Jack Johnson was born and raised in Oahu, Hawaii.
Johnson is not religious–or he's meta-religious, but either way, he and his music seem to exude some sort of natural, hippie-spirituality. It is as if his simple music is inspired by the waves and sand on which Johnsongrew up.
Johnson, though reluctant to discuss his own personal views, does make allusions to a theistic viewpoint. Speaking about a line in his song, "Sleep Through the Static," he said:
The line about God wearing camouflage you can read as God is in everything. The idea of camouflage, he's blending in, he's always all around… None of it is untrue if you believe in any form of God, whether you want to call it nature or the guy with the grey beard.[1]
We're treading in pantheistic territory here, which would make total sense given that Johnson covered the Mason Jennings song, "I Love You and Buddha Too," the lyrics of which include:
Jesus, I love you/and I love Buddha, too/Ramakrshna, Guru Dev/Daodejing and Mohammed/Why do some people say/that there is just one way/to love you God and come to you?/We are all a part of you.[2]
Pantheistic politics
Johnson has called himself a hippie,[3] so what else needs to be said? And truly, everything else falls into line.
Johnson is a giant environmentalist, from touring in a bio-deisel bus to playing concerts with low-energy lighting[4] to giving 1% of all of his considerable earnings to environmental causes.[5] In fact, it's gotten to the point that Johnson's green scene has become his calling card, and he's nearly as famous for it as he is for his music. But it's just a matter close to his heart and he doesn't want to take it any further than that. He said:
I'm not trying to act like I've got all the answers and that I'm greener than everyone else. I want to do what I can to help, but sometimes it starts to overwhelm me… I accept the fact that I'm a somewhat known personality now and I like that I can use it for good things, but I ultimately don't want to run for president.[6]
Speaking of presidents, you guessed it, he's an Obama supporter.[7] Hasn't he ever heard of the Green Party?
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