Every week, the invitations pile up. Feed the Children. Amnesty International. The fight for nuclear disarmament. Environmental causes. The moral crusades are endless, each one urgent, each one claiming to be the most important. How do you choose? Which voice do you answer? Which suffering do you serve?
This is not an abstract question. It is the daily wrestling match of anyone who has awakened to the world's pain and their own capacity to respond. Ram Dass, the spiritual teacher and dharma guide, has spent decades sitting with this exact dilemma—and his answer refuses both extremes: the paralyzing guilt of activism without groundedness, and the escapism of meditation without engagement.
The Michelangelo Principle
Ram Dass offers a story that cuts through the noise. Last winter, he spent time in Florence studying the history of the Renaissance. Picture Michelangelo chipping away at stone, and imagine activists approaching him: "Mike, come on. Don't screw around with the stone. We've got to get out and protest. There are important things to do." Michelangelo's response is simple: "No, gee, I really have to work on the stone today."
The Medicis are long gone. Their political power dissolved centuries ago. But Michelangelo's work in the Sistine Chapel, those statues—they remain as a statement of the way God manifests through the human heart. Just as Bach's music does. Just as Mick Jagger's art does. Just as anyone's art does when they transcend ego and let something larger come through their form. The work endures because it speaks to something eternal, something that touches the soul across time.
This is not a permission slip to ignore suffering. It is something more subtle: a recognition that you are part of an extremely complex organism, a civilization, a universe. There is no rational way to optimize everything at once. If you spend all your energy simply trying not to get exterminated, if that becomes your civilization's only focus, Ram Dass asks, would it be very interesting to be alive in it?
The If-Only Trap
The paralysis comes, though, from a habit of mind that runs deeper than ideology. It comes from the "if only" mind—a constant negotiation with reality that prevents you from seeing what is actually here.
Look at your own life. How many if-onlys live there? If only people would see the value of peace. If only I didn't have this wart. If only I had more money. If only I were younger. If only I didn't have cancer. If only I lived somewhere warm with an ocean. If only I lived somewhere cold. If only this traffic would move. If only this drink were hotter. If only it were colder. If only I were more rested. If only I had more space to myself.
The mind lives in an endless conditional loop, rejecting the present moment as insufficient, always negotiating with "what if." From this place of perpetual if-only, you cannot see clearly what you're actually meant to do, because you're not even present to what is.
But there is another place to rest. Ram Dass calls it "I am"—a baseline awareness beneath all the noise, all the roles, all the if-onlys. From that place, you can see the universe just as it is. Not as it should be. Not as you wish it were. Just as it is. And in that seeing, something becomes clear about your part in it.
The Curriculum of Being Human
The trap, though, is swinging too far in the other direction. If you climb into "I am" and stay there, detached from the messy humanity below, you're missing something crucial. As a spiritual teacher named Emmanuel once told Ram Dass, "You're in a schoolroom—why don't you take the curriculum?" The curriculum is your humanity. You're a human being. You have a human heart. You have passions, desires, fears, excitement, curiosity, loneliness, jealousy, pain. "Wow, it's rich and thick," as Ram Dass says.
If you push all of that away just to get high, to escape into what he calls "la-la land," you're missing the show. The show isn't meant to be observed from a distance. It's meant to be participated in. And yet—this is the razor's edge—if you only participate, if you only identify with the drama, you become like Lady Macbeth on stage, so caught in the role that you walk off and still think you're Lady Macbeth. You get caught in your humanity, frozen in your identity.
The recognition, then, is this: you are both simultaneously. You are divine and you are human. The "I am" expands to allow it all. You don't have to choose between your eternal nature and your mortal one. You allow both. And from that place of allowing both, you feel the way in which your part in humanity must manifest. Then you trust it.
Knowing What You're Meant to Do
A mother comes to Ram Dass and says, "I love to meditate, but my kids are so demanding." And he responds: "Dear heart, your way to God is through your kids, not in spite of them." The cacophony, the jarring quality of family life—that isn't noise to escape. That's the curriculum. That's how this particular soul wakes up.
Your calling might be to care for children. It might be to meditate. It might be to work with your own desires for pleasure. It might be to create art. It might be something that doesn't fit neatly into the categories of activism or spirituality or career. The key is this: once you rest in "I am," once you stop negotiating with reality through if-onlys, you begin to notice. You notice what calls to you. You notice where energy wants to move through you. And you follow that notice.
