Jerry's Gone
An era has ended
And here we are...still.
All these years,Made manifest,
The Tao Te Ching speaks of the best leader as one who leaves
The people thinking they did it all themselves.
Jerry was that kind of a leader.
He turned the power back to the people.
He, and the band...they have never really bought intoSo now Jerry has dropped his body...
And here we are... still.
Through him and his mythic playmates came the sound that
Connected us to our deeper selves...
This was our spiritual practice... our doorway...
Genuinely ours... and it worked...
Now Jerry isn't
And we are...still.
That we garnered from an otherwise shadow world
Transformed us? Or made us more free?Sad Grateful Dead addicts
In withdrawal?
For a long...long...long...time.
Most likely we will go through some powerful depressionWe may even court cynicism...
After all...it's not easy to lose your connection.
But Jerry's legacy to us is more profound than all of that.
He is in us...
Just as we have been in him.
We have all been not a tribe... or a family,
But a bubble of awareness
Riding upon the ocean of sound
That is in and beyond the sounds we ear hear.
Now it's up to us to co-create other safe spaces
And to allow our love-light to Shine.
By becoming the memory of you.
-Ram Dass
This passage is an excerpt from GARCIA - A Grateful Celebration, originally published in 1995 by Dupree's Diamond News. To learn more about Dupree's Diamond News or how to obtain a copy of GARCIA - A Grateful Celebration, click here.
Jerome John Garcia
Born
August 1, 1942 in San Francisco, CA
Died
August 9, 1995 in San Francisco, CA
I'm am calmed by the so many beautiful tributes coming in from our entourage.
Yet it's still so hard, so very hard, for so many of us.
I'm always trying to give good consideration to the very earnest, and sometimes humorous sugestions coming my way from concerned friends and family with possibilities of ways with which I could best cope. My 86 year old mother reminds me that when first meeting Jerry, it was on August 15, 1979, and couldn't I dwell on that August day, instead? (She didn't mean it to be funny.)
I wonder if there would be any way that we could have 8/9 support groups, one in every state, even if just for an hour, even just for a listening music session. We could even say nothing, just shake hands, have a seat, listen, - then, just shake hands again and say some goodbyes to each other. It might be refreshing just to put a human face on the grief and provide some relief to the still open wound.
Although our separation is an illusion, it strikes at my heart and forms my world.
Miss you Jerry
Long time, no see...
Byrd
....
Locations
Thank you Ram Dass for reminding me that the Grateful Dead experience is a spiritual one. Zig Zag Zen.