This long weekend I went alone to our small cabin in the Upper Peninsula for well-needed, if not particularly wanted, introspection. More on that later in an essay, but given the long ride there and back, and the days spent with no one to talk to but myself, many random ideas coalesced from bits and pieces that have built up like so many emails in the inbox. One was the hippie idea of "free love" and the remarkable success in recent years of mainstreaming same-sex sexual relations.
For those who were too young to remember or not even born, a large part of the hippie movement - something that has contributed hugely to today's changing social arena - was encapsulated in the bumper-sticker slogan of "free love." This was not a new idea, and had been tried at times throughout the millennium in the Christian nations by radicals attempting to free themselves from the yoke of the Imperial Church - and always being viciously crushed for it. In the pagan era of the Roman Empire, orgies were not the norm but they were not forbidden either, and they did occur here and there, often cushioned in spiritual beliefs. But it is with the crushing of millennial movements in Christendom and the much later belief by Freud that much of our unhappiness was caused by repressed sexuality that I think the general view of the hippies was born. Free love meant free sex, which meant no more repression and no more wars or psychological problems.
Obviously, open sex of every kind done in the context of the Roman Empire did not lead to peace and love and harmony (anything but), as it did not or would not here and now. Homosexuality was then not considered a sin and practiced freely, although the idea of gay marriage was unthinkable - marriage was for offspring, or the "gens", which can only occur naturally one way. Passing on power and wealth to males outside the family was then done by adoption - regardless of the age of those involved.
Yet still, more than a vestige of the idea of free love and social harmony has been passed on to the political left. While their critics on the right believe that the left is only interested in destroying traditional society, this is not always the case. Many on the left do believe that freedom to have sex with anyone and with as many as the parties involved choose, along with the subsequent social legitimization of such groups or couples, will break down the selfishness that they see encapsulated in capitalistic societies.
There is indeed a neat fit here if done as a rational exercise, but the past has shown - perhaps sadly - that such arrangements will not make for a more peaceful and advanced society (there were groups of people throughout the world who until recently had any number of odd sexual practices. None, to my knowledge, were utopias). As usual, though, in this blog contemporary politics is never the main focus. Instead, I would like to point out that something much more than rationalization was going on for the true soul-searching hippies of the 60's.
It had to do with the resolution of internal conflict while using powerful psychotropic drugs. I have had experience with such things, and much correspondence with others who have as well. As those of us know well, as one approaches the peak experience, a panic sets in, for to reach the "peak" or revelation, ones' ideas of self and society must be broken away - and are often done so forcefully by the workings of the chemicals involved. The feeling one gets is part and partial with the feeling of going insane, about as uncomfortable an experience as one can have in this world. Because certain types of sex are especially taboo for our society - as they are for just about any society - the crumbling of this taboo (of its meaning, not in actuality) is particularly painful to the normal "self." It makes it far easier to say, as many said than, "if it feels good, do it" - that is, don't feel guilty or worry about internal challenges to this taboo. For as we all know, to be told to NOT think about pink elephants is a guarantee that one WILL think of pink elephants. Get the sexual "hang-ups" out of the way and prepare for a much easier trip - or so it was thought. This does not minimize the feeling of universal love that often comes with revelation - but this never, as far as I know, translates into rampant sexual energy. This love is of a different sort, "agape" as the Greeks and Christians called it.