There's a quality of awakening in this that matters. Once the light of awareness turns on, you can't quite turn it off again. You're in the middle of eating pizza, and suddenly there's a little bit of consciousness noticing it all. You want to go back to sleep, to have one more uninterrupted experience without that godlike awareness watching. You want to just eat the pizza, not also be the one eating it, not also be the judge of it. "Leave me alone already," the mind says.
But unfortunately—or fortunately—once it happens, it just keeps being there. And eventually, instead of pushing it away, you see how that awareness enriches every moment. It doesn't kill pleasure or purpose. It deepens it. It connects the small moment to something larger. And from that larger perspective, you know what you're meant to do.
Where to go from here
The invitation, then, is not to become a monk or an activist or an artist. It's to become fully awake to what is, and to notice what wants to happen through you. Rest in "I am," but don't stay there—let it expand to include your humanity, your relationships, your calling. The world doesn't need you to fix it all, nor does it need you to escape it. It needs you to show up as both divine and human, anchored and alive, and to follow the way your love naturally moves.
Transcript
[0:01] And in just a week's time, I'm sure I'm
[0:04] not on everyone,
[0:06] but in just a week's time, I will be
[0:08] invited to contribute to
[0:11] the disappearing bird population,
[0:15] the whales,
[0:17] Amnesty International, where human
[0:19] beings are being tortured,
[0:21] Feed the Children,
[0:24] uh the uh the fight against the moral
[0:26] majority.
[0:29] Being asked by candidate or governor or
[0:31] something.
[0:33] Uh on and on and on. I mean, just piles
[0:35] of this stuff.
[0:38] How do I decide? Which leper do I give
[0:40] the money to?
[0:45] Somebody says, "Don't you realize the
[0:48] the anti-nuclear people?
[0:51] Well, this is the This is the important
[0:53] one. I mean, if this one goes up, all
[0:54] the rest of it goes."
[0:56] >> [laughter]
[0:59] >> But I could imagine Last winter, I spent
Be Here Now Network is the creator of Heart Wisdom with Jack Kornfield, a podcast exploring consciousness, spirituality, and personal transformation. With 313 episodes, they have c…
According to Ram Dass, your calling becomes clear when you rest in 'I am'—a state of baseline awareness beneath all the mind's noise and conditions. From that place, you notice what naturally wants to move through you. Your calling might be raising children, creating art, serving others, or something entirely unique to you. The key is feeling into it from a place of presence rather than trying to figure it out from guilt or obligation.
Yes—and Ram Dass emphasizes that you must. If you use meditation only to escape your humanity, you're missing the curriculum. The spiritual path includes your emotions, desires, relationships, and even your confusion. As he tells a mother who struggles with meditation and kids, 'Your way to God is through your kids, not in spite of them.' Presence and purpose coexist.
It means accessing a baseline awareness beneath all the 'if-only' thoughts—the constant mental negotiation with what is. From 'I am,' you see the universe just as it is, without judgment or conditions. In practice, this might look like noticing when you're caught in 'if only I had more money' or 'if only this traffic would move,' and instead observing: this is what's here. From that clarity, you can move and act with purpose.
The story illustrates that lasting contribution comes from doing what calls you, even when there are other urgent causes competing for your attention. Michelangelo's art endures across centuries because he was fully present to his own work. He wasn't distracted by guilt into activism that wasn't his calling. The divine manifests through human excellence and dedication, not through scattered obligation.
Ram Dass suggests shifting from the 'if-only' mind—where you're perpetually negotiating with reality—to resting in 'I am' and trusting what actually wants to move through you. You're part of an extremely complex organism. You don't have to optimize everything at once. Your part in humanity will manifest as you become present. That might be one big contribution, or many small ones, or something you never expected.
No, and Ram Dass describes this with humor. Once awareness awakens, a little bit of consciousness keeps noticing everything you do. You can't have one more uninterrupted experience without that awareness watching. But instead of pushing this away, you eventually see how that consciousness enriches every moment—including simple pleasures like eating pizza. Awareness doesn't kill life; it deepens it.
The trap is swinging between two extremes: getting caught in your divinity (detached, meditative, escapist) or caught in your humanity (identified with your role as mother, professional, etc.). Ram Dass teaches that you are both simultaneously. You're divine and human. The 'I am' expands to hold both. This allows you to be a mother, a worker, a lover—fully present to these roles—without thinking you are only that. You step on and off stage.
