Experiments in Truth

The set of tapes took over a month to arrive and when I tried to play the first tape, it wouldn't work.The tape was totally broken.The rest of the set worked and I love Ram Dass so I loved the actual context of the tapes. But I was disappointed that I could not listen to the first tape.

As always, Ram Dass is provocative & stimulating! So grateful to have this in my personal collection, I will treasure it!!

Love Ram Dass but somehow misunderstood and thought I was getting CDs not cassettes so still cannot hear it. :(

An easy five stars for my first audiobook of the year. Ram Dass is, among the likes of Alan Watts and Terence McKenna, one of my favorite beings to listen to lecture. Such a high man, and one who has been through a lot. I can say nothing of Ram Dass that hasn't been said before, but I found this particular audiobook to be perhaps the best of his I've listened to; mainly because there were several lectures (the majority in fact) that I had never heard before, most of these coming from the 1990's. The audiobook is split into eight 'sessions' ranging from the '60s to the '90s, and I thought it was really fun hearing the old mixed in with the .. less old, because you really get a sense of how his consciousness has molded over the years. That is a trend that continues in his post-stroke lectures. His lectures from the '90s had a calmer, wiser, more humorous overtone than that from the '60s. Not that those traits were absent in the older ones, just perhaps not as pronounced. And I admit this could be a projection on my part. I jotted down some quotes from each of the sessions, and I thought I'd just list them out below.Session 1: San Rafael, CA 1994"'I want to be alone.' Don't kid yourself, heh. You don't want to be alone, you wouldn't exist! You only exist relationally, on that level.""Ram asks Hanuman, 'Who are you, Hanuman?' and Hanuman replies, 'When I don't know who I am, I serve you. When I know who I am, I am you.'"Session 2: Breitenbush Oregon Retreat Center, OR 1994"Because taking something serious doesn't make it go away any faster. In fact it keeps making it a little bit worse."Session 3: Rhinebeck, NY 1992"...but I saw that love freed me back into the ocean and that anger didn't. And that I would rather be free than right."Session 4: Silver Springs, MD 1969In this session he tells the infamous story of his first mushroom trip. And while I've heard it before (and subsequently the events that led from this up to his meeting and studying under Neem Karoli Baba aka Maharj-ji), I had never heard the story with the amount of background he gave here; specifically on his and Tim Leary's relationship and what led up to that first trip.Session 5: Silver Springs, MD 1969A continuation of the previous session.Session 6: Irvine, CA 1978In this session Ram Dass lectures on the 'channels' of identity, which I had also heard before but it was really nice to revisit."Which channel are you talking about? If we start from the top and go on down into the grosser planes; I am the void, who manifests as the one, who becomes the many, who has a unique set of factors to work out through a unique astral, psychological, and physical body. That's what I'm doing on Earth. I have taken a body to do certain work, and when I've finished that work I will drop that body."Session 7: Yucca Valley, CA 1979In which Ram Dass lectures on being one with god (don't recoil from the word).Session 8: Devon, England 1994In which Ram Dass lectures on the forms of suffering"I'm attempting to take the pain and play with it to see what my tolerance is before pain becomes suffering. Because pain is just pain, whether I make it into suffering or not..""So you look and there is your suffering; where the mind is in relation to the phenomenal field.""You are compassion. You don't have compassion, you are compassion. You are compassion."So, if you can get ahold of it I highly recommend it. I suppose you have to stomach a certain amount of woo, but Ram Dass is someone I hold in high regard. He is a being full of wisdom, compassion, and absolute love. And even if you sit through this gritting your teeth and wondering how anyone could be so pretentious (some will), I think that maybe something will rub off on you. Whether it ignites a passion in you to study Buddhism, or a desire to be more aware of yourself, or changes the way you think about death. Just a little something. One little idea, or suggestion. And it will bloom.

The bad reviews are about the format of the lectures. The lectures themselves changed my life. This collection is worth every penny.

Love this.......but a Table of Contents would really help! (I purchased Audible version)

I listened to these tapes twice before they melted in my car and I had to pay the library $60 for them!! That is how much I love Ram Dass. I did not know much of his work before this but this series is an amazing introduction. He is funny, self-deprecating, silly, and a natural storyteller. His words and voice will reach out and touch your spirit- no matter what your religious background! He is profoundly human yet shares concepts and philosophical teachings that are beyond most of us. They truly are words to live by.Listening to this series is a gift I gave myself and as soon as I get another set (which I WILL NOT leave in the car!) I'll start again.

His voice allows me to believe I can be present, and not afraid. Ram Dass has been lecturing for who knows how many years, 50? This collection goes back to the 60's and up to the 90's. So interesting how his lessons aren't different 30 years later. Perhaps Ram Dass speaks more of departure (death) and dealing with dying than he did in 1960, but it's the same message. The message I get is TRUST. Listening to Ram Dass, especially this collection, lets me remember my potential, and how beautifully I can affect the world. Thank you Ram Dass, again . . . and again. There were a few lectures with lesser quality, but that's all part of the charm, they're 30 years old after all. Still enjoying it. A wonder to own.