Ram Dass Reemerges

"One time I had the opportunity to visit a mental asylum. I met a patient there who told me he was God." The speaker pauses for effect. The standing-room-only hall of 300 or so is silent, waiting for the next line. "I said to him: 'So am I.' He was quite upset because he wanted to be the only one."

There is a sudden burst of laughter and applause. The timing of the phrase is perfect, the humor subtle and dry. The good guru is back. Ram Dass, aka Richard Alpert, ex-psychologist, one time hippie mystic, writer, world famous spiritual teacher, now 70 years old and confined to a wheelchair, is back on the lecture trail and his audience of new and old friends is loving every minute.

"You see, we all want to be God," deadpans Ram Dass, "but the fact is we all are God."

For close to 40 years Ram Dass has attracted international attention for his exploration of higher consciousness. His 1971 book "Be Here Now" was a major international bestseller. In February 1997, however, Ram Dass suffered a crippling stroke that left him with partial paralysis and a condition known as 'expressive aphasia,' a condition of the brain that interferes with the ability to speak and communicate. Imagine Muhammad Ali forced into silence by Parkinson's Syndrome and you have some idea of the irony surrounding the return of Ram Dass to the public eye. Can he still talk? Is he brain-damaged? What revelations can he possibly share that he hasn't shared before?

"Ram, as you may know, means Messenger of God," he says slowly, the words followed by a long silence, "but in my case it's also an acronym for Rent A Mouth. It means you rent my mouth to hear things you already know. There was a guru once who used to give lectures in silence." Another pause. "I bet you'd be really ticked off if I did that."

The crowd howls again. The white-haired old man in a wheelchair may not be the bushy-bearded, velvet-tongued psychedelic pioneer of the early 70s, but it's clear he's still got some chops. Wearing a faded jean jacket, ball cap, and cool shades he still looks good although clearly aged from the photos adorning the cover of his latest book.

More importantly, perhaps, to an audience of old hippies, new agers, and seekers-after-enlightenment gathered this cold and clear night Ram Dass still has some vital life lessons still to share. If a journey of a thousand leagues begins with a single step, much of this crowd has already made a few hairpin turns and is jostling for parking space near the Pearly Gates. But aging and dying, says Ram Dass, are no cause for fear at all. On the contrary, life is but a garden to be wandered and savored. Just don't forget to stop and smell the flowers. Be here now!

"Before I had my stroke I played the cello and enjoyed golf and drove my little MG with a stick shift. After my stroke I saw very clearly that if you had an attachment to the past you would suffer. So now I am an ex-golfer. People say he has taken his stroke well. I recommend that you take all the strokes of life well." Another pause as the audience soaks up the teaching, then: "People push me around now in my wheelchair. Wow, you should see me move through airports these days."

Far from his public reputation as an ancient relic from the "flower power generation," Ram Dass clearly has a modern message that flows throughout his latest writings and teachings. "Still Here," his recent book and the basis for his current public tour, deals with the concept of "conscious dying," certainly a topic that should be of interest to the great wave of aging American baby boomers surging towards retirement and old age. But like "Be Here Now," whose main message might best be described as "awareness is next to Godliness," his latest foray into higher consciousness require some reflection for a generation obsessed with staying young. What does he mean? Aging is ugly, illnesses and injuries are to be avoided at all costs and death is the ultimate insult to the body beautiful. What's to celebrate in that?