Hippie Views ::

Yes, I modified a few of my earlier posts.  I may modify more of them, later.

It’s clear that when I was writing back in 2008 and 2009, I had no idea where we’d be at this point. I thought I knew how deep the problems were, but… yeah, I was missing the bigger picture.

I was a very naive hippie, but — of course — that’s pretty much part of the definition.

I never thought I’d cheer during any speech by someone wearing a Conservative label.  Today, I cheered for David Cameron, Britain’s Prime Minister.

(My cheers are bi-partisan: I also cheered for things said in the two previous 2011 political conferences.  The UK is at the forefront with innovative ideas, including raising the speed limit as a budgetary measure.  How cool is that!  That’s major outside-the-box thinking, and I applaud them for it.)

The labels don’t mean what they did, even six months ago.

Let’s look at all suggestions on the table.  Let’s take the best from every party’s “bright ideas” and see how they can work together.

For now, I’m cheering for fresh thinking and innovative solutions.  Whether they’ll be enacted — and whether they’ll work — are different matters.

The point is: I’m seeing new ideas, and that’s what we need right now.  They’re new ideas based in old values… things we marched for in the hippie era:

1. We need to rebuild our local economies and businesses.  Go locavore.  Support local, mom-and-pop businesses.  Think twice before buying anything produced in factories that pay less than a living wage.  In fact, buy with quality in mind… at every step in the process.
2. Live green as much as you can.  The burden of unconscious living, exploiting our resources and polluting the planet… those are financial liabilities as well as health concerns.
3. Define your values, not just in political terms or with compartmentalized labels.  Dig deep and understand where you stand on global issues as well as local concerns.

A lot is changing, and it’s changing quickly.  Take a look at Jamie Johnson’s movie, The One Percent.  (It’s on Netflix.)  He’s one of that legendary (mythic?) one percent*, and he wants to make a difference.

The old guard may be changing.  Let’s be sure we’re ready to make good use of this synchronicity.

This may be our chance to realize 2012 as an enlightened shift towards cooperative living.  Let’s not get mired in old, angry thinking locked in the outdated contexts of the past.  Let’s not exemplify that old Pogo slogan, “We have seen the enemy, and he is us.”

The enemy may be largely a shadow.  Don’t get bogged in imagery of a past generation.  Don’t fight battles with windmills, and decrepit ones, at that.

Watch people like Jamie Johnson.  (Yes, he’s elusive.  I suspect that’s deliberate.)  His dad had a similar, hippie-related vision, but the time wasn’t right; today, Jamie IV may succeed.

Also watch TED broadcasts.  There are plenty of truly great ideas among them, from my generation as well as yours.

Arguments, stalemates and gridlock are the problem.  Be part of the solution, instead.  Find common ground; you may find more of it than you expected.

Working within the system is almost always more productive than dismantling it and starting from scratch.  Sure, the latter can be necessary, but maybe not in this case.

Take a look at Cuba.  85% of the population live in homes that they own.  People have healthy food and clean air.  Their healthcare and medical school are free.  They may not have the same fancy medical equipment you’ll find in more affluent countries, but Cuba’s mortality rate matches that of the U.S.

Videos to watch — both of them on Netflix — to envision the shift that’s possible:  Yank Tanks, a documentary about the vintage cars that dominate Cuba’s streets, and The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil, about how life changed dramatically when Cuba ran out of oil.

Sure, it took a revolution and a lot of controversial “growing pains” — some still questionable — to reach the point where Cuba is now.  Let’s not reinvent the wheel as we’re faced with peak oil issues and the related political and social crises that are building.

Never forget that many — perhaps the majority — of global problems come back to energy issues, and those are rooted in peak oil.

Cuba has explored several paths leading from unconscious to conscious living.  While I’m not enthusiastic about Communism, I think we can learn from Cuba.  Maybe, studying their successes and failures, we can glean ways to transform our own society and cultures, so everyone can live more simply… and more happily.

I started this website with the idea that all the answers were in the hippie movement of the 1950s through 1970s.  I no longer think that.  We have to draw from a wider base of knowledge and experience.

This post is all over the place. I know that.  I’m seeing glimmers of hope in a variety of wishing wells.  No single set of answers is likely to provide us with social and economic salvation.

However, the answers are there.  Let’s not excessively demonize those who might want to be part of the solution.  Let’s not think in terms of “my way or the highway,” whether you’re taking a stand or estimating the apparent opposition.

We’re at a very exciting point in history.  Many of the raw materials were rooted in the early hippie movement.  Remember: Most of us were rich kids — part of the top 10% if not actually part of the 1% — and we wanted to make a difference.

Sure, a bunch of us grew up to become self-centered jerks.  That doesn’t mean we/those jerks are stuck in self-serving or greedy ideologies.  In fact, it might be pretty easy to recover and re-energize the hippie ideals of my generation’s rich kids (now grown up and sometimes bordering on stodgy).

Everything’s changing.  Avoid “us v. them” thinking.  Extend a hand rather than building a wall.

You may have to make the first move.  You may have to create a detailed roadmap or blueprint before “the other side” will take a chance on a dream — the hippie dream — that failed before.

However, unlike the politicos we battled in the 1960s, today’s older generation — particularly those who speak for the one percent — are often former hippies.

The hippie values are still there. They may be well-hidden and difficult to resurrect, but they’re there.

All those former hippies need to see is that the dream is indeed possible.

Find the path.  Spell out the steps clearly, so the older generation — failed hippies — see that this can work.

They don’t want to be disappointed again. That’s their greatest fear.

At the risk of repeating myself too many times:  Many — perhaps the majority — of “the enemy” are former hippies.  Many are watching the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators with some envy and nostalgia.

Don’t let them get mired in bitterness over past, failed dreams.

Construct a roadmap that will actually work.  Convince them that it can succeed.

You may find more support than you expected.

The world is ready for fresh ideas rooted in past (and sometimes lost) ideals.

Be part of the solution.  This world needs you, and it needs the hope you can bring us.

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*I’m always wary when I see numbers that polarize people and end up on picket signs.  Until I prove — to my own satisfaction — that those numbers are correct, I keep my critical thinking skills on high alert.  (No pun intended.)

Meanwhile, the documentary of that same name is encouraging.  Consider how many of the one percent (if that figure is correct) weren’t willing to appear in front of the camera, but share Jamie Johnson’s ideals: Those people exist, and perhaps in bigger numbers than you might expect.

Don’t alienate them as a faceless number — a simple percent.

Find those who share your dreams.  Ask about the path they believe can work.  Compare that with your goals and how you think you can achieve them.

Together, we can find ways to a healthy, equitable, sustainable lifestyle for the future.