Forums
In one of the other topics, one of the folks seemed not to be so sure of the reception he'd get for saying he was a youth minister at his church.
In my experience, Deadheads span the full spectrum from Agnostic to Zoroastrian. I've met atheist Deadheads, Muslim Deadheads, Buddhist Deadheads, Catholic Deadheads, Jewish Deadheads, and Wiccan Deadheads. My Deadhead friends are all over the map on this stuff, and as far as I'm concerned one of the real richnesses of the scene is the ability to see how things look to other folks and, sometimes, experience it from their world.
Believe it if you need it, if you don't, just pass it on. But talk about it here, and please maintain a safe respectful place to do so.
Deadnet
I was talking about me and my problem,not anyone else here.It may have been my "lifestyle"that made me this way. Sometimes I get sick of myself,I dont know.Religion is new to me and the old habits die hard.If I had any fun at anyone elses expense in the chatroom the shame is on me.The chatroom.......a scary,dangerous,wild,improbable ride that sucked out my skull.It was fun.I poured out my soul[and love] in that private little hell [just kidding] you guys call a chatroom and might not get it back.Wait,I wont leave you drifting down,Theres a little bit left........All the love in the world and all the best things in life to deadnet and that girl....Both of you have got the way's and mean's to open up your windows and let that long hair hang down.......I guess Im "710".....Im outta the door and DOWN to the street all alone....to look for a girl with rings on her fingers and bells on her..................
It's all good brother
I would STILL rather here Melvin play gospel than watch televangelists....I do miss the chat though.....the only other place I've been accepted for being myself was at Dead shows, and my church......well, OK, there were a few bars in the Philippines, but that's cuz they KNEW I was out there crazy.....
Buddhism and Christianity
Many Christians look at Buddhism as anything from the devil'sreligion to just false. There are many though who consider
Buddhism to be valid, although lacking something.
Some Buddhists believe in a God, while others see an impersonal, eternal, yet living reality.
Buddhists who do see the need for the Creator, and some do believe in a Nirvana
and a hell.
For Buddhism to be fulfilled, these folks need to see the need for a setter up of what is good
or evil. Who defines good or evil? You could even kind of get it from the Bible that there is no
good or evil because God said he created both.
Fact of the matter there are many many old acidheads who have become Christians.
Mysticism is not bad, unless a person sees himself as being completed in being aware.
We are really not as innocent or "good people" as we would like to think..
Trouble is that even realizing we are lost in a dream, we are still lost in the dream.
We need to admit to God that he indeed did come into this world, suffer unimaginably
and rose again. Beleive it or not. We just cannot find our own way home.
"Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift."
"What a long strange trip it's been"
Just listening to the Furthur concert I surely got the impression that Phil already is a
Christian.
Best Wishes and God Bless
Randy J.
Just About Jacky (some heavy stuff from left field)
Just as you know her as sister
shes just grandma to me.
and just going about her journey
if just one cares to know.
so let us all just say
on just voices of high
that over the static from just this heart
still is felt just love in her voice
so no matter what, your religion of choice
may I make just one request
take a minute to just acknowledger her journey.
just she can do the rest.
peace and love family!,
D4
11-17-2010
Forgive me, Lord
I've never made a fortune, and it's probably too late now.But I don't worry about that much, I'm happy anyhow and as I go along life's way, I'm reaping better than I sowed.
I'm drinking from my saucer,
'Cause my cup has overflowed.
Haven't got a lot of riches,
and sometimes the going's tough
But I've got loving ones all around me,
and that makes me rich enough.
I thank GOD for his Blessings,
and the Mercies HE's bestowed. I'm drinking from my saucer,
'Cause my cup has overflowed.
I remember times when things went wrong, My faith wore somewhat thin. But all at once the dark clouds broke,
and the sun peeped through again.
So LORD, help me not to gripe,
about the tough rows I have hoed.
I'm drinking from my saucer,
'Cause my cup has overflowed.
If GOD gives me strength and courage,
When the way grows steep and rough.
I'll not ask for other blessings,
I'm already Blessed enough.
And may I never be too busy,
to help others bear their loads..
Then I'll keep drinking from my saucer,
'Cause my cup has overflowed
An old Navy buddy
sent this it to me recently, and while I think it's a bit stilted and corny, it fits where I'm at and reminds me that I have SO MUCH to be thankful for...
