Such is the case with "Fierce Grace," a PBS documentary on the life of Ram Dass.
On Tuesday of this week, I attended my regular group meeting to study A Course in Miracles. It is a new group that meets atop a beautiful mid-century high rise apartment building that borders Forest Park. The view of St. Louis from up there is amazing. Quite a setting for some deep soul searching. As I walked in that building Tuesday night, I was captivated by the striking 1950's lines of the architecture.
I made a mental note to bring a camera next time to photograph this building and research the architect...perhaps write about it on my other blog "Highway Farty," a look at some the hidden gems right here in St. Louis.
This morning, I opened the paper and stumbled on this obituary:
Herbert R. Wahlmann died Tuesday May 25, 2010 of Alzheimer's disease. Mr. Wahlmann was 85 and lived in Kirkwood. He was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright and designed Northwest Plaza, which was then the largest shopping center in the U.S., the Le Chateau Village shopping center in Frontenac AND the luxury apartment building at 801Skinker Boulevard overlooking Forest Park!
YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! How bizarre is that?
Now back to A Course in Miracles...No it is not a cult! Oprah even studies it.
I actually attend two ACIM groups. The first meets on Monday nights at Eliot Unitarian Church in Kirkwood. It is highly experiential and we participants often bring details of our own lives into the discussion and together we apply principles from A Course in Miracles to the problem. It is quite useful and practical.
The second group meets on Skinker Blvd. and is much more intellectual. We are working with a previously lost, but now found, unedited version of A Course in Miracles, known as the "Hugh Lynn Cayce version" because that's who last had the manuscript. It takes some deep thinking and focus. As such, we do significantly less sharing of everyday life's slings and arrows and instead stick to what "The Course" is teaching.
I rather like the duality of the two groups. Their differing characteristics lend themselves well to a full Course experience.
As much as I enjoy these gatherings of like-minded people, I usually don't linger too long after either group. My father gets restless if it gets close to 10:00 at night and I haven't yet brought over the TV listings for the next day. But Tuesday I lingered and shared some of the daily challenges I face dealing with my father's dementia.
John, our group leader, asked if I'd seen Fierce Grace?
When I said I hadn't...he said "You need to!"
"OK..I'll rent it from Netflix."
"No...you need to see it now. You can't wait." He lent me his copy.
He was right!
For whatever reason, I stayed late Tuesday night and this movie fell into my lap. It details the story and philosophy of Ram Dass, a spiritual teacher/guru from the 1960's. Hell...George Harrison even wrote a song about him, but it was way before my time. Ram Dass meant nothing to me. I knew who he was, but only because I'd once embarrassed myself interviewing him. In 1996, I was hired to be the field producer at the last display of the entire AIDS Memorial Quilt in Washington. It was a HUGE display that covered the entire capital mall. I was just gathering as much sound as I could and I noticed an older guy walking near the Quilt. He had a certain presence about him that made me think he would be a good interview. After a few quick questions, I concluded...."And sir, could I get you to say and spell your name on tape?"
"Yes...it is Ram Dass... R-A-M, D-A-S-S."
Later that day, as we were reviewing tape back at the hotel, the executive producer, who came of age in the 1960's, nearly soiled himself...
"HOLY SHIT, YOU GOT RAM DASS!"
"Who's Ram Dass?"
"YOU DON'T KNOW RAM DASS?...DR.RICHARD ALPERT, TIMOTHY LEARY'S PARTNER AT HARVARD!"
"Ohhhhhhh. Yeah I do know who he is, sort of."
"OH SHIT...YOU DIDN'T JUST GET RAM DASS TO SAY AND SPELL HIS NAME ON TAPE?"
"Yeah..but he was cool about it"
With that, I was given up as a lost cause, a flat tire motorist on the shoulder of the higher path.
But now, 14 years later, this movie Fierce Grace has put me back on the road to Ram Dass..even though most everybody else was there 40 years ago.
The movie vividly depicts the wisdom Ram Dass gained after a debilitating stroke that changed his life forever. At the time of the stroke, he had all these plans for a radio show and other projects. Then..BAM! Life as he knew it came to a screeching halt. Now he gets driven everywhere, lives life in a wheelchair and often has problems finding words to communicate.
He admits the stroke "upset all my plans." But he adds, "The stroke is a whole new incarnation because there are qualities in me that would never have come out...Peace comes from settling into the moment..NOW."
NOW!..Wow! Why can't I be so enlightened?
I too feel all my plans were upended by my father's needs. I often find myself resenting my inability to travel or pursue projects for work. I get pissed off having to stay close to home and cut my plans short because my father gets impatient and irascible.
Then I see this movie and Ram Dass, who also cared for HIS elderly father, brings to the screen this amazing philosophy.
Could it be that this situation is God's way of making me cultivate qualities that would never have come out otherwise?
Might I end up being richer for this experience when all is said and done?
I know for sure I will order my own copy of Fierce Grace and do further study on a guy I once met but was too ignorant to realize a giant of philosophy was standing right before me.
14 years later, his wisdom is going up on the Hotpoint with a heavy-duty magnet.
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