The Sixties – What it was for me.
Time gives you perspective.
I was born in 1949 so the sixties was my era. It was the period of time that formed me.
The sixties for me represent freedom, questioning, optimism, assuredness, discovery, adventure and experimentation.
If you never try you’ll never succeed. If you never fail you’ve never tried. Failure is a learning experience.
This was the time I left home. I had my mind full of Kerouac, Beatles, Downliners Sect, Bob Dylan, Roy Harper, Captain Beefheart and Ginsberg. I was discovering literature and reading DH Lawrence, Steinbeck, Mailer, Jerry Rubin, Hemingway, Henry Miller, Robert Heinlein, Arthur C Clarke, Vonnegut, Hesse and Sheckley. I was travelling around. At fourteen I spent the summer hitching round France, at twenty I was hitching round the States – New York Greenwich Village over to San Francisco and LA, camping in Big Sur.
I was at college and meeting all kinds of interesting people – up rapping and hanging out. There were gigs to go to, places to stay, to see, to hear, to read – minds to be expanded.
I looked at mystical teachings, American Indian philosophy, Eastern mysticism and Buddhism. I looked at nuclear physics and Art. I discovered surreal and infinity.
It was a time of growth, wonder and huge pleasure.
I was in love. I was wild and had no obligation. There was a world to discover. There was a mind to furnish.
Back then I looked at my parents and saw them in a rut of work, suburban life and boredom. I promised myself I was going to do more with my mind, my life and my future. I might burn out but I’d go down blazing.
I saw my parents following the rules. But this was the new age. There were no rules. I did not want to be part of that society with its selfishness, greed and war-mongering. I wanted a life based on different principles: – equality, freedom, exploration, fairness, openness and love. I wanted to see those other cultures and find what they were about.
I tore up the rule book. I’d make my own. I knew what I wanted. I knew what was right. I did not aspire to wealth, status or the hypocrisy of religion. I wanted something mystical and meaningful, exciting and wonderful.
I thought the new world of love and simple living, sharing and equality was worth more.
This was the height of the Hippie era and although I did not think I was one of them I was in tune with the idealism and ethos.
Of course, life caught up with me and compromise was the order of the day. But there were values I kept sacrosanct. The idealism of the sixties was subsumed and faded along with the casualties. But it left a great rebellious legacy that has changed the world and informs me to this day.
I took all that with me in my journey through life. I still do not trust our leaders. They are just people. I see them as part of a corrupt, hypocritical system. I still do not trust religion. I see it as man-made and power seeking. I still look for that world of meaning and creativity and see life as one long exploration, a journey of fun friendship and love. I still believe in openness, fairness and freedom. I took that into my teaching. Teaching is about relationship. You open up and give of yourself and you get ten times as much back. Honesty and genuine openness. I still play my music and read avidly. I still think we can build a better world. All the ordinary people I’ve met all over the world are good, kind, caring and helpful. There’s a minority of brutal thugs, selfish bastards and exploiting megalomaniacs. Why do we keep electing them?
Life is about opening your mind to the universe and letting it in. My mind is rich and full. I’ve loved it all. What a life!
I cannot imagine a better time to have lived!
What a wonderful piece. It is true that Life is about opening your mind to the universe and letting it in. And that is the reason why some people are not growing because they refuse to open their mind.
Thank you Zigma. I agree with you. If we are not growing we are dying. We have to have open minds.
And very Funny photos
Glad you like them. We had fun!
In some ways your post made me feel a little sorry for myself (I wanted to go to the party closet and pull out the balloons and hats and noise makers…sigh). I was born on the cusp of that wonderful age (’51) but I was always too afraid to break free of what my parents stood for and go find myself (which is actually part of my dilemma now, I think — missing the whole individuating part of life). So I played by the rules, or at least a slightly altered version of them. But so often in my ponderings now I wonder about some of those roads not taken. Sure I could take shorthand at 140 wpm, but I would have made a hell of an English teacher!
I’m sure you would have made a great English teacher. I can tell from your writing.
Just remember every journey always starts from where you are and it is never too late. There are things to do, places to go, people to me, ideas to think about and a mind to develop. Make the most of it. I often think about those roads not taken. Making my decisions meant I burnt a lot of boats and still do. I had opportunities to do things and make a lot of money that I spurned.
I don’t regret what I’ve done. It’s left me here. I have a great wife, 4 great kids and five grandchildren. I sit here surrounded with my books and music and have the great luxury of being able to write. It’s a great life.
Seize your opportunities.
I was born in 1954, so was just a couple of years too young to be a flown blown hippie. Nevertheless, the era has pretty much defined my own attitudes and to this day I still like the clothing and music from the era, with a prediliction for tie-die, ‘festiival clothing’, and music festivals, preferably free or at least inexpensive ones where the money pays for overheads rather than the performances themselves and the organisers arent out of pocket, but dont make vast profits either.
I am however glad to acknowledge that my first proper gig, in the summer of 1970 when I was 16, was to see Roy Harper support Free at our local college, and for that one magical gig alone I feel truly blessed.
I didnt get to do the hippie travelling bit, though I did take a hitch-hiking holiday down to the West Country in 1971, and ended up getting picked up by members of a hippie commune which I stayed with for a couple of days, and shared my puff and food with, although my sliced white bread Sunblest loaf was less than well received :). If only I knew then what I know now, lol.
Nevertheless, I did get to travel and live in other countries as a result of my 25 year career in IT, and look back with fond memories on my 3-4 year stints in Bahrain, the USA and Co. Donegal, the so-called ‘Forgotten county’ of the Irish republic, along with brief visits to Sydney Australia, Wellington NZ, Singapore, and more recently a return to the US for a big Contract bridge Congress in Las Vegas last year where I tacked on an extra week and visited the Grand Canyon and made a pilgrimage to San Francisco 🙂
I am a citizen of the World!!! 🙂 Free speech!!! One each!!!!
My first Roy Harper gig was transformational too! I was lucky living in London and having the complete freedom of being in college during the late sixties. Three gigs a week, lively mind expanding people, excitement, wonder and new horizons. I burnt the candle at all three ends and had the time of my life. Somehow I even ended up with a degree despite only getting to half the lectures (putting them in the morning was bad planning on the colleges part!).
I still keep all those principles to the front of my life and live. I don’t ever want to become one of the zombies. Live is for fun, friendship, love, music, creativity, travel, reading, writing and gigging.
Keep on sharing and believing. The dream lives.
I loved the 60s and 70s. The 60s for me were so enlightening. I did many of the same things as you. Not nuclear physics, though. I protested anything nuclear. I tootled around in my vw van and loved the comraderie of the time – delving wholeheartedly into metaphysical spirituality, being a hippie, making changes in the world, loving the music, finding a group of friends, forming community (still meet with those people every year for a 5 day campout at different places), the rebelliousness, the throwing rules out the window, halucinogens, the freedom, the idealism…
So much of who I am now was formed during those years. I am grateful to have been born when I was, and to have lived deeply through those years.
Yeah – spot on. Me too!