SEX: there was, in the Haight Ashbury and later, a concerted effort to
break free of some of the Puritanical constraints of American society.
Experimentation with non-nuclear-family groupings was rampant both in child
raising and in sex. And, remember, there wasn't the current spectre of
AIDS to slow down sexual experimentation. In our commune, we vainly tried
to discourage any of what we called "one to one" relationships. We moved
all mattresses into one area. We encouraged everyone to have sexual
relationships with everyone. It didn't work. Couples still fell in love
and eventually it all crumbled away. I think the effects of this
experimentation have changed society, but, alas, not the way we had hoped
with extended families. Rather we have a superfluity of single mothers and
children, most extremely poor.
DRUGS: God, I hate that word. Drugs are tobacco and alcohol and
crack-cocaine. How many of you use these? LSD, mushrooms, nitrous oxide,
DMT etc. were and are sacraments as holy as the wafers in the Catholic
Church (which may have been mushrooms once?) They lead the spiritually and
even the not-so-spiritually prepared to experiences of realities that
transcend and transform the 3-D world we think we are confined in. The
sixties saw the democratization of god-consciousness through the use of
these substances. They should be honored by all students of the 60's, not
denigrated.
ROCK AND ROLL: The rock bands were our church choirs. They sang of
mysticism and love and the possibilities of the human race. Another
reaction to the staid ball room dancing we had been taught, the rock not
only hit out minds, it gripped our guts. We lost self consciousness; we
went out of the limitations of the body through the body just as Africans
do, Native Americans do, most incorrectly called "primitive" tribes do.
And it led to the "rave" generation, today's techno-beat tribe learning to
love through the combination of MDMA, music and heavy flashing video.
To misunderstand the importance of sex, "drugs" and rock and role is to
totally misunderstand that thrust of the 60's that changed history. And is
still changing it. We were, and are, peace workers, light workers; we are
teachers, scientists, poets. We are Deadheads and millionaires.
Whew, I didn't intend to write all that, and I still need to write my book
on the Caravan instead of letters like this! But "hello" to you all.
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Justice is the content when empathy is the form
Elizabeth Gips http://www.icenine.com/changes/
Changes evolutionary audio, KKUP 91.5 FM, Tuesdays 2-6pm
Scrapbook of a Haight Ashbury Pilgrim -order from me- it has moments of
great beauty