I dove into hippie culture a couple of years ago, attending music festivals, discovering psychedelics in a big way, long term traveling, and overall living a free life.
Since then I've had a hard time describing myself in conversations with people. I consider myself a hippie now but had a bit of an identity crisis at one point, as I noticed that a lot of people avoid using the word, as there seemed to be a lot of negative connotations attached to it.
Hippie is a term I have been individually mulling as well as discussing with others for quite awhile, and I think I am ready to share my thoughts about it. But first, a little context.
~-*-~
The Hippie Era came into existence with the introduction of LSD to American culture, thanks to rogue professor Timothy Leary, who originally secretly experimented with it, then defying the constraints of his research project, unleashed it to the world.
Leary famously told everyone to "turn on, tune in, drop out" as LSD dissolves boundaries created within our minds. The result is peace and love, tie dye, and a tendency to lose faith in authority.
But peace and love was the association that stuck with the hippies of the 60s.
Today, however, it's quite a different story. Today, hippies are mostly associated with dreadlocks and irresponsibility. As outcasts from society who dress in ragged clothing, don't shower, don't work and wander around aimlessly and often selfishly nourishing their bottomless need for spiritual fulfillment.
How did this happen? In the course of half a century, the term hippie went from being a unique niche in society to being derogatory. While the core values of hippieism from the 60s were retained since its inception - that of peace, love and rebelling against authority - these values have been usurped by more superficial traits such as their unkempt appearance or lack of footwear.
While hippieism was a new and novel thing in the 60s, over time it has evolved to become an easy target for society. Since society is consisted of a vast majority who conform to its norms, this majority feels threatened by those who don't conform in the same way.
However, with the growing awareness in the world of how modern society is getting so many things wrong more and more people than ever are starting to not conform. Or as Timothy Leary put it, they're turning on their brains, tuning in to the real issues, and dropping out of society.
And those who don't conform are getting lumped into one fringe category - that's right, the hippies. So the user group "hippie" has become watered down to encompass all people that don't conform from potheads, festival goers, anarchists and artists all the way to permaculturalists.
This has brought a lot of confusion to the identity of hippieism and left out of the argument is the core values that highlight the positives.
~-*-~
Stubborn as this goal may be, I want to reverse the watering down of the term. I want to restore the old definition and restore the integrity of what it means to be a hippie. If this means risking my own reputation as I describe myself to others, I don't care. I'm happy if I can take the next step and arrive at a meaningful discussion about the topic.
The real meaning of being hippie goes to the core values - it's about peace and love, living closer to nature and connecting with other people. It's not about Native headdresses, eating granola or hula hooping.
In these values I personally strongly believe. In these values I am proud! And I want other hippies to be proud too.
But I know that it's much easier to judge a book by its cover. Too bad that doesn't work with me. Because I rarely dress like a hippie. No dreadlocks, a few small hidden tattoos, unripped jeans and normal sweaters, no obvious smell (though grandma says otherwise).
I choose to fit the appearance stereotypes in select contexts - at music festivals, or when I'm traveling. But in most contexts I look like you're average joe.
Unfortunately, every user group is subject to such extremism, in which a few extreme users taint the reputation of the entire group. A few bad cyclists give all bad cyclists a bad name, and fuel for drivers to hate all of them. And of course we've heard of religious extremists and terrorists, which give all followers of that religion a bad name.
All this extremism just causes labeling and an us versus them mentality. And it needs to stop.
So call me an advocate for real hippies! I hope I can dissolve the boundaries within your mind about what a hippie is. If you are interested in dissolving boundaries with me, let's talk and get to know eachother!
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| I like bright colours - India, 2014 |
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| At a beautifully small intimate music festival - near Vancouver, 2016 |
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| Shambhala Music Festival, 2016 |
Since then I've had a hard time describing myself in conversations with people. I consider myself a hippie now but had a bit of an identity crisis at one point, as I noticed that a lot of people avoid using the word, as there seemed to be a lot of negative connotations attached to it.
Hippie is a term I have been individually mulling as well as discussing with others for quite awhile, and I think I am ready to share my thoughts about it. But first, a little context.
~-*-~
The Hippie Era came into existence with the introduction of LSD to American culture, thanks to rogue professor Timothy Leary, who originally secretly experimented with it, then defying the constraints of his research project, unleashed it to the world.
Leary famously told everyone to "turn on, tune in, drop out" as LSD dissolves boundaries created within our minds. The result is peace and love, tie dye, and a tendency to lose faith in authority.
But peace and love was the association that stuck with the hippies of the 60s.
Today, however, it's quite a different story. Today, hippies are mostly associated with dreadlocks and irresponsibility. As outcasts from society who dress in ragged clothing, don't shower, don't work and wander around aimlessly and often selfishly nourishing their bottomless need for spiritual fulfillment.
How did this happen? In the course of half a century, the term hippie went from being a unique niche in society to being derogatory. While the core values of hippieism from the 60s were retained since its inception - that of peace, love and rebelling against authority - these values have been usurped by more superficial traits such as their unkempt appearance or lack of footwear.
While hippieism was a new and novel thing in the 60s, over time it has evolved to become an easy target for society. Since society is consisted of a vast majority who conform to its norms, this majority feels threatened by those who don't conform in the same way.
However, with the growing awareness in the world of how modern society is getting so many things wrong more and more people than ever are starting to not conform. Or as Timothy Leary put it, they're turning on their brains, tuning in to the real issues, and dropping out of society.
 |
| Just a bunch of hippies on the beach - near Tofino, BC, 2016 |
 |
| Meditation session - Tribe Festival near Canmore, AB, 2016 |
And those who don't conform are getting lumped into one fringe category - that's right, the hippies. So the user group "hippie" has become watered down to encompass all people that don't conform from potheads, festival goers, anarchists and artists all the way to permaculturalists.
This has brought a lot of confusion to the identity of hippieism and left out of the argument is the core values that highlight the positives.
~-*-~
Stubborn as this goal may be, I want to reverse the watering down of the term. I want to restore the old definition and restore the integrity of what it means to be a hippie. If this means risking my own reputation as I describe myself to others, I don't care. I'm happy if I can take the next step and arrive at a meaningful discussion about the topic.
The real meaning of being hippie goes to the core values - it's about peace and love, living closer to nature and connecting with other people. It's not about Native headdresses, eating granola or hula hooping.
In these values I personally strongly believe. In these values I am proud! And I want other hippies to be proud too.
But I know that it's much easier to judge a book by its cover. Too bad that doesn't work with me. Because I rarely dress like a hippie. No dreadlocks, a few small hidden tattoos, unripped jeans and normal sweaters, no obvious smell (though grandma says otherwise).
I choose to fit the appearance stereotypes in select contexts - at music festivals, or when I'm traveling. But in most contexts I look like you're average joe.
Unfortunately, every user group is subject to such extremism, in which a few extreme users taint the reputation of the entire group. A few bad cyclists give all bad cyclists a bad name, and fuel for drivers to hate all of them. And of course we've heard of religious extremists and terrorists, which give all followers of that religion a bad name.
All this extremism just causes labeling and an us versus them mentality. And it needs to stop.
So call me an advocate for real hippies! I hope I can dissolve the boundaries within your mind about what a hippie is. If you are interested in dissolving boundaries with me, let's talk and get to know eachother!
 |
| PEACE. And ... |
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| LOVE Uyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia 2017 |
So awesome -- Uyuni! I was there too man. I am going to try to find you on Facebook.. Luke S
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