Ram Dass
Appearance
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e5/Zalman_Schachter-Shalomi_%26_Ram_Dass.jpg/220px-Zalman_Schachter-Shalomi_%26_Ram_Dass.jpg)
Dr. Richard Alpert (April 6, 1931 – December 22, 2019), also known as Baba Ram Dass, was a spiritual teacher. He was the writer of Be Here Now, the bestseller book of 1971.
In the 1960s, professors Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner and Richard Alpert collaborated on a book titled The Psychedelic Experience, which adapted portions of the Tibetan Book of the Dead as a guide for use in LSD experiences. They hoped to give users of LSD a simulation of death and rebirth, to "liberate" them from past problems or mistakes in their lives.
Dass died on December 22, 2019 in Maui, Hawaii at the age of 88.[1]