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Ram Dass, Beloved Spiritual Teacher, Has Died
Tricycle ^ | 12/2/2019 | Joan Duncan Oliver

Posted on 12/23/2019 6:25:21 AM PST by Borges

If there is an enduring figure emblematic of the consciousness revolution of the 1960s and 70s, it is arguably the Harvard professor and LSD researcher-turned-spiritual leader born Richard Alpert but known the world over as Ram Dass. With Timothy Leary, his colleague in the Harvard psychology department, he forever changed a generation of Americans through his explorations with psilocybin, LSD-75, and other psychedelics before reinventing himself as a spiritual teacher and humanitarian—a bhakti yogi with love as his path. When Ram Dass died on Sunday evening, one of the most beloved voices of the counterculture fell silent. He was 88 years old.

(Excerpt) Read more at tricycle.org ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: babaramdass; beherenow; dumbass; harvard; lsd75; psilocybin; ramdass; ramdassobit; richardalpert; timothyleary
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To: wardaddy

Albert Hofmann was the man .........


81 posted on 12/24/2019 11:10:59 AM PST by a little elbow grease (... to err is human, to admit it divine ...)
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To: Borges; enumerated; LS; bitt; thinden; JonPreston; Liz; Alberta's Child; semantic; iontheball; ...
Another viewpoint:

"It gave me an inner joy, an open mindedness, a gratefulness, open eyes and an internal sensitivity for the miracles of creation.... I think that in human evolution it has never been as necessary to have this substance LSD. It is just a tool to turn us into what we are supposed to be."

— Albert Hofmann, Speech on 100th birthday

82 posted on 12/24/2019 11:15:04 AM PST by a little elbow grease (... to err is human, to admit it divine ...)
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To: a little elbow grease

Guy shoulda met Jesus.


83 posted on 12/24/2019 11:35:10 AM PST by Tom in SFCA
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To: a little elbow grease

I have a good friend that took LSD at least 300 times...according to him. My memory of his youth is not incongruous with that claim.

He went on to build a very strong pool business which he just sold for $6mil.

As far as I can tell it didn’t disable him.

But the drinking did.


84 posted on 12/24/2019 12:01:04 PM PST by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: Borges

Was he in Ram Jam?


85 posted on 12/24/2019 12:06:33 PM PST by a fool in paradise (Recall that unqualified Hillary Clinton sat on the board of Wal-Mart when Bill Clinton was governor)
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To: Gritty

Turned into worm food
Eaten by a bird
Turned into dung
Feasted and rolled by a beetle

Cycle of life right there


86 posted on 12/24/2019 12:09:42 PM PST by a fool in paradise (Recall that unqualified Hillary Clinton sat on the board of Wal-Mart when Bill Clinton was governor)
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To: a little elbow grease

One has to wonder how large that initial dose he accidentally took was who is a man with a very strong brain


87 posted on 12/24/2019 2:24:11 PM PST by wardaddy (I applaud Jim Robinson for his comments on the Southern Monuments decision ...thank you)
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To: Borges
If you like to get photographed smiling a lot, you too could be a guru and spiritual guide.

The hundreds of drug trips and thousands of sexual encounters are optional, but it really helps if you grow a beard.

88 posted on 12/24/2019 2:39:24 PM PST by x
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To: knarf

Damn I thought u were younger

Sorry you’re sick


89 posted on 12/24/2019 3:33:59 PM PST by wardaddy (I applaud Jim Robinson for his comments on the Southern Monuments decision ...thank you)
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To: Tom in SFCA

He was a Jew....I think he was raised to question that


90 posted on 12/24/2019 3:35:43 PM PST by wardaddy (I applaud Jim Robinson for his comments on the Southern Monuments decision ...thank you)
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To: wardaddy

Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd never came back


91 posted on 12/24/2019 7:33:59 PM PST by knarf (est line of the year !)
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To: wardaddy
Actually ... I AM !

Feb 29, 1948 ..... I'll be 18 next year !

92 posted on 12/24/2019 7:35:07 PM PST by knarf (est line of the year !)
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To: wardaddy
Not sick .... I committed suicide.

It just hasn't arrived yet

93 posted on 12/24/2019 7:35:51 PM PST by knarf (est line of the year !)
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To: wardaddy; Mariner; Tom in SFCA
"One has to wonder how large that initial dose he accidentally took was who is a man with a very strong brain."

