quotes from

Bob  Dylan — A  Spiritual  Life

by  Scott  M.  Marshall

© BP Books, 2017

Well, Christ is no religion. We’re not talking about religion… Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life… Religion is repressive to a certain degree. Religion is another form of bondage which man invents to get himself to God. But that’s why Christ came. Christ didn’t preach religion; He preached the Truth, the Way, and the Life. He said He’s come to give life and life more abundantly. He talked about life, not necessarily religion… Well, a religion that says you have to do certain things to get to God—they’re probably talking about that type of religion, which is a religion by works: You can enter into the kingdom by what you do, what you wear, what you say, how many times a day you may pray, how many good deeds you may do. If that’s what they mean by religion, that type of religion will not get you into the kingdom, that’s true.

As I was walking around today I noticed many tall steeples and big churches and stained glass windows. Let me tell you once again: God’s not necessarily found in there. You can’t get converted in no steeple or stained glass window. Well, Jesus is mighty to save, if He’s in your heart, He’ll convert you.

My so-called Jewish roots are in Egypt. They went down there with Joseph, and they came back out with Moses—you know, the guy that killed the Egyptian, married an Ethiopian girl, and brought the Law down from the mountain. The same Moses whose staff turned into a serpent. The same person who killed 3,000 Hebrews for getting down, stripping off their clothes, and dancing around a golden calf. These are my roots. Jacob had four wives and thirteen children, who fathered thirteen children, who fathered an entire people. Those are my roots too. Gideon, with a small army, defeating an army of thousands. Deborah, the prophetess; Esther the queen, and many Canaanite women. Reuben slipping into his father’s bed when his father wasn’t home. These are my roots. Delilah tempting Samson, killing him softly with her song. The mighty King David was an outlaw before he was king, you know. He had to hide in caves and get his meals at back doors. King Saul had a warrant out on him—a no-knock search warrant. They wanted to cut his head off. John the Baptist could tell you more about it. Roots, man—we’re talking about Jewish roots, you want to know more? Check up on Elijah the prophet. He could make it rain. Isaiah the prophet, even Jeremiah, see if their brethren didn’t want to bust their brains for telling it right like it is. Yeah, these are my roots I suppose. You know when John the Baptist saw Jesus coming down the road, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” Did you know that? That’s right, that’s what he said.

On born-again Christian: First of all, born-again is a hype term. It’s a media term that throws people into a corner and leaves them there, whether people realize it or not; all those political and religious labels are irrelevant.

On evil: Sure, I believe in it. I believe that ever since Adam and Eve got thrown out of the garden, that the whole nature of the planet has been heading in one direction—towards apocalypse. It’s all there in the book of Revelation, but it’s difficult talking about these things to most people because most people don’t know what you’re talking about, or don’t want to listen.

People can’t get away from the Bible. You can’t get away from it, wherever you go. Those ideas were true then and they’re true now. They’re scriptural, spiritual laws. I guess people can read into that what they want. But if you’re familiar with those concepts they’ll probably find enough of them in my stuff. Because I always get back to that.

We’re all sinners. People seem to think that because their sins are different from other people’s sins, they’re not sinners. People don’t like to think of themselves as sinners. It makes them feel uncomfortable. “What do you mean a sinner?” It puts them at a disadvantage in their minds. Most people walking around have this strange conception that they’re born good, that they’re really good people—but the world has just made a mess of their lives. I had another point of view. But it’s not hard for me to identify with anybody who’s on the wrong side. We’re all on the wrong side, really.

The Bible says, “Even a fool, when he keeps his mouth shut, is counted wise,” but it comes from the Bible, so it can be cast off as being too religious. Make something religious and people don’t have to deal with it, they can say it’s irrelevant. “Repent, the Kingdom of God is at hand.” That scares the shit out of people. They’d like to avoid that. Tell that to someone and you become their enemy. There does come a time, though, when you have to face facts and the truth is true whether you wanna believe it or not, it doesn’t need you to make it true… That lie about everybody having their own truth inside of them has done a lot of damage and made people crazy.

Jews separate themselves like that: Orthodox, Conservative, Reform … as if God calls them that. Christians, too: Baptists, Assembly of God, Methodists, Calvinists. God has no respect for a person’s title. He don’t care what you call yourself.

Whenever anybody does something in a big way, it’s always rejected at home and accepted someplace else. For instance, that could apply to Buddha. Who was Buddha? An Indian. Who are Buddhists? Chinese, Japanese, Asian people. They make up the big numbers in Buddhism. It’s the same way with Jesus being a Jew. Who did he appeal to? He appeals to people who want to get into Heaven in a big way.

This last song now is all about my hero. Everybody’s got a hero. Where I come from, there’s a lot of heroes. Plenty of them. John Wayne, Clark Gable, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen. They’re all heroes to some people. Anyway, I don’t care nothing about those people. I have my own hero. I’m going to sing about him right now.

Well, for me, there is no right and there is no left. There’s truth and there’s untruth, y’know? There’s honesty and there’s hypocrisy. Look in the Bible: you don’t see nothing about right or left. I hate to keep beating people over the head with the Bible, but that’s the only instrument I know, the only thing that stays true. Conservative? Well, don’t forget, Jesus said that it’s harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven than it is for a camel to enter the eye of a needle. I mean, is that conservative? I don’t know, I’ve heard a lot of preachers say how God wants everybody to be wealthy and healthy. Well, it doesn’t say that in the Bible. You can twist anybody’s words, but that’s only for fools and people who follow fools.

What kind of artistry is equal to the silver glisten on a river, or a sunset, or lightning in the sky? What kind of man’s artistry can compare to the great artistry of creation?

Every Grain of Sand

In the time of my confession, in the hour of my deepest need

When the pool of tears beneath my feet floods every newborn seed

There's a dying voice within me reaching out somewhere

Toiling in the danger and the morals of despair

Don't have the inclination to look back on any mistake

Like Cain, I now behold this chain of events that I must break

In the fury of the moment I can see the master's hand

In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand

Oh, the flowers of indulgence and the weeds of yesteryear

Like criminals, they have choked the breath of conscience and good cheer

The sun beams down upon the steps of time to light the way

To ease the pain of idleness and the memory of decay

I gaze into the doorway of temptation's angry flame

And every time I pass that way I'll always hear my name

Then onward in my journey I come to understand

That every hair is numbered like every grain of sand

I have gone from rags to riches in the sorrow of the night

In the violence of a summer's dream, in the chill of a wintry light

In the bitter dance of loneliness fading into space

In the broken mirror of innocence on each forgotten face

I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea

Sometimes I turn, there's someone there, other times it's only me

I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man

Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand

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