Guru Ratings
Ram Dass
Bad.
Remember my ratings criteria. I’m not judging these gurus on “global” or moral values, but very specific criteria. Many of my favorite books would be rated “bad” by my criteria for self-help (probably, because they are not self-help books). My ratings don’t reflect how well an author met his own goals, but how well they met my criteria for useful, accurate self-help.
Formerly known as Richard Alpert.
Be Here Now (1971)
Bizarre. Mostly, it’s a messy explosion of metaphysical absurdity like:
We’ll make the journey as comfortable as possible but you have to realize that (after you pass through the Van Allen Belt) you’re going to get out to another belt of radiation which is going to crisp you completely and you will die but there will be an essence left that will get you through.
Another example:
The entire cosmos, at every plane and in every form, is energy. This energy is known as pran. Your body is a form of pran, so is your thought and feeling, and so is light. These forms of pran differ from one another in terms of the rate and amplitude of their vibrations.
A meaningless waste of time.