QuoteProject
We kill each other over which name to call the Nameless.
Ram Dass
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

People often conflict over differing beliefs and labels rather than understanding the deeper essence of reality.

This quote by Ram Dass highlights the tendency of individuals and groups to engage in conflict and violence over differing interpretations, beliefs, or names attributed to the divine or to fundamental truths. It suggests that these disagreements distract from a deeper connection to the ultimate reality, which is beyond names and labels, and emphasizes the importance of transcendence and understanding over division.

Themes

ConflictUnderstandingBeliefsNamesEssence

In practice

Example use cases

This quote could be inspiring in a discussion about religious tolerance.

More from Ram Dass

Maharajji told me, 'Give up anger and I'll help you.' I found _x000D_ that love freed me back into the ocean of love and my righteous anger didn't do that. And I would rather be free than right.
Ram DassRead
The gift you offer another person is just your being.
Ram DassRead
Let the natural flow of the universe, course through your being, and harmonize your soul.
Ram DassRead
You can be still and still moving. Content even in your discontent.
Ram DassRead
The heart surrenders everything to the moment. The mind judges and holds back. _x000D_ _x000D_ In most of our human relationships, we spend much of our time reassuring one another that our costumes of identity are on straight. _x000D_ _x000D_ When we see the Beloved in each person, it's like walking through a garden, watching flowers bloom all around us.
Ram DassRead
When I look at relationships, my own and others, I see a wide range of reasons for people to be together and ways in which they are together. I see ways in which a relationship - which means something that exists between two or more people - for the most part reinforces people's separateness as individual entities.
Ram DassRead

Similar quotes

Most modern freedom is at root fear. It is not so much that we are too bold to endure rules; it is rather that we are too timid to endure responsibilities.
Gilbert K. ChestertonRead
Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still.
MaimonidesRead
It's very difficult to escape your background. You know, I don't think it's necessary to even try to escape it. More and more, I start to think that it's necessary to see exactly what it is that you inherited on both ends of the stick: your timidity, your courage, your self-deceit, and your honesty - and all the rest of it.
Sam ShepardRead
The devotion of such titans of spirit as Lenin to an Ideal must bear fruit. The nobility of his selflessness will be an example through centuries to come, and his Ideal will reach perfection.
Mahatma GandhiRead
You and your sins must separate, or you and your God will never come together.
Charles SpurgeonRead
Words. Borne on the ever swelling current of hatred, like flowers opening in the current, petals peeling back, then falling apart.
Anne RiceRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.