Richard Alpert was a diligent student who obtained a PhD in psychology at Stanford and subsequently accepted a social relations professorship at Harvard. It was there he crossed paths with Timothy Leary, joining research into the therapeutic effects of LSD.
While their experimentation and investigatory analyses were extraordinary, it was a fateful trip to India that imbued Alpert into the zeitgeist of western culture. After a series of remarkable encounters, Alpert met his guru, received the spiritual name Ram Dass (servant of God), and soon thereafter published his seminal work, Be Here Now.
A crisp declaration on awakening, the title pierces all layers of worldly obfuscation. Be, as in exist. Here, right where you are. Now, in this present moment.
Be here now.
But, the phrase also elicits a bit of a conundrum. We can't not exist. No matter where we are, we are always here. And, it is never not now. So what's all the fuss behind the "be here now" movement?
Well, if we look honestly at life we discover a perpetual preoccupation with past and future. Very little, if any, awareness into the essence of being. Our days spent seeking comfort while attempting to diminish pain. Persistently lost in the self-storied drama of distraction.
We can never not be here now. Yet it seems we are always considering there then.
And it is the recognition of this dichotomy that opens the door to spiritual growth. As we read in A Course in Miracles:
The present is before time was, and will be when time is no more. In it are all things that are eternal, and they are one.
Join me in Thursday's class where we'll explore practices for experiencing the blissful center of transcendent peace: essence, presence, and timelessness. Be here now, and I look forward to seeing you then.