Fierce Grace -- Illustrated Screenplay & Screencap Gallery
Rude Awakening -- A Reflection on Ram Dass' Video Testament, "Fierce Grace," by Charles Carreon 
Be Here Now,  by Ram Dass

THE INCREDIBLE VACUUM AND DEATH THAT IS THE ROT AT THE CORE OF "BE HERE NOW," BY RAM DASS

Nihilism, by Tara Carreon
Marquis de Sade: His Life and Work (1899), by Dr. Iwan Bloch, translated by James Bruce

"The family thus has no center to radiate from and no spiritual-psychic support system.  It is dead.  The outlook is bleak from this vantage point.  However, in the last decade there has been a resurgence of spiritual life brought about by lysergic acid, the bomb, rock 'n' roll, visiting teachers from the East and the incredible vacuum and death that is the rot at the core.  And as life will not permit a vacuum, the times they are a-changing.

To begin we must begin at the beginning. At the beginning is the spirit.  Spirit is a Latin word meaning breath.  It's like breathing out and breathing in, NO THING -- yup, no thing.  And this no thing is basic for our life.  Breathe spirit, this spirit which sustains and maintains, without which we die to this form.  This no thing is the foundation upon which all must be based.  Life must be dedicated to the spirit alone for as it has been laid out ... seek you first the kingdom of heaven and all else shall be added to you ... so ... with the family sadhana as with all sadhana this is where we begin.  The family and all it is thru /by / in extension must be dedicated solely to the spirit."

***

You must live before you can die. But you must die before you can live.
Live consciously ! Die consciously !

Gandhi, the Indian Politician-Saint, was assassinated as he walked out of his home by an assassin who fired four bullets directly into his body. In the moment Gandhi fell, he was heard to utter the name, "RAM." The rishis (the men of India who know) say that to die uttering the name of God takes you immediately "beyond the beyond" with no further effort.

Practice Dying

1. Experience your own death:

Ritual death has been practiced throughout the world for centuries. Many Buddhist meditation exercises are designed to take you through your own death. Christian ascetics experience their death through contemplation for a vision of life sub specie aeternitatis (as Eternal Present). See, for example, St. Ignatius Loyola's recommendations in his Spiritual Exercises.)

Laura Huxley has members of her seminars experience their own death psychologically. For example:

"Have the room comfortably dark or dimly lighted.

Lie down on your bed or sofa or on the floor.

Let your body go. Imagine that the life is out of it. Do not speak or move.

Imagine that you have died: Your body is passive, lifeless, useless. Your body is discarded. Your funeral is about to take place.

Let go of your body. Let it be there as something which is no longer yours. Follow to the limit this feeling of being completely alone, abandoned, not loved -- not in life, not in death. Cry, scream, curse, if this is what you feel. Go to the limit of your feeling. And after you have cried and screamed and cursed, when you are empty and exhausted, stop and listen.

This is your last party. Speak to everyone there, tell them all about yourself, about your mistakes and your suffering, about your love and your longings. No longer do you need to protect yourself, no longer do you need to hide behind a wall or a suit of armor. It is your last party: you can explode, you can be miserable or pitiful, insignificant or despicable. At your funeral you can be yourself.

This is your chance: do what others have failed to do. Look at the unloved one, the miserable one. This is your chance to do an act of love toward one who has had no love. This is your chance to do justice where intentional or unintentional injustice has been committed. This is your chance to give warmth and courage to one who feels only coldness, loneliness and death.
Let your tears flow from the very depth of you. Let your bitterness flow out with them. And when the bitterness is out, your tears will be gentle and sweet. Then take the hand of this lifeless body of yours, take it in your hands and with respect and love bring it to your lips and kiss it.

Now gently come back to your living body.

With this feeling of respect and love, come back to your living body, and let this feeling remain with you, inside of you. Let it spread to each nerve, to each muscle, along every vein and artery. Let this feeling of respect and love spread inside you, throughout your entire organism, and then let it spread out around you in everything, object or animal or human, that is part of your life. Feel this feeling of love and respect circulating inside you with the force of life itself; let it be in your blood, in the air you breathe. Feel it -- accept it -- give it." (A "recipe" from You are Not the Target, Laura Huxley.)

***

GATE / GATE / PARAGATE
PARASAMGATE
BODHI SVAHA!

GONE / GONE / GONE BEYOND / GONE BEYOND BEYOND
HAIL THE GOER

BEYOND EVEN CONCEIVING OF A PLACE
BEYOND WHICH YOU CAN GO BEYOND

WHO'S ADVENTUROUS ENOUGH TO WANT TO GO
ON THAT JOURNEY?
DO YOU REALIZE WHEN YOU GO ON THAT JOURNEY
IN ORDER TO GET TO THE DESTINATION
YOU
CAN NEVER GET TO THE DESTINATION?
IN THE PROCESS
YOU
MUST DIE
MUST DIE

PRETTY FIERCE JOURNEY PRETTY FIERCE REQUIREMENT
WE WANT VOLUNTEERS

NOW: WE'LL MAKE THE JOURNEY
AS COMFORTABLE AS POSSIBLE
BUT: YOU HAVE TO REALIZE THAT
(AFTER YOU PASS THROUGH THE VAN ALLEN BELT)
YOU'RE GOING TO GET OUT
TO ANOTHER BELT OF RADIATION
WHICH IS GOING TO CRISP YOU COMPLETELY
AND
YOU WILL DIE
BUT THERE WILL BE AN
ESSENCE
LEFT THAT WILL GET THROUGH.
NOW: WHO WOULD LIKE TO VOLUNTEER?
READY?

WELL: COULDN'T WE MAKE
A SPECIALLY INSULATED SUIT?
NO. SORRY. CAN'T DO IT.

***

JESUS IN A MUSHROOM CLOUD

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