Walking Each Other Home

Dialogues between the legendary spiritual teacher Ram Dass and his friend and like-minded Mirabai Bush, dedicated to learning how to live here and now, helping those who are dying, and preparing for death. Standing on the threshold of his dying, 86-year-old Ram Dass shares, with sincerity, stories from his vivid life and the wisdom he gained through his guru. The book includes practices and useful sources. It became the final work of Ram Dass’s life. After finishing it, he left this world on December 22, 2019, at his home on the island of Maui, Hawaii.

In the 1960s, Ram Dass (born Richard Alpert) was a doctor of philosophy and psychology at Harvard University. His life met all the standards of success, but he wasn’t happy, feeling that “there was too little real” in it. Together with Aldous Huxley and Timothy Leary, he delved into the study of consciousness with the help of psychedelics. In 1967, Alpert left the university and went on a journey through India. There he met a spiritual teacher named Sri Neem Karoli Baba, known as Maharajii, and became his disciple. Maharajji introduced the professor to yoga. He gave him a new name—“Ram Dass,” meaning “servant of God”—and pointed the way, a definition that fit in just three words: “Be here now.”

All of Ram Dass’s later life was devoted to this practice. Returning to the United States in 1971 as a completely different person, Ram Dass wrote a book with a similar title. It caused a sensation and launched his reputation as a cult teacher.