Who is the REAL teacher here?

And why it’s so damn hard to take his lessons. Any chance I could audit all this? Please?

I’m going to bet (not really, I don’t gamble) that most of you won’t know who this guy is. But take a close look nonetheless:

For those of a certain age, he probably looks vaguely familiar—maybe this is one of those cases where you say “Yeah, he kinda does look familiar; but I can’t place his name.”

A vague hint:

This man died in 2006 at the age of 88 after serving a long life in public service.

Another hint even more vague:

This man became an important “teacher” of my own teacher, but not in the ways of influence of most teachers. Yet, this man might have proven to have been THE most important teacher for my teacher because this man forced my teacher to confront the most scary and vicious of opponents: my teacher’s own inner self. (Phew, that’s a lot of teachers—still with me?)

And through my teacher’s own teaching on this teacher of his, (yeah, more, I know), it has helped me to make sense of my own fears and anxieties regarding a much different person in real life for me, right now, through the realization that my work, like my teacher’s, is work I must do within—on my own inner self.

Here’s the story:

The teacher I refer to, my teacher (one of them anyway), is Dr. Richard Alpert. Do you know THAT name? Here’s what HE looked like:

Now I wonder if you recognize him? Here’s a hint: this isn’t what he looked like when he became known to the world. In fact, he wasn’t popularly known to the rest of the world as Richard Alpert. Do you recognize him now?

Before he became my teacher, Dr. Richard Alpert had to undergo a transformation—in his words, he had to discard this “spacesuit persona” of his and assume something completely different. Upon attaining this new “spiritual teacher” persona, and gaining quite a lot of fame from the counter-culturals of the 70’s and 80’s especially (aka “the hippies!” Far out!), he spent the rest of his life, through his death in 2019, seeking to “Become Nobody.” He gave me that practice—THE spiritual practice of a lifetime, this lifetime, he taught, is to become Nobody. I’m trying to become Nobody. More accurately, in Taoist terms, I’m trying, through not trying, to become Nobody. It’s a deep practice—but it’s not the practice I’m talking about that my teacher practiced from that first man pictured.

My teacher’s more popular name is Ram Dass (aka Richard Alpert—he of the Harvard and Stanford Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology, “I am a champion of psychedelics” somebody). And Ram Dass tells a story that is one of the most important to me right now as I make sense of my current world, a world inhabited by an administration of chaos led by a man I struggle to make sense of. You know THAT guy I’m sure, he’s everywhere, especially on golf courses—yet, here, he shall remain “he who shall not be named” because his name and image creates a visceral response in my body. This is why I’m working on him as a practice. To be clear, I’m not talking about Voldemort, though the two are uncanny in their resemblance (a little in the visage, a LOT in character). That wouldn’t be fair to Voldemort.

Ram Dass tells the story of … ready? Casper Weinberger. Yes, THAT’s Casper Weinberger, pictured above.

Casper Weinberger???

The Casper Weinberger of Ram Dass’ teacher-fame was, among other notable roles in the Republican political ecosystems of the late 60’s and 70’s, the Secretary of Defense under Ronald Reagan in the 1980’s. Casper Weinberger was a war hawk to the nth degree and a staunch proponent of strength through military might. “Peace is best achieved by our ability to show you often we could kick your ass with our weapons of mass destruction. And if you don’t believe me? Try me!” Okay, I’m not sure those exact words were ever spoken by Weinberger, but they do capture his political philosophy. And those words, that philosophy, greatly troubled Ram Dass to the point where Ram Dass himself would have his own visceral reactions to the mere mention of Weinberger’s name. So that was when Ram Dass realized a profound spiritual awakening: Casper Weinberger wasn’t the cause of the inner turmoil (eg suffering) he was experiencing. Casper Weinberger was just being Casper Weinberger. Rather, it was Ram Dass’ reaction to Weinberger that caused the suffering. It’s not a subtle difference. In fact, it’s the entirety of all spiritual practice.

How?

Noted contemporary trauma expert, Dr. Gabor Maté, shares “Trauma isn’t what happens to you; it’s what happens inside you because of what happened to you.” Casper Weinberger “happened” to Ram Dass. But it was what was happening inside Ram Dass as a reaction to Casper Weinberger that caused the trauma of suffering Ram Dass was feeling. What Dr. Maté shares with his patients, and what Ram Dass taught, was that the way to get oneself free of that trauma response was to do the hard inner work necessary to gain freedom. In other words, one can’t change the Casper Weinbergers of the world; one can only change oneself.

This is what both “spiritual growth” and “the science of resiliency” are all about. When that inner freedom state is attained, such that the Casper Weinbergers no longer cause inner turmoil or suffering, Ram Dass would say you’ve reached a certain kind of awakening or enlightenment; and Dr. Maté would say you’ve reached a state of PTSG—Post Traumatic Stress GROWTH!

Ram Dass took his Casper Weinberger teacher seriously to the point of placing a picture of Casper on his puja table (alter) alongside pictures of his own guru (Maharaj-ji) , Krishna, Sri Ramana Maharsi, Jesus, and Mother Mary. Ram Dass knew that he hadn’t attained the level of inner peace and non-detachment he was seeking until he could look at that picture of Casper Weinberger and feel nothing but love.

How’s THAT for devotion to a practice of compassion? Could YOU place a picture of your worst, most hated enemy on an alter and worship it as part of your devotional practice?

