Origins 1967-1980
GATE Founder, John Raatz - Visual Bio, Highlights
1 of 4 pages
Are You Experienced?
Have You Ever Been Experienced?
Well, I Have.
—Jimi Hendrix 1967
Gratefully, Life Offers Clues
Looking back now, I recognize how quietly and faithfully my life was preparing me for the birth of GATE. Life is generous with signs, though rarely explicit. It speaks in symbols, coincidences, and subtle invitations. Only after enough steps have been taken does the pattern reveal itself, and I came to understand that everything I had lived was guiding me toward this moment of creation.
At the time, the moments felt separate—unrelated chapters rather than a single story. Yet in hindsight, I can see the invisible thread running through them all, weaving experience into meaning, curiosity into calling. What once appeared fragmented now feels exquisitely intentional.
I believe each of us arrives with a singular purpose, sometimes surrounded by smaller, preparatory purposes that refine us along the way. When we pause to reflect, the shape of that purpose begins to emerge—not through logic alone, but through resonance. It unfolds as if guided by a deeper, universal intelligence that knows us better than we know ourselves.
The details of that journey are unique for every soul, but the principle is the same: life leaves clues. For me, every path—no matter how winding—led toward transformational entertainment, toward the alchemy of story, sound, and image as a gateway to expanded consciousness.
What follows are some of those clues, drawn from what I know to be a blessed life. I offer them as an invitation—to see your own signs more clearly, and to join me in a shared quest for global unity, rooted in the profound and timeless connection between consciousness and art.
The guitar I'm playing, in the photo with the Fabulous Pack poster behind me, is a 1968 Gibson SG Standard. When my parents saw how serious I was about playing the guitar, after a few years of forced piano lessons, they bought it for me from Marshall Music in Flint. I had been playing a cheap Sears Silvertone guitar before the SG. I wish I still had both of those guitars!
My everyday, and stage, fashion sense was more developed in those days. And yes, I was much thinner! It was stylish in the forms of London's Carnaby Street, Michigan's psychedelic clothes emporium, Chess King and the local head shop / boutique, Touch.
Raven Red played in schools, armories, ballrooms, malls, parks and auditoriums. We played in battles of the bands, which were popular in those days, and we opened for nationally touring artists such as Alice Cooper, Edgar Winter, the legendary MC5, Iggy and the Psychedelic Stooges (The Stooges) and many seminal Michigan bands. I especially loved gigs that featured Fillmore inspired psychedelic liquid light shows popular in those days. Being on stage in front of hundreds and thousands of people, is an unforgettable experience. Michael Moore would occasionally take the stage before we played to promote his underground newspaper, the Flint Freedom Reader, co-founded by Mark Farner, and whatever political / social cause he was on to, like the Flint Free Clinic.
Those times were filled with youthful adventure, experimentation in many forms, and for me personally, the deepening of my inner journey. Richard Strickland, owner of Middle Earth Books, a metaphysical bookstore located in Touch Boutique, my favorite head shop and where I worked part-time at Off-The-Wall Records, was instrumental in introducing me to the finest spiritual literature of the day that would be foundational in my life.
Rick, Bruce and I would remain band mates and friends for years to come. We shared many remarkable experiences. Rick and I are still friends and in contact to this day. Bruce died in 2010. RIP.
Rush, a future musical incarnation of Raven Red was another fan favorite and more musically evolved and I stayed with Rush until I stopped performing to pursue other interests, including becoming a teacher of Transcendental Meditation. Rush’s great drummer, Rocco Peraino and I remain friends today.
There’s so much more to share about this period in my life, but ...
The second experience unfolded some time later in my parents’ living room. I was sitting quietly, reading the newspaper, when a low, cosmic hum emerged—subtle at first, then unmistakable. It drew my attention away from the page, away from my body, even away from my father sitting nearby. The sound did not exist in space so much as as space.
It felt like the sonic twin of the earlier perceptual opening. As I surrendered to stillness, the hum carried me inward, guiding me into a spontaneous meditation on sound itself—listening without a listener, vibration without a source.
