging period. When one becomes closer to death and the end of the physical life, one has the chance to connect on a stronger level with the future spiritual world one will be entering. One can connect with God on a more real, honest level, because one is in the face of death. This is a perfect period of one's life to look back and make peace with one's actions and how one lived out one's life. It should not be wasted in fear of something we all have to go through.

Dass explains that his stroke reminded him of the frailty of his physical form, and was in many ways a way for him to prepare for the major changes that were to come. So many people view these types of tragedies just as that -- tragic. They fight the frailty of their physical bdies, trying to regain a strength that has long since past them. Many refuse to accept the help from others during this vulnerable period, trying to reassert their older physical presence and autonomy within their lives. Yet this is only denying the inevitable and making it harder to embrace the changes that are yet to come. By fighting so hard against life and what it ultimately has planned for us all, one misses out on an essential preparation period before the big change actually comes. One must embrace the love and help of others, rather than try to fight it, because this is the period where one can enjoy all the friendships and family that one has spent an entire lifetime building. After everything we all do for those around us, this is a period where we can accept help in return without worries about selfishness or trying to pay people back. Accepting the help we need from others is a natural humbling process that once again prepares us for what is to come, but also shows us how great our lives really were.