Feel detached from society, as if I was born in the wrong era.

The 60s was a hell of a time to live. There was so much going on then from the top to the botom of society. I loved it,having come out of the 40s-50s. What a slew of changes and upheavel. I hope you youngins' get back out in the spring,continue the occupy movement and turn this decade into another 60s-like decade.
I would like to have been born in the late 1860s riding horses,dealing death to miscreants with a big-ass 45,claiming the land that I wanted(who the fuck are those guys?) bellying up to a bar and suckin' down the fire-water,playin' cards on a riverboat, gone on a cattle drive from Texas north to Montana,become a mountain man when I got tired of civilization and pokin' the town whores on a regular basis. Yeah-that's the ticket.

 

How peaceful and loving.

Stay Brown,
Rev J

 

The 1860,s dealt with a savage war and then the 70,s Reconstruction- - maybe a wild time but I dont think I would've been into "dealing death to miscreants with a big-ass 45" although a little gambling on a riverboat sounds cool-

The worse deal about that era was the lack of medicine- while out poking the locals> we would of had to deal with European diseases (smallpox, influenza, measles and typhus and all kinds of sexual diseases) to which the native populations had no resistance,> and cruel systems of forced labor, decimated the American population.
The diseases usually preceded the British invaders, and the resulting population loss (between 30 and 90 percent in some cases) severely weakened the native civilizations' ability to resist the invaders. After conquering an area, the colonists usually enslaved the native people, using them for forced labor. However disease continued to kill them off in large numbers, and so African slaves, who had already developed immunities to these diseases, were quickly brought in to replace them.

However, bellying up to a bar and suckin' down the fire-water,playin' cards on a riverboat, going on a cattle drive from Texas north to Montana , & becoming a mountain man when tiring of civilization - -all sounds fine-

best,
lilly,rosemary,and the JJack of hearts

 

Yes, look for like-minded folk, be in tune to your surroundings always and you will meet them!

 

I was 14 in 1967. For some reason I embraced the hippy lifestyle which, where I grew up, meant sex, drugs and rock n roll.

There was no other deep meaning. Sex, drugs and rock n roll seemed liked more fun than living a straight life of the day. Acid , weed and hash in abundance

Luckily my parents put up with the drinking and drugging.

Luckily I wasn't busted, cuz I was involved

Looking back over the years it has become very nostalgic

Now that I read this thread it makes me wonder what todays youth see in their world.

I have a son who lives an interesting, some might say hippy lifestyle. We live in a red neck city. He hangs out in indie coffee shops where he has met many wonderful like minded folks. They talk literature of today, events of today, music of today

He attends U, where he meets like minded folks.

His world is not a piece of shit.

My world is not a piece of shit.

Thats as good as it gets for me.

 

I was born in 1950 and often felt that the only reason I was stuck in that century was because I have a fondness for indoor plumbing. I would travel to other times and places by reading and learning.

There is a saying: "Wherever you go there you are." A lot of what you want can be found by learning to know yourself and finding other people like you.

You may find it in other locations but it is often a case of the grass being greener on the other side of the fence. when you are looking at grass on your side of the fence you are looking down and see the dirt and the grass. When you look at the grass on the other side, you are looking at a different angle and you only see grass (no dirt). That is why it looks greener.

 

Thank you for reposting ^this!!!

 

I was born in 1949, and grew up in an upper middle-class family of ex-opera singer parents, in West Los Angeles, a quiet community, where the "hippies" were well off, and simply wore the "garb" of hippiedom, and took the drugs, and listened to the music. We were priveleged, unlike the more "hard-core hippie", who was poor, and lived the life much closer to the edge than we did.

Some people wore odd clothing simply because that's all they could afford, and made the best of it by getting creative.

Otherwise, the whole "hippie" thing was mostly a huge, daily costume ball, that took on momentum as time progressed.

"People" just aren't as brave, now, as far as wanting to "stand out" from the crowd. In fact, that's become somewhat associated with "outcasts", the same guys who shoot up school lunchrooms. But who's really "standing out" anyway when you all look the same? It's a matter of belonging, and which sub-sector of society you wish to join yourself to.

Sometimes, you will find that the ones that have the "appearance" aren't for real. You have to be willing to look beyond the superficial, to see into people's hearts. What appears to be isn't always the fact.

The true "hipdom" is in the heart, in spirit, not merely outward. Otherwise, it's just a costume party, after all.

I even lived in Haight-Ashbury, the locale of reknown in San Francisco, known for it's "hip" flavor. By the time I was there, things were going sour. Drug money and drug wars and drug addicts had ruined the place. That was 1968. Still, it was a trip, since I was on acid at the time. I remember sitting in my car in a parking lot for several hours one day, just watching the blank wall on the side of the building across the street. What a show!

Anything "trendy", with a "seedy" or "edgy" side, tends to be assimilated by the commercial interests eventually, and made into a "product". Then the life is gone, and only the appearance remains.

