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The Spiritual Odyssey That Changed Modern Consciousness
Ram Dass's "Be Here Now" emerged at the perfect moment in American history-when a generation was questioning established values and seeking deeper meaning. This transformative work has sold over two million copies and influenced countless spiritual seekers, including Steve Jobs who credited it as a pivotal influence before creating Apple. What began as a professor's personal journey became a cultural touchstone that helped introduce Eastern spirituality to Western audiences in an accessible, revolutionary format. Beyond its psychedelic reputation, this book continues to resonate with readers seeking presence in our distracted age, offering timeless wisdom about consciousness that transcends its countercultural origins.
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From Harvard Professor to Spiritual Seeker
Richard Alpert embodied the American dream of academic achievement in 1961, holding prestigious appointments across four Harvard departments while maintaining concurrent research contracts at Yale and Stanford. His professional success manifested in extraordinary material wealth: a Cambridge apartment meticulously decorated with fine antiques, a sleek Mercedes-Benz in the driveway, a private airplane for weekend getaways, and a sailboat moored in the harbor. Among Stanford's elite, he was known as the "hip" therapist, the one who understood the counterculture while maintaining establishment credentials. His calendar overflowed with speaking engagements, committee meetings, and therapy sessions with wealthy clients.
Yet beneath this gleaming exterior of accomplishment, a profound emptiness gnawed at him. Despite investing $26,000 (equivalent to over $200,000 today) in intensive psychoanalysis, his inner turmoil persisted. His therapist's parting assessment - "You are too sick to leave analysis" - haunted him, suggesting that even experts couldn't heal his deep-seated neuroses. His anxiety manifested in compulsive behaviors, relationship difficulties, and a persistent sense of fraudulence.
The psychological theories he taught in lecture halls felt increasingly hollow and disconnected from human reality. His colleagues, whom he dubbed "9 to 5 psychologists," exhibited a troubling pattern - professionally competent during office hours but personally troubled in their private lives. Many struggled with failed marriages, addiction, and depression, even as they counseled others. Though Alpert excelled at intellectual discourse and academic debate, genuine wisdom remained elusive. His lectures had become mechanical recitations of theoretical frameworks that felt divorced from lived experience. Students dutifully took notes while faculty published papers, all participating in what felt like an elaborate charade of knowledge transmission without true understanding.
To fill this growing void, Alpert pursued an escalating cycle of acquisition and excess. He added more prestigious appointments to his CV, accumulated more expensive possessions, and sought validation through sexual conquests and alcohol-fueled parties. At family gatherings, particularly among his achievement-oriented Jewish relatives, he was celebrated as the family's crown jewel - the Harvard professor. Yet inwardly, he recognized these accolades as hollow, knowing that his impressive credentials masked a fundamental ignorance about life's deeper questions.
His friendship with Timothy Leary, who occupied a converted closet office down the hall, provided a glimpse of alternative possibilities. Leary's extraordinary intellect combined with his willingness to challenge conventional wisdom resonated with Alpert's growing disillusionment. They became regular drinking companions and collaborated on courses, with Leary's unconventional approaches beginning to crack Alpert's rigid academic worldview.
This first chapter of Alpert's journey - his ascension in social science - had reached its zenith, but the achievement felt meaningless. The academic world, once his sanctuary, had become an intellectual prison where soul and spirit suffocated under the weight of theories and publications. Despite achieving everything society deemed valuable - prestige, wealth, influence - Alpert found himself spiritually destitute. This profound disconnection between external success and internal fulfillment set the stage for his radical transformation from Richard Alpert to Ram Dass, from Harvard professor to spiritual seeker.
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The Psychedelic Awakening
Alpert's first psychedelic experience occurred during a snowstorm at Tim Leary's home. With minimal preparation, he took 10 milligrams of Psilocybin, trusting Leary after witnessing his profound transformation. The experience began like an intense marijuana high but evolved dramatically.
After a comical episode involving Leary's son's dog that they mistakenly thought was dying, Alpert went off alone. In profound calm, he witnessed a hallucination of himself in professorial cap and gown standing before him. He realized he could let go of this identity. One by one, all his social identities appeared and dissolved-the cosmopolite, the cellist, the pilot, the lover. Then came the terrifying moment when even "Richard Alpert-ness" itself began to dissolve.
Panic struck when his physical body began disappearing before his eyes-first legs, then torso-until nothing remained. As terror mounted, a calm voice inside asked, "but who's minding the store?" He suddenly recognized that despite losing everything by which he knew himself-even his body-he remained fully aware. This aware "I" was watching the entire drama with compassion. He discovered an essence that existed beyond social and physical identity, beyond life and death. This "I" possessed true wisdom rather than mere knowledge.