Mine

So here I am, a student of Ram Dass, receiving THAT teaching, and living life under this current president—he who shall not be named. I haven’t put a picture of the guy on my alter. But Ram Dass would say “What are you waiting for then? You’re not going to attain the peace you seek until you do.”

Okay, I get it. Another of Ram Dass’ teachers said to him “You’ve manifested as a human here on planet earth, why not take the curriculum?” Our jobs as humans is to take the course curriculum of being human through every single experience we face. The experiences and people in those experiences are perfectly placed for our direct learning. They ARE the human curriculum. This course title is “Your Human Life: 101.”

And I found out there is NO auditing this course. I tried. I was denied.

I do want peace, but maybe not yet. Maybe I’m not there yet if that is the way to get there. My issue is, now that I know the way, I can’t NOT know the way. So, the fact I have to get there is my only choice. THAT has to become my practice.

Fortunately, Ram Dass also provides an additional teaching that fits alongside this one: by allowing Casper to be who he was did not mean one had to condone or approve of Casper’s actions. One could (and should, if not MUST) act and protest strongly against the actions of a person deemed to have immoral, unethical, unlawful, or even evil intent if such intentions, especially, were meant to cause harm, hurt, destruction, and/or disunity. This is what is meant by the spiritual practice of fierce compassion. This is the practice practiced by Gandhi, MLK, Jr., Saint Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Dorothy Day, Bishop Tutu, John Lewis, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama…among esteemed others. It IS possible to love someone on a deep level of soul while at the same time doing everything within one’s power, nonviolently and without causing additional harm or collateral damage one’s self, to stop their evil and misguided actions.

Okay, I can land there, barely. In fact, I have to. I don’t want to give “he who shall not be named” free rent within my mind—he’s lived there long enough, rent-free, over the past 10 years now. So, I’m beginning to do what I can to stand in direct opposition to

EVERY

FUCKING

THING

HE

STANDS

FOR (!),

while honoring my core values of kindness, compassion, integrity, gratitude, forgiveness, service, and love. With fierce grace.

You still won’t find a picture of “he who shall not be named” on my alter in my zendo, so you know what Ram Dass is doing right now by way of his ethereal raised eyebrows and side-eye looks; “Tsk-tsking” his way along his path of soul through eternity. But that’s okay for now—Ram Dass can keep doing Ram Dass there, knowing I’ve received his teaching. I get it. And yet, I’m still human.

But I’m working on it.

Inside myself.

~~~~~

Always and Ubuntu,

~ k

Two Postcripts:

I. Yesterday, a fellow Substacker,

Camilla Sanderson

(she of “The Rising of the Divine Feminine” page, provided the following Note that fits in well with this post—a form of practice that parallels exactly with what Ram Dass was saying. And that it came from a wise Hopi Elder isn’t really a surprise:

Camilla wrote: I remember reading this the first time the orange one was in office and it’s a great reminder:

Hopi Indian Leader White Eagle commented on the situation we are in..

“This moment that mankind is experiencing now can be seen as either a door or a hole.

The decision to fall into the hole or go through the door is yours.

If you absorb information 24 hours a day, with negative energy, constantly nervous, and pessimistic, you will fall into this hole.

But if you take the opportunity to look at yourself, use the time to rethink life and death, to care for yourself and others, you are walking through the portal.

Keep your home, keep your body safe. Connect with your spiritual home. When you take care of yourself, you take care of everyone else.

Don't underestimate the spiritual dimension of this crisis. Take the perspective of an eagle that sees everything from above with a broader perspective. There is a social issue in this crisis but also a spiritual issue. They both go hand in hand.

Without the social dimension we fall into bigotry. Without the spiritual dimension, we perish in pessimism and meaninglessness.

You are ready to pass this crisis. Pack your toolbox and use all the tools at your disposal.

Learn the resistance from the example of the Indian and African people:

We are and still are being threatened, extinct. But we never stopped singing, dancing, building bonfires and having joy.

Don't feel guilty for feeling happy in these difficult times. It doesn't help at all to be sad or angry. Resistance is resistance through joy!

You have every right to be strong and positive. And there's no other way to do this than by adopting a beautiful, cheerful and empathetic attitude.

This has nothing to do with alienation (ignorance of the world) - It's a resistance strategy.

When we enter the door, we are given a new worldview because we have faced our fears and overcome adversity. That's all you can do now:

- Seek solace in the storm

- Keep calm, pray daily

- Make it a habit to meet the Holy everywhere, everyday.

Show resistance through art, joy, trust and love.”

~Hopi Indian Chief White Eagle♥️🙏🕊️

I thank Camilla for the wonderful reminder and for being a conduit of Native Elder wisdom.

Postscript II. In case you are interested, and especially if you have never heard a teaching of Ram Dass’ for yourself, this one, linked here, would be a great one to experience. It is not too “woo woo,” so it is very accessible, down to earth, funny at times, and very practical. He tells many stories, including the Casper Weinberger true story, in this dharma talk. Ram Dass is many things, but in this teaching, he shares his 100% humanity. Here, he makes the practice of spiritual growth accessible to everyone.

I offer him, this, to the Universe not as a “should” or directive or even plea. I’m no one’s guru or guide. It is up to you completely if you partake of him here. Whether you do so or not is not of my concern. But Ram Dass lives on through me and my effort here. THAT’s my only motivation.

Note: it’s an hour and ten minutes long—but it’s not a waste of time. His actual lecture begins at timestamp 9:12 (do, if you partake, fast forward to the beginning of his talk).