Maharajji told me, 'Give up anger and I'll help you.' I found _x000D_ that love freed me back into the ocean of love and my righteous anger didn't do that. And I would rather be free than right.
Ram DassRead
The intellect is a beautiful servant but a terrible master. Intellect is the power tool of our separateness. The intuitive, compassionate heart is the doorway to our unity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Intellect can be useful but should not dominate our decisions; true unity comes from compassion and intuition.
This quote by Ram Dass emphasizes the dual nature of intellect as both a valuable tool and a potential source of separation among people. While our intellectual capabilities can enhance our understanding and serve our needs, they can also lead to an ego-driven mindset that fosters division. In contrast, cultivating an intuitive and compassionate heart enables a deeper connection to others and promotes unity, suggesting that genuine understanding transcends mere intellectual reasoning.
Themes
IntellectUnityCompassionIntuitionEgoSeparateness
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about teamwork, you might use this quote to emphasize the importance of compassion over intellect.
More from Ram Dass
All quotes βThe gift you offer another person is just your being.
Ram DassRead
Let the natural flow of the universe, course through your being, and harmonize your soul.
Ram DassRead
You can be still and still moving. Content even in your discontent.
Ram DassRead
The heart surrenders everything to the moment. The mind judges and holds back. _x000D_ _x000D_ In most of our human relationships, we spend much of our time reassuring one another that our costumes of identity are on straight. _x000D_ _x000D_ When we see the Beloved in each person, it's like walking through a garden, watching flowers bloom all around us.
Ram DassRead
When I look at relationships, my own and others, I see a wide range of reasons for people to be together and ways in which they are together. I see ways in which a relationship - which means something that exists between two or more people - for the most part reinforces people's separateness as individual entities.
Ram DassRead
Similar quotes
No one wants growth, constant expansion, physical swelling. Growth is not a human value; it's a means to the ends of sufficiency and security. Once we have enough, no one wants more, unless it is sold to us as a cheap substitute for something else, something non-material.
Donella MeadowsRead
Speaking psycho-analytically, it may be laid down that any "great ideal" which people mention with awe is really an excuse for inflicting pain on their enemies. Good wine needs no bush, and good morals need no bated breath.
Bertrand RussellRead
Who is more to be pitied, a writer bound and gagged by policemen or one living in perfect freedom who has nothing more to say?
Kurt VonnegutRead
We all hate moral ambiguity in some sense, and yet it is also absolutely necessary. In writing a story, it is the place where I begin.
Amy TanRead
One belongs to one's language as a writer.
Joseph BrodskyRead
I feel humiliated that I live in a country that demands more already. Why do we cling to the notion that not only must we maintain the current level of consumption, but that it must continue to grow by an exponential factor of 2 to 7 percent every year?
David SuzukiRead