Fear transformed into exaltation. At dawn, he joyfully shoveled snow outside his parents' home. When they appeared at the window calling him an idiot, something inside him knew "it's all right to shovel snow and it's all right to be happy." This moment contained the seeds of his ability to confront existing institutions and trust his inner knowing.
For five years, Alpert and Leary conducted extensive psychedelic research, giving Psilocybin to about 200 people. They discovered that reactions depended on set and setting but followed a pattern: heightened sensory awareness, recognition of human similarity rather than difference, and occasionally profound experiences of oneness with others. Some rare experiences involved seeing others as energy patterns or witnessing the pure White Light of homogeneous energy fields.
Despite these extraordinary experiences, they abandoned the naive hope that one psychedelic experience would bring permanent enlightenment. The problem of "coming down" became Alpert's central frustration. In one extreme experiment, five of them locked themselves in a building for three weeks, taking 400 micrograms of LSD every four hours. Despite building tolerance, they maintained an extraordinary plateau of consciousness. Yet within days of ending the experiment, they all came down.
This cycle of revelation followed by loss bred a gentle but persistent depression. After hundreds of journeys to these heightened states, Alpert faced the crushing realization that whatever he knew still wasn't enough. Each glimpse of the "kingdom of heaven" ended with being cast out again, leaving him searching for what was missing.
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The Quest for Lasting Transformation
Despite his frustrations, these experiences were changing Alpert fundamentally. His repeated returns to that inner place made him less dependent on external validation. When Harvard expelled him, reporters looked at him with pity, but internally, he felt saner than ever, creating an interesting tension between external judgment and inner knowing.
Alpert remained functional enough to be the responsible one-the person who would "calm Tim Leary" when he got too extreme. He managed households, raised money, and kept things running while exploring these consciousness frontiers.
They realized they needed supportive environments that could sustain these new perspectives. The ordinary world constantly pulled you back into limited identities-if you experience yourself as God and then someone tells you to empty the garbage, you're instantly "Sam who empties garbage" again. It takes time to understand that God can empty garbage too.
Around 1962-3, Leary and Ralph Metzner discovered the Tibetan Book of the Dead, whose 2,500-year-old descriptions of the 49 days between death and rebirth perfectly matched their psychedelic experiences. Leary rewrote it as "The Psychedelic Experience," framing it as a manual for psychological death and rebirth.
By 1967, Alpert had exhausted his options. He had no academic position left and realized they lacked sufficient knowledge about psychedelics. When a wealthy acquaintance invited him to join his spiritual journey to India in a Land Rover, he accepted, bringing LSD to share with holy men, hoping they might reveal its secrets.
For three months, they traveled extensively-meeting the Dalai Lama, visiting Amanath Cave in Kashmir, exploring Benares, and finally reaching Kathmandu. Yet he remained a "westerner traveling in India"-collecting slides, recordings, and experiences but finding nothing transformative. He gave LSD to various holy men but received the same range of responses he'd get in America-nothing revelatory.
In Kathmandu, deep despair settled in. He had no idea what to do next or what to return to in America. He contemplated becoming a chauffeur, surrendering his need to direct his own life-a foreshadowing of what was to come.
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The Divine Encounter with Bhagwan Dass
While sitting despondently in the Blue Tibetan restaurant in Kathmandu, an extraordinary 6'7" American with long blonde hair and beard, dressed in traditional Indian clothes, walked in and sat at Alpert's table. Immediately he sensed something he'd rarely encountered-someone who truly "knew."
Throughout his journey, he'd been constantly engaged in that subtle eye-contact game with others: "Do you know?" "Do you?" But meeting this young man was different-he was solid all the way through. Wherever Alpert pressed, there he was!
For five days, they held an impromptu seminar with their Indian guide Harish Johari, studying sacred texts while high on hashish and mescaline. Bhagwan Dass began teaching Alpert mantras and working with beads.
When time came to continue to Japan, Alpert faced a choice: continue his first-class journey or follow this penniless 23-year-old from Laguna Beach on a temple pilgrimage through India. Despite the absurdity of traveling halfway around the world to follow an American kid, he sensed this was his opportunity. When he asked if he was making a mistake, Harish confirmed, "No, he is a very high guy."
So began his transformation-barefoot, carrying only a shoulder bag, wearing a dhoti, developing blisters and dysentery. When he fell ill, Bhagwan Dass's only advice was "Well, fast for a few days"-compassionate but without pity.
They slept on the ground or wooden monastery tables as Alpert went through an extraordinary physical breakdown, becoming childlike while his new guide cared for him. They traveled to temples where villagers touched their feet as holy men-embarrassing to Alpert as he felt like an overage hippie, not a holy man. Bhagwan Dass played his one-stringed ectara while Alpert played a Tibetan drum, and Bhagwan Dass gave away all of Alpert's money, though he clung to his passport and return ticket.
