• 882 replies
    marye
    Joined:
    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.

Comments

sort by
Recent
Reset
  • Gypsy Cowgirl
    Joined:
    Chiming in the sheep......
    OY! TL & GDTUD-didn't mean to get anything out of hand here! For your info, my ex, (who has been gone to the "great hunting grounds" 30 years this year) & would tell the Jehovah's Witnesses about his naked praying was raised Catholic. (although he was half Native American) He was the ultimate DH back then... Loved 'em til the day he died......& NOW we have "happy trails" to talk to also-love what he or she says.........once again....."& I bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodnight" Spiritual song or religious? "Did it matter, does it now?" St Stephen-could be another spiritual or religious song I guess-taught it to my kids when they were very young.....I'll have to tell my oldest son about his father's naked praying, though-think it's slipped my mind......
  • free idea
    Joined:
    love what i'm readin
    really nice thoughts on this page. my view on reality is very mathematical. Any thing that ever reaches zero always was zero, with no real existence. And anything that is always present, no gaps, I call that real. And as i searched about and saw in 100 years, all that is termed mortal about me will be no more operational.So I looked for what i still had when all that could be lost was gone. And I found, thought. Thought. Still there. You could say eternally. And then, like a supernova, I saw reality, Intelligence itself. And our selves as expressions of this, in the nature of idea only, no mortal anything. This intelligence, i call God, and intelligence naturally expresses itself as idea, which is how i see us. Individual expressions of a perfect mind. When I realized all this it was just a different perspective than I had had before, but it had a dramatic effect on my day to day life. I mean, positive.Cause I see us all as perfect ideas now, free of all the mortal concern, which one day will swirl and rise and go puff, zip, into zero-ness. Proving it was never here at all. It just blocked us for a time from seeing us we always are, , a free idea I don't think this viewpoint is new at all, bit it sure brought lots o' light into my life! andy
  • starsleeper
    Default Avatar
    Joined:
    waitin
    I'm not one of those folks who thinks the world was created a few thousand years ago. I think a God who has the patience to wait a few billion years for us, love's us a lot more than one who had to do it in six days. Thank you Lord.
  • GRTUD
    Joined:
    A Few Notes:
    1) I'm going to take up naked praying... if that doesn't summon a response from God, nothing will. Perhaps someone could begin building an "Ark" now?2) In my last post, the word "enlightenment" can be interchanged with "knowledge"; 3) Christianity (Catholic) is my personal starting point (spiritually) and many, many folks associated with that religion fed my mind with vast information, both religious and scientific, so my remarks about religion being defunct was not a total dismissal of the value it had in my personal life. I'm not anti religion in total but I don't like the direction I see being taken, personally, at this time; 4) Thanks for reading my post, TL & WW! We live in VERY EXCITING "times", indeed. Cazart! "The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer." - Ken Kesey
  • TigerLilly
    Joined:
    Naked Praying
    What an interesting idea W.W.! Surely would be closer to our natural state, eh? Perhaps should try it. Or perhaps I shouldn't have responded, before this discussion gets WAAAY out of hand after had been going so well-couldn't resist though ;-)********************************** Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone, you will still exist, but you have ceased to live. Samuel Clemens
  • Gypsy Cowgirl
    Joined:
    OOPS!
    Oops- Type "O" meant Jehovah's........ok, onward to naked praying......Happy Trails, GC
  • Gypsy Cowgirl
    Joined:
    Church Chat-early in the week
    Hey Tiger Lilly-I like your posts-"go with the flow" definitely. As far as the religion thing, I just don't like labels, so if I have to label myself just "Human", so be it..........will be traveling next Sunday, so thought I'd post something now......maybe I'll go pray naked now (my ex used to tell the Jehvah's Witnesses that when they came to our door-needless to say, they'd never come back) This was when we lived way up on a mountain top in Humboldt Co. 1973-1974.....Amazing Grace........"& I bid you goodnight, goodnight, goodnight"............love yall, Gypsy Cowgirlps-the 1 time my adult son told me that I had left "a hole in his religious upbringing" Just about floored me to which I replied "WELL, excuuuse me for not having religion shoved down your throat, like your grandpa did- You're free to go out & find your own" He still doesn't go to church- I'll have to tell him about the Higgs Field, though........Happy Trails.......
