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    marye
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    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.

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  • paintedmandolin71
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    greetings KIND people!!
    i really didnt know this thread existed!..good to see you tigerlilly and hal!..sunny g mentioned something about that show at shorline..that was the first show of anykind that i had been to since 7 9 95..and sunny ,your so right about bieng right back home again!..even though it was different with joan oz and all..and that set was smokin with loose lucy, rubin and cherise and st steven and all..i really was in tears,because i was overwhelmed with the joy of letting my spirit surf with the music waves of the dead again..i was really speachless,so i just smiled the whole show through,and spun in circles...and all the family that showed up..jane and the cleanup crew was there,so i got my old job back,and we marched into the show just like we did years before,...and yes!!i got to somersalt down the hill at the end of the show!!hey now!..i knew right then i had to turn on,tune in,and drop out again!!then i went to prison pretty much after that,,but hey now, i didnt let that stop me,because i had a tv i bought for my cell..and once a month on pbs they hosted dead shows,for the fundraiser..and being the only deadhead there and whiteboy too (it was all mexican)so hey now!i told all the border brothers,hey jerry garcias on!!..they were like seemon!garcia!..i had a cell full of border brothers eatin chips and salsa,while i was educating them what hippies and deadheads are..and i tell ya..thats how i earned the nickname "loco blanco covaio"..i kinda liked it to tell you the truth...ok im babblin too much here...anyways,,ill post again soon on the subject at hand..i got carried away again:D...."somewhere in sanfrancisco on a back pourch in july,just lookin up at this cresent in the sky...in the sky --moondrop
  • grateful_1973
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    My Sisters And Brothers ''KEEP the FAITH''
    ''' NO JESUS, NO PEACE ''' ~~~ ''' KNOW JESUS, KNOW PEACE '''
  • Sunny G
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    It's Funny
    It's funny how we have to be reminded of this stuff so much. I had a friend.....well she was more my best friend, my sister, my hero and my mentor.....she had breast cancer for five years. She was the first one to teach me that happiness is a choice. She taught it to me, by example, while she was terminal. She taught it right up til the day she died. She was the most amazing soul I've ever known. She's been gone for seven years now, so I tend to forget her lessons. When you have someone in your life who has CANCER and is reminding you to be happy, you tend to get the message loud and clear, you know? It's sooo easy to forget and wallow around. But I think that mucking in your own shit has it's place too? Sometimes you gotta muck just so that you can figure out how to get out of it? Life is SO great that way. So, a virtual Dead show? Now wouldn't THAT be a trip......hee hee......I'll pretend with you, I'm pretending right now. Let's see, they're playing Ripple.......and i've got this huge, goofy smile spread across my face (ripples my fav)......and my hands are floating out there around my body and my dusty, bare feet are sweeping, sweeping, sweeping the concrete. There's a breeze blowing my hair round my neck and across my shoulders and my dress is just trying to keep up with my body.......there's an amazing heaviness in my body contrasting sharply with the way it feels like it's gonna just lift off the planet and fly.....my eyes are closed but I've got a light show going on between my eyeballs and my lids.....and it's beautiful.....I open them......and I see you....... There is at least one fine and admirable quality in every person. Find it.
  • TigerLilly
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    Yeah well
    Hal is a treasure, have seen that over and over. And you got it loud and clear what I was saying. An example: have had some really rough days since I moved to Germany many years ago. Is a very hard, harsh and dull country spiriatually, after experiencing American shows. Had my moments of tending to wallow in this shitty life I landed in, until I got that info. about making choices and accepting responsibility. Remembering that I CHOSE to come here, and nobody held a gun to my head, helped me a whole lot, and find ways to still be what I am. You are soo right about one thing. I miss the dancing at a show too, and the feelings of peace and pure joy that it brought. Too bad we can't dance online-but we can pretend, if you want! Am sure Hal would join us too!
  • Sunny G
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    That's Good Tigerlilly....
    I like it! Who would've ever thought that responsibility could be so sexy? "Wait, you mean that I'M responsible for all this? That I have and I make choices that effect my life? And if I claim ownership, then the stress and the guilt and the frustration falls away?" Yeah, I get it. I am responsible for my happiness and my happiness is a choice.....it's lovely actually. Still wish that I coulda gotten that message through dance........am I killing that topic yet? :) But glad as heck that I've got you and Hal to remind me.......thanks......