Further show,Minneapolis mn, need a copy bad!! HELP!!!
I really want a copy of Further in Minneapolis,mn What a show!!The balconey was bouncin up and down a few FEET with the music and EVERYONE
dancing was more than it was built to take. Did anyone else see that? Thank God it didnt
collapse. I bhad the BEST time of my life that night. I need a copy....PLEASE
Odd place to find a show request
Listen to the Minnesota show thru this link
http://www.archive.org/details/furthur2010-11-08.mahoney.flac16
You can even download the audio files for conversion to cd audio or to mp3 format !!
A religion itself!
I haven't read all 62 pages of posts, I admit, but if anyone argued that the Dead experience itself is religious and that the relgious experience is one of the more open and welcoming of all religious experiences, I would agree!! I have many many thoughts on the Dead and religion, and strongly think that the Dead experience, at its purest, served the same function as a religion in many of our lives. Religious scholars have spent years breaking down religions into the necessary characteristics of what it means to be a 'religion', and it is not a stretch to make the Dead fit these molds. True, the religion would be comparable to Christianity and Buddhism in its earliest stages, but it would be comparable.
Great thread. Hope its still alive!
J.T. Gossard
http://thehallucinogenicbible.blogspot.com/
religion
Is a wild scary dangerous improbable ride[like jerrys riffs]......sometimes I freak out,maybe,i dont know.Its highly improbable for someone like me to consider it[religion].Deadnet is a great place to freak out....I guess.I wish there was more sincerity in the world.
What a relief
I've often been asked by non-deadheads how I reconcile my belief in the Christian gospel and my love of all things Grateful Dead. I always respond that there is nothing to reconcile. My faith and my love of this music are not disparate at all. The question itself is founded in ignorance of what this music is all about in the first place. I am so glad to see my fellow heads are so understanding and open minded about this as witnessed by this thread. In the lot, when the subject comes up, I never feel the notion that I'm not accepted as one of us. We've all been so profoundly touched by "our" music and that is a common bond.
It doesn't matter what
(religion) you wear, just as long as you are there!
Just popped in my head-dunno why :)
**********************************
I am not young enough to know everything.
Oscar Wilde
jon,radio,lilly
As usual deadnet,Im impressed.You guys get the gist of it ...........thx
When the shit hits the fan & things go south...
...and lawyers guns and money won't get you of here. When the body is breaking down, as well as the mind, never give up faith.
It is so tempting to go to a place you know that is always warm, set your altar and your easel and laptop and pray and paint and write poetry, listen to the best of my 60s and 70s music and try to get closer to reality before I die. Turn off the news for sure.
So dog tired of just trying to get through another day because people depend on me. The whole thing is just so sad. They all are all still chasing after a dream that died a while ago. They want me to make the dream come true for them.
Do all you can, do for others, come from the heart -- Jesus and Buddha and all the great ones said that. Believe and don't pick up that spike no more (Whatever your spike might be). Cuz yer only getting farther away and not closer and it never ends.
It never ends
~ Killing me softly with his song ~
brother Gonz....
everyday is a new day, and I think I've learned that we have to start each one with that thought, and while I, too have people that depend on me, I know that they love me....and that makes it worthwhile......I think....I guess we can't change everything, just make our little part work, and hope it spreads.....hope I don't sound like some kinda know-it-all....as I sure as fak ain't......
johnman
Those were bitchen posts.Mine are like jerrys echo-effects on his guitar,they eventually come back around ..[limited internet access].Im primitive.......Im.......Low tech.[head hanging down]Hope your next coupla years go well for u...............god bless our veterans!
May God destroy the Westboro Baptists...
and their church of hate. Their continuous hate-filled protests at the funerals of our fallen heroes leads me to believe that they are enemies of God, Jesus, and our country. If someone gunned them all down and I had to be on the jury I would not be able to convict the shooter. I would say "good riddance, they got what they deserved." If they want to protest in front of the Capitol, fine, but stay away from soldiers funerals.
I dislike Kansas Baptists, Teller
And it is in bad taste to do this out of bigotry at another's funeral who fought and would have died for your freedom, but it is free speech.
