I do agree that we are a little obsessive, but im obsessive anyways, i just can't help it. I play guitar alot, i listen to the dead alot, and lately i've been reaaaalllly getting into Bob Dylan, his lyrics just melt into my brain, they are incredible (just as incredible as Robert Hunters!).
I think we have more to blame on society itself than the actual deadheads. Why do they keep going to the shows? They are different each one, radically different, which was something almost unheard of at a widespread level. But they represented a world where you can forget about your reality, where the grateful dead become your reality, and they are the leaders of the 'new' world. Its a way of leaving yourself behind and just forgetting about anything else, i mean something very much like it happened in "VH1 Concert for New York" for september 11, everybody totally got groovy just 1 month after 9/11. That's unheard of, normally. thats how much music changes ya.
Now, with a normal band, say...U2. They are commercially branded, and every year or 2 [u]have[/u] to put out a top ten hit, otherwise they will "fade away". The dead weren't a commercial band, therefore did not have to put out new songs all the time, because why? The songs they regulated (about 100 or so) were great, and everytime they'd play them, its like they just made a new song.
Now, even though i love the dead, i do not really picture any of the dead members as a "prophet" really...Jerry was a musical prophet, same with bob dylan, john lennon, etc. But a musical prophet, in my mind, is just somebody who comes out with a really great idea and totally changes the way things are in his/her music genre, and there haven't been a real musical prophet in a while, maybe if you admire Steve Vai, or Satch or any of them...