Owsley "Bear" Stanley - 1935-2011
I met Owsley at the age of eighteen. I had just left home, having run off with a Rock&Roll band. Bear, as we knew him, was one of my all-time biggest influences. Always, when I think of him, I think of the endless stuff he taught me or somehow made me realize, all stuff that I've been able to use to the benefit of countless people who probably don't know much about him or how deeply he influenced me and the rest of the band. Most important was the approach he taught me and us: Always be open and engaging - always critical and questioning, but not negatively so much as playfully. He taught me to take myself and my interests out of the picture and work with the subject under consideration so that the best deductions or conclusions are made. I guess this means working from the point of view of the higher self, though that term never came up; it was always just assumed...
-Bob Weir
man ill miss you ill miss you so much but i have never met you aleast you get tosee jerry.
the discoverer of "increasing the level of bossness", and the guide to my generation for delivering quality in any enterprise you undertake, farewell Bear and thanks for the flash
fishpalace We'll miss him so.....condolences
O gentlest Heart of Jesus, ever present in the Blessed Sacrament,ever consumed with burning love for the poor captive souls in Purgatory, have mercy on the soul of Thy servant, Owsley (BEAR) Augustus Stanley III. Be not severe in Thy judgment, but let some drops of Thy Precious Blood fall upon our beloved departed brother and friend, and do Thou, O merciful Savior, send Thy angels to conduct the soul of Thy servant to a place of refreshment and peace. Amen.
Cosmic Charlie Alado-Bosch
May our thoughts all be with his wife, Shiela, four children and extended family. I believe it was the Bear that blew my VW Bus safely home.
RIP Bear. My wife and I met him at Shoreline in the early 90's and he was a gracious and warm man who passionately brought his visions and art to the fore. He was certainly a friendly and talkative sort who enjoyed expounding on his creations. His Mars God-O-War bust sculpture in bronze struck my wife as a particularly powerful and moving piece he produced and sold (we were too poor to buy one then, but would have loved to have one). He was a one-of-a-kind person who never bent to the establishment and kept his vision true to himself. His alchemy opened a lot of minds to the infinite and oneness of it all. We'll miss ya Bear. Heaven just got a major player for the eternal party. Peace.
A few years back, I had some questions about something that I had read, so I dropped Bear an email, since his address was right there on his home page and because you never know about these things. A few hours later, I was pleasantly surprised to find a kind and thoughtful response. We then went back and forth a couple of times on my question, which had to do with an article that Tim Leary had written back in the late 60s that was titled God's Secret Agent A.O.S.3. In that piece Leary writes that Bear proposes a theory of cosmic consciousness:
"Yeah. Now dig. The Van Allen belt is a thick blanket of electronic activity protecting this planet. What is the eart? A core of molten metals covered by a thin layer of soft, vulnerable, organic tissue. Life nibbling away, nibbling away at the rock beneath. All life on this planet is a delicate network unified. Each living form feeding on the others. And being eaten. The Van Allen belt is the higher intelligence protecting earth from lethal solar radiation, and it's in touch with every form of living intelligence on the earth--vegetable, animal, human" (Leary, Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out pg. 58 via Google Books).
When I questioned Bear about this a few years back, he denied ever ever such a conversation, which I let slide because really; he probably absorbed more micrograms through manufacturing than I actively ingested over several decades. But my point is this: through that Leary piece, the character known as Bear got me thinking about things, a lot. So I'm grateful for his many contributions to this scene, this species, and this planet. Sleep in the stars, Bear. You're where you are and likely it's the same place you've always been.
"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened." Dr. Seuss
Thank you for the post, Bob.
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