George Harrison died on Thursday, November 29th, 2001. He died of cancer. His passing didn’t shake the world as much as the death of John Lennon, his fellow Beatle. Maybe his death was just one of many tragedies in the September 11th year. Or maybe, after the death of Lennon, there was never going to be a Beatles reunion anyway.
But Harrison was always a private person. He was the first of the Beatles who felt strongly that the group should stop touring. And of all the four he was the one who took the spiritual life most seriously. According to his family, Harrison often said, “Everything else can wait, but the search for God cannot wait…” His search for God did not lead him to Christ.
He first became aware of spiritual things through his experience of the drug LSD. His interest in Indian music led him to explore various forms of Hindu spirituality. He remained a follower of Hindu spirituality till the end.
Yet his spirituality was never just navel gazing. He organized the Concert for Bangladesh to raise funds for a country ravaged by flood and political conflict. This was long before aid concerts were in vogue.
Like many who found fame and fortune early in life, Harrison went through a whole gamut of personal tragedy. He experienced marital breakdown. His ex-wife ended up marrying Eric Clapton, a good friend of Harrison. He went through bouts of depression. He was almost stabbed to death by an intruder who broke into his home. And there was the battle with the cancer that finally took his life.
For many, he will be remembered for his music. As the lead guitarist of the Fab Four he composed a few Beatles’ gems.
Like all true artists he was well aware of the frailty of the human condition. “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” underlined the minor chords of life:
‘I look at you all see the love there that’s sleeping, while my guitar gently weeps, I look at the floor and I see that it needs sweeping, while my guitar gently weeps. I don’t know why nobody told you how to unfold your love, I don’t know how someone controlled you they bought and sold you…’
Later he would boldly declare that “its all right” in his song, “Here Comes The Sun” It was a romantic hopeful cry for a spring beyond the winters of life. (Lennon would ask us to “Imagine” and McCartney advised us to “Let It Be”.) But there would be no sun without the Son
I grieve the passing of George Harrison. He too contributed key songs to the sound-track of my life. And his life and music captured for me so poignantly the lostness of human kind. But he gave no real answers. Salvation would lie elsewhere.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” “They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light…” Revelation 21: 3-4; 22:5. ESV