It's a slippery ride down the slope to fascism as we saw with the building of the Community Center/Mosque near Ground Zero some months ago.
You should know that up here in the boonies the Hell's Angels and the Staties and the local cops all collaborate to stop any of that crap. The Supreme Court can go to hell. America is as it is, where it is and God help those people if they tried to demonstrate at certain funerals.
Choppers would plow them down and then bullets would take the rest. That is for people who PROTEST AGAINST THE WARS.
So, equal rights for all, no matter how much in bad taste it might be. You can always turn your back. Tolerance and respect is aspired to in this world, not truly existent everywhere.
just trying to get them to see...
or they will reap what they sow. They should not be worshipping words but walking in the light of the living Christ, but we all fall at times. Jesus said: "Be ye therefore merciful as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. St. Luke,6:36-37 There must be an evil spirit in that church that has a hold of those poor folks. I would encourage all Christians in the area to go there and pray for healing until they walk in love. The guy in Florida who was going to burn the Koran saw the light, Hopefully the Westboro Baptists will too.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world: but that the world through him might be saved. St. John, 3:17
Let it be known, there is a fountain, that was not made by the hands of man
Oh Yeahhhhhhhhh
Jesus is just alright with me, Jesus is just alright, oh yeahJesus is just alright with me, Jesus is just alright
I don't care what they may say
I don't care what they may do
I don't care what they may say
Jesus is just alright, oh yeah
Jesus is just alright
Jesus is just alright with me, Jesus is just alright, oh yeah
Jesus is just alright with me, Jesus is just alright
I don't care what they may know
I don't care where they may go
I don't care what they may know
Jesus is just alright, oh yeah
Jesus, he's my friend; Jesus, he's my friend
He took me by the hand; Led me far from this land
Jesus, he's my friend
Jesus is just alright with me, Jesus is just alright, oh yeah
Jesus is just alright with me, Jesus is just alright
I don't care what they may say, I don't care what they may do
I don't care what they may say, Jesus is just alright, oh yeah
Besides
the shitty crassness of the Westboro Church's actions, I think it is wrong to transfer the individual's rights of freedom of speech to an organization. Just like it is wrong that it is now considered that corporations have the same rights and status, as an entity, as citizens do. If we continue to go down that road, we're all in big trouble. PLUS freedom of speech stops at inciting violence, and such acts as those rat turds do are certainly causing plenty of folks to feel violent.**********************************
I am not young enough to know everything.
Oscar Wilde
Your comment made me think TLilly
You certainly have a valid insight there, one that is backed by the actions of individuals, The interview with the poor boy's father saying the Supremes didn't have the sense of a goat was poignant. The Westboro Baptists need healing badly. They are the collective voice of a demon and need to be group exorcised.
Perhaps an army of Jesuits could step in and start the ceremonies. The Westboro Baptists should be shipped to the concentration camps of Poland and Germany and then brought to the front in Afghanistan. Let them feel it and see it .
The Beavis and Butheads of the religious world soon see the shameful acts they are committing for what they are and halt in their tracks.
BUT, they have the right to do what they want, respecting the restraint of local, county and state authorities, along with counter demonstrations.
Think carefully before giving up rights some great number of people died for.
Grateful to have found this
The Spirit dwells in loving communities, and I am happy to have found this one.
Tell me about being a Deadhead
Hi everyone, I'm a college student and Grateful Dead lover working on an in depth research project on Deadheads. I want to know peoples' personal relationships to the music and the culture to understand why the Deadheads have existed and endured so prominently for so long. I would DEEPLY appreciate an interview with anyone who feels that they have something to say about the Dead and their personal history with them! It's easy, anonymous (when integrated into the paper) and a nice way to reflect upon and appreciate how the Dead and their community have affected your life. It'll also help me out a lot :) Please send me a message if you're interested!
Thanks,
Jackie
Seeds that were silent...
It's really good to see that this thread is still growing.I check in here once and awhile and it always reafirms my faith in deadheads.You can just see the sweetness of spirit in many of the posts here.
Hey Chinarider777...are you still following this thread?I read your post about your vision and it sounds to me that you experienced a"born again experience".I experienced something like that back in 1997.I didn't have the vision,but I had a complete change in my thoughts,beliefs and actions.I prayed for Jesus to come into my life and be lord of my life and everything changed in an instant.For days I had a feeling of lightness and being cleansed to my core,and a new appreciation for life and it's blessings.
