Saturday hippie: Ultimately an aesthetic?

As I look at the elements of the Hippie Trails saga, I keep asking: Was the movement ultimately an aesthetic? One based on a preference for curves over straight lines, color over black-and-white, whole grains over processed food, wood over plastic, communion and community over domination and status? And so on …

Or was there a coherent philosophy behind it all?

What do you think? And what would this perspective be overlooking?

~*~

Hippies came – and still come – in all varieties. Saturday Hippie is a weekly feature that highlights a counterculture awareness and spirit, including a vision of a harmonious global commonwealth on the horizon. The work and the lessons didn’t end in the ’60s and ’70s. Here’s to the Revolution, near and far.

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Saturday hippie: Continuing streams

As I look at the elements of the Hippie Trails saga, I keep asking:

Is rasta continuing the movement? How about grunge? Even hipster? Vegan? Goth? Boho? Bohemian? What else am I missing? And that’s before we get to the causes themselves.

What do you say?

~*~

Hippies came – and still come – in all varieties. Saturday Hippie is a weekly feature that highlights a counterculture awareness and spirit, including a vision of a harmonious global commonwealth on the horizon. The work and the lessons didn’t end in the ’60s and ’70s. Here’s to the Revolution, near and far.

Saturday hippie: Most missed

It’s one more element of the Hippie Trails saga.

Without getting nostalgic, what do you miss most intensely? (Apart from your youth?)

~*~

Hippies came – and still come – in all varieties. Saturday Hippie is a weekly feature that highlights a counterculture awareness and spirit, including a vision of a harmonious global commonwealth on the horizon. The work and the lessons didn’t end in the ’60s and ’70s. Here’s to the Revolution, near and far.

Saturday hippie: Wrong turns

Many of us took leaps that fell short.

It’s one more element of the Hippie Trails saga.

Anything you wish you’d done differently. Any warning signs you missed? Where you only stuck in place too long, or was there something more?

Were you ever busted? Come down with a serious illness? Lose it all along the way?

~*~

Hippies came – and still come – in all varieties. Saturday Hippie is a weekly feature that highlights a counterculture awareness and spirit, including a vision of a harmonious global commonwealth on the horizon. The work and the lessons didn’t end in the ’60s and ’70s. Here’s to the Revolution, near and far.

Saturday hippie: Regrets

It’s one more element of the Hippie Trails saga.

What would you do differently, if you were to do it all over again?

~*~

Hippies came – and still come – in all varieties. Saturday Hippie is a weekly feature that highlights a counterculture awareness and spirit, including a vision of a harmonious global commonwealth on the horizon. The work and the lessons didn’t end in the ’60s and ’70s. Here’s to the Revolution, near and far.

Saturday hippie: Wisdom

OK, what did we tell the kids? Or what are we telling the grandkids.

It’s one more element of the Hippie Trails saga.

What did we learn along the way?

~*~

Hippies came – and still come – in all varieties. Saturday Hippie is a weekly feature that highlights a counterculture awareness and spirit, including a vision of a harmonious global commonwealth on the horizon. The work and the lessons didn’t end in the ’60s and ’70s. Here’s to the Revolution, near and far.

Saturday hippie: Quaker and other radical religion

The hippie experiences also fed back into Judaism and Christianity, at least in their radical streams. The Society of Friends (or Quakers) has long been part of counterculture, from its origins on – so it found new vitality in the ’60s and ’70s.

It’s one more element of the Hippie Trails saga.

Have you experienced any of this in your own faith circles? Do you see it at play in your worship?

~*~

Hippies came – and still come – in all varieties. Saturday Hippie is a weekly feature that highlights a counterculture awareness and spirit, including a vision of a harmonious global commonwealth on the horizon. The work and the lessons didn’t end in the ’60s and ’70s. Here’s to the Revolution, near and far.

Saturday hippie: Narcs and other infiltrators

As I listen to the conversation around the Hippie Trails saga, I find myself thinking about infiltrators. The FBI and drug agents, for one thing. Local police, for another. Maybe even the CIA.

When the files were opened, the shock. Or, as one tells it, the unmasking of the one in their circle who kept urging violence while she slept with all of the men – the married ones, especially.

What did you see? Where was your trust misplaced? Were we just paranoid?

~*~

Hippies came – and still come – in all varieties. Saturday Hippie is a weekly feature that highlights a counterculture awareness and spirit, including a vision of a harmonious global commonwealth on the horizon. The work and the lessons didn’t end in the ’60s and ’70s. Here’s to the Revolution, near and far.

Saturday hippie: Hangouts

Think of the places you used to hang out – the ones where your friends chanced in or you struck up conversations with strangers.

It’s one more element of the Hippie Trails saga.

What were these? And where? Where do we go now to do the same?

~*~

Hippies came – and still come – in all varieties. Saturday Hippie is a weekly feature that highlights a counterculture awareness and spirit, including a vision of a harmonious global commonwealth on the horizon. The work and the lessons didn’t end in the ’60s and ’70s. Here’s to the Revolution, near and far.

Saturday hippie: Trippin’

We’re talking about drugs here.

It’s one more element of the Hippie Trails saga.

Any particularly strong memories? Bad trips? Mystical experiences? Favored substances? Ones to avoid?

~*~

Hippies came – and still come – in all varieties. Saturday Hippie is a weekly feature that highlights a counterculture awareness and spirit, including a vision of a harmonious global commonwealth on the horizon. The work and the lessons didn’t end in the ’60s and ’70s. Here’s to the Revolution, near and far.