Visionary artist, John Speaker, joins Raghu to talk Ram Dass, psychedelics, depicting deities, live painting at music festivals, and the spiritual path of art.
Welcoming visionary artist, John Speaker, to Mindrolling, Raghu shares about the Ram Dass portrait John jammed on live during Random Rab’s Soul Land Music Series performance. After Raghu inquires into what sparked John onto the spiritual path of creating psychedelic art, John reflects on how two tabs of acid, a pen, and a piece of paper transformed his life from gloomy suicidal ideations to inspired creative artistry. Check out John’s mind-expanding work at JohnSpeaker.com
Check out a new Spring season of the Ram Dass Soul Land Music Series featuring artists such as Gone Gone Beyond, David Starfire, & Jai Uttal!
Devotee of the Creative Spirit
After they express their intrinsic love for Ram Dass, Raghu invites John to share about art as a spiritual practice, and about creativity’s connection to the divine mystery. Expressing how artist’s are instruments of God—devotees of the Creative Spirit—John elucidates how art can help us resonate at the frequency of love and joy. From here, Raghu relates stories of being with Maharaj-ji in India, to the creative expressive personalized flow of tapping into the inspired Creative Spirit.
“It seems like every artist is an instrument for God to play – the Creative Force. Being an artist, you hop in this lineage of the countless artists throughout history that were all devotees to the Creative Spirit. I like the idea of the artist as a tuning fork.” – John Speaker
Raghu remembers psychedelic trips to see The Dead in the ’60s with Ram Dass, on Ep. 432 of Mindrolling
Art, Ram Dass, & Perspective (20:00)
For those of you watching along on Youtube, Raghu invites John to pull up some of his artwork, starting with his kaleidoscopic and metta-exuding Ram Dass portrait, and moving into his psychedelic and bhav-filled renditions of Hindu deities, Ganesh and Hanuman. Next, Raghu prompts John to explore what Ram Dass taught him about perspective, overcoming fear, tapping into his own heart, having fun, and laughing.
“Sit for a few minutes and surround yourself with love from Ram Dass, Mother Mary, or a teacher you trust—that’s a process that will return you to a spaciousness from which you are not knee-jerk reacting.” – Raghu Markus
“Ram Dass helped me not be scared of the world. It felt like I was this joyful kid, and all of a sudden I was growing into adulthood and the world scared me. I was protecting myself, not making friends. I would be scared to go to a restaurant or a post office I hadn’t been to before. Hearing somebody talk about the loving nature of reality and helping me tap into my own heart, really helped me open up and experience the world again.” – John Speaker
Music Festival Connections (32:00)
Asked by Raghu what it’s like live painting at major jam and electronic music festivals around the world, John shares a story of how it all started at an art workshop with Morgan Mandala and Randal Roberts at Allyson and Alex Grey’s Chapel of Sacred Mirrors. Bringing it home, Raghu invites John to explain the intuitive process of construing deep spiritual understanding through his artwork.
“It’s interesting the way that an artist standing at a canvas working on a painting, the way you get to meet people in that space. The creative energy seems to drop a lot of walls and layers down for people, and you end up having deep, genuine, amazing conversations very easily in that space.” – John Speaker