I often wonder if Robert Hunter also experienced this kind of spiritual awakening because he wrote the best description that I have ever heard...
There comes a redeemer,but he slowly too fades away
Followed behind him a wagon that's loaded with clay
Seeds that were silent burst into bloom and decay
Night comes so quiet,it comes on the heals of the day.
I'm quoting the lyrics from memory,so please forgive me if they're not exact,and of course others may have a totally different interpretation or Hunter may have meant something different.But for me,every time I hear "eyes" I think of that incredible moment.
May God bless and keep you always...
more ham with doller}<(`-=
=cry east =-=a coin a squeel=-=better to light a candle then to fire at a candle light vidgle a sizzling slug in ceilings to the open gentle=-=Hoo~ray seesturdzzz}<(`-=-==-=-=-=
We are the EYES
There comes a redeemer and he slowly, too, fades awayAnd there follows his wagon behind him that's loaded with clay
And the seeds that were silent all burst into bloom and decay
And night comes so quiet, its close on the heels of the day
Pretty good memory there drc32-0, I always thought the wagon was loaded with hay!
Well, the Westboro haters has their way on 3/20
And the souls of sixteen (two of the Amrican) died and are now karmic seeds waiting to ripen in the future for them.
The minister of that church reminds of a snake-oil salesman. And we all know what the snake stands for.
Dalai Lama announces politic retirement...
The Dalai lama announced last week his intention to leaven behind the political, secular rule that has dogged him for the last 350 years, since Tibet became unified as a nation.He will, however, continue his spiritual mentor roll for those tantric Buddhists (not just Tibetans) who wish to practice this form of meditation/philosophy/evolution/enlightenment (take your pick).
He has announced that due to the Chinese leadership showing slight cracks in it's anti-Tibet attitude he will live to at least the age of 85 and continue to provide quidence to
to the democratically elected government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India for the rest of this life.
His advocacy of nonviolence continues to be a beacon in this troubled world. His seventeenth incarnation on this planet will not be on the Tibetan plateau, but rather in a place of exile where he can continue his spiritual guidence without Chinese interference as shown by their handling of the Panchen Lama and the 17th Karmapa.
I have heard all these words from the mouth of His Holiness the Dalai Lama himself in a BBC interview aired at 6:30am this morning.
Rangzen! Freedom for the land of snows and all those suffering under Chinese repression there at this time.
Pray, hope, vibe whatever it is that you do
that Japan will be spared this new quake threat! Mother Nature PLEASE spare our brothers and sisters more suffering!**********************************
I am not young enough to know everything.
Oscar Wilde
Pray, hope, vibe whatever it is that you do
that Japan will be spared this new quake threat! Mother Nature PLEASE spare our brothers and sisters more suffering!**********************************
I am not young enough to know everything.
Oscar Wilde
Not just Japan, Lilly
But of course, particularly for them right now. The whole "ring of fire" around the Pacific rim seems to be heating up. I've heard it said that 2011 is the year for S. California. That, unfortunately, would mean trading tsunamis with Japan if it's an off shore epicenter.
Southern Bap......oops I meant
Southern banjo's[out of tune]playing through the broken glass again?....bummer.I wouldve perhaps thought of deadnet and this topic as being a refuge.........of sorts.....rather than a vehicle,a doormat,a veritable beast of burden for people and their headtrips and political agendas.......Deadnet,hows the peoples republic of berk.......oops I meant tibet treatin ya?.....I was bummed because I thought I ran out of good things to say here but...oh wait..being on deadnet and in the old chatroom for me was like.....I really actually got to talk to people that actually shook the hands of people that shook the hands of the man that shook the hand of the man if not actually shaken the hand of the man himself that shook the hand of the man......
Hi graceful
That was a nice post,thank you.......feel free to humiliate yourself with sincerity and post something thats built to last......
yikes wolfbat,
guess the acid was too much for ya'. Look around this site for places to post and throw up there if you like. I guess it's too much to leave our positive intentions alone, huh?
