" I had a marvelous experience two nights ago. I was invited to a rock concert
(crowd laughs). I'd never seen one. This was a big hall in Berkeley and the rock
group was the Grateful Dead, whose name, by the way, is from the Egyptian Book
of the Dead. And these are very sophisticated boys. This was news to me. Rock
Music has never seemed that interesting to me. It's very simple and the beat is the
same old thing. But when you see a room with 8000 young people for five hours
going through it to the beat of these boys, the genius of these musicians- these
three guitars and two wild drummers in the back. Listen, this is powerful stuff!
And what is it? The first thing I thought of was the Dionysian festivals, of course,
this energy and these terrific instruments with electric things that zoom in. This is
more than music. It turns something on in here (points to chest). And what it turns
on is life energy. This is Dionysus talking through these kids. Now I've seen similar
manifestations, but nothing as innocent as what I saw with this bunch. This was
sheer innocence. And when the great beam of light would go over the crowd you'
d see these marvelous young faces in sheer rapture- for five hours! Packed
together like sardines! Eight thousand of them! Then there was an opening in the
back with a series of panel windows and you look out and there's a whole bunch in
another hall, dancing crazy. This is a wonderful fervent loss of self in the larger self
of a homogeneous community. This is what it is all about! It doesn't matter what
the name of the God is, or whether it's a rock group or a clergy. It's somehow
hitting that chord of realization of the unity of God in you all, that's a terrific thing
and it just blows the rest away." (Joseph Campbell And The Grateful Dead,)
