Words to Be With — -Introduction
A Teaching from Be Here Now
The second stage of study is often called reflection…
Working with one of the books containing the words of a realized being, take one passage…
Read and re-read it. Then let your thoughts work around it.
Paraphrase it.
See how it applies to others and yourself…
Read it again…
Then, sitting quietly, let your mind associate to the passage. And then be quiet.
- – —Ram Dass
These are the steps that spiritual teacher Ram Dass gives to be with instead of mindlessly consuming words.
The exact steps seem less important than an overall teaching that he gives to sit and be with the words of another being, to find space to give to another’s voice who brings wisdom and truth.
It is this teaching from Ram Dass that inspired me to begin this publication.
Years ago, at a low point in my life, I came across the book, Be Here Now. It arrived when I felt there was nowhere to turn to.
There are moments like these when something presents itself at the right time. It relieves us, brings us to a place, and can restore our faith. Be Here Now was that moment for me.
For those unfamiliar, the book is a journey through the perspective of one of the most influential spiritual leaders of our modern time, Ram Dass.
His journey was long and impactful, and the core of his teachings brought a view of how spirituality and humanity intertwined into a beautiful dance. He never stopped working to bring this perspective to whoever would listen.
He brought his voice on spirituality to the west, and over the years, has influenced thousands, if not millions, to live a more intentional and mindful life.
His path included a journey to India, where he practiced a blend of eastern spirituality consisting mainly of aspects of Hinduism and Buddhism. After some time in India, Ram Dass returned home to the U.S. and stayed with a spiritual community that he co-found. While with this community he shared a manuscript of writing that would later be compiled into his book, Be Here Now.
This is the book that found me years ago during a time of struggle in my life. Like countless others, it touched a place deep inside of me and stirred my soul.
It was my introduction to spiritual writing. I had always been driven by curiosity, but until this point, I had never come across spiritual thought and teachings laid out like this.
That book was a spark, it lit something inside of me, and an excitement for spirituality bloomed.
The stories and the perspective of life told through those words gave me hope. It set me on a path. I began a practice. I started yoga and meditation, I ate better, I focused on my breath, and for once I began to settle more into the present moment.
During this period of my life I read a lot of spiritual and self-help books. I was inspired as I read about the spirit and our human relation to it. I felt hope when I read that I could better myself.
There was a common thread to all the writing, and it restored my faith in something beyond myself. I was obtaining knowledge and new insight from what I read, and I couldn’t get enough.
Eventually, my practice slowed on the active engagement side, and I read more and more. My practice slowly changed to a study.
I kept reading, and I kept consuming. After cycling through this pattern for some time, I eventually got burned out on the reading. Looking back, I realize now that I was meeting spirituality with my intellect. Attempting to wrap my head around what spirituality was.
It was an important step for me, and I learned a lot about my true self in the years that would follow. One of those things that I learned was; that although I was collecting as much as I could about spirituality and practicing some of those things, I was too preoccupied with obtaining more. I was always looking past and ahead to the next book or teaching. Quantity took priority over slowing down and absorbing the things I read.
In a sense, I was meeting all of these teachings with my intellect instead of my heart. Something I still struggle with but now I am aware of.
— -
In Be Here Now, Ram Dass describes a daily exercise of reading and studying spiritual writings. In this exercise, he recommends taking an excerpt, passage, or phrase and reading it. After reading it once, he instructs to re-read the text multiple times while allowing your thoughts to work around it. Then to paraphrase it and relate it to yourself and others. Then, to think about the words in relation to your own journey, and with regard to the laws of nature. The last step is to sit quietly, allowing your mind to rest on the words, and then to find peace.
The essence of the exercise is to slow down with the reading, with the words, and allow them to slowly enter your heart, to turn the study into a practice.
It is from this teaching and daily exercise that I got the idea to start this publication.
This publication will be a practice. Each writing posted to this publication will include a quote or passage, words from someone who has impacted me in some way. I will spend time with those words and give them space, in hope that I learn something from them. I will then write about that experience.
— -
Each of our perspectives is partly formed from the voices of others. When we expose ourselves to so many perspectives without filtering in any way, we can become overwhelmed by the sheer number of voices bombarding our perception.
If we slow things down by choosing who and what we listen to, we may often find wisdom emanating from many different sources. Then by opening up, we can begin to listen more deeply to this wisdom.
This publication is a way for me to choose the voices to give space to in my life. It leans heavily on the teaching from Ram Dass, that we can acquire something from the words of others when we bring more space to those words.
This publication will serve as a place to be with those words, document the process, organize my thoughts, and keep me honest in my practice.
I hope it finds you well.
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