\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0\\u00a0 The Early Years<\\/h3>\\n I think the 1st<\\/sup> time I ever heard the former Mr. Robert Zimmerman was at a get together of friends in my 6th<\\/sup> grade class at home of a classmate. The year is 1966. And our host pulls out a 45 disc that makes a significant impression on us all. For one thing, the song lasts about 6 minutes.\\u00a0 Hold on. How can the radio play a record that long? You must understand that at this point in our popular history, most songs we\\u2019d hear ran about 2.5 minutes. 6 minutes was, well, revolutionary. The song was \\u201cLike a Rolling Stone.\\u201d It was then and there that Bob Dylan became a serious part of my life.<\\/p>\\n A few years ago, it was announced that Mr. Dylan has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. There are those who protested this decision on the grounds that a songwriter is not a poet.\\u00a0 So often this is true; but not with Bob. More often than not a popular song needs both the lyrics and music to be appreciated to the fullest. You\\u2019ll have a hard time finding someone who appreciates the works of The Beatles more than I, but very few of their songs, as a group or in their solo efforts, can stand alone on a piece of paper.<\\/p>\\n But so many selections from the canon of The American Bard do just that. If he weren\\u2019t a musician, he could have been a poet laureate.\\u00a0 One critic of the Swedish academy\\u2019s choice was afraid that this will set a dangerous precedent, honoring the authors of simplistic tunes expressing teen passions.\\u00a0 The poetic music of Dylan belongs in a different universe.<\\/p>\\n Prof. Gordon Ball<\\/a>, an instructor of English at Washington & Lee University has been a champion of Dylan for years. As to the recent accolades he writes:<\\/p>\\n \\u201cIdealism and benefiting humanity often, of course, move hand in hand, and Dylan\\u2019s idealistic, activist songs have indeed helped change our world.\\u00a0 His 1963 Tom Paine Award (an earlier recipient, Bertrand Russell, was one of three philosophers \\u2014 not counting Sartre \\u2014 to win the Nobel in literature) came after Blowin\\u2019 in the Wind,<\\/em> Oxford Town<\\/em>, and other works, as well as his going South to help with voter registration drives<\\/a>. An attitude aired in his 1965\\u00a0 It\\u2019s Alright, Ma (I\\u2019m Only Bleeding)<\\/em>. \\u201cEven the President of the United States \\/ sometimes must have \\/ to stand naked\\u201d \\u2014 may have helped revise our view of presidential authority, encouraging inquiry into what became Watergate\\u2026For a generation raised in conformity, Dylan validated imagination and independence of thought; his work is emblematic of the creativity of the 1960s in the U.S., and has affected others across the globe. Asked \\u2026if growing up in Germany he had an \\u201cAmerican Dream,\\u201d German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer replied, \\u201cNot an American Dream, but my very own dream of freedom. That was for me the music of Bob Dylan.\\u201d\\u2019<\\/p>\\n

{"id":380,"date":"2023-11-27T17:01:09","date_gmt":"2023-11-27T22:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/dharmicmeanderings\/?p=380"},"modified":"2023-11-29T20:14:57","modified_gmt":"2023-11-30T01:14:57","slug":"the-many-incarnations-of-bob-dylan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/dharmicmeanderings\/2023\/11\/the-many-incarnations-of-bob-dylan\/","title":{"rendered":"The Many Incarnations of Bob Dylan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Bob Dylan & Joan Baez singing for justice. Photo Public Domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Those who are not part of the dharmic traditions often are quite challenged by the concept of reincarnation. I recall how I reacted when I learned of it. Perhaps it\u2019s just easier to conceive of oneself as perpetually existing as the person we are now, and residing in heaven with all our friends and family who were lucky enough to join you.But there are those who take rebirth multiple times while not leaving the physical body. A perfect example is the illustrious Bob Dylan.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Early Years<\/h3>\n I think the 1st<\/sup> time I ever heard the former Mr. Robert Zimmerman was at a get together of friends in my 6th<\/sup> grade class at home of a classmate. The year is 1966. And our host pulls out a 45 disc that makes a significant impression on us all. For one thing, the song lasts about 6 minutes.\u00a0 Hold on. How can the radio play a record that long? You must understand that at this point in our popular history, most songs we\u2019d hear ran about 2.5 minutes. 6 minutes was, well, revolutionary. The song was \u201cLike a Rolling Stone.\u201d It was then and there that Bob Dylan became a serious part of my life.<\/p>\n A few years ago, it was announced that Mr. Dylan has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. There are those who protested this decision on the grounds that a songwriter is not a poet.\u00a0 So often this is true; but not with Bob. More often than not a popular song needs both the lyrics and music to be appreciated to the fullest. You\u2019ll have a hard time finding someone who appreciates the works of The Beatles more than I, but very few of their songs, as a group or in their solo efforts, can stand alone on a piece of paper.<\/p>\n But so many selections from the canon of The American Bard do just that. If he weren\u2019t a musician, he could have been a poet laureate.\u00a0 One critic of the Swedish academy\u2019s choice was afraid that this will set a dangerous precedent, honoring the authors of simplistic tunes expressing teen passions.\u00a0 The poetic music of Dylan belongs in a different universe.<\/p>\n Prof. Gordon Ball<\/a>, an instructor of English at Washington & Lee University has been a champion of Dylan for years. As to the recent accolades he writes:<\/p>\n \u201cIdealism and benefiting humanity often, of course, move hand in hand, and Dylan\u2019s idealistic, activist songs have indeed helped change our world.