  • TigerLilly
    Joined:
    Thank You Grtud!!!!!!!!! Tesla again, eh ;-)
    Mr. Scientific, shouldn't be suprised that such a post came from you ;-) but your Higgs Field explanation (which I have never heard of, so again thanks again for bringing it up) comes the closest to being an explanation of what have thought about spirituality. Will have to read more about it. Again is more "scientific" explanation than had ever come up with, any time I had tried to explain what I felt was just that-instinct, thoughts and feelings. Am still not sure whether is the same thing as what bugs me about religion, putting names, and explanations on forces that are bigger than we are, and also personally not necessary to "understand" but just go with em-GO WITH THE FLOW, BUT am absolutely definately gonna have to look for more to read about Higgs Field theory. This thread is developing in such a fascinating way. Incredible! Look forward to every new post here! ********************************** Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone, you will still exist, but you have ceased to live. Samuel Clemens
  • GRTUD
    Joined:
    Christanity And The Higgs Field
    Search these words on the internet or Wikipedia:Gnostic, Essenes and Nazarene (sect) for more information on the historical nature of Christianity and Jesus. Religion: I'd say I was Gnostic but I reject dualism as a mirage caused by undeveloped senses, including a sense of "time" which makes up part of what is known as "the human condition". The most important conflict in early Christianity was both the notion that Jesus was divine and that God was a perfect being. I find those aspects of debate worth digging into with both hands, considering how much western religion relies on those notions. I can't say that I believe anything "is" or "isn't" because if you observe anything long enough, both seem possible... sometimes. Essentially, I think that all organized religion is now defunct in function, except for the literary and artistic value (which have HUGE importance to teaching children the fundamentals of EVERYTHING) due to advances in "science" (the cultivation of undeveloped "senses"), which is really not any different than religion, ultimately. Both observe the universe and "reality" in at least 3 dimensions, then try to draw conclusions about the nature of life, including the purpose, which imposes implications regarding a hidden "creator" (beginning) and it's nature in relation to our own happiness/sadness/pain/pleasure/reward/punishment/hate/love and most importantly our mortality (ending). I won't dive into behavior modification, at this time for sake of some brevity. Higgs Field: In October of this year, I believe scientists will prove what I myself have seen with my own "eyes" under the influence of psychedelic drugs... The Higgs Field. The evaporating remnants of the Higgs boson, aka "The God Particle" (when it is finally viewed) will explain much of what Nikola Tesla referred to as "The Unified Field Theory", which he claimed to have solved before his "death" (Einstein called it "The Theory of Everything" which was his life's biggest failure). The implications of this simple and tiny data will be so overwhelming, we may not grasp the basic meaning in our lifetime, which is tragic imo, in part because of superstitious notions guarded by organized religion and used to control this realm and reality to it's own purpose (see also, "Galileo Galilei"). That said, my idea is that the BEH Mechanism in place that makes up our universe will continue to recycle consciousness itself until the true nature of life is revealed, without regard to "time". In summary, we will "see" with the Higgs boson, that our reality is merely a facsimile of another reality, that which has come to be known as "Heaven". "Hell" is simply the absence of the knowledge of that reality. Just my opinion, of course. "The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer." - Ken Kesey
  • TigerLilly
    Joined:
    Correction Tom
    Was not my quote, was BobbaLee's-but liked it very much!!! Am gonna have to dig out my old XTC tapes again (yes are that old) as those lyrics you wrote are lovely!********************************** Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone, you will still exist, but you have ceased to live. Samuel Clemens
user picture

