Claims

The appropriate response to overwhelming suffering is to balance witnessing its reality with resting in soul awareness and the deep wisdom/perspective that comes from that place, allowing oneself to act from integration rather than reaction.

The fundamental purpose of spiritual practice, for Ram Dass, is to stabilize awakened consciousness in ordinary life—to maintain non-exclusive identification with one's soul awareness while functioning as an ego in the world, making this the most compassionate contribution to the world.

Ram Dass's guru taught him that when overwhelmed by suffering, one loses balance and one's actions can no longer relieve suffering; the path is to 'become that being that can bear the unbearable' through developing the capacity to witness suffering while maintaining soul awareness.