Ep. 307 – Being in Other Planes of Reality
Ram Dass Here And Now - Ram Dass / Love Serve Remember
Ram Dass explores consciousness beyond ordinary reality, using personal stories like kidney stones to illustrate spiritual awakening. He emphasizes embracing humanity while recognizing divine presence in all planes of ex
Key takeaways
- Consciousness remains stable even in intense pain
Transcript preview
Over the last 10 years the Be Here Now Network has had more than 100 million streams. That is so many people being touched by the wisdom of Jack Cornfield, Ram Doss, Alan Watts and all of our other beautiful teachers. And if all of you wisdom seekers could donate just five dollars this month, we could accomplish our goal of keeping these teachings accessible. And until the end of June, your donation will be matched. So five dollars will turn into ten dollars. And ten dollars from everyone who sees. And ten dollars from everyone who sees this, could get us to our birthday goal. So for Be Here Now Networks 10th anniversary, please consider donating even just five dollars. Thank you. Donate today at Be Here Now Network.com forward slash 10 years. 1-0 Y-E-A-R-S. what it was about it was becoming free. And free meant standing nowhere and nowhere standing nowhere meant being comfortable everywhere. And being comfortable everywhere meant opening to all of this. And seeing this is God too. And seeing the beloved on this playing as well as everywhere else. episode 307, Being and Other Plains of Reality. So it's February 1989 at the LA Whole Life Expo. It's teachers, healers, scientists, a lot of people coming together trying to figure out how to live. Of course, Ram Das was there. And he opens, surprisingly, with kidney stones. Most people, when they feel pain, they want it to stop. But Ram Das, he's delighted because he wants to watch. his consciousness and what it does under pressure. He taps into these different planes of consciousness and he helps us remember that we're so much more than who we think we are. And we also have to live here in our humanity because that is where the real juice is. So he tells us some of the classic stories but they're so poignant because it's illustrating this idea of there is nowhere to stand. Yes, you are humanity, yes, you are humanity, yes, you are humanity, yes, you are humanity. Yes, you are humanity. divinity you are both and maybe that's why we loved him so much is because he embodied both so brilliantly and how many times has Rondas helped you laugh at your own predicament not take yourself so seriously have compassion for yourself recognize you're more than who you think you are the ability to hold the paradox if you've ever been touched by him this is your moment so many people come to Rondas through the podcast say it changes their lives. And this year, the Be Here Now Network, it turns 10 in June. And it's 10 years, totally free, no paywall. And so we're raising funds to help preserve this archive for the next generation so people can continue to find Ram Dawson be touched. So every dollar now through June 30th is matched up to $50,000. So take five minutes, go to the website, donate, even if it's five. dollars, it makes a huge difference. If everyone did it, it would really help support us now and into the future. Go to Be Here Now Network.com slash 10 years. That's Be Here Now Network.com slash 10 years. And with that, here is Rondas. now with Ram Das. Tim Larry is trying to convince me that this is the center of the universe of Los Angeles and uh... Because when you know everything it still isn't enough. But actually you and I are passing through ages so fast. I mean just a little while ago we were all in the ensconced in the industrial age. And now we're in the information age and I can feel whatever something else again. This has got a lot of information being passed as you can see in the lobby. But it's a lot more than that. It's almost like we're trying to speak about the unspeakable. We're trying to use concepts, try to get hold of what we know to be true that isn't really knowable, it's just beable. we are. It's very heady stuff. I don't mean heady in the intellectual stuff, but heady in the champagne bubbly sense. Because we taste in something that changes in our relationship to time and space. We sense a taste of freedom. I mean even with the world as it is, we sense a taste of freedom. Freedom not to be afraid. I mean I never even considered not being afraid for the first 50 years of my life. I mean you always had to be afraid of something. The other day I passed a kidney stone. I report that the bladder and the kidneys are well and the gall bladder. And there was a good amount of pain in a kidney stone, finding its way down your penis and out grinding or away in your kidneys. And I was, um, and I was delighted. I mean it was really weird because everybody around me was freaking. Oh my God sit down. Oh I mean I was just my this is really pain. Oh my God sit down. for years and I've never had anything really good to use it on it. And it was incredible, I just kind of softened and got to know it and realized it was part of me and we just talked together and we related until we got really comfortable. All the time from the outside it looked absolutely ghastly. And when it was over and I have the stone on my pooja table now. along with my dog-eared picture of Casper Weinberger. I realize what a teaching that stone was for me. And one of the things it taught me was, was, was, and one of the things it taught me was, was, that I was my consciousness didn't really flicker in the midst of that pain. I think it gets interesting to watch your own consciousness flicker, to see what hooks you. I mean all the desires and all the fears are going, p p p p p p p p p p p p p s hey come here for a minute I'm real. And the little ones we catch immediately, we see through them right away. But the big ones, they really get it. Like, I'm good. That's a great one. Righteousness is an incredible place to stand. But the thing in the spiritual journey is there is no way to stand. stand anywhere. We play a lot with planes of reality because this group especially realizes the authenticity of many planes of reality and you can hear very clearly. You can imagine William James saying this at Harvard, I mean what he had to put up with. I can vouch for that. When he said, our normal waking consciousness is but one type of consciousness while all about it parted from it by... the filmiest of screens there lie other types of realities we can spend our entire lives without knowing of their existence but apply the requisite stimulus and there they all are in their completeness. Whatever they are it behooves us not to close our accounts prematurely with reality. That's pretty far out. That's right on too. And what we've seen is that these other planes of reality which are very real when you're in them, there is really real. this one is, have as much authenticity as this normal waking consciousness in the Hilton. But you and I bought into this one so thick and heavy because everybody that taught us had bought in. It's a conspiracy to make a plane real. That's what taking birth on a plane is about. It's entering into a conspiracy. To close off the other planes of reality to make this one real. So we enter into this conspiracy. And then we're standing in this plane and then we get high, which means we go into another plane of consciousness. Some of us do it, who knows how? Some of us do it through cooking a boulevase. Some of us do it through sex, through surfing, through meditation, through drugs, through whatever. You all by now know my story but I can't resist telling it because it's so sweet and some of you it's just a goal. You gotta throw in one golden oldie.