  • TigerLilly
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    I hear you Sunny G
    loud and clear! You have written exactly my feelings and questions that I have had for several years now. Daily life as an adult makes it harder to find moments of pure peace and bliss, but like Guru Hal says, you gotta make time for that. One thing that helps me alot, in between being able to find joyful moments, is a simple phrase that a friend told me once. He said that he had just read in a book that the only people who are truly happy and balanced are those who can accept responsibility for their lives being as they are. That we have all made the choices that led us to where we are now, and that life hasn't just led us down a random bummer path. Was kind of hard to learn how to do this accepting, but now, in really bad moments, is like a prayer almost. I sit down and reflect on the choices that I made that got me to whatever bad thing I am experiencing. Brings me more inner peace to do this, and after practise, is easier than blaming the world for my shit. Then I look for any small thing to be happy about or proud of, and go on.
  • Steve-O
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    Enjoyment
    Enjoyment is my religion. I think doing the simple things we enjoy on a daily basis is what I would call religion. Anything that brings each individual inner peace is religion. That's all I have to say about that!!
  • Sunny G
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    where IS church?
    yeah Hal, that's all true. thanks for that. sometimes I need reminding too. You're right, life is change. I thank God that I had that time too. It was a whirlwind trip, it was wonderful and then it was gone. But it's here in me and it's here in you and that means that it must be out there somewhere still. We will get by....... I'm in my 30's now. It's a trippy decade of life. I don't know if it's the same for everyone, but for me it's raising a pre-teen, it's feeding the relationship with my SO, it's a 40 hr per week job, it's being on community and work committees, it's building a house, it's homework and soccer games, it's meetings and deadlines, it's cooking and cleaning, and it's laundry......oh the laundry.......it never stops. Busy, busy, busy all the time. Faster, faster, faster everyday. Harder, harder, harder to sniff the roses. Since everything is a schedule now (which is incredibly hard for me in itself, not to mention following it), it's hard to fit in "meadow" time or "ocean" time and make it "church". Ironcially, it's almost like I need a scheduled show to plan for and go to; now more than ever. I do find it here and there. A hummingbird that comes to visit when I'm drinking my morning coffee. The sunset with beams of light shooting up from the hills as I drive home, the chit-chats with my daughter on the way to soccer games, finding a spider web strung all the way from the top of the garage to the concrete floor (my god, that spider had tenacity!), making my friends' baby smile. Those little moments are all there, sprinkled in amongst the hurry. Moments that remind me of God. I went to that show in Shoreline a few years back where the GD played with Joan Osborne. It just reminded me of......everything. I should find more shows to go to. I need to dance. BTW....I'm with you on this: the ONLY way I can get the house clean is to throw a GD CD in, crank up the stereo, and vacuum my heart out. You're words are comforting.......please keep them coming. And I'll do my best to do the same.
  • Hal R
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    where is the church?
    Hi Sunny,If you take a long walk outside in the mountains or the forest or near the ocean maybe you will see another church or the same church in another form. And maybe the birds singing are also a Band Beyond Description. Not the same but what is? Nothing lasts and that's the hard part. I got that feeling that you talk about when I saw Ratdog this summer. I felt like I was back home and had been away for a couple of years. The ecstasy and oneness of the dance of the Dead is one I treasure and gives me great joy and bliss and peace and love. I still find it at jam band shows, listening to Dead CDs and just dancing around the house as I do the daily chores. But there truly is nothing like a Grateful Dead concert. I'm just glad I was at a certain place and time on this planet to take part. And I still have nature and the birds to put a smile on my face and all those tapes and CDs and memories. I'm going around in circles here, just spinning away. It's a good day, send me this post when I am having a bad one to remind me to smell the roses and hear the songs. Hal Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.) Walt Whitman-Song of Myself
  • Sunny G
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    Religion
    Ummm.....I think that the Grateful Dead WAS my religion. That may sound strange to some, but it's true. I didn't worhship the band and I didn't think that Jerry was God or anything. Not like that. But the shows were my church. The Heads were my congregation. Dance was my prayer. Spinning was my rapture. Yes, I was a spinner. Spinning took me straight to God, Goddess, the Universe, whatever. No matter what happened during the week, everything always unraveled while I danced. Life became seamless, things took shape, problems worked themselves out, solutions offered themselves to me. The more I danced, the more I Understood. The more I Understood, the more peaceful my spirit became. I'm having a hard time writing this post because I'm not sure there's any good way to describe what religion does to your soul. All I know is that I learned more about forgiveness and prayer at Dead shows than anywhere else. So, I guess I lost my religion. It happens. No other music, no other band has been able to take me to the same place. I've tried on many different religions, none of them have clicked. For more than a decade now, I'm not sure what I believe in. Not sure how to get back to that place where the angels are dancing there with me. I'm sure I'll find it again. Maybe I'll be an old lady someday, spinning out in a meadow, dancing to the music in my memory, talking with God. Maybe I'll find it sooner than that. Maybe when Uncle John comes to take this child Home, there'll be Dead shows in Heaven. I'll be in the Phil Zone.....spinning.......
