Psychedelics and Music

[laughingwillow]

I've caught a few shows at cal expo. Powerful little place.

Inviting the Spirit

To me, shutting off enternal dialogue is one of the first steps in the full-blown musical/psychedelic experience. Connecting with the music on an emotional level, or first, maybe cultivating a sensitivity for the emotional aspect of a given performance piece is necessary, imo. The simple act of letting go isn't always as easy as it sounds. My pre-show ritual will usually include the induction of a light trance state hours before the event. Fasting and/or drumming may facilitate the transition. While my preparation varies little from show to show, I would estimate that an intense psychedelic experience occurs about 25-30% of dead related events attended. (this has been a fairly consistant average for the last couple of decades) Interestingly, many say I appear to be sleeping while absorbing these most intense psychedelic lessons .

lw

[JRL]

It's the same on my side of the stage. You have to get to the place where nothing exists but you and the music. Goes to show you it is all part of the same thing Player-listener, yin yang.

I tell my students that the mental state they need to be in when laying is the same as when they are tottaly absorbed in a favorite piece of music.
And on a good night I feel the Groove shimmering from the crowd. Thats when the magic begins.

[laughingwillow]

quote jrl:  I tell my students that the mental state they need to be in when laying is the same as when they are tottaly absorbed in a favorite piece of music.

I didn't realize you were giving sex therapy classes now, bro. hehe

One aspect I find important is the willingness/ability to relinquish control of the experience. And this runs contrary to much of what I read concerning the intentions of many who venture into the psychedelic state. Human epectations and desires matter little in the land of the Dead, imo. After all, what sort of a student assumes to know a curriculum better than the teacher?  

lw

[JRL]

I do what I can. Actually sometimes I do more psychotherpy than I am confortable with. I do a lot of mentoring and coaching, like a sensei. We work on the specific things that keep the music from flowing, and I often present it as a matter of spiritual development. My teacher said "as you refine your music, you are really refining your self.

Relinquishing control. True dat. On stage it means playing with what is happening, not what could or you think should happen.It means trusting your bandmates. It means not being attached.

LW we been riding this groove, don't stop now

[laughingwillow]

quote jrl: My teacher said "as you refine your music, you are really refining your self.

I have also come to that realization. And that's how entheogenig experiences under the influence of music came to play such an important roll in my life. (Playing and listening.)

lw

[laughingwillow]

And as far as teachers go.......

This is where it gets a little tricky on my end. I believe I have a teacher. I just don't know who he/she is. (I'm not making this up. I think of it as the person behind the scene.) The lessons are conducted in the  psychedelic state at shows. Communication is non-verbal. And I no more believe that I'm in control of the "lesson," than Jerry believed he was in control of making the music during those transcendental moments for which the dead were known to capture for hours at a time.

lw

[JRL]

"We met the enemy and he is us"
              Pogo

We've talked of this before. Could it be the group mind talking to you? 10,000 heads are better than one.

I never really experienced it like that, but I don't have the experience that you do of seeing many shows dosed. I have studied their music my life and sometimes the vibe of the event comes pouring out the speakers.

I used to think that they put a lot of thought into the wizardrey and magic, but looking at it after all these years it really looks to me that they were musicians more than anything. They wanted to make art and to connect with their audience. Playing music is communication and communion, and it happens at a non verbal level. We call it soul to soul. And you are right, when it's happening it comes through you, and you aren't controling it, but not without your active participation and great effort to articulate your parts. it's a paradox for sure.

[laughingwillow]

That last paragraph pretty much sums up what I've been trying to communicate, bro. (There are a few quotes from Jerry I'll post in this thread later that I just came across again the other day.)

I really don't believe internal dialogue is the source of the lessons. We humans appear to be too rooted in our comfort zones to produce this type of intense self-guided experience, for lack of a better term.

The most logical (hehe) answers for me would include three scenarios. Either there is a powerful person behind the scenes, or the 10,000 heads high at once actually birth a cohesive over consciousness or the Spirit is responsible. But the personal lessons ain't coming from me, even if they do end up in me head. hehe

lw

[JRL]

"Wade in the water you never get wet if you keep on doing that rag"

"Look out kid it's something you did, god knows when but your doin it again"

Spiritual comments from my gurus.

