If you're a hippy and you know it clap your hands

"All of life is an experiment, and I intend to experiment with it far beyond the status quo"

So before we enter this insanity of intricate pathways, tunnels, rivers, and mountains throughout my mind, I believe it is only appropriate that  we discuss  the term "hippy".

We've already established we all have our own beliefs, so what are the hippy beliefs??

I'd say what first comes to mind to most people when I say hippy is the 1960's flower child. Flower power. Peace, love, and happiness. Now that's what makes the world go round, not these numbers they call money. Look where that go us, all these intricate systems of interactions where we don't know half the people involved in the process. It's madness. I long for the days where goods and services were traded for other gooda and services. One on one human interaction. No multinational companies. No banks. A simple life. Back to basics.

Peace. Love. Happiness. The basic foundation for all hippy beliefs, or definitely mine anyway. Of course there is no one definitive definition of what or who a hippy is, there's such a variety of us. All different yet the same. That's the beauty of it. Each individual. Truly unique.

My first encounter with the true old school hippies from the 60s was last summer, at a hippy reunion on the Greek Island of Crete. Right on the sea there's a wall of caves, which back in the 60s were fully inhabited by the hippies. Of course today that would be illegal. A beach covered in true souls. True spirits. True hippies. So much love. So much peace. So much happiness. Pure self expression everywhere you looked. Art. Dancing. Music. Games. Fire. Laughter. Smiles. Joy everywhere. Yet none of these words are used in todays conventional definition of hippy.

Here's what I found when I googled hippy:

 "a person whose behaviour, dress, use of drugs, etc. implies a rejection of conventional values" (www.urbandictionary.com)

This. Seriously. Bothers me. The association of hippies with drugs. The association of hippies with rebellion. The association of hippies with disregard.

Being a hippy is not about disregard to the law, it's about the peace, the love, and the happiness that surrounds us during every second of every moment we life. Being inspired by these, and thus inspiring others with them. It's about free love. Universal love. Being who you are and doing "your thing" as long as it doesn't come at the cost of hurting others. It's about being who you want to be, living how you want to live,  and sharing all of it.

I would like to make it clear that the above definition is HORRENDOUS. Here follow the true hippy symptoms, as percieved by the old 1960's hippies themselves.


True hippy symptoms:
-The ability to enjoy each and every moment to it's fullest
-a loss of interest in judging other
-a loss of interest in judging ones self
-a loss of interest in conflict
-being at peace with the world
-an infinite love for all living beings (be it human, animal, plant, or other), and an overpowering need to express this
-a tendency to let things happen rather than control that which we have no control over
- no worries
-smiles
-spontaneity
-a need to share the peace, love, and happiness that overwhelms one
-free spirits
-open minded
-being in touch with life, beyond the material world
-a love for the beauty of nature
-an acceptance of all. All living creatures, their beliefs, and their lifestyles.
-self expression through creativity. art in all its forms.

Now these are only a few of the symptoms, and maybe all won't always apply to one person, but you get the idea.

We're not about making a statement and fighting what's conventional. What we're about is sharing, caring, and loving. Living and letting live. Enjoying the beauty of this perfectionately imperfectionate mindblowing awe inspiring planet we live on, and living as one with it. All in the great circle of life.

I'm going to end with a Timothy Leary quote. He started the phrase "turn on, tune in, drop out" which seems to be very appropriate in describing the hippy lifestyle. So here it is, his definition of "turn on, tune in, drop out" in his autobiography in 1983, flashback:

 “Turn on’ meant go within to activate your neural and genetic equipment. Become sensitive to the many and various levels of consciousness and the specific triggers that engage them... ‘Tune in’ meant interact harmoniously with the world around you – externalize, materialize, express your new internal perspectives. Drop out suggested an elective, selective, graceful process of detachment from involuntary or unconscious commitments. ‘Drop Out’ meant self-reliance, a discovery of one’s singularity, a commitment to mobility, choice, and change.





Forgive me for using this term"hippy". We're no type of people of our own. Just people of the world, like everyone else. 


Peace and love.