Gaskin was born in
Denver, Colorado and served in the
United States Marine Corps from 1952 to 1955 and saw
combat in Korea. Then, having dropped out of junior college, he ran coffee houses. In the 1960s, he moved to
San Francisco and taught English, creative writing, and general semantics at
San Francisco State College, where he was a student of
S. I. Hayakawa. Gaskin's writing class evolved into an open discussion group known as
Monday Night Class, which involved up to 1500 students. Through 1968, the class was held at San Francisco State University Campus, later in "The Family Dog", an auditorium located on the shore of the
Pacific Ocean in the
Outer Richmond neighborhood of
San Francisco. Gaskin spoke about his experiences with
psychedelic drugs and
paranormal experiences, and lectured about the importance of
ecological awareness. This popular weekly gathering was attended by
hippies from all over the
San Francisco Bay Area during the years 1968–1970. Gaskin became known as "San Francisco's
acid guru". In 1970, Gaskin and a caravan of 60 vehicles crossed the
United States to settle 60 miles south-west of
Nashville, Tennessee, forming a community called "
The Farm", which the
Wall Street Journal came to call "the
General Motors of American Communes". For example, the community raised 1,200 earthquake-resistant homes and several public buildings and water lines in 5 villages in Guatemala, sent independent
dosimetry teams after the
Three Mile Island accident and the
Chernobyl disaster, and gave the
Rainbow Warrior equipment to escape from a Spanish harbor. In
Volume One: Sunday Morning Services on the Farm and earlier talks, Gaskin produced a substantial body of
spiritual teaching. His ideas are now contained in books and tapes of the Sunday Morning Services which were published by the Book Publishing Company on The Farm. They speak of
magic,
energy and life in
community as well as of service to humanity. Gaskin was the first recipient of the
Right Livelihood Award in 1980 (listed as Plenty International) and was inducted into the
Counterculture Hall of Fame in 2004. He was awarded the Golden Bolt Award by The Farm Motor Pool (for helping buy a lemon semi), and won the Guru-Off (without even entering), racking up 77 points to
Krishnamurti's 73. Gaskin continued to work as an international activist, writer and speaker until a few months before his death. His topics ranged from humorous advice on all aspects of communal life and farming to modern communications, the counter-culture, spirituality, drug law reform, and social and ecological issues. He was a drummer in The Farm Band, an early Jam Band which toured in the 1970s and 1980s. His last published works were revised and annotated versions of
Monday Night Class and
The Caravan. He died of natural causes on July 1, 2014. ==Bibliography==