Ram Dass

Meditating

Meditation + Evoltuion

Devotion

Self Improvement

I wanted to let you know that this is a perfect time for you to learn more about the difference between your fearful fantasies and your authentic, accurate intuitions. 

It's always a good time to do that, of course, but even more so right now. This is an exciting turning point, when the future is up for grabs. Worn-out old habits of thought are unraveling. Structures that have kept us enthralled to fake values are crumbling. The coming months and years will be ripe with opportunities for us to lay the foundation for a new world that's actually fit for the human soul.

And in the midst of this grand mutation, it's predictable that so many so-called leaders are trying to fill up our imaginations with scary visions and angry emotions. They want us to buy into their visions that the sky is falling.

In the face of their toxic paranoia, it's wise to remember that we always have the power to turn away from their fear-mongering and tune in to the guidance of the still, small voice within us -- the still, small voice of intuition that will, if we allow it, lead us very capably through every twist and turn of our destiny, even when our destiny brings us right into the thick of our civilization's massive transformations.

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Knowing the difference between your fearful fantasies and your authentic, accurate intuitions is one of the greatest spiritual powers you can possible have. So let's explore what it means: knowing the difference between the frightening, alienating pictures that sometimes pop into your imagination, as opposed the simple, warm, clear direction that is always available from the deepest source within you. 

Strangely enough, many people get these two things confused. They are especially prone to believing that the frightening, disempowering images that erupt in their mind's eye are coming from their intuition. 

For many people, if they get an image of a scary future possibility popping into their imagination, they worry that it's a prediction of some event that will actually occur in their lives. For instance, they may have a fantasy of themselves getting into an accident, or maybe they dream of losing a loved one, or maybe they internalize the toxic vision of some talking head on TV who slaps them upside the head with a prediction of imminent doom. When these people get images like these stuck in their imagination, they may begin to obsess on the fear that these things are literally going to happen.

Almost every time, scary fantasies like this are not true intuition. Our true intuition is just not very likely to be fueled by fear, and it rarely if ever motivates us to act by making us feel afraid. 
	
No. Our true intuition emerges from the wise, loving core of our being. It blooms in us like a slow-motion fountain of warmth. It reveals the objective truth about a person or situation with lucid compassion. It shows us the big picture.
	
Fearful fantasies, on the other hand, burn and itch and make us feel like we're coming apart. They drain our energy and cloud our judgment. They fill us with obsessive urges to run and hide or do something desperate and melodramatic.
	
I don't want to say that true intuition is always calm and emotionally neutral. It isn't, necessarily. But I will say this: The emotions that accompany true intuition are never alienating. They don't make us feel superior to other people or fill us with hatred and terror. They don't disempower us or make us feel helpless.

True intuition may rouse our anger, but if so, it is the kind of invigorating anger that leads to clarity and constructive action, and thus it is an anger that ultimately relaxes us. 

True intuition may show us a difficult truth, but it always does so with a suggestion of how to deal gracefully and courageously with that difficult truth. True intuition may reveal imminent changes that could compel us to adjust our behavior, but it always does so in a way that empowers us.

Let me emphasize this point: True intuition may not always reveal that everything will be fine, or that we will be able to continue to live in the ways be have been living -- true intuition is certainly not falsely optimistic -- but if it does alert us to circumstances that are in flux, and how we will have to transform ourselves, it does so with love and poise and clarity, not with fear.

Here's one more thing, *. Just as our true intuition never works by scaring the hell out of us, neither does it flatter us with grandiose suggestions about how superior we are. In fact, it may often gently inform us of some correction that should be made in our attitude. It may tactfully but firmly lead us to the understanding that we have been suffering from some form of ignorance and that we need to wake up and get smarter.
	
True intuition reveals the story of our lives from our soul's point of view, not our ego's. In my understanding, true intuition is the voice of our own personal inner teacher, which just happens to be the divine part of us. The certainty that true intuition provides us is therefore not loud and puffed up, but rather humble and graceful.