Together, these early expressions of consciousness planted a seed within me: a longing to understand life not merely as it appears, but as it reveals itself from within. From that moment on, the surface of things was never quite enough.
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At the age of eleven, I underwent my first two spiritual awakenings—quiet, unannounced doorways that opened into something vast.
The first arrived one afternoon in my bedroom as I sat practicing guitar. Without warning, the geometry of experience shifted. Space seemed to soften, then fold inward. Suddenly, I was there—entirely present, unmistakably awake.
Seeing itself dissolved into the fretboard; my fingers, the strings, and awareness moved as one continuous gesture. The usual sense of distance collapsed. As the shift deepened, my body joined the synthesis, no longer an object I inhabited but a living current within the act of playing. Attention narrowed into a single, crystalline point of clarity, and as it did, the background of the world fell away. The experience lingered, breathing outward, extending beyond the room, beyond the walls, as though presence itself had no boundary.
1967-1968 — Spiritual Experiences
At the age of eleven, I underwent my first two spiritual awakenings—quiet, unannounced doorways that opened into something vast.
The first arrived one afternoon in my bedroom as I sat practicing guitar. Without warning, the geometry of experience shifted. Space seemed to soften, then fold inward. Suddenly, I was there—entirely present, unmistakably awake.
Seeing itself dissolved into the fretboard; my fingers, the strings, and awareness moved as one continuous gesture. The usual sense of distance collapsed. As the shift deepened, my body joined the synthesis, no longer an object I inhabited but a living current within the act of playing. Attention narrowed into a single, crystalline point of clarity, and as it did, the background of the world fell away. The experience lingered, breathing outward, extending beyond the room, beyond the walls, as though presence itself had no boundary.
The second experience unfolded some time later in my parents’ living room. I was sitting quietly, reading the newspaper, when a low, cosmic hum emerged—subtle at first, then unmistakable. It drew my attention away from the page, away from my body, even away from my father sitting nearby. The sound did not exist in space so much as as space.
It felt like the sonic twin of the earlier perceptual opening. As I surrendered to stillness, the hum carried me inward, guiding me into a spontaneous meditation on sound itself—listening without a listener, vibration without a source.
Together, these early expressions of consciousness planted a seed within me: a longing to understand life not merely as it appears, but as it reveals itself from within. From that moment on, the surface of things was never quite enough.
John’s musical past...early days in music.
My love of music became evident as early as 1962 as I ravenously consumed my parents and sisters’ LP collections and listened for hours to my father playing violin in the wee hours of the morning.
Though he was an engineer/designer by trade, his true love was music. Familial responsibilities prevented him from pursuing a professional music career. I inherited his desire.
We were precocious -- in every way imaginable! I was 13 years old. Bruce was 13. Rick was 14. Early on, our fans proclaimed that we were musical prodigies. I don't know if that was true, but we had many loyal fans and wherever we performed, people loved our music and showered us with appreciation -- in its various forms!
Our preferred musical genre was then characterized as Psychedelic, Hard Rock / Blues. We performed a mixture of original compositions and cover songs. Many of the cover songs we performed showcased my lead guitar skills, which according to many, were formidable and uncannily reminiscent of the styles of Eric Clapton, Johnny Winter, Mike Bloomfield, Alvin Lee, and other notable guitarists of the epoch. Audiences seemed to marvel at the combination of our youth, musical skills and high energy, high decibel music.
One of our roadies, Derek Bartlett, was also our booking agent and the minder / guardian of our "head supplies" and backstage passes!
Before teaching myself to play guitar, I formed my first band with a couple 5th grade school chums, Tom Sumner and Mark Barringer. The band was called "The Young Uns'" and I played... the tambourine! Our first gig was at the Flint Swim & Racquet Club. This was my first public performance. Around this same time, I started seriously learning guitar, motivated, as many musicians are, by the pains of adolescent alienation and rejection. When I strapped my guitar on, I remember feeling a greater sense of self, of confidence and personal power and possibilities.
In 1968, after a few years of intensely focused self-study and practice, alone, in my bedroom, I emerged and started jamming with local musicians and groups.
