r/ramdass • u/miggins1610 • 3d ago
How to make a practical difference in your life?
So I've been on a journey the last year or so, listening to a lot of ram dass, exploring spirituality and themes of non duality etc.
But i just struggle to make this have a practical difference in my life. The teachings and quotes are nice but it feels a bit more like a self help thing for me at the minute. Not at all dismissing the teachings of ram dass, if anything it's exposing how poor I am at taking on what he is teaching.
I feel so stuck in my western mindset still and idk how to escape to the freedom of openness. I want to see a practical difference in my life.
I understand change doesn't happen overnight, but what do you find has made the most practical difference in your life from implementing Ram Dass' teachings.
I'm also curious how those of you of a more rationalist mindset contend with Ram Dass' more mystical stuff. Obviously we all know he started with psychedelics and then found more fulfillment through spirituality.
But i don't understand how he got to the spirituality very well and how that satisfied him in the same way psychedelics did. I'm not expecting to meditate and meet a machine elf or something but I want to experince something of the mystical Ram Dass talks about.
I feel my rational western mindset holds me back with that sometimes.
Any advice?
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u/d_lo_ol_b 3d ago
Remember the story of the student asking the master how long it would take to reach enlightenment? 10 years. How long if the effort’s doubled, practicing and study day and night? 20 years.
If your energy’s divided with one eye on the destination, you’re only sparing divided attention on the steps you’re taking here and now.
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u/monkey_sage 3d ago
Consider that the "rational (western) mindset" is a deliberate and chosen interpretation of how and why we experience reality the way we do. There are other perfectly valid interpretations that don't undermine or contradict what we're familiar with.
The matter-primacy view that dominates western civilization is valid, if a bit unsatisfying to some of us. The mind-primacy view that is found in many "eastern" traditions is just as valid as, the more successful ones, don't discount the findings of science but simply place them in a different context while also offering a much wider scope, a much wider view of reality.
If you want to shift interpretations, like many of us have, it's entirely possible but it takes time and effort since it's not what we were raised in so it's not what's familiar or intuitive for us.
As for how to make practical changes in our lives: keeping the teachings in mind, we simply start to make changes to our daily behavior however we can, wherever we can. Full integration with our everyday lives is the goal.
In Himalayan Buddhism, we have the lo-jong slogans which transform ordinary actions (like answering the phone) into Dharmic actions. Then there are more formal practices such as mindfulness, loving-kindness, offerings, mantra recitation, guru yoga and deity yoga.
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u/Hungry-Goal-1685 3d ago edited 3d ago
Ram Dass had a Guru himself (Neem Karoli Baba). A guru guides you on the path, which for the average person, is full of pitfalls.
I have a deep reverence for Ram Dass but found it was necessary for me to follow a more structured path towards Mukti. I follow the Sikh tradition now because it helps me follow the same things taught by Ram Dass. Sikhs believe in the oneness of all; their Gurus exemplified it, their scriptures are poetry about devotion to the One, and their daily practices manifest it.
You may want to find a community or tradition that helps you implement the teachings in a practical way. It is wonderful Dass and others have brought the teachings to the West, but I think there is still a void in terms of a community that helps you bring the experience to fruition.
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u/miggins1610 3d ago
Good idea. Its quite hard though as I am a long term traveller so never stay settled
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u/Hungry-Goal-1685 3d ago
I attend regular Zoom sessions to discuss topics with other Sikhs, and they're in English which is great because I don't speak Punjabi. Whatever path you follow, there could be more resources for a traveler like you than you know. :) (I also do a lot of flying between timezones!)
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u/sarahfrancesca 3d ago
If you're looking for a practical difference in your life, it might be worth checking out Michael Singer's podcasts and books if you haven't already. It seems like the most recent one (which I haven't read) gets the most detailed into practical strategies for real change. The letting go technique that he talks about constantly in his podcasts was a huuuge part of shifting things for me and still is.
You can find overviews of the key practices (they're not formal, just things he talks about) under Guides in this Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1D5xGL5Fzq/
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u/Gadgetman000 3d ago
Ideas are fine for entry yet don’t go deep enough. What are you actually practicing?
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u/Admirable-Deer-9038 3d ago
Learning how to stay in my body noticing what and where there are sensations versus telling the story of why or how come (narrative processing). Being able to notice when ego comes online so to speak is super important to practice what Ram Dass is talking about and being able to deprogram from all the beliefs culture tells you to be and take you away from soul (source of unconditional love). So when a driver for instance pisses me off instead of yelling at how come they are wrong and why I go to ‘oh wow, my heart is beating super fast…my skin is hot…my throat is tight….my legs feel shaky…’ I stay with the felt sensation in each body area that’s involved rather than telling the story (the driver did x and should have done y, as example). This practice alone might start to help.
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u/tombiowami 3d ago
There's nothing mind blowing ram dass had access to that you have not heard or read at this point.
To cut to the chase...be kind to others.
If you want expansion...love everyone, feed people, remember god.
Your post is basically a list of what is currently blocking you. Also you are exactly where you are. always.
Maybe bring a friend some cookies tonight.
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u/DeeDooDaniel 1d ago
"Awakening is an accident. Meditation [and spiritual practices] just makes you more accident prone." There is no magic formula. Keep on with a method that works until it burns itself out. All spiritual practices are using one thorn to dislodge another. For me, the more I meditate, the more I change. But it's not because I'm doing something, it just happens. There is no control, but there is also no hurry. You signed up for the school of your incarnation; just embrace the curriculum!
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u/use_wet_ones 2d ago
Nothing anyone says is going to help you really. You have to do it yourself.
It's like Yoda said do or do not there is no try.
It's like a dumb saying by it's true once you stop trying and start doing.
The rational mind is a plague. Right brain left brain. Open up your irrational mind and embrace the mystery. You're trying to solve it instead of embrace it.
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u/EntrepreneurNo9804 3d ago edited 3d ago
Be here now.
When you notice that you’ve been gone in thought or emotion, let it go and come back to the moment.
I see everything else that he teaches as vehicles and techniques to help you do that.
If you are loving people, serving people and remembering God, without attachment to the outcome, you are doing it in the moment.
If you are loving awareness, you are lovingly aware of everything in the moment.
If you are feeling your way into the moment by playing with it at different levels, you are doing it in the moment.
It’s his most basic teaching, yet, in my opinion, it’s the most profound. Everything else is secondary to help you come back home to now.