Raghu Markus returns to lead us into the new year with a talk from Ram Dass which reminds us of our interconnectedness and the need to keep our hearts turned toward the spirit of generosity.
“You and I came out of an undifferentiated identity with all things, then we learned we are separate.
But you have had many experiences in your life, one way or another, where you have felt that kind of connection with all things. Maybe it is lying under the stars. Maybe it occurred in church. Maybe it occurred whenever you transcended your separateness. It could have occurred in a traumatic experience. It could have occurred when you lost someone you loved. It could have occurred chemically. It could have occurred through meditation or a thousand ways it could occur.
You see the predicament is, once you have experienced that connection with all things – and that is part of your humanity too – then you don’t know what to do with that. So you end up denying it to go back into your separateness. You live with this predicament, this tension that is created by the statement, ‘We are all one, but it’s my television set.” – Ram Dass