Dying to Know - Now

I recently watched a movie on Netflix called, Dying to Know. It is a documentary film narrated by Robert Redford about the lives of Timothy Leary and Ram Dass, aka, Richard Alpert. Much of the film is footage of a conversation between the two men that occurred a few months prior to Timothy Leary’s death.

I think the movie does a great job of telling the story of how these two men influenced the culture in obvious and in subtle ways.

I cannot describe how I felt watching the film.

I first heard the story of Timothy Leary and Ram Dass, in 1971. Someone gave me a reel-to-reel audiotape and just said, “You will want to listen to this.” I listened to it and then listened to it again…and again. It was a three hour talk by Ram Dass describing his experience with Timothy Leary and psychedelic drugs that lead to his eventual pilgrimage to India. The audiotape preceded the soon-to-be released book, Be Here Now.

While watching the movie, Dying to Know, I was swept with my own Be Here Now moment. I noticed that I was listening to Ram Dass telling me the same story with the same message he shared in 1971. The only difference was the passage of 45 years. The similarity of then and now reminded me again.

Be Here Now.

I think Ram Dass and my late my father-in-law, Bob Parr, looked similar. I shared the Ram Dass article called Dying is Perfectly Safe with Bob a couple of years before his death. I hope it was helpful.