Be here now – if there is a now here (or something like that)

THE GURU’S FAMOUS CATCHPHRASE: “Be here now”        Ram Dass (born Richard Alpert in 1931)        American spiritual guru Ram Dass popularized the catchphrase “Be here now,” which he used in the title of a book in 1971 (the full original title was Remember Be Here Now). In the book, former psychedelic drug advocate Alpert (a colleague of Timothy Leary) says he got the phrase from a 23-year-old “very high guy” from Laguna Beach, California that he met on a fateful trip to India in 1967, where he became enlightened, changed his name to Ram Dass (which means “Servant of God” in Hindi) and turned from promoting drugs to promoting his version of Indian mysticism.

THE GOOEY LOST FINALE VERSION: Christian (Jack’s dead Dad): “I love you, son.” Jack: “I love you, too, Dad. Are you real?” Christian: “I sure hope so. Yeah, I’m real. You’re real, everything that’s ever happened to you is real. All those people in the church – they’re all real, too.” Jack: “They’re all dead?” Christian: “Everyone dies some time, kiddo. Some of them before you, some long after you.” Jack: “But why are they all here now?” Christian: “Well, there is no now, here.”         From the final episode of the TV series Lost        First aired, May 23, 2010

THE GEORGE HARRISON VERSION: “The past was – be here now As it’s what was before it was.”        George Harrison’s song “Be Here Now”        From his 1973 album Living in the Material World

THE GENERATION X RANT VERSION: Nick (actor Brendan Fehr): “The generation before us sold their innocence for 200 digitally enhanced satellite stations, and it’s been downhill ever since. They had Mickey Mouse, Easy Rider and The Beatles. Alright? We got South Park, The Blair Bitch and Ricky Martin. Alright? They had ‘Be here now!’ We got ‘Shit Happens!’”         In the vampire movie The Forsaken (2001)

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