Has anyone here seen the "Fierce Grace" documentary with Ram Dass? (x-post from the lounge)
It was a very touching film. I watched it tonight with my wife. It was a Valentine's Day gift from her to me. I've been so busy working lately that I haven't had time to watch it with her- 6 days and 63 hours a week for the past 6 weeks. But I'm good now and back to a five day work week starting next week.
Anyway, I've known of Ram Dass for over twenty years. I've read several of his books dating back to the 60s when he was first experimenting with psychedelics with Timothy Leary. It was my exposure to those ideas that led me down my own experimental path, but I went about it in an ill-advised way and ended up getting hurt. Now days Ram Dass and I have the same view on those kinds of drugs. They can show you what is possible, but they should only be used for that. In my view, anything else is a diversion that can derail you from the task at hand. But that just might be your karma, too. Who knows? I don't.
But I never stopped checking in with Ram Dass. After he turned on and dropped out he got back into the mainstream again in a big way in the early 70s with his classic book Be Here Now which was written after a stay in India where he met his guru. He kept writing, touring, and speaking up until the late 90s when he had a stroke that disabled him. I've seen footage of him from 2015 and the problem he has with aphasia has almost completely taken his ability to speak. But he is still here now. 
Fierce Grace was made in 2001, if I recall correctly, and Ram Dass was still mostly coherent at that time, although he did have difficulties with speech sometimes. There is some beautiful color footage from the late 60s and early 70s in the film. It was beautiful to me to see him and all those hippies from back then in color.
If you are a fan of Ram Dass, I know you will like this film even though it can be heartbreaking at times. One of the last things that his guru told him to do upon his return to America was to, "Love everyone and tell the truth." The way Ram Dass has told it, it took him a while to fully surrender to that, but I think that you will see his success in the film.
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