Member for

17 years 5 months
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.
user picture

Member for

13 years 8 months
Permalink

Hey, great name there brother-sister.I hope that one of the enduring legacies of Fare Thee Well is that no one has to treat being a Deadhead as a contradiction to any other aspect of their life. When more non-Heads realize how many Head have been living in their midst all these years, they might start to recognize the common traits in them.
user picture

Member for

13 years 8 months
Permalink

The blue moon this weekend makes me look back.: 5 young adults in my extended family went to FTW there with their Deadhead parents (not exactly dragged there). Each came away ready to confess: There is NOTHING like a Grateful Dead concert. The full sensory immersion, plus the overflowing love, peace and harmony shown by everyone there, did much more than would any amount of listening to recordings. But full credit to the band, to continue to experiment and innovate, to improvise new music in front of a massive crowd which did have its skeptics. Morgan40, I read the article you link below. There is unquestionably a message of hope and redemption running through the Dead music, but it would be too much to say that it is only draws on Biblical influences (which I know you did not). In the same way, I would not want anyone to think that my avatar implies I see a unique link between my faith and Dead-ism. That’s not any more true of my stealie than someone who inserts their favorite team logo on the Face.
user picture

Member for

9 years 5 months
Permalink

what`s your religion. Music takes your spirit and gives you wings so you can soar upt to heaven if you want to.I`m very grateful to the spirits that my baby-grandson , born July 31 - two days ago - is healthy and so beautiful........
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

9 years 3 months
Permalink

amen, amen. Thanks for your note, Graceful Dead. I feel very blessed by the Fare Thee Well event. I was fortunate enough to fly into the states and attend the last night. It was a bit sad to say good-bye, but really i feel like the music means as much to us now, and can lead us to shine our love lights into the future. Know our love will not fade away. Hey, btw... did you happen to see the following article??? http://www.patheos.com/blogs/religionnow/2015/07/once-in-a-while-you-ge… Peace be with you and yours, a sister down under
user picture

Member for

17 years
Permalink

Turn around and I'll be there like a road leading home.We are everywhere⚡️
user picture

Member for

17 years
Permalink

Heard Phil yell that after Box of Rain encore 12-18-93 Oakland col. Great show!!
user picture

Member for

16 years
Permalink

I'm In Adelaide. I was lucky enough to see both Santa Clara shows. It was bittersweet saying goodbye to the guys as a group, but we can't say goodbye to the Music. What they started 50 years ago is still evolving, and will continue to as the legitimate genre it has become. Thanks, Guys! See you at Bluesfest, loveandpeace (Sat Tedesci Trucks, Lucas Nelson and Promise of the Real, and Joe Bonnamassa)
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

9 years 3 months
Permalink

I'm in Melbourne. We're an American family with three children, who came here four years ago. I was blessed to attend the last night in Chicago... my original hometown. It was a beautiful night, spent with folks from tour 20+ years ago. I have to admit that i felt both inspired and sad after the shows. The spirit of the shows lingered for weeks and i was completely blown away by how the music and the vibe of a show was just as relevant and important for me now, as it was back then. In fact, it felt like it had just been too, too long. We need that music, and i think you are right... it's so important, that it will evolve and stay alive. anyways... i'll have the check out bluesfest. Any music suggestions are welcome, as i haven't got a clue down here. Peace be with you and yours, jennifer
user picture

Member for

13 years 8 months
Permalink

Three observations about the infectious lilt that is the pace of Grateful Dead music (and that gives Deadheads their characteristic walk while listening to Jehovah's favorite choir). John Mayer said that the pace of Dead music made him notice how different it was from "everything ..processed and quantized and gridded out – to hear 'Tennessee Jed' played with that lope.." And in Kreutzman's recent interviews he stated that one of the main lessons he learned from Garcia about music was to play "a really full four beats. Don't rush to the end of the bar". Finally, learning that the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds have joined the Giants in planning Grateful Dead nights (thanks for the tip from Holly Hiker), makes me speculate that a steady, measured pace of things might make for more overlap between Dead fans and baseball fans than there is with football fans. I'm runnin', but I take my time.
user picture

Member for

13 years 8 months
Permalink

You know who I mean. For their unrivaled track record of creativity and innovation, continuing even today, in light and sound. For the highest level of musicianship, sustained over many decades. For the breadth and durability of their own songbook. For their lively and invigorating interpretation of the traditional American songbook. And of course the testimony of the fan base, who the word "loyal" does not begin to describe. No other band has ever had anything like that following, neither in their heyday nor continuing so long, long after.
user picture