His training method was unique-whenever Alpert began a story about his past, he'd say "Don't think about the past. Just be here now." If he asked about future plans: "Don't think about the future. Just be here now." When he complained about physical discomfort: "Emotions are like waves. Watch them disappear in the distance on the vast calm ocean."
He'd wiped out Alpert's entire game-emotions, past experiences, future plans. They remained mostly silent, singing holy songs or practicing Hatha Yoga. Though they knew nothing of each other's personal histories, Alpert felt a profound intimacy with him he'd never experienced before.
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The Miraculous Meeting with Maharaji
After months of wandering through India with Bhagwan Dass, traversing dusty roads and remote villages, they finally arrived at a modest temple in the foothills of the Himalayas. Here, they would meet Neem Karoli Baba, known to his devotees as Maharaji. Alpert, trained in the rigorous skepticism of Western academia, approached with characteristic doubt about gurus and spiritual teachers. However, his intellectual defenses crumbled when Maharaji, wrapped in his simple blanket, immediately spoke about Alpert's mother's death from spleen complications - intimate details that were impossible for anyone in India to know, including the specific nature of her illness and the circumstances of her passing.
His Western-trained mind frantically searched for rational explanations, cycling through increasingly elaborate theories. Perhaps this was an elaborate CIA operation? Maybe he was experiencing a psychotic break? He considered every possibility from government conspiracy to mass hypnosis, but each explanation felt more implausible than the last. Like a computer faced with an unsolvable equation, his analytical mind finally reached its limits and shut down completely. In that moment of cognitive surrender, he experienced an overwhelming sensation in his chest - a physical pain accompanied by unstoppable tears. These weren't tears of joy or sorrow, but rather the emotional release of someone who had been searching their entire life and finally found their way home.
That evening, while organizing his belongings, Alpert discovered his carefully hidden LSD stash in his bag. With excitement, he thought, "At last, I've found someone who will truly understand what LSD is!" The next morning, displaying his seeming omniscience again, Maharaji immediately asked, "Have you got a question?" before demanding, "Where's the medicine?" When Alpert produced the LSD, Maharaji inquired if they gave "siddhis" (supernatural powers). Misinterpreting the question, Alpert apologetically offered him three 305-microgram tablets - a massive dose that would typically send even experienced users into overwhelming psychedelic experiences. To his astonishment, Maharaji casually swallowed all three pills, showing absolutely no effects throughout the day. Instead, he merely twinkled at Alpert with knowing eyes, providing a wordless teaching about the true nature of consciousness that transcended any chemical enhancement.
Alpert's integration into the ashram happened organically, without formal invitation or ceremony. The community simply embraced him, providing traditional Indian clothes, a simple room, and inclusion in their daily routines. They asked nothing in return - no financial contributions, no pledges to spread teachings, no formal commitments of any kind. Maharaji himself lived in profound simplicity, using just a blanket, existing in a state of sahaj samadhi (natural enlightenment). His devotees maintained constant vigil, fearing he might suddenly disappear into the jungle or voluntarily leave his physical form. Though Maharaji appeared to do nothing in conventional terms, his presence catalyzed remarkable activities - temples rose, schools were established, and a continuous flow of offerings came from people drawn to his magnetic presence.
The culmination of Alpert's initial stay came unexpectedly when Maharaji, without explanation or ceremony, tapped him three times on the forehead and had him escorted away. Other devotees later reported that Alpert appeared to be in an elevated spiritual state, with tears flowing freely down his face, though he himself remembered only a profound sense of confusion - a mysterious experience that would take years to fully integrate and understand.
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The Spiritual Teachings and Transformation
Under the guidance of his teacher Hari Dass Baba, Alpert received profound wisdom through brief statements written on a chalkboard: "If a pickpocket meets a saint, he sees only his pockets" and "If you wear shoeleather, the whole earth is covered with leather." These teachings seemed to awaken knowledge he already possessed. Later he discovered he had been systematically taught Raja Yoga, an ancient scientific system from Patanjali's sutras, also called Ashtanga or 8-limbed yoga.
The core teachings emphasized that we are "Totally Determined Beings" with no real accidents or miracles-these are merely perceptions from the limited ego perspective. A profound paradox emerged: "as soon as you give it all up you can have it all" and "As long as you want power, you can't have it." Clinging to ego identity creates a limited existence bound by fear of death.
Alpert learned three ways of understanding spiritual reality: through Direct Experience (via love, near-death, psychedelics, yoga, or pushing senses beyond limits); through intellectual inference; or through faith in Realized Beings. William James is quoted on how normal consciousness is just one type, with other forms of consciousness separated by "the filmiest of screens."
The teaching culminated in the concept of Surrender-giving up the "hollow little trip" of ego for "Eternal Union with Pure Energy & Pure Light." This surrender means transcending the cycle of life and death, as "fear of death only comes through the brittleness of the ego." When fully surrendered, one becomes part of the flowing patterns of energy that constitute all existence.