Unfortunately the "free love" slogan of the hippies, as with most things dealing with spiritual things that are reduced to bumper stickers, has been down-graded in secular society. But the hippies were only partially right as well. There are fears that are worse than breaking sexual taboos. The greatest serves as the obstacle to total trust, or what the religious call "faith." While we might be able to convince ourselves that sexual desires are just another thing to not worry about, it is hard to lay everything we know as ourselves out on the line - about as difficult as putting your body on the line for almost certain death, depending only on some "god" or some holy power that will save you. It is the basic existential fear and there is no shortcut to alleviate it. Sexual openness does not hold a candle to total personal dissolution regarding fear. To overcome this takes intense faith in a supreme and omnipresent power, however we might wish to envision it or call it. A society that is looking for utopia but that does not understand this will simply continue to break the mold of the old while making cheaper imitations for a new. FK
For those who were too young to remember or not even born, a large part of the hippie movement - something that has contributed hugely to today's changing social arena - was encapsulated in the bumper-sticker slogan of "free love." This was not a new idea, and had been tried at times throughout the millennium in the Christian nations by radicals attempting to free themselves from the yoke of the Imperial Church - and always being viciously crushed for it. In the pagan era of the Roman Empire, orgies were not the norm but they were not forbidden either, and they did occur here and there, often cushioned in spiritual beliefs. But it is with the crushing of millennial movements in Christendom and the much later belief by Freud that much of our unhappiness was caused by repressed sexuality that I think the general view of the hippies was born. Free love meant free sex, which meant no more repression and no more wars or psychological problems.
Obviously, open sex of every kind done in the context of the Roman Empire did not lead to peace and love and harmony (anything but), as it did not or would not here and now. Homosexuality was then not considered a sin and practiced freely, although the idea of gay marriage was unthinkable - marriage was for offspring, or the "gens", which can only occur naturally one way. Passing on power and wealth to males outside the family was then done by adoption - regardless of the age of those involved.
Yet still, more than a vestige of the idea of free love and social harmony has been passed on to the political left. While their critics on the right believe that the left is only interested in destroying traditional society, this is not always the case. Many on the left do believe that freedom to have sex with anyone and with as many as the parties involved choose, along with the subsequent social legitimization of such groups or couples, will break down the selfishness that they see encapsulated in capitalistic societies.
There is indeed a neat fit here if done as a rational exercise, but the past has shown - perhaps sadly - that such arrangements will not make for a more peaceful and advanced society (there were groups of people throughout the world who until recently had any number of odd sexual practices. None, to my knowledge, were utopias). As usual, though, in this blog contemporary politics is never the main focus. Instead, I would like to point out that something much more than rationalization was going on for the true soul-searching hippies of the 60's.
It had to do with the resolution of internal conflict while using powerful psychotropic drugs. I have had experience with such things, and much correspondence with others who have as well. As those of us know well, as one approaches the peak experience, a panic sets in, for to reach the "peak" or revelation, ones' ideas of self and society must be broken away - and are often done so forcefully by the workings of the chemicals involved. The feeling one gets is part and partial with the feeling of going insane, about as uncomfortable an experience as one can have in this world. Because certain types of sex are especially taboo for our society - as they are for just about any society - the crumbling of this taboo (of its meaning, not in actuality) is particularly painful to the normal "self." It makes it far easier to say, as many said than, "if it feels good, do it" - that is, don't feel guilty or worry about internal challenges to this taboo. For as we all know, to be told to NOT think about pink elephants is a guarantee that one WILL think of pink elephants. Get the sexual "hang-ups" out of the way and prepare for a much easier trip - or so it was thought. This does not minimize the feeling of universal love that often comes with revelation - but this never, as far as I know, translates into rampant sexual energy. This love is of a different sort, "agape" as the Greeks and Christians called it.
Unfortunately the "free love" slogan of the hippies, as with most things dealing with spiritual things that are reduced to bumper stickers, has been down-graded in secular society. But the hippies were only partially right as well. There are fears that are worse than breaking sexual taboos. The greatest serves as the obstacle to total trust, or what the religious call "faith." While we might be able to convince ourselves that sexual desires are just another thing to not worry about, it is hard to lay everything we know as ourselves out on the line - about as difficult as putting your body on the line for almost certain death, depending only on some "god" or some holy power that will save you. It is the basic existential fear and there is no shortcut to alleviate it. Sexual openness does not hold a candle to total personal dissolution regarding fear. To overcome this takes intense faith in a supreme and omnipresent power, however we might wish to envision it or call it. A society that is looking for utopia but that does not understand this will simply continue to break the mold of the old while making cheaper imitations for a new. FK
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