Marye -- wasn't this thread supposed to be somewhat protected?
well ya know
if that post were an actual response to an actual post by anyone named graceful, it would be problematical. As it is, I'm taking it as a nonlinear utterance of someone whose spirituality is a bit rearranged. Wolfbat, please chill or take it elsewhere. Thanks.
thanks marye
I've followed this thread from the beginning and I have really admired your even-handed moderating.As we all know,this is a topic that can really get out of hand,but you have been able to help keep it civil while still giving everyone a chance to speak their thoughts.
Only a group of deadheads could have a 65 page thread on religious beliefs and only have a few posts that requires the moderator to step in.It makes me proud to be a deadhead.
Thanks
Friend of the Devil, a novel
Friend of the Devil is a novel about a reefer-smoking 1930s jazz musician, on the run from the law. He is on his way to Del Rio, a Texas border town rolling in dough, thanks to a quack doctor whose ‘goat-gland cure’ brings in well-heeled suckers by the trainload. And just across the river, the Doc’s got a million-watt “border blaster” that he uses to advertise himself along with yodelers, pitchmen, preachers, mystics, and singing cowboys. There, Herbert figures, he can hide out in plain view. But then Herbert does a favor for a stranger in a jam who turns out to be the Devil himself. Now the Devil owes Herbert a favor, something Herbert, a fervent atheist, has absolutely no interest in collecting on. Next thing Herbert knows, he’s stuck in the middle of a convoluted wager between the Devil and God, both of whom seem to take his refusal to acknowledge their existence personally. Herbert vows revenge. Luckily he finds an ally in Rose Dawn, an underage, pregnant radio clairvoyant prone to sneezing fits.
The novelist scene has changed...
They'll publish anything and pay you if somebody buys it.
Still, one wonders about :...Rose Dawn, an underage, pregnant radio clairvoyant prone to sneezing fits.
>They'll publish anything and pay you if somebody buys it.
this is a change how?
Nonetheless, as the forum moderator, to say nothing of the editor of a friend's recently published novel having nothing to do with the Dead, I would note that this is, in the words of one of the band's cover tunes, drifting too far from the shore here, and let us stick to religion, spirituality and Deadheads here rather than promoting one's fiction or slagging the state of the current publishing marketplace. Thank you. I would encourage Brendan to promote said fiction in the Grateful Dead Library or Your Own Storefront topics...
Graceful-Wolfbat
Marye, lamagonzo, thanks for watching for an even keel; but no harm.Built to last? Yes, going on 2,000 years this morning.
How could one be grateful to be dead? If "dead" is not the end.
Happy Easter to you Graceful
Hope you enjoyed the meaning of the day with loved ones.
Still, you pose an interesting question: "How could one be grateful to be dead? If "dead" is not the end.."
It is my opinion the some of the tunes Hunter wrote, almost the entire genre, were about people who died sadly, violently (Jack Straw, Me & My Uncle etc.) and according to which part of religion you belong to (or not) you might believe some of them condemned to hell for eternity.
That ain't my religion. Mine probably has more hells than yours, just not eternal. There was a guy who used to post here who freaked out at "Friend of the Devil" (star_sleeper?) regularly
So, without going uber-philosophical here, You could ddefinitely be grateful to be Dead, especially if it's not the end. Maybe it seems dark to you, but there are things in this world you do not know exist, and don't wanna know.
Still. wish you all the happiness this day is meant to bring.
re - book publishing - Marye
Forgive this old author if I'm wrong, but didn't the publishing business use to work a different way? Editors were paid to read manuscripts presented by agents (one pile) and by he authors themselves (the slush pile). If they liked it they signed you to a contract and gave you an advance and made the manuscript into a book and promoted it to a degree (to what degree was always the problem).
Now, anybody can do desk-top publishing and it's all like a vanity press except you did all the work to make it into a bonafide book. If you distribute yourself, you keep a lot of the money. If they distribute and promote they make about 5/6ths of the cost of a book.
How much space is their at Borders and Waldens and other book chains, not to mention Wal-Mart? Only so much room for a few best-sellers. Am I missing the boat or isn't that a difference in the way authors at least get paid and promoted? And what difference has desk-top publishing made? I guess I wouldn't know if something I picked up is desk-topped or not., and desk-top authors make more money, I guess, minus their promotion and reproduction expenses.
Feel free to move this to another thread.
short answer
all of the above and it's complicated. Entire conferences are held on this subject regularly.