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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.
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I just think that everyone should respect and accept everyone else's opinion and just be kind and gentle with eachother and listen to the Grateful Dead.
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lemme know if you want the new topic started and what you want it called if so...
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could my suggestions be appropriate?....just a little joshing, that's all!!!
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yer scarin' me...
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I'll second Mr. Pid's proposal: "General philosophy...for those who have no use for Religion and don't mind saying so...all points of view are fair game, discussion encouraged, but flaming, hate speech and ad hominem attacks, no." My suggestion for a name is Imagine There's No Heaven.
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means that we accept the concept that there IS one, thus STILL based in Christianity, so personally I vote no to that one for a non-religious philosophy thread. How about: Deep Philosophical Thoughts
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'Life, the Universe and Everything'
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Mark 7:15 "There is nothing that enters a man from outside that can defile him, but the things that come out of him, those are the things that defile him" For example if a guy drinks whiskey and gets sleepy, and another drinks milk and gets mean, which one is sinning?
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for Badger's title! Works for me!
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yeah, i'll go with that too. first post should be why he feels the need to upset people so.........ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!!!!
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I agree because everybody has the right to have any opinion about anything so long as it is kynde and nice.
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badger's gonna go all honeybadger on you one day! :D
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ha ha!!does that mean he "just doesn't give a shit...Cosmic Badger's crazy...he's a bad ass...he just doesn't give a shit"!!!!!!! or does it mean he's going to smother me in sticky nectar and use that long moist tongue of his......
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I think we should be kind and thoughtful and not smother the space set aside for our believing brethren and sistren.
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bland or sulking?!!!!
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Is fine by me. Though we could then just cut to the chase and post "42" and end the discussion right there. I have been staying away from commenting on this thread, as I'm concerned about hijacking it away from its "mission statement" and its intended audience...though it seems the topic seems a bit underutilized lately. I had started working on what was intended as a letter to the editor of my local paper on the subject of government-sponsored prayer, a very hot hot-button issue on the local level these days in my neck of the Bible belt. But the letter turned into a much-too-long essay that I'm guessing wouldn't be accepted as a "guest column." Nearly posted on Facebook, and like the jonaPancake guy here, had second thoughts after I read it over. Still pondering it... Regardless, thanks for all the fish!
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don't you mean ONE fish, singular, gratefaldean? there's enough for 5000 there, surely?........!!!get a loaf of bread off a boy while you're at it! by the way, a spanking new series on the BBC of Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently detective is starting soon. Stephen Mangan is a great actor (all too sadly under-written for since the glorious and must-see Green Wing). and by the way, here would be the perfect place for that letter!! come come deano old bean, reveal all! sounds mighty intriguing to these ears. the words "government sponsored prayer" should NEVER be used in that formation and order, and, if they ever are, a shudder should rattle the spine like an ill-advised stage dive at Black Flag concert. or a Suicidal Tendencies soirée. you're quite right that this topic is "underutilized"; no other fucker seems to post much here, so hijack like a Somali pirate, i say.