Member for

13 years 8 months
Permalink

A mighty giant had laid down to join his ancestors. But he fell across the trail in the Pacific rain forest that we were hiking on. The forest service cut the tree to re-open the path, and left the fresh face of the trunk at about eye level, leaning up the hill side where it fell. The outer edge of the bark was a deep rust color, and the color had been seeping down in the month or so since it fell. In successive rings, though, the inner core had brighter and brighter tones, until the central core was virtually white. And centered there was a pattern that resembled a tree in outline, with a great canopy spread above the center point, and a vast root system below. At the well spring of life for that large creature was the very idea of Tree, the Form of what each tree of its kind should be. Though this particular embodiment of that concept was now to begin its very prolonged decay, it is succeeded by many, many others which sprang from the same source. Or maybe I am projecting my feelings about my father in his decline.
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

17 years 4 months
Permalink

Sounds like compassion ,pouring out of the pores. Very Beautiful, THANK YOU ,GOD BLESS .
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

17 years 4 months
Permalink

PEACE ,TOO AWL,KEEP ON TRUCKIN. YEAH, LOV LIFE !
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

17 years 4 months
Permalink

GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE WAIT,THEY REALLY DO ,EASIER SAID THEN DONE I KNOW ,BEING AS ONE WITH IN IS A GOAL,YOU CAN ALWAYS UP,WERE EVER YOU GET YOUR ENERGY FROM ,BE GRATEFUL!
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

17 years 4 months
Permalink

Going thought some hard times ,same as everybody else ,just looking around,man its a different world,been sleepin,lol lol ,wake up tomarrow ,[spellings bad]lol.PEACE.
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

17 years 4 months
Permalink

English!LOL
user picture

Member for

13 years 8 months
Permalink

I do hope that what sounded like a very good night for you did not turn in to a bad day come morning.
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

17 years 4 months
Permalink

All is Good,All is Well,opened up a couple more doors, Thanks for Asking, Hows things on your end?
user picture

Member for

13 years 8 months
Permalink

Thanks for asking, 1973. My Dad died two weeks ago; myself and my siblings were at his side, trying to comfort his passage. We can always wish that the inevitable will be put off a little longer, but his very long, very fruitful life had finally run its course. All of his 15 young adult grandchildren participated in his funeral (and two great-grandchildren delighted the very large crowd that gathered). One grandson did him proud, and moved everyone in attendance, by reading a passage from Saul of Tarsus: "Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you." What more could you want?
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

13 years 8 months
Permalink

Very sorry for your loss.....it is never easy.....it sounds like your dads memory was honored and will continue to be.
user picture

Member for

9 years 4 months
Permalink

I'm sorry. May God's peace be with you and your family. What God did in Saul's life, renaming him Paul, is amazing. HE can change us all one person at a time.
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

17 years 4 months
Permalink

Im truly sorry for your loss,Saul to Paul,WoW, Strenth,Love,God Bless...
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

17 years 4 months
Permalink

Prayers With You ...
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

17 years 4 months
Permalink

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to All!!!
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

17 years 4 months
Permalink

Thank You !!!
user picture

Member for

13 years 8 months
Permalink

It is my impression that a high percentage of Dead Heads are 5-for-5 on the beliefs that William James lists in his 1902 book "The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature" as the "characteristics of religious life": 1. That the visible world is part of a more spiritual universe from which it draws its chief significance; 2. That union or harmonious relation with that higher universe is our true end; 3. That prayer or inner communion with the spirit thereof—be that spirit 'God' or 'law'—is a process wherein work is really done, and spiritual energy flows in and produces effects, psychological or material, within the phenomenal world. 4. A new zest which adds itself like a gift to life, and takes the form either of lyrical enchantment or of appeal to earnestness and heroism. 5. An assurance of safety and a temper of peace, and, in relation to others, a preponderance of loving affections.
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

13 years 8 months
Permalink

Tom you hit the nail on the head, those words ring true here. glad that you are enjoying your new musical stash.... please pay it forward...