Mindful Happiness

Anthony Quintiliani, Ph.D, LADC

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A Tribute to Ram Dass (Richard Alpert)

A Tribute to Ram Dass (Richard Alpert)

Recently Ram Dass died at his home in Maui. He was 88 years old.  He was born into a well-off Boston family, and enjoyed materialism in his early professional years.  When completing a Ph.D. in Psychology at Stanford University he was still into material things. His spiritual awakening did not exist.  He was once known for his psychedelic drug experimentation while teaching at Harvard University. This experimentation occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, and in 1963 he was fired from Harvard for related reasons. In 1967 he went to India to study under Hindu Sadhu Neem, Karoli Baba, also known as Maharaj-ji. Before his teacher died, Alpert was named Ram Dass (Servant of God). He practiced bhakti yoga – pure love on the spiritual path. In 1974 Ram Dass returned to the United States, where he developed his own style of meditation, a style that radically integrated various forms of spiritual traditions.  In 1971 he published his first book, Be Here Now;  this book helped open up higher consciousness to others without the use of drug and expounded a life role of service to others. In 2004 Ram Dass relocated to Maui, where he remained for the rest of his life.  In 1997 he wrote Still Here. In some ways this book helped to clarify his deeper understanding of himself; the depth was the result of a serious stroke he suffered. His cerebral hemorrhage forced him to go deeper into self-understanding. In 2004 he survived a near-fatal infection. From his stroke on Ram Dass  was mainly homebound. His last book (with Mirabai Bush) was Walking Each Other Home:Conversations on Living and Dying. 

To the end he faced his death with great human grace, and he never gave up his view that to live must involve to love and serve others. Ram Dass, sometimes with the help of others, also established various organizations to provide teachings and service to others. Here is a short list: Hanuman Foundations (the teachings of Neen Karoli Baba); Love Serve Remember Foundation; Prison Ashram Project; Co-creating Living Dying Project and Doorway to Light; Seva Foundation (healthcare for underserved areas); and, Social Venture Network (for businesses). Yes, Ram Dass lived his talk – he walked the walk!

With the passing of Ram Dass, we have lost a great spiritual and meditation teacher. There are few and far between equivalent replacements. May he rest in great inner peace as he travels the bardo.

For more information refer to Duncan Oliver, J. (January, 2020). Ram Dass, beloved spiritual teacher, has died. In Tricycle. See tricycle.org/trikedaily/ram-dass-dies/.

Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC  

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont and the Home of The Monkton SanghaChiYinYang_EleanorRLiebmanCenter

Author of Mindful Happiness  

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Spirituality:

A Dark Night with Saint John of the Cross

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The writings of Saint John of the Cross offer a special viewpoint about the suffering of souls, suffering souls on their way to unity with the divine.  What follows stands in contrast to the Buddha’s views in The Dhammapada about ultimate happiness without any form of union with the divine.  The Dark Night of the Soul may be viewed as a closure on the Christian path to loving unity with the creator.  Like the Confessions of Saint Augustine and some of the writing of Saint Francis of Assisi, one repents for earlier sins of unwholesome living and erroneous spiritual beliefs.  Here, I am not presenting a magnificent account of the Dark Nights; rather, I am touching upon the common themes required to make spiritual breakthroughs into stronger spiritual experience. In the case of the Dark Night we experience intense suffering leading to final unification – loving unification followed by great happiness “in the happy night.” (p. 106)  Here the nights serve as metaphors for spiritual changes.  Each night is a deeper, highly personal process on The Way to pure love of god.  In the nights, Saint John of the Cross is in deepening contemplation (meditation and concentration) on the proper relationship with the divine.  He is seeking a loving unity, a loving connection in the light.  It appears that Saint John is seeking the “divine union of perfect…love” so that his “soul transformed through love…” (pp.8-9)  His desire for and attachment to this mystical experience is at the core of his struggle and suffering. Let us begin with the temporal metaphor of the dark nights.

In the First Night the soul experiences purgation and purification Mindful-Happiness-00004related to sensual experiences. The sensory pleasures (great imperfections) require removal from the deeper spiritual self.  The “depravities of the senses” are so powerful that they require divine intervention. This night refers to a beginner’s path to unification with the divine; this is one who “meditates on the spiritual road” with enough skill that it is a “spiritual night of infused contemplation” (p. 9).  It is interesting that in Buddhism, one’s attachment to sensual pleasures is also noted as something to change for the better over time.

In the Second Night we experience the spiritual part of the soul.  Spiritual contemplation moves deeper and deeper.  The “spiritual purgation of dark contemplation” occurs only after difficult and demanding looking inward.  One is not happy with what one sees: Saint John is required to use “great insight and discernment” to overcome the “lukewarmness of his spirit.” (p. 9)  He must confront and disavow anything that relates to unwholesomeness and unworthiness.  Again, like in Buddhism, one works very hard to overcome unwholesomeness in life.

In the Third Night we observe and experience the actions of the soul.  In this “black darkness”  (p.11) we discover even more that needs to be dealt with prior to any divine connection.  By its action,Mindful-Happiness-00005 the soul must free itself from the world of evil.  This is a painful process to endure. Deeper and deeper contemplation is required.  Here is appears that suffering is the path to liberation.

In the Fourth Night the “affliction is more peaceful” at last. (p. 10)  This is a night of passivity of the soul – just being in deeper contemplation on unwholesomeness and unworthiness yet with a strengthening desire for unity with the divine.  If one is willing to passively accept this deep suffering for the ultimate union, it may Mindful-Happiness-00002show the strength of spiritual conviction and will.   It may demonstrate great belief in and dedication to this spiritual path. Then IT happens!  “in peace and quietness” he ascents to the “transforming union.” (p. 10).  The soul has freed itself from the world of evil; it enters a “brighter and intenser light.”   This “enfolds the soul in the splendors of glory”  (pp. 10-11) “Oh, happy chance” to be freed. (p. 16)  Saint John continued his spiritual journey in “the happy night…without light or guide, save that which burned in my heart.” (p. 106) There is an experience of perfect love in “the happy night.” (p. 106)  He has been successful in experiencing perfect union with the love of the divine.

For more information refer to: Peers, E. A. (Ed.). (1959). Saint John of the Cross-Dark Night of the Soul.  New York: Newman Press/Image Books, pp. 8-16 and 106.

By Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, VermontChiYinYang_EleanorRLiebmanCenter

Author of Mindful Happiness

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