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Further thread hijacking-but that TOTALLY excites me! Loved Dirk Gently Holistic Detective sooooooooo much! Thanks for that important info, and will be watching for it
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But then again, maybe we did. Guilty as charged. As for a title, I actually liked "A closer look reveals the human race" because it keeps the Dead lyric topic naming thing going, but it is a bit homo sapiens-centric so I'm good with Brother Badger's suggestion as well. A safe place for us to discuss perspectives on life that aren't deity dependent. Thanks for the props to Mike Edwards as well. At first blush, I liked your title suggestion as well, but there can be no denying that TigerLilly's observation and concerns have merit. As for apologies for past acts of bad faith jonapi, I'm not quite sure I see what the point is. No matter what Mr. Orwell might have suspected, you can't change the past, you can only change the future. I would only hope that those guilty would henceforth moderate their behavior and public posture to at least acknowledge that they and their adherents represent merely one of myriad possible perspectives and proceed accordingly. How is it that they put that thought? Oh yeah. Go, and sin no more.
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> Imagining there's no heaven means that we accept the concept that there IS one Not necessarily, it's easy to imagine a scenario in which heaven was imagined in the first place, but I can see how some people might read the line that way, TigerLilly. I'm not hung up on the name though; I'm a writer, which means I usually get things wrong before I get them right. Plus, it's hard not to like a Douglas Adams line, and especially an inclusive one like Life, the Universe and Everything.
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i'm beginning to doubt my own british humour now! (or else i'm tired, having just learnt of a sad death in the extended family, and have become a victim of my own dry approach to comedy!).i'm not sure what you meant by "past acts of bad faith..." etc., Mr. Pid; were you talking about my comments to CB about "upsetting people"? if so, i was pulling his english leg a little and joking with him!! or am i missing something else? that 5000 thing was because gratefaldean signed off with "thanks for all the fish" so i took a cheap shot and made fun of the feeding of the masses with one fish and a loaf of bread. all of my recent posts have been tongue in cheek and an excuse to be a tad cheeky; a pesky little scamp, nothing more. please don't take anything i say too seriously. i'm usually guilty of being too obtuse; i'm just being a wee prick that's all!! and definitely (or he better be!!), the badger is reveling in maintaining a "bland" stance as a facetious nod to my poor grammar (or grandad!!) in a post i made to his earlier reply!! i got confused and made some schoolboy punctuation-al errors that he's intent on highlighting in a most uncharitable fashion ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!! good on 'im!!! that's what i'd do too ha ha!!!
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where the huskies go and don't you eat that yellowcake. The apology reference was (surprisingly on topic!) regarding your apparent and Mr. Hitchen's clear request that the Roman Catholic Church should set about apologizing everywhere to everyone about everything that they'd gotten wrong all these centuries. Really, what exactly is the point of that? Sorry, but that's baggage that they can't have some airline conveniently lose in transit in some far-flung corner of the world. It seems to me that it would be in their best interests to just stop collecting more items from that particular line of cheap Vuitton luggage. Perhaps I'm also guilty of being somewhat obtuse in my references as well, so continuing with that notion, since you raised the spectre of self-flagellation, I like the approach taken by the monks in The Grail. "Blow to the head or boot in the groin? I'll take the blow to the head, please."
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Is about 1100 words at this point. And most of it is just a schoolboy memory of mine. It may see the light of day, but I need to let it ferment a bit, I think, let it stew while I forget about it and then come back to it with fresh eyes. And read what says -- right now I'm reading what I THINK that I wrote, which I often find is not always the same as what I really did write. And the fish line cracked me up...I was still hanging in Douglas Adams-land, and you, Nakanopi, were actually on-topic.
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I was going to make a suggestion that everyone should have a big group hug and a nice cup of tea, but then I decided not to as it might be taken wrongly as a case of the bland leading the partially slighted. By the way, both Douglas Adams and Christopher Hitchens have published instructions for making a perfect cup of tea.
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you really are sulking aren't you, CB?!!!!! Lama-badgo?...... and love the fact that Mary started a new topic and no one has posted there yet for 2 days!! good work everyone!!
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yes, it was a beautiful blue sky day; the hint of hay in the air across the fields, sweet in the nose. spring entering the soul and radiating warmth. basking more appropriate than questioning, no? we must all think alike after all.....
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investigation into the human condition.connection to suffering. introspection and inward peace. science may learn, interact, join and explore.
