Tired of the strictness of the society and the decadent values of the modern world, a group of Germans settled in Southern California in search of sunshine and warm weather, where they could exercise a lighter lifestyle far from the pressures of the formalities of the German clubs.
They were "Der Wanderwogel", also known as "the migratory bird" and advocated a communal way of life integrated with nature, amateur music and alternative clothes as form of expression. It was the beginning of the twentieth century, and also the beginning of a new era.
The migratory birds brought from their homeland the philosophy of Nietzsche, Goethe, Hermann Hesse and also the thirst for freedom, not the apparent freedom that money can buy, but true, genuine freedom that only those who are not slaves of a castrating society can experience.
This thinking originated the hippie movement that arose around the sixties, when the world wars had left traces of destruction and unhappiness everywhere. So, the hippie movement in the USA came about as a reaction to the excess of violence and materialistic motivations that dominated the society at that time.
Make Love, Not War
One of the most recognizable aspects of the hippie counterculture was the strong opposition to wars and nuclear weapons. Hippies embraced the principle of non-violence and argued that no good could be obtained from mass destruction since attacking different countries in the name of justice is the opposite of the principle of justice itself.
Hippies understood that it is fruitless to search for peace outside when people have not attained inner peace, so many of the hippie practices such as living in community and sharing possessions were also an attempt to resolve inner conflicts such as selfishness, jealousy and anger. The lifestyle adopted by such communities was an idealization of a peaceful society which would have overcome the barriers of egocentrism.
The Revival of Eastern Philosophy
The hippie movement was deeply influenced by travelers who went to Asia during the sixties and returned home bringing with them much of the Buddhist and Hindu wisdom. Yoga, meditation and vegetarianism as ways to fight the inner demons that prevent people from being kind to each other became common practices in hippie communities, but some aspects of the eastern religions were rejected by the new adepts, such as practices of celibacy and the obedience to a hierarchical model.
Hippies were the children of an authoritarian society and the decades before had seen the destructive results of excessive oppression – wars, extreme materialism and sexual repression. So, when the eastern thinking arrived in the hippie communities, it was adapted to the needs of a newborn liberalism. A sexual revolution was about to begin.
Sexual Revolution
Some scholars argue that the liberalism adopted by hippies was simply a rejection of the traditional values, and therefore it did not have its own characteristics. However, a closer examination reveals the sexual freedom that hippies advocated had a deeper meaning – expressing love shouldn't be forbidden or controlled as things that bring pleasure are not necessarily evil.
In fact, violence should be controlled and forbidden, but society was going through such a perverse period that even sex (which should be a genuine expression of love) was being forbidden while wars were being allowed. So, the sexual liberation that hippies embraced was not simply a way to rebel against sexual oppression, but a way to demonstrate that no harm would derive from free sex, when compared to the harm caused by wars.
Rejection to Consumerism
The torn, colorful clothes and the long messy hair and beards worn by adepts were used to express the dissatisfaction with a society completely corrupted by consumerism. The psychedelic colors were a response to the sobriety and formality imposed by the the past generation.
Clothes were self-made as well as hygiene products in order to be eco-friendly and demonstrate that it is possible to live without harming the environment. Since true beauty comes from inside, hippies opposed to the society’s beauty dictatorship as if clothes and cosmetic products could make a person beautiful.
Drugs and Spirituality
Hippies advocated the use of LSD and cannabis as a way to detach from years and years of social oppression. Some believed that by using such drugs, one would be able to be in contact with the spiritual side that is hidden underneath layers of programmed behaviors. Ecstatic experiences caused by drugs could be benign, if they could show a person that there is a part of consciousness that holds a spiritual identity that is independent of the cultural and social backgrounds.
Once again, the idea was that society tries to forbid everything that is pleasurable, only because pleasure equals "sin" in most of the organized religions, but hippies claimed that many of such prohibitions had no basis in reality, and were merely tools to have control over the masses.
The Decline
Eventually, the hippie movement came to an end, and by the beginning of the eighties the remnants of the hippie communities could no longer maintain their lifestyle in face of the pressures of the modern world, however, the hippie message remains alive in the hearts of those who once dreamed with a society free from religious dogmas, exacerbated materialism and oppression. As John Lennon sang: “you may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one…”
Sources and resources:
Binkley, Sam. The Hippies. St James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture, Jan 2002.
Grunenberg, Christoph; Harris, Jonathan. Summer of Love: Psychedelic Art, Social Crisis and Counterculture in the 1960s, Liverpool University Press, 2005.
Stevens, Jay. Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream, Grove Press, 1998.
Yablonsky, Lewis. The Hippie Trip, Pegasus, 1968.
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