https://www.dead.net/features/days-between/jerrys-gone

Jerry's Gone

Jerry's dead

An era has ended



And here we are...still.

All these years,The Dead concerts have been spirit

Made manifest,

Deep connections into...Living Vibrant LoveNow The high priest has split.The Tao Te Ching speaks of the best leader as one who leavesThe 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 into****SUPERSTARDOM**** They have seen themselves more as catalysts In the magical mix of the moment That allowed each person at the gathering to feel safe enough toBecome self-luminous.

So 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.

So... has all that free form ecstasy

That we garnered from an otherwise shadow world

Transformed us? Or made us more free?Or Has it just left us a group ofSad Grateful Dead addicts

In withdrawal?

For sure we will grieve the monumental loss of our friend...Jerry

For a long...long...long...time.

Most likely we will go through some powerful depressionAnd despair...We 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 awarenessRiding upon the ocean of soundThat is in and beyond the sounds we ear hear.Now it's up to us to co-create other safe spacesWhere we can listen to hear what Jerry heard

And to allow our love-light to Shine.

Jerry is gone in one form, But...like the magician that he is,He has explosively been transformed into A million Jerrys... One...improvising in each of our hearts. Jerry...We express our gratefulness...

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.