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moving, thought provoking film featuring the fantastic Anthony Scher, Eddie Marsan and others. in Auschitz, jewish prisoners put God on trial in absentia for abandoning the Jewish people. the question is if God has broken his covenant with the Jeweish people by allowing the Nazis to commit genocide.
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...the so-called "Deadheads for Obama" have zero criticism of their hero for sending drones to Pakistan to kill "brown skin people" when they were so anxious to attack W, and me for supporting him on the old DNC MB, for his war against Islamofascists... J/K, we all know the answer to that question now don't we?
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let's not bother then, eh?!!!!
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see what I said to Pid in the "what would be the answer" thread. :)
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Please confine your trolling to the relevant topics. This is not one of them. Current events might be. Any further such posts here will be deleted.
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Testing, testing, this is just a test. The last post made on this forum on July 4, 2007?Or, am I being foolish on April Fool's? Post #1 on April 1st...Hmm.
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Just wanted to say thank you. I grew a lot from being here. I'm truly sorry for the bad things I've said in the past, but I hope I made people smle too. You sure made me laugh, thank you. So may God bless Bobby, Phil, Mickey, and Bill and all of you with love and peace. - trailbird brian
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I believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I try very hard not to judge others and respect all persons beliefs. That's all, thank you very much Marye and deadnet for the opportunity to express that belief. ...when we make it to the Promised Laaanddd...
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Although Buddhist cultures all over the world celebrate the historical Buddha's milestones in different ways, it is the Tibetans who roll his birth, death and enlightenment into four weeks of celebration in a multifaceted event. On this day the merit from particularly moral acts supposedly increases by a factor of ten million. If you are a believer, as I am, then just tossing a beggar sitting on a city street corner a dollar bill could result in your future rebirth into a particularly wealthy family who would endow you with wealth worth more than $10 million dollars. But, of course, as with most religions, getting rich is not the point. Rather, remembering the historical figure who created massive amounts of good will and good, charitable acts is the real point. As is often said, accomplishing the good of others is providing provision for one's own future life. Shakyamuni Buddha was born over 2500 years ago in Lumbini, Nepal. He grew up a prince in a royal family who married and had a family. Becoming dissatisfied with every material thing and seeing sickness,old age and death convinced him to embark on a spiritual journey that eventually brought him to sit under the Bodhi Tree, unmoving, for seven years by the river Narayan in Bodh Gaya, India until he saw the morning star and became enlightened. He died not far away (relatively) in Kushinigar, India at the age of 82. His last words were: "All component things in the world are changeable. They are not lasting. Work hard to gain your own salvation." Unlike many other religious figures who proclaimed themselves Gods or Sons of God, Shakamuni Buddha simply said for those who were curious it would be best to test his theories and if they worked perhaps they could be put into practice.
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I'm just starting to poke around this forum, not sure how active anyone still is
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Through an unlikely series of events, my sister had a handful of Sunday night tickets to distribute on very short notice. She was pleased to discover that Deadheads really are everywhere. Not knowing how people would respond, she began asking various contacts about their possible interest in tickets, and was surprised at those who immediately replied, "Yes, I will meet you any place at any hour to receive tickets". No one here would be surprised that she would find this response, but she did not who in her range of acquaintances would be those folks. Only on a hunch did she contact her former downstairs neighbor, a person she thought she knew well after many years sharing a building. Or the fellow doing work on her house. Or the friend of our brother, who only found out that our brother was going to the show when did not show up to play guitar with him at church on Sunday morning. Some inquiries and quick calls by the guitar player, just hours before the show, ended up with him learning that, miracle of miracles, Yes, there was one more ticket available. This gets me to thinking that every town in America ought to have an event when Deadheads can come out and get acquainted. I expect that there will be many more Dead nights at pubs and such, but we surely need a way to find each other.
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I love the steal your face with the cross! I am a Catholic deadhead, which seems to stump everyone i know... everyone who isn't a deadhead, that is... i think most people who listen to the music realize that the notes played, pointed onward and outward... towards a bit of the transcendent. Anyways... it's good to see evidence that i'm not alone in loving God and loving the music of the dead:) Seeing the last show in Chicago a few weeks ago brought be back home. Peace and love to you all.