On a podcast about grief, artist Laurie Anderson revealed to Anderson Cooper that she felt sad without being sad when her husband, rocker Lou Reed died in 2013. She came to this awareness at a class on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. The teacher, Bob Thurman, said there is no dead. Dead doesn’t exist. He was referring, in part, to post mortem existence.
Different concepts of the afterlife exist in most religions and philosophies. For atheists who believe nothing happens after death, Thurman, a Tibetan Buddhist, teaches there is no nothing. Dead is not nothing.
I’m about as sure of what happens when the body breathes its last as I am of next week’s weather. Oh, I tacitly agree with those who suggest I’ll see my dead dogs again, the same way I concur it’s going to snow tomorrow. Maybe. Maybe not. Surely, dead is not nothing?
On November 22,1963, my mother called from New Jersey to the Catholic boarding school where I was sent to “shape up” in Williamsburg, Virginia. I picked up the black handle dangling from its stretched out cord in the one allowable phone booth for us wayward boarders.
“Kennedy’s been shot.” She said.
I replied, “I know. He’s dead. It’s on the radio.”
There’s a reason my mother called me. She knew, even at seventeen years old that I’d be upset, more like hysterical. Politics had grabbed me as a pre-teenager watching the Vietnam war on TV. By the time Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, I, a twenty-two year old hippie, had been to two marches on Washington and written hundreds of letters to Congress and President Johnson. I was in support of the Civil Rights bill, the Voting Rights bill, banning the bomb and against the Vietnam war. Anytime the morning news stirred an injustice I had to fix, I reached for my stash of pre-stamped postcards to fire off messages to Congress. I harangued my friends—at work, in bars, on the beach, at parties—to think and talk like me. They didn’t. I kept going.
MLK’s admonition, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter,” initially whipped me into a frenzy of activism—more letters, more phone calls, more marches, more recruiting. Then in his “Drum Major Instinct,” speech in 1968 he preached to act as a servant, not a savior. It is noble to help just one person, change one person’s viewpoint, get one person to vote. Gradually, I adhered to King’s spirit and put into practice a daily mindfulness mantra: the worries of the world don’t own me, I don’t own the worries of the world.
DNA has proven dead is not dead. DNA, our physical manifestation of life itself, apparently lives forever. Anyone who has had a DNA test questions their reported trace variants of first peoples like Neanderthal listed in their results, as if our DNA was there at the beginning, or, before? Some religions teach physical immortality, that our dead bodies will rise (or have risen) to live in Paradise. It begs the question: wherever our raised bodies take up residence, will they have our same DNA?
Martin Luther King’s DNA lives in the generative marrow of his words. I always feel sad, without being sad on this day, his birthday, like Laurie Anderson grieving over Lou Reed. His death forever transitions into the endorphins between my dreams and awareness. He lives in that zero-gravity mirage of my inner life that says: serve, get out there, be brave, do it, say it.
Yep. Dead is not nothing.
Listen: Laurie Anderson & Anderson Cooper
(updated from 2023 MLK day)
Regan Burke 
Fantastic Regan. Am forwarding it to everyone. Why can’t I restock it to the people I follow on Substack? I listened to Laurie on BBC sounds. It was wild bc in NY circa. 2010 was dragged by Madonna Badger (the ad ex met in Tulum who was 25 years sober and Ms Ny) to TriBeCa AA. TriBeCa AA is full of celebrities.
Madonna’s best friend was Jenny Aguter (her mother “Mid night at the Oasis, Jenny was back ground singer to Talking Heads god knows who else.) As a result, Jenny knew Lou Reed. So we went to dinner most weeks with Lou – an AA member. He and I had the same Rick Owen jackets. (Am sure told you all this already) He talked of everything but mostly of how much he missed Laurie when she went away to do a gig. I never had a man talked with so much love or empathy. He was a fab guy, totally empathetic and absolutely “burned out!” I never met Laurie – bc she was away.
But think I told you this already!? Did I not send you the BBC sounds piece?
Had not heard of Laurie since until the BBC Sounds. It made me feel better as did your article right now.
Vivienne de Courcy
Dare to be Wild Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPpVRgQoTSY / Twitter @vivdecourcy https://twitter.com/vivdecourcy
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I stopped reading anything for a while because I was just tired. I did not want to think about anything because for a few months it was all so painful to comprehend. My mind is healing and I am slowly recovering and reading again and I always go back to you. Thank you Regan, you are an incredible individual!
Larry
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I always look forward to reading your thoughts and opinions Regan I hope you’re well and managing a serene daily life as I am lucky to be doing so. Miss seeing you on the squares. Your friend,
Bo Campos
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Th
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Regan, my dear neighbor
You are a brilliant activist and a persuasive philosopher. You help people who have lost their way. Please keep writing. I hope you will publish several books! ❤️ sel yackley
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Regan,I
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I knew you and Mary Gallagher were connected beyond the IRISH in both of ya! This email proves it. That said, please introduce her to your mantra: the worries of the world donât own me, I donât own the worries of the world. I know I am going to remember that. ð
Another great email. You are one smart cookie.
Jackie Edens
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Thank you for this. So well written!Sent from my iPhone
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Thank you, Regan. Your remembrances, observations and experiences are gratefully appreciated, especially at this time.
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Beautiful. The night before, we were in a hotel in St Petersburg FLA. Kids ran up and down the hallway loudly being kids at 11pm. The next day, we see the black girls in the hallway wearing their sequined outfits and glitter everywhere. They were beautiful. The parade started at 11am.
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In terms of life and death, as a Christian we live into eternity and as
Revelation tells us there will be no more tears, pain, no imperfect
body and there will be endless praising of God with such experience
of love we as creatures on earth cannot comprehend. Of Course I
should add, eternal Peace.
Thanks you , Regan. I am happy to say I already experience alot of the
above in this dark world we are living in now because we are the Light
in the Darkness and we are so blessed.
Any response?
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You do such a nice job with your writing. Keep up the good work. I know we are 180-degrees apart politically, but I still love ya. I am so thrilled that Trump is back in office and I look forward to better days. You have to agree that Biden (kind of a meat puppet for the Obama boys) and the democrats really screwed up governing this country. It will all change soon. Stay well.
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
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Tom on Sunday said that Dr King was never afraid. That’s not true. When his home was bombed, he was afraid for his family. Should he go on? he asked. So he prayed all night. And went on.
Cynthia Cynthia Joho cell: 312-218-1661
There is a Zulu proverb called Ubuntu that says: “I am a person through other people. My humanity is tied to yours.”
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This is wonderful, Regan.
Just what I needed to read in these turbulent times.
See you soon. Stay safe and warm!
Sandy
Sent from my iPhone
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Beautiful Regan Claudia
>
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