Page 22, on the rough brown paper of the 1971 bestseller, “Be Here Now” reads, “What are you doing? Planning for the future? Well, it’s all right now. (But later?) Forget it, baby, that’s later. Now is now. Are you going to be here or not? It’s as simple as that.”
The words of Harvard psychologist turned LSD-traveler turned guru reflect more than the innocence and high spiritual aspiration of the ’60s and ’70s. They’re a way to mark life, and that’s what filmmaker Mickey Lemle has done in his new documentary about the man who wrote “Be Here Now,” Baba Ram Dass.
Those who led the hippy spiritual parade are leaving. Timothy Leary is gone. So is Ken Kesey. At 70, Ram Dass has had a stroke that crippled his body, testing his soul. We are “in the moment.”
Guests:
Mickey Lemle, producer and director, “Ram Dass Fierce Grace”
Diana Eck, Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies, Harvard.