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This is a perfect moment to think on these things, and to add some insights of your own. It's also an excellent time to flush away the fearful fantasies that may have seeped into your imagination -- and thereby make it possible for you to hear your true intuition better.

One way to facilitate this process, by the way, is to cut way back on the amount of terrifying and disorienting images you allow to flow into your imagination from the TV, Internet, newspapers, movies, and other mass media. In fact, I invite you to consider the possibility of going on a media fast for a while and spending more time in nature than you usually do.

In conclusion, my beloved companions on this beautiful, interesting planet, please get to work on seeing your fearful fantasies for what they are and enhancing your connection to your true intuition.

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"Fear Versus Intuition" is from the soundtrack for my book 
"Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings," which is available here:
http://bit.ly/Pronoia
http://bit.ly/PronoiaPowells


Fear Vs. Intuition

Trungpa - you shouldn't be afraid of who you are

1. Using Emotions Positively

2. How To Deal With Hurt From Others

3. Dealing With Anger

4. Dharmic Anger

5. Anger & Judgment

7. Fear

8. How To Deal WIth Fear

From The Chord of Love: Readings by Ram Dass & Devotional Songs by Amazing Grace 

In the 60s and 70s many of us journeyed to the East in search of 'something'. In the foothills of the Himalayas, some of us were graced to touch the living spirit through our guru, Neem Karoli Baba. Being with the devotees surrounding him, we were opened to "bhakti yoga" the path of the heart. Through song, poetry, myth and prayer, we were reminded that ultimately there is only the Beloved. Now, many years later, when even a few of us gather, we share, as you will hear on this recording, extemporaneously, the words and songs that remind us of the Beloved yet again. Join us in the Ocean of Love. 



1 - Prayer to Hanuman by Krishna Das

The Chord of Love: Readings by Ram Dass & Devotional Songs by Amazing Grace

In the 60s and 70s many of us journeyed to the East in search of 'something'. In the foothills of the Himalayas, some of us were graced to touch the living spirit through our guru, Neem Karoli Baba. Being with the devotees surrounding him, we were opened to "bhakti yoga" the path of the heart. Through song, poetry, myth and prayer, we were reminded that ultimately there is only the Beloved. Now, many years later, when even a few of us gather, we share, as you will hear on this recording, extemporaneously, the words and songs that remind us of the Beloved yet again. Join us in the Ocean of Love. 


13 - Devi Puja-Jai Jagatambe by Krishna Das

The Chord of Love: Readings by Ram Dass & Devotional Songs by Amazing Grace 

In the 60s and 70s many of us journeyed to the East in search of 'something'. In the foothills of the Himalayas, some of us were graced to touch the living spirit through our guru, Neem Karoli Baba. Being with the devotees surrounding him, we were opened to "bhakti yoga" the path of the heart. Through song, poetry, myth and prayer, we were reminded that ultimately there is only the Beloved. Now, many years later, when even a few of us gather, we share, as you will hear on this recording, extemporaneously, the words and songs that remind us of the Beloved yet again. Join us in the Ocean of Love. 

15 - Meditation with Ram Dass

This meditation is drawn from Theravada (Southern Buddhism) called "Anapana" - just bringing you to right here, and it's done through the breath. Out of all of our individual differences, what is common to us is we are all breathing in, breathing out. 


Ram Dass Breathing Meditation

Ram Dass first went to India in 1967. He was still Dr. Richard Alpert, a prominent Harvard psychologist and psychedelic pioneer with Dr. Timothy Leary. He continued his psychedelic research until that fateful Eastern trip in 1967, when he traveled to India. In India, he met his guru, Neem Karoli Baba, affectionately known as Maharajji, who gave Ram Dass his name, which means “servant of God.” Everything changed then – his intense dharmic life started, and he became a pivotal influence on a culture that has reverberated with the words “Be Here Now” ever since. Ram Dass’ spirit has been a guiding light for three generations, carrying along millions on the journey, helping to free them from their bonds as he works through his own.

1. Using Emotions Positively

RamDass