Omfest in Santa Monica features Ram Dass in live Internet feed
Harvard-professors-turned-psychedelic-explorers Richard Alpert and Timothy Leary often interjected the virtues of human evolution and technological advancement into their lectures and writings on consciousness alteration. Now it is exactly that technology — Internet technology — that allows Alpert (now known as Ram Dass) to continue his teachings of heightened consciousness and spiritual enlightenment years after a stroke left him partially paralyzed and unable to endure the rigors of travel. Ram Dass will headline Omfest, an event in Santa Monica, via live Internet feed from his home in Maui. Omfest, a mini-retreat and workshop based on the teachings of influential 20th century Indian guru Neem Karoli Baba is scheduled from 3 to 10 p.m. Sunday, October 28th, at the Church in Ocean Park, 235 Hill St., Santa Monica. Tickets are $54, and proceeds benefit the Neem Karoli Baba Ashram and Hanuman Temple in Taos, New Mexico, a facility dedicated to the guru whose message was, “love everyone — serve everyone — remember God.” Ram Dass, along with Leary, is credited with introducing LSD and psilocybin into the consciousness of a generation of young Americans in the 1960s. After being dismissed from his post at Harvard once the research became too controversial and involved student participation, Alpert went on a quest for personal discovery, wound up in India, and was led to a reclusive guru whose teachings were to have a profound...
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