I co-formed my first real band in early 1969 with bass player Bruce Crawley and drummer Lyle Day. Later that year, I met guitarist, singer/ songwriter, Rick Farner, and we formed a band with Bruce. This was a major turning point.
In these vintage photos, you see us rehearsing for an upcoming gig. Our "rehearsal studio" was the former bedroom of Mark Farner, who had left home by this time, to become one of the world's biggest rock stars in the band Grand Funk Railroad. But that’s a well-known story — they sold our Shea Stadium faster than The Beatles! Grand Funk, and Mark in particular, influenced us and that influence showed up in our music and our youthful swagger.
1968 - 1974 Rush & Raven Red, Music Heals
Introducing... "Raven Red." My first professional music experience.
Our band name was inspired by the Edgar Allen Poe poem, "The Raven."
The members of Raven Red (pictured here) were: John Raatz - Lead & Rhythm Guitar, Drums and Backing Vocals
Rick Farner - Drums, Rhythm and Lead Guitar & Lead Vocals Bruce Crawley - Bass & Backing Vocals
I gave my first “concert" for some neighborhood girls in 1963, in the basement of my parents’ home in Flint, MI., lip-syncing and playing “air guitar" to "My Bonnie” by Tony Sheridan and The Beat Brothers (aka The Beatles).
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Our band name was inspired by the Edgar Allen Poe poem, "The Raven."
The members of Raven Red (pictured here) were: John Raatz - Lead & Rhythm Guitar, Drums and Backing Vocals
Rick Farner - Drums, Rhythm and Lead Guitar & Lead Vocals Bruce Crawley - Bass & Backing Vocals
I gave my first “concert" for some neighborhood girls in 1963, in the basement of my parents’ home in Flint, MI., lip-syncing and playing “air guitar" to "My Bonnie” by Tony Sheridan and The Beat Brothers (aka The Beatles).
1962 - ‘67 Duality
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From 1967 to 1973, I read hundreds of books. The books pictured were among those books that deeply influenced me and helped shape my spiritual, social and political interests.
From 1967 to 1973, I read hundreds of books. The books pictured were among those books that deeply influenced me and helped shape my spiritual, social and political interests
From 1967 to 1973, I read hundreds of books. The books pictured were among those books that deeply influenced me and helped shape my spiritual, social and political interests
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1967-1973 Seeking and Exploring
1973 - TM
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1973 Middle Earth Books, Off-The-Wall Records and Meditation
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TOUCH BOUTIQUE BOOKSTORE IN FLYNT
1974 - Graduation
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1975 - MEDITATION TEACHER TRAINING
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JOHN IN AVORIAZ
1976 - Meditation Teacher Training, Inspiration for GATE
The Avoriaz Epiphany
”The Artist and the Scientist”
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1976 - TEACHING MEDITATION
1977 Infinite Correlation
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CLICK ABOVE TO ENLARGE
1977 - Advanced Meditation Teacher Training
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1978 Vena Productions, An Inkling of GATE
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1979
DOUG HENNING ASSISTANT
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Uncertainty
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1979 - FREEDOM BEHIND BARS
VARIETY SHOW
1979 - AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT
ARTISTS SERIES
1979
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1979 - Ned Beatty &
the Seeds of GATE
The seeds of GATE were humbly sown when a small committed group of actors, musicians, writers, business professionals and others joined together to teach meditation to members of the entertainment and media communities. Reception was abundantly positive, but it was just a niche group then. However, in these past 30 years a remarkable sea change has occurred. The growth of awareness has been dramatic. Interest in spirituality, healing, peace, ecological issues and other progressive concerns and affinity values has mushroomed exponentially.
was just a niche group then. However, in these past 30 years a remarkable sea change has occurred. The growth of awareness has been dramatic. Interest in spirituality, healing, peace, ecological issues and other progressive concerns and affinity values has
JOHN RAATZ NED BEATTY STEVEN SPIELBERG
JOHN AND NED ON THE SET OF 1941
1979 - Henry Lewy
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1979 - THE BODHI TREE
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