Reflections on "Ram Dass"

Five themes come to mind upon learning a bit of the thoughts and life of Richard Alpert, now Ram Dass:

SUFFERING TRUTH
FAITH

IDENTITY FREEDOM

It’s so interesting that the themes followed in this order through the film, as they are linked and interdependent as such. One must know suffering to know truth; once truth is found, it compels one to have faith in the findings; faith gives an identity that will not shift with shifting roles; and this identity brings true freedom.

One of our first glimpses into the mind of Ram Dass comes through a consolation letter he wrote to the parents of a murdered daughter – strangers to whom he offered words of peace and encouragement and strength. These words began with an acknowledgement and acceptance of the “burning pain” that he told them they must feel. In honor of their daughter’s life – while understanding that she left because her work here was complete – they must feel and grieve the loss of her bodily presence. They must suffer for her. Yet at the same time, he asked them to look ahead, to see how the experience would make them more compassionate, more loving, and give them greater patience in future trials.

Maharaji ji, an Indian saint and guru of many and particularly of Ram Dass, spoke similarly to Dass, telling him that the whole of his life had been suffering, but that he had come to find joy in the midst of pain, through it even, because it brought him closer to the divine. This is truth. It is through suffering that we learn what sustains us, what our hope is in, where our joy comes from, and where we are along the journey of learning and embracing or rejecting these things. In suffering, we either collapse and fall, collapse and are lifted up higher than we could have stood on our own, or collapse not at all, but rather remain standing with strength and joy that are unexplainable except that they come from outside of ourselves. The first happens if we suffer and deny or reject the truth of our sustenance; the second if we suffer and come to know this truth through it; the third if we know truth already and have faith in its author.

Peter, a leader in the early church, wrote a letter (ca. A.D. 64-65) to other followers of Jesus Christ who were suffering through persecution in Rome. These Christians knew the truth they believed already, and had faith in that truth, but needed strengthening. It works in a cycle: suffering can bring one to a point of finding truth in order to be sustained, and it also strengthens one’s faith in that truth when trials come and the truth is proven. Peter wrote to his brethren in this letter, “In this [the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ that you know] you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” If our faith needs to be tested and refined, then we will experience suffering and trials; if our faith is true, then it will be strengthened and proven through them.

When Ram Dass, then Richard Alpert, spoke of his first experiments with LSD I was really interested in what he learned about his identity. When using the drug, he said he was able to look objectively at his life and the roles he lived every day; in this “state of enlightenment” he became frightened because all of those roles, those achievements and titles, separated from his self and left him wondering what his identity was apart from them. Prior to this experience, he had security in his positions: professor, doctoral scholar; security in the Ivy League names: Tufts, Wesleyan, Harvard; security in affluence and familiar connections. Using LSD, he disassociated from those accolades.

It seems comparable to a mother who has been identified by her role as child-raiser for twenty or more years and then as her children leave to start their own adult lives, her role is changed and her identity seemingly lost. She has for so long been “child-raiser,” as Alpert had been “elite member of society,” that when her occupation is gone, so is her self. The unpredictability of one’s life-course (save the fact that it will end – this is always sure) reveals the futility of occupation and the false security that comes with investing one’s self-identification in that occupation. It is not that occupation has no value, or even little value. Particularly with mothering and teaching, these roles are of great importance – both mold lives and impact generations to come. However, the title must not be what defines the person, or they will lose their definition when the position no longer exists.

Ram Dass had a stroke later in life and for a time was identified by his condition. But he came to the realization that, again, his state of being in this life didn’t have to define his self. He then looked back on the start of his illness as having “been stroked” and sought to find the joy in this mode of suffering, how he might use it for good.

“Count it all joy, my brethren, when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing and refining of your faith produces patience, endurance, and perseverance.” These are words written by James, the brother of Jesus Christ, to Jewish followers of the Messiah who were being persecuted ca. A.D. 44-49. Our trials come to us for a purpose. Ram Dass was correct: he was stroked. It didn’t just happen to him arbitrarily. We suffer because we need to be refined, and it is when we understand that and embrace it and are willing to grow – not just deny the situation or reject it or wallow in it, but transcend it – that evil can be used for good.

Often Alzheimer’s patients are considered when thinking about identity. One may have lived a life of the highest prestige, only to slowly forget all that was gained along the way. Is this tragedy? Is the cognitive state of Ronald Reagan, in light of his life’s accolades, tragic? Is he defined only by what he added to this world – things which will perish with time, anyway? Or is there more to a person… can there be more to a person…


We cannot build our selves on the sinking sand of accomplishment or temporary status. Rather, we must – if our lives are to be of any lasting consequence – find truth and be given grace to accept and have faith in that truth. We must be identified not by our paths, but by the author and finisher of the truth and of our faith in it. Identified as such, we will know who we are and that will not change regardless of shifting occupations, fading cognition, or even death. When we are identified in this Truth, then we are finally Free.