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Still Here: Embracing Aging, Changing, and Dying. Ram Dass. New York, AT. Riverhead Books; 2000. 209 pp, $24.
I am always so grateful when somebody jumps into the water first, then gives me a report on the temperature. Of course, I sometimes have trouble believing the subsequent verbalization: "Come on in, the water's fine." I look for subtle nonverbal messages, like blue lips and convulsive shivering, before I take the plunge.
As has been his wont for the past 3 decades, Ram Dass has taken another plunge for us. I believe this is his 10th book, in addition to innumerable workshops, lectures, and articles. This time his report on the water temperature is somewhat conditional; that is, the water is fine if viewed in the right framework. For Ram Dass, this framework is some amalgam of his Jewish roots and his far-ranging adventures in Hinduism, Buddhism, and entheogens, with a resultant conviction that the...