One example is Venice, California. I used to hang out at Santa Monica Beach, with my "hippie friends". We'd sometimes stroll down to Venice, just a mile or so down the boardwalk, which had some head shops, and a lot of biker gangs hanging out (Hells Angels, Beachcombers, Satan's Slaves, etc.), and had a very "seedy" edginess to it. A bachelor apartment back then went for 85 a month, and I thought that was too high,,lol.

Now, Venice is "posh" and "trendy", where Lindsey Lohan has a place, and tourists flock to see street performers and pot dispensaries. (I haven't been there in years, but my daughter took her two sons there recently. She reports that it's a crazy, entertaining scene, on the boardwalk, with the dispensaries sending people out to draw in customers, like "snake-oil salesmen" on the beach, hawking their wares.) The real estate there has become exceptionally valuable, and prices there are as high as the people.

You get to a point where you realize that the superficial side of things isn't the real part. It's just the appearance. I got to understand that back then, and realized that even if I cut my hair and shaved, I was the same person. Even if I wore a suit and tie, I was the same person (though it wasn't as comfortable, and might have been seen, by others, as "selling out", or "compromising"). I had this thought,,why not just look like "them" (the "establishment"), so it will be easier to "infiltrate" and change things from the inside? (I've always imagined myself a "secret agent",,lol).

Anyway, I've lost my momentum, as far as having a desire to "change the world". I just live my life now, and make friends with the local outcasts. I'm a sort of "hero" to the young stoners in my neighborhood. I don't have the "drive", or the sacrificial spirit to be truly "counter-culture", in the sense of fomenting change. That takes some real cajones, to be willing to be persecuted, even incarcerated to bring about change. I was there once.

 

...yes. But I'd say wrong planet, not so much era. I feel awake in a world of sleepers. I knew the Matrix (or the McMatrix as my friend calls it) was right when I saw it back in the 90's...but I'm done with whinning and complaining about it. My partner and I are looking to live a fully spiritual life, dependent on nothing aside from what the universe provides...this so far has proven to be impossible in fascist Ontario, and we are looking to get out of here in October. Does anyone residing on British Columbia know of any alternative living communities? We are sober, not looking for partying or anything of that sort...just spirituality, environmentalism, and a common goal of FREEDOM. Thanks in advance. Love.

 

Man, BC is not the land of milk and honey. You'll find like minded people where ever you are. How many do you need?

Find an indie coffee shop near a university and your in.

Wanna defeat the man? Start a cool business and become the man. Live off the grid.

Utopia is a cool concept. Until you need a few bucks for smoke, booze, food , clothes, a roof over your head.

Toughest part of living is life.

 

I feel detached from my mother, as if the umbilical cord was cut.

 

I'm with ya man I definetly don't belong here I belong In the past lol. But since we all can't go back in time we need to start our own era with our own summer of love and our own Woodstock. We can't dwell on the past we need to make the future and today a better and fun place to be.

 

Let me just say this,,

NOBODY "belongs in the past". If you were there, you'd probably find things about it that you don't like. There's "the sixties" in your imagination, and there's the reality. Latch onto something real, today.

You're here for a reason. Use your unique values to become a motivating influence on others around you, by being who you are. Write. Play music. Dance. Make love.

It's easy just to say,,"Oh, if only I were born in the sixties". It's a fantasy. Make today count. Work towards social change. Make THIS "the sixties", whatever that means for YOU. No one had the internet, in the "sixties". People got together more, physically, and had fun, and made music, and ate good things. Brown rice was big. Make it big again, if that's what you like.

Be an activist. Get involved.

edit: The last post said exactly what I wanted to say. Ironic.

 

I came up in the 60s and it was beautiful. There were neighborhoods (like mine) where you could walk out tripping just about anytime and pretty soon you'd be tripping with another person. But now is amaaazing - the gauge of gage is unbelievable, RCs and all sorts of other psychedelics are all about, there's an incredible festival season starting up (big, little, psytrance, R&R, every fucking thing under the sun) - like one of the festivals: it's All Good.

I love right now.

 

And, as Mr. Itis has said previously, there's a world of good to be done out there. It's a world full of pain, and it's part of the path of the serious tripper to do good.

 

it's like the OP took the words right out of my mouth! the 60s sounded like a nice era to live

 

Grass is always greener... :chillpill:

 

We are the product of several generations before us having been destroyed with lies from the leaders of all sorts of groups that have power and influence. There didn't used to be taxes like this, or laws that violate morality, and I think all the wars and TV have made people too numb. How sad that people allow this to keep happening. One thing that is true, and makes me thankful, is that I was born in a time where I could educate myself on the internet and save my life from going in the wrong direction. Think about the kids just being born now, by the time they are adults, man oh man, will they have it rough.

 

Damn, because of my age I must be one of the leaders of a group. Shit

 

thank you for saying absolutly everything I wanted to say - we're the NOW generation ! We need to make it move!
Narrow-minded people have always and will always exist. Stop complaining and move.

 

Being a leader in this group is like trying to herd cats. Just sayin'.

Stay Brown,
Rev J