Grateful Dead

I must say, I've never had more of a "spiritual" experience than listening to David Gans Dead Hour #554-56 ....well maybe at Sedona or in Yosemite. So listen to Wednsday's GD Hour, and you will here one of the best Morning Dew's I've ever heard in my life. And yes, I didn't see this live, just recorded the show one night in Tempe, AZ. The next day, I listened to it, and holy schnikies, that was even better than a vortex hitting your Head. I still have this tape today, A-Side DeadHour #556, B-Side (yes I was amazed by a homebrew) Primus-Pork Soda!____________________________________________________ Will you come with me? Once in awhile you can get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right!

I would like to try and state my spiritual views in as non-religious or non-denominational terms as I can, as much as possible, because I find many times it is the terms and not the concepts which bother people or set them off. I see everything in one of two ways. If I choose to see the world in way A:, what I term "US AGAINST THEM", I see the world totally and completely through the lens of my own set of beliefs, and any beliefs that differ from mine seem threatening to me, to the degree of strength that I hold my own. In this way of seeing, there is only room for one right view, mine, and every possible view must be compared against each other with generally the view seeming best for my own benefit, being the view that is held by me, in opposition to all other perceived views. There is only a finite perceived amount of room, in this view, to hold one's views. The more a view seems to disagree with the view I have chosen, the harder I fight against it. The other way, The B: Way, I have found to see the world is, US AND THEM. In this way, I hold my own view, but it is not threatened at all by the views that others hold , it is enriched by learning about others views, and being able to add to my view, the parts of others views that I like or that work for me. There is an infinite amount of room in this view for all points of view. The more, the richer. The more a view seems to disagree with my own held view, the more interesting it becomes to learn about, and from. So, for me, mentally-spiritually, it is all about whether I choose to see the world as US *AGAINST* THEM, or US *AND* THEM. I have found that the use of addition, instead of division, in my spiritual life, has resulted in much long lasting happiness. And the Grateful Dead have always been a great example of this type of thinking, for me, the type of thinking that eschews US AGAINST THEM thinking for US AND THEM thinking, in all the best meanings of that term. My 2 cents. free idea

it's all about faith, right?...gotta believe, if ya don't, you'll never know for sure

well.... i was raised jewish but come from an interfaith marriage... my dad is jewish and mom is catholic ....i went to orthodox hebrew school until the fith grade and hated ( if i knew a stronger word i would use it) every second of it at age 37 i still have an occasional nightmare about it....accordind to judaism that if the mother is not jewish the children are not...i am not sure what my father did to get me in that hell hole i still can't forgive him......every single day the kids would would call me names and what not because i according to them was not jewish..this only caused me to withdraw into myself and look towards god for cosaltion..when other kids wanted to play hide and seek i said lets pray....right up untill i became a teenager i wanted to be a rabbi...as most teens do i started explore the world beyond my front door but down a spritual path... i explored many religions (scaring the shit out of my dad).. at times i thought god was talking to me not some voices in my head thing but i would pray with evry ounce of my being and things would happen..everytime i needed a miracle i would stand outside the venue and make up a mantra and just start chanting and boom i would get a ticket in to hear jahovahs favorite quior... so i have come to the realization that god exist in all sentenant beings and what evry enrgy you put out comes bag but if you don't beleive nothing will happen because you don't put out the energy...now i am mainly a buddhist and thats how i will probably raise my kids as jewish buddhist.... sorry about the minie life story i just wanted people to undestand how i came to my beleife and i got exstreme cabin fever. let your life proceed by its own design

I know I certainly fall short of my own standards hourly.

that just plain makes my head hurt...........your point reminds me of the adage about stones in glass houses . we are ALL guilty

that (taking a cue from the Mark quote) every religion I can think of, not to mention a raft of secular belief systems, all have a pretty large shared view of what constitutes decent and rotten behavior. And yet, who among us, regardless of belief or lack thereof, manages to live up to our OWN ideals?

In Mark, chapter 7, Jesus says: Do ye not percieve, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him ...For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders. Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and defile the man. He may have walked the earth 2000 years ago but he left us the best description ever of network television. It's sad to watch greed destroy America. So let's walk together little children We don't ever have to worry Through this world of trouble We've got to love one another

I loved "The God Delusion". Dawkins hit the nail on the head for me so many times in that book. I certainly don't chastise anyone for believing what they want, so long as it doesn't harm anyone. But I'm a firm "non-believer". "Do unto others..." is the way to live. Plenty of morals & spirituality can be found without a god, IMO. Seey'all on TOUR!! ~ Pappy http://www.theCAUSEjams.com "Once in a while you can get shown the light in the strangest of places, if you look at it right." - Robert Hunter

Nice reference to Estimated Prophet gonzo. What is interesting (to me anyway) is that the fairly innocuous word 'fan' is an abbreviation of the apparently more sinister 'fanatic'. And Marye is right of course, fanatics are not necessarily just religious. As for demons, well the only ones I actually know are my own and while not worshipping them, I am learning to get along with them ;-) I am just about to start reading 'God is not Great' by Christopher Hitchens the second major anti-theist work of the few years (the other is the great Neo Darwinist Richard Dawkins' excellent 'The God Delusion'). Curiously (or not) both authors are British, both precociously intelligent and both alternately inspiring and annoying. Should be a good read.