Ram Dass and Stephen Levine explore how all the experiences in our lives, including the process of dying, can be an opportunity to grow and awaken out of the illusion of separateness.

This episode of Here and Now is part two of a talk by Ram Dass and Stephen Levine in San Francisco in the 1980s during the AIDS crisis. You can listen to part one on Ep. 268 of the Here & Now podcast: The Heart of Healing.

• Ram Dass talks about how we are being healed out of our separateness through our shared caring and our shared heart. Everything in our lives, including the process of dying, is an opportunity to grow. He explores how we need to shift our perspectives to touch the possibility that we are more than our bodies.
• Stephen addresses the AIDS crisis and the sense of anger and self-hatred that gathers around the pain people experience as they come closer to death. He shares the powerful story of one AIDS patient he was working with who started to meet his pain with loving kindness instead of with hatred.
• Ram Dass talks about opening not just to physical pain but to psychological pain as well. He shares some of the heavy learning he’s had to do in order to allow himself to need help from others. To do the work he really wanted to do, Ram Dass needed to acknowledge the fullness of his own humanity first.

About Stephen Levine:

Stephen Levine was an American poet, author and Buddhist teacher best known for his work on death and dying. He was a friend and colleague to many Be Here Now Network Teachers. Along with Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg, Stephen is responsible for making the teachings of Theravada Buddhism more widely available to students in the West. Find more talks and writings from Stephen at levinetalks.com.

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“And at the simplest level, I’d say the statement is the antidote to burnout is the perspective that you are a growing being and that everything, including your own life and your own death, and approaching death, is an opportunity to grow.” – Ram Dass

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In this talk from the 1980s, Ram Dass and Stephen Levine come together to explore the heart of healing and encourage us to look with clarity and compassion at the issues of pain and death.

Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self.

This show is also sponsored by Magic Mind, a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Get 45% off the Magic Mind bundle with our link: magicmind.com/ramdassjan

This episode of Here and Now is part one of a talk Ram Dass and his good friend Stephen Levine gave in San Francisco in the 1980s. Check back soon for more of this recording.

• Stephen begins by talking about how this event came to be. He explores the heart of healing and how it can occur on more than just the physical level. The body might not always reflect the healing, but the healing is happening nonetheless.
• Ram Dass wants this to be a gathering that can reach for truth. Feeling touched by his stepmother’s recent passing, he shares the beauty of the process they just went through together. He tells the story about being on LSD during his mother’s funeral and explores some of the issues of burnout that are commonplace for people who are caregivers.
• Stephen talks about teaching with Elisabeth Küblar-Ross and how he learned to let go of his roles when sharing space with people who are facing pain and death. He tells the story of a woman who used her pain to push past her separateness and into a place of collective being. Healing doesn’t have to do with life and death, it has to do with the heart of the moment.

About Stephen Levine:

Stephen Levine was an American poet, author and Buddhist teacher best known for his work on death and dying. He was a friend and colleague to many Be Here Now Network Teachers. Along with Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg, Stephen is responsible for making the teachings of Theravada Buddhism more widely available to students in the West. Find more talks and writings from Stephen at levinetalks.com.

“Those people we know who are working with healing the body often seem to come to the place where they recognize that there is no such thing as just healing ‘my’ body, it is healing the body we all share. Entering the shared heart to experience the shared pain in the body we all share.” – Stephen Levine

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.