Ram Dass & Paul Gorman: "How Can I Help?"

One really shouldn't judge a book by its cover. As I read the title of Dass and Gorman's book How Can I Help?, I thought of it as a ridiculous title. Everybody knows how to help another person, but it's seldom for people to go out of their way to help another. I do it, but after every single person I help, I say to myself, "I can't help them all..." So even after helping someone, I always felt a little guilty and wondered why I even help at all when I can't help them all. Then the question for me wasn't How CAN I Help? but rather how DO I help?


When you need help, you want less talk and more action


As I progressed through the book, I reconsidered my initial thought after reading just eleven pages. The first few chapters of the book were very satisfying to read. Later on when I was walking through the mall, I felt as if everyone could hear what I was thinking because I would imagine a situation when someone needed help and then their need was immediately answered by the closest person; for instance, the Macy's employee dropped her rack of refill clothes, and I pointed at the closest person (in my mind) and told her in my thoughts to help that employee, and then, she did! Right then, I realized the "vision of how helping [flows] from trust in ourselves and in others" (Dass, 8). Helping is a process which manufactures trust in industrial quantity!


The A-Frame of Trust


I decided that to help the most amount of people, to affect positive change in the most amount of lives, I have to view everyone as being completely gullible - similar to Lennie from Of Mice and Men. When I see somebody from this perspective, I feel natural compassionto help them, just like a reflex, but there's a problem with this view. Everybody isn't like Lennie... Lennie was an extremely gullible child, but the general population is the exact opposite. Every time that I take a walk on the drag or through campus, I get a vibe from the crowd that everyone around me is self-sufficient, completely able to handle every situation. This isn't surprising as I am roaming within Longhorn territory where everyone is a leader, but then, I addressed my own concern as even leaders are people. Again, I realized Dass's wisdom as "there are clearly many ways in which we hesitate to reach out" (Dass, 11). Hesitations force us to halt the traffic on the trust intersection, thus rendering everyone unable to feel natural compassion.



Don't hesitate to jump in the ocean of trust!


I realized how much this was correct as I pondered about how many times I wanted to help someone but reasoned against it. When I hesitate in a logical fashion, I simply can't help someone, and with that, I rested my initial discomfort with the title of the book. Before one can help another, they must physically, mentally and spiritually be capable of helping. There is only one need which then exists is to read this book from cover to cover because it enables everyone to step out of their individual planes of existence and stand together in unity, in one plane and in one unified existence where we are all connected similar to how one limb connects to another. So for example when one limb is in need of help, there is no question as to how do I help, rather the entire body simply helps with each part contributing in a unique fashion. I hope this blog has helped in a unique fashion as well.

Help by the Beatles