I think the higher you fly the deeper you go(from another guru) and go deep enough we are all one.

Phil says that in the early days they got information from the group mind, but in later years all he got was energy.

All the esoteric traditions say that the first step is getting to internal dialouge to shut the fuck up.

[laughingwillow]

quote jrl: Phil says that in the early days they got information from the group mind, but in later years all he got was energy.

In the early daze, I mostly recieved energy. It took many years to subjugate me darkest fears to the point of being able to let go sufficiently to consciously enter that deep space with any regularity.

I have a tough time imagining how one would maintain the "information reception state" while playing a musical instrument.

A dead show is a giant, psychic battery, imo, complete with polar opposite charges.

lw

[laughingwillow]

I figure a little clarification might be in order....

When I talk about an "information" exchange, it doesn't necessarily mean that the lessons gleaned can be transcribed. Rather, the information would usually be of a nature that would evoke an emotion, with "fear" being a favored hot button.

Which leads to another point you mentioned early in the thread... That of changing perceptions of songs based on listening experience. There have been a number of dead songs that have rubbed me the wrong way the first few times I heard them but ended up being favorites. There have also been a few favs that have ended up scaring the hell out of me dtr. These moments usually seem to occur during full-blown psychedelic experiences and the "information" whispered in my ear during the songs in question seemed to tip the scales in one direction or the other.

The Spirit is a trickster, imo.

lw

[TooStonedToType]

"I think the higher you fly the deeper you go(from another guru) and go deep enough we are all one."

That reminds me of something regarding quieting One's internal dialogue. I find I can tell how well I'm doing by how much the people around me are talking.  Rather than quieting "myself" I focus on shutting "them" up. When the Chatty Kathys stop talking, things get interesting.

[laughingwillow]

LOL Amen, ttst.

But you be talking advanced techniques now. hehe Teks I never had to learn until fairly recently, as chatting Kathys seem to be multiplying exponentially. Especially with the popularity of the cell phone. I can't count the times in the last few years that I've been forced to listen to cell phone conversations during crispy musical passages as a concert goer gave blow by blow details to a friend on the phone. Listening to two dumb fooks blathering on about how stoopid it is to pay good money for a concert and then to lay down and fall asleep, (talking about me) had to be a humerous low-light of me psychedelic adventures.

lw

[laughingwillow]

The bottom line of the lessons imparted deal with personal growth, imo. Just like you mentioned above, jrl, concerning the other side of the musical coin. Personal growth. Point of view. Perspective.

In my experience, a lesson imparted at one show is presented in the future in order to see how well the initial insight has been integrated. This can lead to some interesting situations for a person as obstinate as me. Learning to supress thoughts and emotions when hooked up to the group mind is more difficult than getting connected, imo. But I spent a fair amount of time at shows doing just that. In the late 80's, many of the hottest shows I caught almost scared the living shite out of me. hehe

I may be going to hell in a buckett,
but at least I'm enjoying the ride........... - Weir/Barlow? -  

lw

[JRL]

The group mind field at a Dead show is sometimes so thick you could cut it with a knife. To me though, the lesson is that those dimensions and forces are always right there. I mean a huge gathering is gonna manifest powerful energies, but it can be done with much smaller groups, if everyone can tune in that fine.

"Let it be known there is a fountain, that was not made by the hands of man"

LW: as far as playing music in those spaces, I think it might be a matter of just how much time you spend playing. A pathalogical muso like Garcia musics like most folks eat and breath. I mean if you do it 60 hours a week your body remembers if the ego don't.

I was once playing this Casino gig( believe it or else) in this little bumfuck Nevada town, and the sheriff's daughter(!!) took me out to get me high on the break. Joint tasted funny and she had this weird grin. Walking back in the world began to wowwowowowoowwww, and I realized it was PCP! Oh Shit!! Dosed with one of the few drugs I wasn't quite fond of.
My main fear was falling off the little semi circle lounge bandstand that seemed about 30 feet tall. But I clung to conciousness and made it through the set of Earth,Wind amd Fire, Pablo Cruz and disco tunes we were doing. After six months of playing these sets 6 nights a week they were part of my nervous system.