Ram Dass - A Teacher of Loving Awareness
Photo Credit: Peter Simon
There are certain teachers who don’t just share ideas. They change the way you see the world. For me, Ram Dass is one of those teachers. He is someone I return to again and again. Not just for what he taught, but for how he lived.
Who Was Ram Dass?
Ram Dass, born Richard Alpert, was originally a Harvard psychologist. His early work alongside Timothy Leary explored psychedelics and the nature of consciousness, but his path eventually led him far beyond academia. He traveled to India, where he met his guru, Neem Karoli Baba (commonly known as Maharaj-ji), and began a lifelong journey of spiritual practice and service.
From that point on, his teachings centered around:
Presence
Awareness
Compassion
Love
His work helped bring Eastern spiritual teachings into Western culture in a way that felt accessible, human, and deeply personal.
Be Here Now
One of his most well-known books, Be Here Now, became a foundational text in modern spirituality.
The title itself is the teaching:
Be here now.
Simple. But not easy.
It’s a reminder that so much of our suffering comes from being anywhere but where we are. Thinking about the past. Projecting into the future.
And missing the only place life is actually happening.
Loving Awareness
One of the phrases Ram Dass is most known for is:
I am loving awareness.
This is more than a mantra. It’s a way of relating to life. Instead of trying to fix, control, or resist what is happening, we begin by noticing.
We witness. We soften. We allow. And from that place, love becomes something that is not forced, but revealed.
What Does “Loving Awareness” Actually Mean?
At the end of the track I Am Loving Awareness, Ram Dass describes this idea in a way that feels both simple and profound.
He explains that one way to step out of the thinking mind is to use a phrase, a mantra:
“I am loving awareness.”
He describes loving awareness as something deeper than the mind, deeper than identity. Not something you create, but something you already are. He points to it as the soul.
A way of being that naturally leads you to love everything you are aware of:
The sky
The room
Your body
Other people
As you repeat the mantra, he describes letting it drop into the heart. Almost like crossing a threshold. Like discovering a doorway within yourself that leads to something deeper.
“Loving awareness is a name for the soul… which you really are.”
What I love about this teaching is that it gently shifts identity. Instead of being caught in thoughts, emotions, or roles, you begin to notice:
I am the one who is aware of all of it.
And not just aware. But aware with love. It’s a subtle shift, but a powerful one. Because if you are loving awareness, then everything you experience becomes something you can meet with compassion. Even the difficult parts. Even the parts you might normally resist.
Fierce Grace
Later in his life, Ram Dass experienced a stroke that left him with significant physical limitations. And yet, the way he spoke about that experience was deeply impactful. He referred to it as fierce grace.
Not because it was easy. But because it became part of his path.
Rather than seeing the stroke as something that took something away from him, he spoke about how it deepened his awareness. How it stripped away identity. How it invited him into an even more present relationship with life.
It is one of the clearest examples of what it looks like to live these teachings, not just speak them.
Polishing the Mirror
One of the books of his that has stayed with me is Polishing the Mirror.
In it, he speaks about the idea that our work is not to become something new, but to remove what is in the way. To polish the mirror. So that what is already there can be seen more clearly.
There is a moment in that book where he shares a letter he wrote to a family who had experienced the tragic loss of a child. He received the call in the middle of the night. And what he wrote to them was not an attempt to fix their pain or explain it away. It was presence. It was compassion.
It was the kind of response that comes from someone who has sat deeply with both suffering and love. That moment stayed with me.
Because it showed what it looks like to meet life, even in its most difficult moments, with an open, deeply compassionate heart.
The Way He Saw the World
Ram Dass had a way of making things both simple and deeply confronting.
He once spoke about looking at trees. How when you walk through nature, you don’t judge the trees. You don’t say:
This one is better.
That one is not good enough.
You appreciate them all as they are.
And yet, with people, we don’t do the same. We judge. We compare. We separate.
His teachings gently invite us back to a more open and loving way of seeing.
The Human Experience
Ram Dass also brought a sense of humor to the path. One of his well-known reflections is essentially this:
If you think you’re enlightened, go spend time with your family.
It’s a reminder that spiritual practice isn’t something that exists in isolation. It’s something that is tested and revealed through real life.
Through relationships. Through discomfort. Through being human.
Why I Return to Him
There are many teachers out there. But Ram Dass is one I continue to return to. Because his teachings don’t feel rigid. They feel human.
They make space for:
Imperfection
Struggle
Growth
Love
He doesn’t ask us to become something different. He invites us to become more aware of what already is.
Bringing It Into Practice
In class this week, as we explored the heart chakra, we closed with one of his teachings:
I am loving awareness.
Not something to achieve. But something to remember.
Closing Reflection
Ram Dass often spoke about this life as a curriculum. A series of opportunities to wake up. To soften. To love. And to become more aware.
Not by escaping life. But by meeting it fully.
If You’d Like to Explore His Work
A few places to begin:
Be Here Now
Buy on Takealot + Buy on Amazon
Polishing the Mirror
Buy on Amazon + Listen to the audiobook on Spotify
“Ram Dass” - Album by East Forest & Ram Dass (including the song “I Am Loving Awareness” which we listened to in Savasana during our Heart Chakra class")