\u00a0 His 1963 Tom Paine Award (an earlier recipient, Bertrand Russell, was one of three philosophers \u2014 not counting Sartre \u2014 to win the Nobel in literature) came after Blowin\u2019 in the Wind,<\/em> Oxford Town<\/em>, and other works, as well as his going South to help with voter registration drives<\/a>. An attitude aired in his 1965\u00a0 It\u2019s Alright, Ma (I\u2019m Only Bleeding)<\/em>. \u201cEven the President of the United States \/ sometimes must have \/ to stand naked\u201d \u2014 may have helped revise our view of presidential authority, encouraging inquiry into what became Watergate\u2026For a generation raised in conformity, Dylan validated imagination and independence of thought; his work is emblematic of the creativity of the 1960s in the U.S., and has affected others across the globe. Asked \u2026if growing up in Germany he had an \u201cAmerican Dream,\u201d German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer replied, \u201cNot an American Dream, but my very own dream of freedom. That was for me the music of Bob Dylan.\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Jester Takes On the Establishment<\/h3>\n* If you didn\u2019t grow up in the \u201860s in the United States it\u2019s hard to relay just what we were going through. Those of us in the Baby Boom were raised in relative comfort; compared\u00a0to our parents, who survived the Great Depression and World War II.\u00a0 While most of us were not conflicted with enjoying the comforts of personal mobility, education, food enough to waste and enough spending money to get us through the weekend,\u00a0there was an inner angst that many felt. The previous generations lived with extended familial and ethnic communities, often just scraping by. We were often subjected to suburban living, far flung from the roots that sprung us.<\/p>\n The pressure to \u201cbe successful\u201d and to prostrate before \u201cThe Establishment\u201d was a potent force.\u00a0 While not obvious,\u00a0The Establishment (a conglomeration of business, political, social and religious factors that often worked in unison when the various elements agreed) created networks that encouraged racism, unhealthy corporate cultures, fear-based politics and stunted spirituality. Bob Dylan was arguably the most prominent voice in music at this critical juncture in our culture.\u00a0 His songs urged us to question authority (The Times They are a-changin\u2019), to come right out at mock it (Subterranean Homesick Blues).\u00a0 These were not merely songs, but inspired anthems that were sung at rallies across the nation.<\/p>\n Bob Dylan was often referred to as a prophet. Many think that a prophet is one who supposedly tells the future. That is one definition. But the dictionary also says that a prophet is \u201cone gifted with more than ordinary spiritual and moral insight; especially:\u00a0 an inspired poet.\u201d It could be argued that Bob is eligible to be considered both.\u00a0 We paused with skepticism at every governmental pronouncement, stopped going to church, and shook our fists at the mighty evil perpetrated by western countries called the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n *And looking back at all that Dylan and his peers wrote and sang about it doesn\u2019t take a weatherman to tell that the wind has blown in the direction they charted. Sadly, the greater society (The Establishment) tends to catch on slowly. This is why we need to be reminded again and again how power tends to corrupt.\u00a0 But to my point, the sociopolitical views expressed in the music of Mr. Dylan that were so revolutionary back then are now considered pretty mainstream. US involvement in the Vietnam was bad, unrestrained corporatism is to be challenged, the threat of domestic communism was way overblown, spiritual traditions are to be approached with caution and we work better as a diverse nation with liberty and justice for all.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 About Those Incarnations<\/h3>\n I refer in this humble offering to Dylan\u2019s \u201cmany incarnations.\u201d What I mean by this is that he has been a master at inhabiting a persona for only so long and then dropping it overnight for something quite different.\u00a0 From Greenwich Village vagabond to electric folk-rock\u00a0frontman, to Country & Western crooner <\/a>, to romantic troubadour, to born again Christian<\/a> to being Jewish again to\u2026well, you get the picture.\u00a0 A few years back he recorded a CD of Christmas carols. Because he can, I guess. Besides. That\u2019s what Jewish singers (Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond, Sammy Davis Jr., Mel Torme and SO many more) do.<\/p>\n And it cannot be emphasized enough how so much of Dylan\u2019s staying power is generated by his every effort not to take himself so bloody seriously.\u00a0 This was the pitfall of many a 60s folkie.\u00a0 They were so earnest <\/em>all the time. But ol\u2019 Bob could make you question the insanity of the arms race on one album cut and have you giggling 10 minutes later while singing to Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat <\/em>or Rainy Day Women<\/em>.<\/p>\n Like many in his profession, or calling, if you prefer,\u00a0Bob has made great attempts to solve the world\u2019s problems while not always taking care of business at home. He would tell you not to follow him or treat him as some kind of messiah.\u00a0 But as much as the Buddha would I\u2019m sure protest, Hindus made him an avatar. We do that sort of thing.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Those who are not part of the dharmic traditions often are quite challenged by the concept of reincarnation. I recall how I reacted when I learned of it. Perhaps it\u2019s just easier to conceive of oneself as perpetually existing as the person we are now, and residing in heaven with all our friends and family […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4771,"featured_media":386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[47,53,36,50,56],"class_list":["post-380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hinduism-and-the-public-square","tag-dylan","tag-folk","tag-hinduism","tag-music","tag-reincarnation"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Many Incarnations of Bob Dylan<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There are those who take rebirth multiple times while not leaving the physical body. 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