nice presentationSeptember 9, 2008 a nice little book, just read the main text, some good pointers to reality/unreality, however you want to view it. a days read.
be- focus on being, feel that you are, feel what its like to be. (subject)
here- focus on where you are, all around you, what you see and experience (object)
now- focus on this moment, right now. how does it feel, this now? (time)
this- focus on this, how does it feel, how does it affect you? (consciousness)
is- what is is what is, be aware of what 'is'.(being)
love- reach out with feelings of love, and focus upon yourself feelings of love.(the only true answer)
not it.
i have here some exact equals:-
love = kindness (if you practice kindness you are practicing love, love is kindness, kindness is love. a circular form feedback loop).
true love = loving kindness. (this is not only for its own, unlike mundane love which can be synonymous with hatred of the alteric other). loving kindness is in truth the only answer to every question.
goodness = love (goodness is love, love is good, love is not goodness).
true goodness = 'this' (consciousness). hence the term "this is it". it may be it, but is not the answer. some have errantly confused the 'i am' with consciousness, 'this' is the the seat on which the i sits.
truth = understanding.
true truth = infinite goodness.
beauty = love. (beauty is love, love is beautiful, love is not beauty).
peace = calm.
self,I/i = certainty. (the mundane I= is, the snowflake = is itself).
soul = essence (the soul and the self both reside in 'this'/consciousness, 'this' is the throne of the 'self'/the i, whether mundane or 'snow-flake').
intellect = certainty.
logic/reason = understanding.
pride = force.
greed = grabbing.
bad = hatred.
evil = uncertainty/doubt (not necessarily in a religious sense, uncertainty destroys trust and confidence, it paralyses and prevents love).
hope this is helpful, i know it is not a complete list, but some useful pointers towards our interaction with the world we live in. to any of the above it can be answered that nearly everyone of these 'is'. so what is love? love 'is' will do just fine, but it is not very helpful, and so i choose to shine the light of truth seeking into dark places and to reveal exactly what these qualities are. it must not be thought that 'is' is not a very important insight, very pure and is in its own way no less important than specific designations of what these qualities are.
with love, from snow-flake. xxx
ps... have a nice day :)
Still currentAugust 30, 2008 Remember, Be Here Now is a wonderful book, still current today--to be read slowly. We used it in a study group as well.
Cracks Through RealityAugust 24, 2008 Back in 2005, I came across this book via a friend who had recently and unexpectedly passed away. Her own family wasn't very close with her and gave us, her group of spiritual friends, the reigns in commemorating her life. One of the things we did was hold a memorial service and give away all her books to anyone who wanted them. Out of the hundreds that were on the tables, this book -without reading any excerpts from it- caught my attention, and I took it home with me. Little did I know how truly life-altering all these events were at the time.
When I read this book, it started out like any other... a story of the relevant parts of Richard's life preceeding his trip to Inida. That itself was fascinating to me, as I enjoyed reading about his LSD trips and spiritual meanderings. But nothing had prepared me for the experience of reading the comic book like center pages of this book. I found my sense of reality cracked and shattered by what I read there. For weeks, I could not feel connected to the illusions I'd never even questioned previously. Everything changed; I saw what lies beneath and the stupidity of this life I was living. Nothing made sense anymore; except what I'd been exposed to by this cracking up of my existence.
This book forever changed the direction of my life. I was what I termed "spiritual but not religous" before that, but even that illusion was shown to be superficial. It was not long, a year or so more, before I came across a mystic of our own times. And I didn't even have to travel to India to find him. When the student is ready, the teach always comes.
A Must ReadAugust 16, 2008 I was so happy to find this book online as it is very difficult to find in a bookstore. Re-reading it, I found Be Here Now just as inspiring as the first time I came across this piece of spiritual literature. A life-changing read!
Ram Dass in HawaiiAugust 14, 2008 In the 70s I remember sitting on my living room floor sharing with my roommates the very colorful Remember, Be Here Now. We were all reading it together. I was puzzled and so were they. We had no context to understand the simplicity of the spirit of the book. It was only as I experienced life and got older that I understood the joy of being in the moment -- of being conscious of real communication and compassion. I would like to think that that was the beginning of my personal path toward becoming a more aware human being and a family therapist. Although the book is from a very different era the messages and philosophies that Ram Dass brought to western society - after his long studies in India - are now so widely accepted and prevalent that they are now even quoted on Oprah!
Recently I had the privilege and pleasure to travel to Haiwaii and meet Ram Dass in person and it made me realize that this book is perhaps more relevant today than it when it was written (or maybe that's just wisdom through age!).