Alpert, now transformed into Ram Dass ("Servant of God"), discovered that true communication transcends words and facial expressions, reaching to the deeper level of vibrations that emanate from within us. Animals, young children, and psychotics immediately perceive our true vibrational state regardless of our outward presentation. Every moment we exist as "a full statement of our being," sending vibrations that affect everything around us.
He learned that the highest plane in the world of form is the world of Yin & Yang-still a realm of polarization and duality. The only escape from this duality is to see how opposites are interconnected and fundamentally one. When we recognize the interrelatedness of everything, we're no longer attached to polarized positions, revealing the artificial nature of divisions like "generation gaps."
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The Path of Presence and Practice
The Way (Tao) is described as the harmony of the universe. When one enters the spirit, differences between opposites (man-woman, big-little, old-young) become background rather than focus. What matters is being present-"here and now, that's all there is." Ram Dass emphasizes that "later never exists" and questions our attachment to future planning while neglecting present beauty.
Life's responsibilities can be approached as burdens or as part of the dance. Quoting Zen master Hakuin: "The thought is the thought of the thoughtless, your singing and dancing is no other than the voice of the dharma." Our approach to life's demands-whether we "surf" through them or carry them as loads-determines our experience.
All aspects of life-from joyful expression to mundane responsibilities like savings accounts-are part of Shiva's dance of life. The key is your attitude: approaching life with heaviness or lightness. The section emphasizes that escape isn't found in changing external circumstances but in changing your consciousness: "The only way to get away-Change Your Head!"
Ram Dass shares his teacher's first teaching: "Desire is a trap, Desire-lessness is moksha (Liberation), Desire is the creator, Desire is the destroyer, Desire is the universe." This applies across all planes-physical, astral, causal. All manifestations, including heavens and hells, are creations of desire.
The non-dualistic Buddhist approach is to transcend all desire trips. Buddha's Four Noble Truths are presented, starting with the first truth that life contains suffering because everything in time eventually passes away. Getting what you want in the physical world still brings suffering because "you're going to lose it!"
The Second Noble Truth is that suffering is caused by desire or craving. When we attach to temporal things-beauty, possessions, achievements-we suffer when they inevitably pass away. Everything in time will disappear; anything we crave will melt like an ice cream cone. The alternative is accepting the here and now fully as it is.
The Fourth Noble Truth is the eightfold path for eliminating desire. It instructs us to get our lives straight: do our work, watch our speech and thoughts, develop calmness, and live in ways that free us from attachment. This spiritual journey resembles a roller coaster-we make progress, feel liberated, then our ego congratulates us ("look how holy you're becoming"), and we fall again. The higher we get, the harder we fall.
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The Heart of Spiritual Practice
Ram Dass explains that meditation's purpose is to cool you out so you remember your true nature. When caught in self-pity, we can't truly connect with spiritual guides. We get distracted by our own emotional drama, failing to be present. True meditation requires turning the lens inward, photographing the very stuff we're hiding in-a powerful practice of self-observation that reveals our patterns.
Sadhana-spiritual practice-becomes the only meaningful activity. "I do nothing but Sadhana," even when lecturing happens. This practice helps free the ego, and since we're all the same being, when one person gets free, we all move toward freedom. We can only move as fast as we all can move together. The message can only be heard as purely as the messenger is pure. The only meaningful work is working on oneself, which benefits all beings.
True parenting isn't about social roles or external things, but offering children here-and-nowness-the treasure of consciousness and awareness. Without presence, no amount of material provision satisfies. Western man has every sensual gratification yet feels it's never enough because there's no here-and-nowness. Being truly present dissolves the separate self. We must create an absolutely calm center where everything is just is-ness-eating, walking, talking-just the present moment.
A centered being emanates a palpable calmness that touches others in their own calm place. This cannot be faked-everyone knows when you're pretending to be calm. Finding that centered place inside yourself is essential, the hridayam (spiritual heart) from which all authentic action flows.
Ram Dass emphasizes that we exist only in the eternal present moment. No matter what time you set your alarm for-3:47 AM or 9:00 AM-when you wake up, you're always "Here" and it's always "Now." This is the Eternal Present. While clocks go around marking time, you remain "sitting Here, Right Now, Always." There is no escaping this fundamental truth.
The journey into Consciousness means finding "Om (home)" through unity with God. This place reveals itself in moments of ecstasy, achievement, or seeing beauty in flowers, art, or poetry. It's the Buddha consciousness, Christ consciousness where "I And My Father Are One."
Through this profound transformation from Richard Alpert to Ram Dass, we witness a universal journey-from the limitations of ego and intellect to the boundless freedom of presence and love. His story reminds us that beneath our social identities and rational minds lies an eternal awareness, waiting to be discovered in the simple yet revolutionary practice of being here now.
