Not Gone Guys

Ram Dass 1968: Be Here Now

Ram Dass

Ram Dass 2002: Still Here

John Floyd 2013: Me, too!

Wayne Dyer

Those who know me, know that Ram Dass, author of Be Here Now, is one of my heroes, along with Wayne Dyer of Your Erroneous Zones fame. At times I feel the three of us (and others perhaps) are living parallel alternative lives of the same being. The three of us are mature, bald, stocky, PhD psychologists shaped by the turbulent sixties.

We are all educators, the two of them on a much grander scale than me, though I am proud of having pioneered online Distance Education in 1996 at UMUC in Europe.

I've not met Wayne Dyer but have met Ram Dass on two occasions, the first at an assembly on the campus of Duke University in 1970. I was star-struck, in awe of his charisma, his presence, his utter nowness. Dass suffered a stroke in 1997. When I met him again at a Prophets Conference in Sedona, AZ, in 2004, he was in a wheelchair, but except for the expressive aphasia, he was unchanged.

In so far as I know, Dyer is in good health. Dass and I have had our personal challenges but are Still Here -- and still in the Now.

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Show and Tell

At the risk of seeming a braggart and a show-off... I just purchased a 2013 Toyota Prius. You know, the ultimate eco-friendly, neo-Yuppie hybrid auto.

The whole process from choosing the Prius to settling into its new car smell brought to mind the purchase of my very first new car nearly half a century ago, a 1967 VW Beetle. Like the VW, the Prius looks like no other car on the road. It's almost as much fun to drive as the "four on the floor" VW and it gets 50 mpg!

Unlike the VW the Prius is loaded with gadgetry, e.g., a solar powered ventilation system to prevent heat build up in the interior when parked in the sun and a remote control to turn the A/C on a few minutes before you return to the car.

I may never get around to learning how to work all the gadgets, but I'll have fun trying!

P.S.
The name Prius is not derived, as some think, from the Greek god of fertility Priapus, but from the Latin word for "to go before". Volkswagen means "people's car", but it had some "going before" in it too.

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