____________________

From wiki:

Hofmann became an employee of the pharmaceutical/chemical department of Sandoz Laboratories (now a subsidiary of Novartis), located in Basel as a coworker with professor Arthur Stoll, founder and director of the pharmaceutical department.

He began studying the medicinal plant Drimia maritima (squill) and the fungus ergot, as part of a program to purify and synthesize active constituents for use as pharmaceuticals. His main contribution was to elucidate the chemical structure of the common nucleus of the Scilla glycosides (an active principal of Mediterranean squill).

While researching lysergic acid derivatives, Hofmann first synthesized LSD on 16 November 1938. The main intention of the synthesis was to obtain a respiratory and circulatory stimulant (analeptic) with no effects on the uterus in analogy to nikethamide (which is also a diethylamide) by introducing this functional group to lysergic acid.

It was set aside for five years, until 16 April 1943, when Hofmann decided to reexamine it. While re-synthesizing LSD, he accidentally absorbed a small amount of the drug through his fingertips and discovered its powerful effects. He described what he felt as being:

... affected by a remarkable restlessness, combined with a slight dizziness. At home I lay down and sank into a not unpleasant intoxicated[-]like condition, characterized by an extremely stimulated imagination. In a dreamlike state, with eyes closed (I found the daylight to be unpleasantly glaring), I perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colors. After some two hours this condition faded away.

THREE DAYS LATER, on 19 April 1943, Hofmann intentionally ingested 250 MICROGRAMS of LSD. This day is now known as "Bicycle Day", because he began to feel the effects of the drug as he rode home on a bike. This was the first intentional LSD trip.

Hofmann continued to take small doses of LSD throughout much of his life, and always hoped to find a use for it. In his memoir, he emphasized it as a "sacred drug":

"I see the true importance of LSD in the possibility of providing material aid to meditation aimed at the mystical experience of a deeper, comprehensive reality."

****

I pretty much agree with the good doctor. He was a serious and gentle man.

94 posted on 12/25/2019 3:56:07 AM PST by a little elbow grease (... to err is human, to admit it divine ...)
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To: wardaddy

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/8xpmzb/the-worlds-first-ever-acid-trip-actually-kinda-sucked

* A very good article on some of Albert’s first experiences with his “chemicals”.


95 posted on 12/25/2019 4:02:17 AM PST by a little elbow grease (... to err is human, to admit it divine ...)
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To: wardaddy
"I have not tripped since a Jer and Bob and Phil and Mickey and Keith and Donna and Bill played Tuscaloosa in 1977" ---

I haven't done any mushrooms, LSD, or mescaline since around 1984. There was never a purposeful "ending" or stopping" ... it just happened. I was 37 years old and married for 11 years, and it was time to do other things. I'll be 73 in a month and I don't see wanting to take anything of the sort in the near future ..... maybe too exciting for this old man.

__________

"I'm 62 ........... I know people who still trip on LSD and mushrooms ...... Old people" ------

God bless them. I really wish that I felt better these days. I'd like to "wander off" a little before it's all over.

_________

"And they are not liberals ... more libertarian ...like Trump" ------

I hate to even write this, but can you even imagine DJT tripping? ...... impossible.

96 posted on 12/25/2019 6:02:33 AM PST by a little elbow grease (... to err is human, to admit it divine ...)
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To: a little elbow grease

Hell, as Trump himself says: I don’t drink. Can you imagine me if I DRANK??


97 posted on 12/25/2019 6:07:03 AM PST by Chickensoup (Voter ID for 2020!! Leftists totalitarian fascists appear to be planning to eradicate conservatives)
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To: Alberta's Child

it does.

lol


98 posted on 12/25/2019 6:07:44 AM PST by Chickensoup (Voter ID for 2020!! Leftists totalitarian fascists appear to be planning to eradicate conservatives)
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To: Chickensoup

lol


99 posted on 12/25/2019 6:09:40 AM PST by a little elbow grease (... to err is human, to admit it divine ...)
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To: be-baw

Dispensers of good advice seldom live up to their own teachings.


100 posted on 12/25/2019 6:10:08 AM PST by Mr. Jeeves ([CTRL]-[GALT]-[DELETE])
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