Of the 10 letters we received over the years from Ram Dass only two of them were typed, the rest were handwritten. I absolutely love the little shiny sticker he put on the top of this letter. The little stick figure of himself sitting in meditation that he drew at the bottom is an rare piece of original Ram Dass artwork.
In the letter from my mother, Marge, that this letter is a response to she refers to him first as Richard and then as Baba Ram Dass. It appears as if the first paragraph in his reply is a way of making it clear to Marge that he is no longer Richard Alpert. He explains the meaning of his new name. He makes it clear that he has changed. He said he does not work for the FDA (Marge had told him of a rumor that he was). When he says that he does not work for Owsley Stanley he is saying is that he is not in the business of promoting the use of LSD anymore. Marge was a friend of Owsley Stanley, often referred to as Bear. Owsley is famous for the manufacture in the mid to late 60’s of vast quantities of very pure LSD. “Why I don’t even work for Richard Alpert” In other words, my metamorphosis is complete.
In the second paragraph he refers to a book he is writing, half of which has been sent to the publisher. I have not been able to positively determine what book he was referring to. It is possible that it is one that never got published. It is possible he was referring to his work on From Bindu to Ojas (the manuscript that later became the brown pages in the book Be Here Now.)
The next paragraph is his response to the information my mother sent him about her efforts to secure a lecture hall for him to speak in Southern California. That would be his first lecture in that area as Ram Dass.
In the next to last paragraph he makes a couple of very profound points:
“I expect to stay with whatever it is I’m with for at least another two years… maybe even up to 12 or life.” I guess we all know how that turned out.
“All roads lead to the same place, the only traps are the roads themselves.”An expression of the Taoist, eastern mysticism, Zen philosophy that is the core of Ram Dassness.
“Eclecticism is an old and honorable bag too.” A profound and practical admission of his willingness to be, and do, whatever his calling turns out to be.
The last paragraph starts with him thanking my aunt, Jean Mayo Millay, for some photographs that she sent him. He says hello to Don Douglas and his wife at that time, Lexa. The next sentence “to cut the grass or not to cut the grass… that is the question” is a reference to a story Marge told him. She related to him what happened to a LSD manufacturing laboratory in Denver and the people he knew that were involved with it.
Ram Dass ends this letter by sending regards to Timothy Leary and “much love to all water brothers.“
The story of that LSD lab that Ram Dass referred to involves our good friend Tim Scully. He learned how to make very pure LSD from Owsley Stanley while working as his apprentice in the Point Richmond lab in 1966. He and Don Douglas had set up a lab in Denver in 1967 where they manufactured LSD. Later Tim Scully set up a second lab in Denver in 1968, making Orange Sunshine LSD, this time without Don. We thought that lab got busted because they failed to cut the grass at the house they were renting. In preparing to publish this letter here and discuss this comment by Ram Dass, I reached out to Tim Scully on Facebook and he emailed me a comprehensive memo about what actually happened. Tim said “The second Denver lab, in 1968, is the one that was busted. It wasn’t busted because the lawn wasn’t cut, it was busted because the lawn wasn’t watered. But the story got slightly distorted by the time it reached Ram Dass’ ears, as stories almost always do.” If you’re interested in this kind of historical details regarding the heyday of the hippie era, the events surrounding that laboratory are reported in a documentary titled The Sunshine Makers. However, that documentary is a bit inaccurate in that it describes different events as if they all occurred in one lab in Denver when they actually occurred in two.
My friend Don Douglas, a photographer by trade, was kind enough to isolate just the signature and stick figure drawing from this Ram Dass letter. I offer it here into the public domain for people to do with as they wish. I have already had one person tell me it will be used by them as a tattoo!
A letter to my mother from Ram Dass in October of 1968
This 2 sided letter is to my mother, Marjorie King, from Ram Dass in October of 1968. In this letter he is cleary replying to one my mother sent him regarding a chronic lung illness that was to soon cause us to move out of the LA area for good (a very good move from my teenaged prespective). A doctor had told her to move to the desert as her lungs would work better in the dry air, or something like that.
I have looked at this letter perhaps a dozen times and the full impact of it did not come across to me until I transcribed it. He said:
(hand drawn ohm symbol) Margie —
Sickness of the body is a great tough hard spiritual teacher. Some lessons we learn harder than others. Keep working on yourself. Health and sickness are just two ends of another polarity. Perhaps the next chapter is to be in a dry desert anyway.
Am doing much work on myself and for others (same thing actually) here on the East Coast really in no rush to go west. Maybe when the snows come I’ll get that moving message and then I’ll come see you wherever. Probably early ’69. Guru sent message I am not to return to Bharat (India) for 2 more years. No explanation but I guess it must be because my work is here in the West. Of course there is no work… all action is consecrated so it’s effortless effort. The faith inside is so strong – its diamond hard…so even the roller coaster effect of sadhana here in the West no longer shakes me. Who me? Ram Dass – and he just is… and resides in your very own heart…and the hearts of all our water brothers… and even in the hearts of the “people of the nations.”
Peaceful people are peace. Shanti Ram Dass
I had read this letter before but I had never read every word carefully and thought about what he was saying. I certainly never read this line before in a way that fully registered: “all action is consecrated so it’s effortless effort.” I have understood since I was a teen, when I heard this type of mysticism expressed and read the Book of Tao, that “Before enlightenment – chopping wood, carrying water. After enlightenment – chopping wood carrying water.” What spoke to my heart when transcribing this, like it was using a loudspeaker, is that thinking of all my acts, all my thoughts, all my efforts as consecrated; that is the way to be in real, lasting harmony with the Almighty Issness, the cosmic flow, the Oneness behind all dualities. My experience with this is an example of why the teachings of Ram Dass are timeless.
