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Richard Alpert was a Harvard professor who did some pioneering work on psychoactive drugs, especially LSD.
One thing led to another, and he found himself traveling to India with a huge supply of LSD in his bag. (This was 1960’s, by the way.)
He reasoned that India is full of mystics, so it would be interesting to see how they responded to LSD as compared to his American research subjects. But he found no difference initially. Same symptoms and effects.
Then he came across another American guy in India who much younger than him, and seemed to be far more advanced spiritually. His guru had given him the name Bhagavan Das. Richard and Bhagavan Das soon became friends and roommates.
Bhagavan Das hardly ever slept. His days were spent meditating, mostly. And he would spend his nights sitting in the lotus position.
Richard was very happy to meet an American friend in a strange land. But Bhagavan Das wouldn't talk. Whenever Richard wanted to talk about home and America, “Remember when …”, Bhagavan Das was cut him off, “Be Here Now!”
Whenever Richard would start anticipating or looking forward to the future, Bhagavan Das would cut him off, “Be Here Now!”
One day, eventually, Richard got a chance to visit Bhagavan Das’s guru with him. The man had a strange twinkle in his eye. Richard found him a bit disconcerting at first.
But Neem Karoli Baba, the reclusive guru in the Himalayas known for turning back most of the aspiring disciples, took Richard in. And he gave him the name Ram Dass.
One day, Neem Karoli Baba asked Ram Dass to give him the “medicine”. Ram Dass was initially surprised, as nobody here knew about his stash of LSD, but then he remembered this guy was known for “knowing things”. (Kind of reminds me of when Tyrion Lannister said in the game of thrones, “That's what I do: I drink, and I know things,” but let's not digress.)
So Ram Dass gave him the “medicine”, but he wanted more. Practically asking for an overdose. Half worried and half curious, Ram Dass complied.
LSD’s effects (or “the trip”) are known to kick in in an hour and last for about eight hours or so. Ram Dass waited the whole day, watching the old man very closely, but nothing happened. Nothing!
The drug seemed to have no effect on the old man whatsoever.
Later, he said to Ram Dass something like, “taking psychoactive drugs is like visiting the Buddha for two hours; meditate instead, and become the Buddha.”
Ram Dass spent a few years with Neem Karoli Baba and went back to the US. He wrote a book called, guess what, “Be Here Now”. That book pretty much kicked off the hippie movement and culture in the US.
Years later, a young man named Steve Jobs experimented with LSD too. And visited India too. But he found out that Neem Karoli Baba had passed away. Or “left his body”, as they say in the Indian spiritual circles.
Steve hung around the ashram for a few days and then went back to the US. Both of these experiences had a profound impact on his life.
Many years later, a lost young entrepreneur named Mark Zuckerberg asked Steve Jobs for advice. And Steve told him to go to India.
Now, I'm not glorifying LSD or India here. I'm just telling a story I find very interesting. About some of the people I find very interesting. Like Ram Dass, Steve Jobs and Neem Karoli Baba.
What's the point of this email? I don't know. Except that I can't sleep. And that reminded me of the sleepless, meditating nights of Bhagavan Das. And his words, “Be Here Now”, that became the tagline for a whole spiritual movement halfway across the world.
And especially, the twinkling-eyed words of Neem Karoli Baba, “taking drugs is like visiting the Buddha; meditating is like becoming the Buddha.”
And no, I've never tried LSD. It scares me.
Anyway, see if you can find a lesson in this email. And let me know if you can find one.
And given my current half-sleepy and half-sleepless state, I'll just end this email with a line from Fight Club, “If you wake up at a different time, in a different place, did you wake up as a different person?”
Oh well, let's not even go into that rabbit hole of a tangent.
Check out the sponsor for today's email below. And I'll try and catch some sleep if I can
Catch ya later,
Shakaib Feroz.
P.S. AI is all the buzz these days. It's a great toolset, but it can be a slippery slope. Use it wisely. Delegate your tasks, not your brain or your personality. Just saying.
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